Firm Profiles
IN-DEPTH RESEARCH REPORT
on Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP
- - Financial Information
- - Compensation
- - Billing Rates
- - Lateral Partner Moves
- - Pro bono
- - Key Contacts
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett
- Designation: New York
- Head Count: 837
- Gross Revenues: $982,500,000
- Revenue Per Lawyer: $1,175,000
- Profits Per Partner: $2,665,000
- Year Over Year Change: 1
There are firms that look for the trends that will bring growth—and there is Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, which has always had an uncanny knack for finding them. Soon after its founding in 1884, the New York firm began advising a number of railroad clients, notably on the mergers that would create some of the largest corporations of the day. In 1976 Simpson began representing Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., the firm credited with inventing the leveraged buyout. A Who’s Who of private equity clients followed (such as The Blackstone Group), and Simpson’s M&A practice boomed. The firm has also been a leader on the IPO front as well, participating in those by Mastercard International, Google Inc., and Accenture Ltd., among others.
Simpson’s litigation group is an all–star, as well. It was a finalist in The American Lawyer’s Litigation Department of the Year competition in 2006 and 2003, and earned an honorable mention in 2010, 2008, and 2004 (the contest is held every two years). Other key practice areas for the firm—which numbers more than 800 lawyers—include cross–border finance, banking and bank regulation, project and asset–based finance, real estate, tax, and dispute resolution (Simpson has ten offices, spanning the United States, Europe, Asia, and Latin America).
Long known as one of The Am Law 100’s most profitable firms—it regularly ranks within the top ten on profits per partner—Simpson also scores high on noneconomic measures as well. Nearly a quarter of its U.S. –based attorneys identify themselves as minorities—a figure that helped Simpson place twenty–first of 194 firms on The American Lawyer’s 2011 Diversity Scorecard (the picture is different among the partnership, however, with minorities comprising just over 5 percent of the ranks). Simpson’s pro bono work also rates high: With an annual average of 85 hours of volunteer work per attorney, it ranked thirty–ninth of 200 firms on our 2011 Pro Bono Report. And junior lawyers give the firm above–average marks: Simpson ranked fifty–sixth of 126 firms on the magazine’s 2011 Midlevel Associates Survey, and fiftieth of 127 firms in 2011.
These scores—combined with the firm’s high revenue per lawyer—put Simpson on our 2011 A–List, which homes in on the nation’s premier firms by looking at economic and noneconomic metrics. But we don’t need a fancy formula to tell us that Simpson’s own formula is working just fine.
—Updated 1/1/12
Firm Rankings
| Survey | Rank | Year Over Year Change | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Am Law 100 | 21 | 1 | Gross revenue |
| Am Law 200 | 21 | 1 | Gross revenue |
| NLJ 250 | 35 | 1 | Lawyer head count |
| The A-List | 13 | 1 | Overall excellence |
| Pro Bono Scorecard | 39 | 4 | Pro-bono commitment |
| Diversity Scorecard | 29 | 8 | Minority head count |
| Midlevel Associates Survey | 56 | 6 | Job satisfaction |
| Summer Associates Survey | 98 | 9 | Summer programs |
In the News
Difficulties Raising Capital Dooms Litigation Funding Venture
Susan Beck : The Litigation Daily : May 23, 2013
A litigation funding company cofounded by former securities class action lawyer Sean Coffey after his unsuccessful race for New York attorney general is no more.
New Deals
Tania Karas and Tom Huddleston Jr. : New York Law Journal : May 23, 2013
Web giant Yahoo agreed Sunday to buy popular blogging and social media service Tumblr for $1.1 billion. Also, generic drug maker Actavis reached an agreement to acquire Irish rival Warner Chilcott in an all-stock deal worth $8.5 billion, including assumed debt.
