Firm Profiles
IN-DEPTH RESEARCH REPORT
on Sidley Austin LLP
- - Financial Information
- - Compensation
- - Billing Rates
- - Lateral Partner Moves
- - Pro bono
- - Key Contacts
Sidley Austin
- Designation: National
- Head Count: 1,636
- Gross Revenues: $1,489,500,000
- Revenue Per Lawyer: $910,000
- Profits Per Partner: $1,800,000
- Year Over Year Change: no change
While its roots date back to 1866, when it was founded in Chicago, Sidley Austin will always have another key date in its history: May 2001, when it merged with New York’s Brown & Wood. The deal combined Sidley—already a major player in corporate, litigation, and regulatory work—with a respected Wall Street firm.
Known for its top–tier litigation practice—Sidley was a 2012 finalist for The American Lawyer’s Litigation Department of the Year and earned honorable mentions in 2004, 2006, 2008, and 2010—the firm draws half of its revenue from litigation. And no other firm is as active before the U.S. Supreme Court. Sidley, one of the first firms to establish a stand–alone appellate practice specifically for high court cases, plays a role, directly or indirectly, in some 40 percent of the cases heard each term. All told, its lawyers have argued more than 100 Supreme Court cases since the practice group was founded more than a quarter of a century ago. Much of the credit for that work—and the work itself—falls to Carter Phillips, the managing partner of Sidley’s 252–lawyer D.C. office, who had personally argued 73 high court cases by the end of 2011, more than any other lawyer in private practice.
Yet Sidley is not quite the profit–making machine that some other top ten firms are, and there have been some rough patches. Sidley let go of several hundred staff (including nearly 100 lawyers) at the height of the economic downturn in 2009. Even then, however, the firm was planning for a rebound. In December 2009 it announced a new Palo Alto office, with lawyers recruited from other firms and from Sidley’s San Francisco office. You don’t get to reach 150 years old, after all, without learning to adapt.
—Updated as of 1/1/12
Firm Rankings
| Survey | Rank | Year Over Year Change | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Am Law 100 | 8 | no change | Gross revenue |
| Am Law 200 | 8 | no change | Gross revenue |
| NLJ 250 | 10 | 1 | Lawyer head count |
| The A-List | 46 | 2 | Overall excellence |
| Pro Bono Scorecard | 69 | no change | Pro-bono commitment |
| Diversity Scorecard | 75 | 1 | Minority head count |
| Midlevel Associates Survey | 55 | 36 | Job satisfaction |
| Summer Associates Survey | 49 | 25 | Summer programs |
In the News
Dealmaker of the Week: Kirkland's Sarkis Jebejian
Tom Huddleston Jr. : The Am Law Daily : May 10, 2013
Jebejian led the Kirkland & Ellis team advising a private equity consortium led by Bain Capital and Golden Gate Capital on its $6.9 billion acquisition of business software company BMC Software.
Largest New York Firms Show Steady Growth
Christine Simmons : New York Law Journal : May 9, 2013
Growth was steady last year for most of the 20 largest law firms in New York, with slight to moderate gains in gross revenue and profits per partner.
New Deals
Tania Karas : New York Law Journal : May 9, 2013
Business software vendor BMC Software has agreed to sell itself to a consortium of private investors led by buyout firms Bain Capital and Golden Gate Capital for $6.9 billion in cash, the companies announced on May 6.
Asia Deal Digest: May 9, 2013
Tom Brennan : The Asian Lawyer : May 9, 2013
* Linklaters takes the lead on Sumitomo Mitsui's $1.5 billon Indonesia acquisition* Three firms on New Zealand's largest-ever IPO* The world's first publicly traded law firm is raising $64 million to fund U.K. expansion
Amid Detroit's Fiscal Woes, City's Am Law Firms Press On
Brian Baxter : The Am Law Daily : May 8, 2013
Faced with the possibility of becoming the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history, the Motor City has taken heart in more promising news, such as the U.S. auto industry hitting a six-year sales peak in April. Meanwhile, Detroit firms are riding out the storm in the hopes they'll see better days.
Sidley Adds Singapore Partner
Tom Brennan : The Asian Lawyer : May 7, 2013
Sidley Austin has recruited a mergers and acquisitions partner for its Singapore office. Gregory Salanthe was previously co-managing partner of the Tokyo office for Morgan Lewis. One of four firms awarded a Qualifying Foreign Law Practice license to practice Singapore law earlier this year, Sidley Austin now has 10 lawyers in the city-state.
Chapman Tripp, Sidley on $1.6 Billion NZ IPO
Tom Brennan : The Asian Lawyer : May 7, 2013
The listing of Mighty River Power is expected to be New Zealand's largest-ever IPO.
Carter Phillips Named Sole Chair of Sidley's Executive Committee
Matthew Huisman : The National Law Journal : May 6, 2013
Sidley Adds Singapore Partner
Tom Brennan : The Asian Lawyer : May 6, 2013
Gregory Salathé was previously co-managing partner of the Tokyo office of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius.
Wilson Sonsini
Mounira Al Hmoud : The National Law Journal : May 6, 2013
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- Covington & Burling
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- Davis Polk & Wardwell
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- Dickstein Shapiro
- DLA Piper
- Duane Morris
- Eversheds
- Fish & Richardson
- Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson
- Gunderson Dettmer Stough Villeneuve Franklin & Hachigian
- Heller Ehrman
- Howrey
- Irwin Mitchell
- Jenner & Block
- Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman
- Kirkland & Ellis
- Latham & Watkins
- Linklaters
- Mallesons Stephen Jaques
- Morgan, Lewis & Bockius
- Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe
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- Perkins Coie
- Proskauer Rose
- Reed Smith
- Ropes & Gray
- Shearman & Sterling
- Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton
- Simpson Thacher & Bartlett
- Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom
- Slaughter and May
- Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal
- Sullivan & Cromwell
- Vinson & Elkins
- Weil, Gotshal & Manges
- Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr
