What's going on at Skadden? Forum

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What's going on at Skadden?

Post by Spectator » Sat Aug 08, 2020 1:11 pm

Rumors are circulating that they're also under considerable distress.

Their revenue declined in 2019 (Above The Law).

They deferred their incoming associates to January 2021 (Reddit).

And it's been stated that a sizable portion of the v10 doesn't consider Skadden to be a "peer firm" (Top Law Schools).

Why would a firm as big and well known as Skadden be seeing drops even before covid, and why did they defer their whole class?

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Re: What's going on at Skadden?

Post by Anonymous User » Sat Aug 08, 2020 9:08 pm

I’m a corporate midlevel at Skadden—no sense of distress internally. Managing partner has been providing periodic video updates that are actually relatively encouraging (including a statement recently, which I’m sure was well-considered, that seemed to imply that bonuses would be flat this year if things continue as-is). My group is decently busy, and if anything I think people are surprised that business has remained stable and that work from home is going better than expected.

Anyway, guess this thread may be a troll. Seems like an imitation of the ‘What’s up with S&C’ thread.

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Re: What's going on at Skadden?

Post by Sackboy » Sat Aug 08, 2020 9:15 pm

Skadden is probably fine financially but is trying to preserve its PPP while not cutting associate pay by deferring. I doubt the firm is in any sort of existential crisis, but it just may not be as padded with counter-cyclical practices as some of its peers and might have some major clients that have been particularly negatively affected by COVID and therefore slow on the M&A front. I would be surprised if Skadden saw anything more than an extremely minor revenue decline, and I think flat or increasing revenues are equally, if not more, likely.

Skadden not being seen as a peer firm in the V10 is lunacy. It's likely derived from some resentment that Skadden does as well as it does. Before Kirkland was the V10 pariah, it was Skadden, and I'm sure some of those folks who hate on newcomers are still around and holding their grudge against Skadden. I know many of my clients consider Skadden an exceptional firm on the level of all the other firms you mentioned and all of the V10 that you did not.

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Re: What's going on at Skadden?

Post by esther0123 » Sat Aug 08, 2020 9:24 pm

Ditto on Skadden not being a "peer". Yes, some old school folks will say that but that's actually not true in terms of the substance of work, the perspective of the clients, or the firm brand. It's just the white shoe firms hating on newcomers whose model disrupt the traditional model, much like Kirkland and Latham. Skadden is newer relative to DPW or CSM, but that should not preclude them from being a peer. There was a time when Wachtell was also considered "not a peer" because it was too new, but it is now truly supreme.

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Re: What's going on at Skadden?

Post by addie1412 » Sat Aug 08, 2020 9:55 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Sat Aug 08, 2020 9:08 pm
I’m a corporate midlevel at Skadden—no sense of distress internally. Managing partner has been providing periodic video updates that are actually relatively encouraging (including a statement recently, which I’m sure was well-considered, that seemed to imply that bonuses would be flat this year if things continue as-is). My group is decently busy, and if anything I think people are surprised that business has remained stable and that work from home is going better than expected.

Anyway, guess this thread may be a troll. Seems like an imitation of the ‘What’s up with S&C’ thread.
It's one of only two V10s to defer incoming associates to 2021, so OP was probably being genuine, if misguided.

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Re: What's going on at Skadden?

Post by Anonymous User » Sun Aug 09, 2020 9:40 am

Anonymous User wrote:
Sat Aug 08, 2020 9:08 pm
I’m a corporate midlevel at Skadden—no sense of distress internally. Managing partner has been providing periodic video updates that are actually relatively encouraging (including a statement recently, which I’m sure was well-considered, that seemed to imply that bonuses would be flat this year if things continue as-is). My group is decently busy, and if anything I think people are surprised that business has remained stable and that work from home is going better than expected.

Anyway, guess this thread may be a troll. Seems like an imitation of the ‘What’s up with S&C’ thread.
Also at Skadden. +1 to all of the above. Seems like a troll given the username "Vault10Firm."

