The Cahill Advantage
At Cahill, the cornerstone of career development is “responsibility when ready.” Associates earn substantive roles as soon as they demonstrate ability and commitment and are afforded the opportunity to seek out the kinds of assignments and teams that best meet their preferences and goals. There is no arbitrary or sequential system to hold them back. When associates show the necessary skill, judgment and work ethic, they are given a level of responsibility that exceeds what is afforded associates at most other firms.
Our associates find that Cahill stands apart due to the uncommon degree of respect for individuality that permeates our culture. We are large enough to handle top flight, complex matters for important clients, and also small enough to treat each of our associates as an individual, allowing each of them to develop as an attorney at their own pace. Our culture of professionalism, mutual respect and appreciation for each other's individuality fosters a welcoming and rewarding environment where people work together in the way that best suits our clients’ needs and promotes career satisfaction in our attorneys.
The free market system allows our associates to pursue the work that interests them most and gives them a real say in their development and career trajectory. It also holds all of us accountable as mentors and teachers. We’re all motivated to grow by this system, as people and professionals, all of the time. That means that when we think about what we value and how we operate, we think about how people should be treated, and the best ways to help them succeed. It’s an inclusive culture and a system that really depends on – and celebrates – diversity and teamwork.
Cahill was a founding member of the Law Firm Antiracism Alliance. The Chairs of the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee and Women’s Initiatives Committee are also members of the Executive Committee. The firm has a dedicated Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Counsel as well. The individual in this role works closely with the firm’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee to advance the firm’s efforts in the DEI area, including assisting with year-round DEI and Women’s Initiatives Committee programming, keeping apprised of best practices, news and studies in this area, and coordinating ongoing DEI trainings to enhance the professional development of Cahill attorneys.
At Cahill, our values include:
- Initiative – trusting you with responsibilities as you are ready for them
- Creativity & Intellect – giving you the opportunity to make meaningful contributions to the work of the firm
- Personal Growth – giving you the feedback you deserve to continue to move forward
- Diversity – everywhere, from hiring to promotions. Nearly 50% of new partners made at the firm since 2018 have been diverse and/or women. In recent years, our entering first year classes have been 40% diverse on average.
Close interaction between clients, partners, and associates fosters strong connections and accelerated career development for our associates and a strong community of lawyers. Cahill Academy represents the multi-layered, coordinated and comprehensive approach that we have implemented to train and develop our lawyers. This approach includes the following elements:
- Cahill Academy: Our Education and Training Committee has structured timely and specialized training for the work that you will do, designed to help you develop a solid foundation of substantive skills and know-how and professional practice competencies, as well as engage you in the culture and life of the firm and aid you in forming a strong professional network. In partnership with our Professional Development Committee, Cahill Academy also offers associates one-on-one coaching opportunities, as well career development seminars and leadership exercises led by a certified executive career coach.
- Unrivaled On-the-Job Experience: You will build on the knowledge you learn from the formal programs by working closely on client matters with more senior Cahill lawyers. We do not limit the opportunities available to our lawyers based on their seniority; we encourage our associates to push themselves beyond their regular comfort zone to supercharge their professional growth.
- Formal Mentoring by a Dedicated Partner Mentor: We offer a formal mentoring program, coordinated by our Professional Development Committee, structured to provide customized support to you and thoughtful career advice from partners and more senior associates.
- Individualized Feedback Based on 360º Evaluations: We solicit performance evaluations, using objective metrics, from all attorneys who have worked with you during each review period.
Our lawyers are encouraged to work on pro bono matters that support the causes they care about most, and through our various pro bono initiatives, including many that leverage our long-standing relationships with premier public service organizations, Cahill’s pro bono practice offers a wide array of opportunities to have an impact. These initiatives include Cahill Pro Bono for the Arts, The Door, SDNY Criminal Justice Act Panel, Legal Aid Society, Sanctuary for Families, Veterans’ New Business Initiative and Know Your Rights.
Behind the Headlines
Cahill’s work routinely earns awards and high rankings throughout the world. The firm has earned a reputation for premier client service, legal excellence and the ability to master complex challenges. The firm’s lawyers participate in many of the market’s most significant transactions and in high-profile investigations and litigation.
Cahill’s corporate practice touches a broad spectrum of areas including banking and finance, capital markets, private credit, M&A and corporate advisory, ESG, bankruptcy and restructuring, insurance and tax, among others.
Cahill advised the debt financing banks in 9 of the 10 largest completed buyouts in U.S. history, and is consistently involved in headline-making deals, such as the landmark $67 billion buyout of EMC Corp by Dell, the acquisition of SanDisk by Western Digital, the acquisition of Time Warner Cable by Charter Communications, ICON’s $12 billion acquisition of PRA Health Sciences and Broadcom’s $61 billion acquisition of VMware. Top financial institutions trust Cahill to deliver solutions-focused advice and deal execution in the most sophisticated and challenging finance transactions. These include BofA Merrill Lynch, Barclays, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan, UBS and Wells Fargo, among others.
