Firm Profiles

The Marines may be the few and the proud, but the partners at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz are the few and the profitable. Don’t be misled by the firm’s size: Manhattan–based Wachtell is a mergers and acquisitions powerhouse that consistently tops The Am Law 100 in key metrics like profits per partner and revenue per lawyer. In our 2011 Am Law 100 list, we calculated that Wachtell needed just 6.9 lawyers to create $10 million in partner compensation. The next–closest firm needed more than 12.

How does Wachtell do it? Famously tight–lipped, the firm isn’t about to reveal the secret sauce. But it is known to be extremely selective in the matters it takes on; Wachtell’s Web site goes so far as to note that “we generally do not handle routine matters.” Indeed, the firm specializes in meaty transactions—it represented Schering–Plough in its $41 billion acquisition by Merck & Co., Inc., and Bank of America Corporation in its $19 billion acquisition of Merrill Lynch and Co., Inc.—and counts takeovers (Wachtell invented the “poison pill” defense) and corporate governance among its bread–and–butter work. The firm was also a finalist in our 2012 Litigation Department of the Year contest for its general litigation work.

Not surprisingly, the hours its lawyers bill can seem preternatural, too, and the partnership track is typically an extended run of about eight years (some years, only a couple of upper–level associates get tapped). But the firm’s small size, prestige, and ability to give even its greenest lawyers substantial work on substantial cases has enabled it to home in on lawyers up for the challenge. Indeed, Wachtell tends to fare well on The American Lawyer’s annual Midlevel Associates Survey: It was thirteenth in 2010 (though that dropped to thirty–seventh in 2011). The legendary associate bonuses—north of 100 percent of base pay prerecession; less, but still well above average, after the downturn—probably don’t hurt. Even for the many lawyers who won’t make partner at Wachtell, the profitable firm is a profitable experience.

—Updated as of 1/1/12