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Re: What's going on at Skadden?

Post by Anonymous User » Sun Aug 09, 2020 11:23 am

M&A midlevel at Skadden. I personally am on pace for a normal year of billing, and according to the firm billing and collections are flat this year which I view as a good thing given the circumstances.

On the deferral I will say that I think they needed to do this because there is simply no work for first years. Whether this is temporary or a real paradigm shift, I think the days of clients paying biglaw rates for first year doc review and diligence may be over.

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Re: What's going on at Skadden?

Post by Spectator » Sun Aug 09, 2020 11:35 am

Sackboy wrote:
Sat Aug 08, 2020 9:15 pm
Skadden is probably fine financially but is trying to preserve its PPP while not cutting associate pay by deferring. I doubt the firm is in any sort of existential crisis, but it just may not be as padded with counter-cyclical practices as some of its peers and might have some major clients that have been particularly negatively affected by COVID and therefore slow on the M&A front.
That's what I suspected and, combined with the below...
Anonymous User wrote:
Sun Aug 09, 2020 11:23 am
On the deferral I will say that I think they needed to do this because there is simply no work for first years. Whether this is temporary or a real paradigm shift, I think the days of clients paying biglaw rates for first year doc review and diligence may be over.
This sounds like distress to me.

Putting aside the deferred incoming associates, what does this lack of work and need for cost-saving measures mean for Skadden's current first years?
Anonymous User wrote:
Sat Aug 08, 2020 9:08 pm
I’m a corporate midlevel at Skadden—no sense of distress internally. Managing partner has been providing periodic video updates that are actually relatively encouraging (including a statement recently, which I’m sure was well-considered, that seemed to imply that bonuses would be flat this year if things continue as-is).
When you say bonuses will remain flat, do you mean that associates will get the same bonus that they received last year, that bonuses will remain at the same level they typically are based on class year, or that there will be no additional pay on top of the standard bonus (e.g. everyone in X year gets 25K, and no one in X year gets more than 25K despite exceptional reviews, etc.)?
addie1412 wrote:
Sat Aug 08, 2020 9:55 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Sat Aug 08, 2020 9:08 pm
Anyway, guess this thread may be a troll. Seems like an imitation of the ‘What’s up with S&C’ thread.
It's one of only two V10s to defer incoming associates to 2021, so OP was probably being genuine, if misguided.
Seems like a big deal to be in the extremely small minority of the v10 that has had to defer its incoming associates that far.
Anonymous User wrote:
Sun Aug 09, 2020 9:40 am
Also at Skadden. +1 to all of the above. Seems like a troll given the username "Vault10Firm."
Check your username-creativity privilege. I couldn't think of anything else.

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Re: What's going on at Skadden?

Post by addie1412 » Sun Aug 09, 2020 2:18 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Sun Aug 09, 2020 11:23 am
M&A midlevel at Skadden. I personally am on pace for a normal year of billing, and according to the firm billing and collections are flat this year which I view as a good thing given the circumstances.

On the deferral I will say that I think they needed to do this because there is simply no work for first years. Whether this is temporary or a real paradigm shift, I think the days of clients paying biglaw rates for first year doc review and diligence may be over.
If Skadden needed to do this while their peer firms are able to bring first-years on in the fall as planned, that doesn't look great for Skadden.

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Re: What's going on at Skadden?

Post by Anonymous User » Sun Aug 09, 2020 4:28 pm

Anecdotical, but I heard Skadden could implement cost cutting measures. Not great.

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Re: What's going on at Skadden?

Post by Wild Card » Sun Aug 09, 2020 4:42 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Sat Aug 08, 2020 9:08 pm
I’m a corporate midlevel at Skadden . . . .

Anyway, guess this thread may be a troll. Seems like an imitation of the ‘What’s up with S&C’ thread.
Are you sure you don't work for HR? It's not an unreasonable concern, that a supposedly tip-top firm like Skadden can't timely onboard associates. It suggests mismanagement amounting to incompetence.

At the very least, Skadden isn't alone, joining many respectable firms in pushing everybody to January 2021.

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Re: What's going on at Skadden?

Post by Wild Card » Sun Aug 09, 2020 4:45 pm

addie1412 wrote:
Sun Aug 09, 2020 2:18 pm
If Skadden needed to do this while their peer firms are able to bring first-years on in the fall as planned, that doesn't look great for Skadden.
Or one could argue that they're ruthless and shameless in their sleaziness. It's absolutely true that many stub years sit around doing absolutely nothing for the first few months, so why pay them? Skadden can pay, it just doesn't want to pay.

I'm more concerned about a white shoe firm like Simpson doing this.

Cleary has a great reputation, and it's also sad seeing them resort to this.

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Re: What's going on at Skadden?

Post by Anonymous User » Sun Aug 09, 2020 5:27 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Sun Aug 09, 2020 4:28 pm
Anecdotical, but I heard Skadden could implement cost cutting measures. Not great.
First anon here. Definitely not HR and not sure why I'm wasting my time responding in this thread. As an initial matter, isn't the above anon abuse?

As the other M&A midlevel mentioned, the firm has stated that billing and collections are flat this year (among other encouraging statements given covid). Don't see how that could be considered "distress," but by all means Vault10Firm, feel free to work elsewhere. As I mentioned before, the general sense I've gotten is that people are pleasantly surprised how well business has held up. To address the specific question, by "flat" bonuses I meant the implication was that the scale would remain the same as last year if business remains on track as it has so far (i.e., a good thing).

To address the slow first years point, at least personally I've found it more difficult to leverage first year associates in the remote working environment. Didn't have much chance to get to know them before covid hit, and it's harder to get them up to speed remotely. Pre-covid it was often less efficient to delegate certain tasks to first years anyway, and I think remote work has exacerbated that. Doubt these factors are unique to Skadden.

Still suspect some of this is a flame, but if the purpose of this forum is to provide useful information, the vague speculation in this thread is doing a disservice.

All that to say, have at the first year start date--don't have a dog in that fight. Think it's very much a mistake to extrapolate "distress" from that though.

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Re: What's going on at Skadden?

Post by parkslope » Sun Aug 09, 2020 6:14 pm

Wild Card wrote:
Sun Aug 09, 2020 4:45 pm
addie1412 wrote:
Sun Aug 09, 2020 2:18 pm
If Skadden needed to do this while their peer firms are able to bring first-years on in the fall as planned, that doesn't look great for Skadden.
Or one could argue that they're ruthless and shameless in their sleaziness. It's absolutely true that many stub years sit around doing absolutely nothing for the first few months, so why pay them? Skadden can pay, it just doesn't want to pay.

I'm more concerned about a white shoe firm like Simpson doing this.

Cleary has a great reputation, and it's also sad seeing them resort to this.
What exactly is the difference between Simpson Thacher and Skadden here? Also, Cleary is not "white shoe" and was widely rumored to be doing stealth layoffs in other threads.

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Re: What's going on at Skadden?

Post by Anonymous User » Sun Aug 09, 2020 6:26 pm

On the "Skadden isn't considered a true peer" to the elite NY firms: (a) it's not just old people who think this, (b) it's not random resentment or jealousy, and (c) it's actually still around.

I don't have a dog in the fight. As someone who does not work at ANY of these firms but went to school, clerked, and previously worked with many of these types of people/in the market, I'm sort of interested in it from a sociological perspective and find it amusing. It is KIND OF silly, but it does make SOME sense. Skadden is huge in the way Wal-Mart is huge, as opposed to elite firms like Cravath and S&C. Even firms with multiple offices around the world, like DPW, are big in the way Neiman Marcus is big, or Louie Vuitton; Skadden is more like Walmart or Target. (The irony is what Walmart and Target are doing really well, while the more high end luxury stores like Neiman are not. But again, it's about perception, NOT reality.)