Sheppard Mullin Adds to Silicon Valley Office
Max Taves : The Recorder : May 20, 2013
Sheppard Mullin has added a corporate partner to its Silicon Valley office. Jung Son joins from Technology Crossover Ventures, where she was an associate general counsel. Sheppard, which lost three Palo Alto corporate partners this year, has plans to hire additional attorneys for the office, said corporate partner David Lee.
Yahoo Picks Up Tumblr for $1.1B
Tom Huddleston Jr. : The Am Law Daily : May 20, 2013
Simpson Helps Yahoo, Tumblr Connect
Tom Huddleston Jr. : The Am Law Daily : May 20, 2013
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett is advising Yahoo in connection with its largest acquisition in a decade: the $1.1 billion cash purchase of blogging and social media platform Tumblr. Tumblr, meanwhile, is represented by Gunderson Dettmer Stough Villeneuve Franklin & Hachigian.
Sheppard Mullin's Seoul Ambitions
Tom Brennan : The Asian Lawyer : May 20, 2013
The Los Angeles firm has publicly stated its aim to have a Seoul office of as many as 150 lawyers and to practice Korean law as soon as it can. Can Sheppard Mullin really make itself a leader in an ultracompetitive market?
Sheppard Adds to Valley Office
Max Taves : The Recorder : May 16, 2013
New Deals
Tania Karas : New York Law Journal : May 16, 2013
Designer jeans company True Religion Apparel has agreed to be acquired by investment firm TowerBrook Capital Partners for $835 million. Also, natural gas pipeline operator Crestwood Midstream Partners and energy services companies Inergy L.P. and Inergy Midstream L.P. have agreed to form an integrated partnership with an enterprise value of $7 billion.
Asia Deal Digest: May 16, 2013
Tom Brennan : The Asian Lawyer : May 16, 2013
* Davis Polk on a $4 billion bond offering for China's CNOOC* Allen & Overy advising Sinopec Engineering on its $2.7 billion IPO* Four Wall Street firms take on AsiaInfo-Linkage's $890 million take-private deal
4th DCA Upholds Judgment For Jordanian King's Brother-In-Law
Adolfo Pesquera : Daily Business Review : May 16, 2013
The $28.8 million jury award to Mohammad Anwar Farid Al-Saleh in a July 2011 trial was for his share of unpaid profits on an energy deal where he served as a middleman.
- Adams and Reese
- Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld
- Allen & Overy
- Anderson Kill & Olick
- Arthur Cox
- Ashurst
- Baker & McKenzie
- Brown Rudnick
- Buist Moore
- Cahill Gordon & Reindel
- Clayton Utz
- Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton
- Clifford Chance
- Cooley
- Covington & Burling
- Cravath, Swaine & Moore
- Davis Polk & Wardwell
- Dewey & LeBoeuf
- Diamond McCarthy
- Dickstein Shapiro
- DLA Piper
- Dorsey & Whitney
- Dreier LLP
- Duane Morris
- Eversheds
- Fish & Richardson
- Freehills
- Freshfields
- Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
- Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson
- Gunderson Dettmer Stough Villeneuve Franklin & Hachigian
- Herbert Smith
- Herrick, Feinstein
- Hogan Lovells
- Howrey
- Jenner & Block
- Jones Day
- K&L Gates
- Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman
- Kirkland & Ellis
- Latham & Watkins
- Linklaters
- Mallesons Stephen Jaques
- McKool Smith
- Minter Ellison
- Moore & Van Allen
- Morgan, Lewis & Bockius
- Morrison & Foerster
- Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough
- Nexsen Pruet
- Nixon Peabody
- Norton Rose
- O?Melveny & Myers
- Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,
- Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe
- Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein
- Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker
- Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pitman
- Proskauer Rose
- Reed Smith
- Ropes & Gray
- Ruden McClosky
- Shea & Gould
- Shearman & Sterling
- Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton
- Simmons & Simmons
- Simpson Thacher & Bartlett
- Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom
- Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal
- Sullivan & Cromwell
- Vinson & Elkins
- Weil, Gotshal & Manges
- White & Case
- Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr
- Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice
