Skadden

Founded by Marshall Skadden, Les Arps and John Slate on April Fools’ Day in 1948, Skadden began as a scrappy upstart among a sea of established "white shoe" law firms in New York. Joe Flom was hired as the firm’s first associate later that year, and litigator Bill Meagher, the fifth partner to lend his name to the firm’s letterhead as it appears today, joined in 1959.

Its first two decades were characterized by slow but steady client growth, while it established itself as the go-to firm for its clients’ most complex legal issues. Its willingness to handle proxy litigation in the 1950s and early 1960s—matters considered unseemly by high-powered law firms—positioned us to become the firm of choice for the hostile takeovers that dominated the M&A landscape beginning in the 1970s.

Recognizing the value of providing comprehensive advice to their clients, from day one they sought to develop a range of complementary practices, including litigation, tax, and antitrust. Their clients’ needs led them to open offices in other cities beginning in 1973, and the volume of work we handled fueled exponential growth in the firm’s number of lawyers in the 1980s. This growth included a significant expansion of the practices we offered clients, including restructuring, finance, real estate, general liability, and securities litigation, as well as the opening of offices in Europe and Asia.

In the decades since, they have built on their platform to advise clients around the world on their most important matters. Their core values ​​reflect the ideals of our history, and they remain committed to providing excellent legal advice and unparalleled client service in all their work.