Btw, the very top students from top schools like HYSCCN get a sense of this, which can be seen from what firms they pick when they have the options among them. When I was in school, this was something "in the air" both during 2L OCI and afterwards. And other top-V ranked firms like S&C, DPW, Cravath are discussed among clerks in courthouses when thinking about changing it up; but when I was clerking (2/9/DC) Skadden was clearly seen as Biglaw-but-a-step-below. (Other firms also got discussed b/c of strong practice area ties to litigation, like Gibson Dunn, and then obviously the boutiques.)

That's probably a snobbish attitude, but I'm just reporting its existence. Obviously YMMV. Just one (pretty well contextualized) sense of the perception.

(Please don't make this thread about K&E; different things can be different.)

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Re: What's going on at Skadden?

Post by addie1412 » Sun Aug 09, 2020 6:52 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Sun Aug 09, 2020 5:27 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Sun Aug 09, 2020 4:28 pm
Anecdotical, but I heard Skadden could implement cost cutting measures. Not great.
First anon here. Definitely not HR and not sure why I'm wasting my time responding in this thread. As an initial matter, isn't the above anon abuse?

As the other M&A midlevel mentioned, the firm has stated that billing and collections are flat this year (among other encouraging statements given covid). Don't see how that could be considered "distress," but by all means Vault10Firm, feel free to work elsewhere. As I mentioned before, the general sense I've gotten is that people are pleasantly surprised how well business has held up. To address the specific question, by "flat" bonuses I meant the implication was that the scale would remain the same as last year if business remains on track as it has so far (i.e., a good thing).

To address the slow first years point, at least personally I've found it more difficult to leverage first year associates in the remote working environment. Didn't have much chance to get to know them before covid hit, and it's harder to get them up to speed remotely. Pre-covid it was often less efficient to delegate certain tasks to first years anyway, and I think remote work has exacerbated that. Doubt these factors are unique to Skadden.

Still suspect some of this is a flame, but if the purpose of this forum is to provide useful information, the vague speculation in this thread is doing a disservice.

All that to say, have at the first year start date--don't have a dog in that fight. Think it's very much a mistake to extrapolate "distress" from that though.
Still, despite these factors not being unique to Skadden, other firms have apparently decided/found a way to eat these costs in order to allow incoming associates to start their careers in a timely manner. Further, the fact that Skadden's deferral stipend + advance package for incoming first-years is equivalent to that of small firms like Thompson & Knight (and inferior to that of firms like Hogan Lovells, Mayer Brown, etc.) doesn't exactly scream "we care about our incoming class." Regardless of how the firm's actually doing financially, it appears incoming associates are low priority, and I can't imagine that'll be great for recruiting over the next couple of years.

I think it's a poor move, personally, but hey, at least we know the midlevels are happy.

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Re: What's going on at Skadden?

Post by enibs » Sun Aug 09, 2020 8:05 pm

I said in the S&C thread that I don’t believe they’re in “considerable financial distress” and I don’t believe Skadden is in considerable distress either. But if I’m right, deferring incoming associates is not a good look, just as laying off staff is not a good look at S&C.

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Re: What's going on at Skadden?

Post by parkslope » Sun Aug 09, 2020 8:18 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Sun Aug 09, 2020 6:26 pm
On the "Skadden isn't considered a true peer" to the elite NY firms: (a) it's not just old people who think this, (b) it's not random resentment or jealousy, and (c) it's actually still around.

I don't have a dog in the fight. As someone who does not work at ANY of these firms but went to school, clerked, and previously worked with many of these types of people/in the market, I'm sort of interested in it from a sociological perspective and find it amusing. It is KIND OF silly, but it does make SOME sense. Skadden is huge in the way Wal-Mart is huge, as opposed to elite firms like Cravath and S&C. Even firms with multiple offices around the world, like DPW, are big in the way Neiman Marcus is big, or Louie Vuitton; Skadden is more like Walmart or Target. (The irony is what Walmart and Target are doing really well, while the more high end luxury stores like Neiman are not. But again, it's about perception, NOT reality.)

Btw, the very top students from top schools like HYSCCN get a sense of this, which can be seen from what firms they pick when they have the options among them. When I was in school, this was something "in the air" both during 2L OCI and afterwards. And other top-V ranked firms like S&C, DPW, Cravath are discussed among clerks in courthouses when thinking about changing it up; but when I was clerking (2/9/DC) Skadden was clearly seen as Biglaw-but-a-step-below. (Other firms also got discussed b/c of strong practice area ties to litigation, like Gibson Dunn, and then obviously the boutiques.)

That's probably a snobbish attitude, but I'm just reporting its existence. Obviously YMMV. Just one (pretty well contextualized) sense of the perception.

(Please don't make this thread about K&E; different things can be different.)
I get that the CSM/S&C/DPW triumvirate is seen as a cut above everyone else, as are sometimes the more "elite" litigation firms like PW and GDC, but is Skadden seen as worse than like, Simpson Thacher, Debevoise, Cleary, etc? Cleary has way more offices than Skadden, for example.

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Re: What's going on at Skadden?

Post by Joachim2017 » Mon Aug 10, 2020 1:12 am

parkslope wrote:
Sun Aug 09, 2020 8:18 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Sun Aug 09, 2020 6:26 pm
On the "Skadden isn't considered a true peer" to the elite NY firms: (a) it's not just old people who think this, (b) it's not random resentment or jealousy, and (c) it's actually still around.

I don't have a dog in the fight. As someone who does not work at ANY of these firms but went to school, clerked, and previously worked with many of these types of people/in the market, I'm sort of interested in it from a sociological perspective and find it amusing. It is KIND OF silly, but it does make SOME sense. Skadden is huge in the way Wal-Mart is huge, as opposed to elite firms like Cravath and S&C. Even firms with multiple offices around the world, like DPW, are big in the way Neiman Marcus is big, or Louie Vuitton; Skadden is more like Walmart or Target. (The irony is what Walmart and Target are doing really well, while the more high end luxury stores like Neiman are not. But again, it's about perception, NOT reality.)

Btw, the very top students from top schools like HYSCCN get a sense of this, which can be seen from what firms they pick when they have the options among them. When I was in school, this was something "in the air" both during 2L OCI and afterwards. And other top-V ranked firms like S&C, DPW, Cravath are discussed among clerks in courthouses when thinking about changing it up; but when I was clerking (2/9/DC) Skadden was clearly seen as Biglaw-but-a-step-below. (Other firms also got discussed b/c of strong practice area ties to litigation, like Gibson Dunn, and then obviously the boutiques.)

That's probably a snobbish attitude, but I'm just reporting its existence. Obviously YMMV. Just one (pretty well contextualized) sense of the perception.

(Please don't make this thread about K&E; different things can be different.)
I get that the CSM/S&C/DPW triumvirate is seen as a cut above everyone else, as are sometimes the more "elite" litigation firms like PW and GDC, but is Skadden seen as worse than like, Simpson Thacher, Debevoise, Cleary, etc? Cleary has way more offices than Skadden, for example.
I think the more-or-less consensus view in my peer group, anyway, is that Skadden is right around there with Cleary and Debevoise. But yes, agree that it's seen as a cut below Cravath, DPW, and S&C (and obviously WLRK).

STB is a little odd in that they are really good but so heavily known for very specific client types / work. I suspect a lot of this is branding and marketing. Reputation has a way of being sticky and self-perpetuating, but you can break out of it (as K&E has shown over the last few years, and as Milbank is trying to do now. It will be interesting to see what Milbank is perceived as in 5-7 years, if it keeps things up.

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Re: What's going on at Skadden?

Post by JusticeSquee » Mon Aug 10, 2020 10:33 am

addie1412 wrote:
Sun Aug 09, 2020 2:18 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Sun Aug 09, 2020 11:23 am
M&A midlevel at Skadden. I personally am on pace for a normal year of billing, and according to the firm billing and collections are flat this year which I view as a good thing given the circumstances.

On the deferral I will say that I think they needed to do this because there is simply no work for first years. Whether this is temporary or a real paradigm shift, I think the days of clients paying biglaw rates for first year doc review and diligence may be over.
If Skadden needed to do this while their peer firms are able to bring first-years on in the fall as planned, that doesn't look great for Skadden.
This is critical. Skadden can clearly afford to start first-years this fall, but they have failed to do so. Cravath, Wachtell, Latham, Kirkland, and Davis Polk are all starting this year. Hard to see Skadden as a peer firm if it doesn't act accordingly.

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Re: What's going on at Skadden?

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Aug 10, 2020 11:41 am

I’m at a firm that didn’t cut salaries and is also planning to start associates in 2021. My understanding is that because of all the uncertainty with the bar timing and then the holidays coming up after the exam, the end of 2020 is just a disruptive time to try and onboard new people.

That seems like a reasonable position to me, and it would make sense to me if that’s what Skadden was doing.

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Re: What's going on at Skadden?

Post by cavalier1138 » Mon Aug 10, 2020 12:18 pm

Vault10Firm wrote:
Sun Aug 09, 2020 11:35 am
Check your username-creativity privilege. I couldn't think of anything else.
That's understandable, given that this appears to be your third account. Please PM me from one of the other two to let me know which name you would like to keep posting under; your sockpuppet account(s) will be banned.

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Re: What's going on at Skadden?

Post by sms18 » Mon Aug 10, 2020 3:53 pm

Joachim2017 wrote:
Mon Aug 10, 2020 1:12 am
parkslope wrote:
Sun Aug 09, 2020 8:18 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Sun Aug 09, 2020 6:26 pm
On the "Skadden isn't considered a true peer" to the elite NY firms: (a) it's not just old people who think this, (b) it's not random resentment or jealousy, and (c) it's actually still around.

I don't have a dog in the fight. As someone who does not work at ANY of these firms but went to school, clerked, and previously worked with many of these types of people/in the market, I'm sort of interested in it from a sociological perspective and find it amusing. It is KIND OF silly, but it does make SOME sense. Skadden is huge in the way Wal-Mart is huge, as opposed to elite firms like Cravath and S&C. Even firms with multiple offices around the world, like DPW, are big in the way Neiman Marcus is big, or Louie Vuitton; Skadden is more like Walmart or Target. (The irony is what Walmart and Target are doing really well, while the more high end luxury stores like Neiman are not. But again, it's about perception, NOT reality.)

Btw, the very top students from top schools like HYSCCN get a sense of this, which can be seen from what firms they pick when they have the options among them. When I was in school, this was something "in the air" both during 2L OCI and afterwards. And other top-V ranked firms like S&C, DPW, Cravath are discussed among clerks in courthouses when thinking about changing it up; but when I was clerking (2/9/DC) Skadden was clearly seen as Biglaw-but-a-step-below. (Other firms also got discussed b/c of strong practice area ties to litigation, like Gibson Dunn, and then obviously the boutiques.)

That's probably a snobbish attitude, but I'm just reporting its existence. Obviously YMMV. Just one (pretty well contextualized) sense of the perception.

(Please don't make this thread about K&E; different things can be different.)
I get that the CSM/S&C/DPW triumvirate is seen as a cut above everyone else, as are sometimes the more "elite" litigation firms like PW and GDC, but is Skadden seen as worse than like, Simpson Thacher, Debevoise, Cleary, etc? Cleary has way more offices than Skadden, for example.
I think the more-or-less consensus view in my peer group, anyway, is that Skadden is right around there with Cleary and Debevoise. But yes, agree that it's seen as a cut below Cravath, DPW, and S&C (and obviously WLRK).

STB is a little odd in that they are really good but so heavily known for very specific client types / work. I suspect a lot of this is branding and marketing. Reputation has a way of being sticky and self-perpetuating, but you can break out of it (as K&E has shown over the last few years, and as Milbank is trying to do now. It will be interesting to see what Milbank is perceived as in 5-7 years, if it keeps things up.
The whole "prestige" thing about which V10 firms are really "elite" is generally silly, especially in the context of how law students/relatively junior lawyers think of prestige, which is mainly about selectivity. The above post about Skadden being like Walmart/Target of biglaw gets to the point that Skadden is much bigger than CSM and DPW and not as selective when hiring lawyers (law students feel better about themselves when they manage to get into a more selective firm; they typically don't understand or even frankly care about the type of transactions these firms work on and the type of clients these firms work for). On the other hand, there is a different perception in the industry/market on "prestige" that is not based on selectivity but moreso on the type of transactions/clients a firm is associated with - e.g., CSM S&C and DPW have a history of handling sophisticated/complex transactions for blue chip clients/bulge bracket banks (have a look at CSM's venerable history: https://200.cravath.com/), while Skadden and STB have been generally known as counsel to the private equity sponsors, who in the 70's and 80's were derided as "corporate raiders" etc. This obviously doesn't matter as much anymore and CSM/DPW would probably kill to take some of the Blackstone/KKR business from STB.

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Re: What's going on at Skadden?

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Aug 10, 2020 8:38 pm

Agree Skadden kinda sucks. Like, if I could do it over again, I probably would have gone to Cravath or DPW or something. But that's just based on my friends there seeming to prefer their firm to my friends at Skadden, who universally are just like "Yeah it sucks but whatever it could be a whole lot worse."

Regardless, handful of Skadden facts for you from the marketing memo that just got blasted to my group:

In 2020, they:
are #1 in US IPOs
are #1 in SPAC IPOs
(20 IPOs, $12B)
are #1 in Global Equity Offerings (34, $35B)
are #1 issuer-side in equity linked offerings ($7B)
have done 27 pipes totaling approximately $12B
have done 94 IG-grade offerings totaling approximately $74B
have done 19 liability management transactions totaling $18B

So probably not particularly hurting.

To the extent they're not a "peer" firm, it's because they're willing to hire some students at schools like Brooklyn Law and drive them into the dirt just like the rest of us, rather than exclusively aiming their corporate cock at flattening the creativity and ambition and personal relationships of T6ers and their ilk. God forbid a top firm be willing to bill out someone with a 161 LSAT score 6 years ago rather than someone with a 174 6 years ago, right? By basically any other measure, they (like Kirkland, and a handful of other firms that always get shit-talked by dozens of negative-net-worth 27 year olds in a dick measuring contest on this site and similar fora while not caring because they are rolling in unethically enormous piles of cash on a daily basis) are a peer firm.

Anonymous User
Posts: 428122
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am

Re: What's going on at Skadden?

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Aug 10, 2020 11:09 pm

Anon above -- would also add that to the extent anyone thinks Skadden isn't a "peer firm" because it has an hours threshold for bonus:

1) the hours threshold is quite low (1800) and includes unlimited pro bono (to the firm's credit), for what that's worth, but

2) Agree -- if I'm a law student choosing which faceless shop to throw 2000+ hours of my life at in a given year, especially as a junior who has no control over my own workflow, I'd absolutely write off any firm that is going to punish me to the tune of thousands of dollars if their own workflow management results in me coming in under 1800 in a given year.

In the "fuck you, pay me" ethos that everyone really ought to adopt, I think any firm that has a strict hours cut-off but otherwise does similar calibre work should absolutely be regarded as second-tier as compared to firms that work on the same matters but don't enforce a threshold. So, think that handicaps Skadden.

Seriously? What are you waiting for?

Now there's a charge.
Just kidding ... it's still FREE!


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