Since 2005, Cahill has earned the distinction of being ranked as the #1 legal adviser to U.S. high-yield bond underwriters by Bloomberg and is ranked in Band 1 annually by Chambers USA and Chambers Global. On the lending side, Cahill has been the top ranked legal adviser to U.S. lead arrangers of leveraged loans since 2010, as measured by Refinitiv Loan Connector and has a Band 1 from Chambers USA and a Tier 1 ranking from The Legal 500 US.
Cahill manages large-scale (and often cross-border) securities and commercial litigation, white collar and corporate governance matters, as well as insurance, antitrust, First Amendment, intellectual property, and professional liability cases. Cahill’s experience and reputation for client service has led Chambers USA to rank the firm among New York’s "Elite" law firms for Commercial Litigation since 2008. Cahill’s litigation practice is also top-ranked by The Legal 500 and Benchmark Litigation and Cahill has been named a "Go-To" firm by Corporate Counsel.
In 2021, Cahill secured victories on behalf of clients Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas in a suit brought by Plaintiffs Insight Securities, Inc. and Intelligenics, Inc. alleging negligence arising from the transfer of securities related to a Ponzi scheme and Clearview AI, Inc. in defeating plaintiffs’ motion for preliminary injunction, which sought to enjoin defendants from using the biometric data of Illinois residents in Clearview’s facial recognition app. The firm also represented Credit Suisse in several victories including defeating class actions alleging that Credit Suisse violated the antitrust laws by colluding to manipulate U.S. Treasury auctions and the pricing of Treasury securities in the when-issued market and in connection with trading in the multi-trillion dollar market for U.S. dollar-denominated supranational, sovereign, and agency (“SSA”) bonds.
Cahill currently represents Trevor Milton, the billionaire founder of Nikola Corporation, in connection with arguably the highest-profile white-collar criminal securities fraud matter of 2020 and 2021 that has received front-page attention in all major newspapers. The firm is also currently representing Ilya Lichtenstein, who was charged in February 2022 with participating in the largest financial fraud ever charged in the history of the Department of Justice, involving the alleged laundering of more than $4 billion in stolen cryptocurrency. The matter generated worldwide media attention and spans multiple international jurisdictions.
Cahill advises numerous companies, boards and committees on white collar and corporate governance-related matters, including internal and governmental investigations around the world. The firm regularly advises companies on FCPA risk in connection with proposed mergers and acquisitions around the world and helps them establish policies, procedures, controls to detect and prevent bribery and corruption post-acquisition. Cahill’s securities litigation and white collar defense practice is top-ranked by Chambers USA, The Legal 500 and Benchmark Litigation. Cahill was also named a Top Ten “FCPA Powerhouse” law firm by Law360.
Throughout the firm’s history, Cahill lawyers have appeared before the U.S. Supreme Court in landmark cases, including: NBC v. United States, which helped to establish the authority of the Federal Communications Commission; Times-Picayune v. United States, which is among the Court’s seminal antitrust tying rulings; United States v. Grinnell Corp., which addressed monopolization and The New York Times in New York Times Co. v. United States (the “Pentagon Papers” case).
- Chambers USA
- Banking & Finance, Band 1
- Capital Markets: High-Yield Debt, Band 1
- Corporate Crime & Investigations: Highly Regarded, Band 1
- Cahill is also ranked by Chambers USA in the following practice areas: Antitrust, Environment: Mainly Transactional, Insurance: Dispute Resolution: Insurer, Litigation: General Commercial: The Elite, Litigation: Securities, Litigation: White-Collar Crime & Government Investigations: The Elite, Media & Entertainment: First Amendment Litigation, Tax, Capital Markets: Equity: Manager Counsel, Capital Markets: Investment Grade Debt: Manager Counsel
- The Legal 500
- Capital Markets: High-Yield Debt Offerings, Tier 1
- Commercial Lending, Tier 1
- Cahill is also ranked by The Legal 500 in the following practice areas: Securities Litigation: Defense, Capital Markets: Debt Offerings, Environment: Transactional, M&A: Middle-Market (sub-$500m), Corporate Investigations and White-Collar Criminal Defense, General Commercial Disputes, Capital Markets: Equity Offerings, Insurance: Advice to Insurers, Corporate Governance, Telecoms and Broadcast: Transactions, Antitrust Civil Litigations/Class Actions: Defense, Antitrust Merger Control, US Taxes: Non-Contentious
Summer associates gain firsthand experience of what it would be like to practice at Cahill. Substantive work assignments, thoughtful mentoring, progressive training programs and lively events, help summer associates to develop a realistic sense of Cahill’s people and practices.
In a firm where over 85 percent of partners worked as associates at the firm, Cahill’s lawyers can feel confident that their development is of great interest to those around them. Cahill partners participate in every aspect of associate development, from the design and implementation of training and development, to serving as active mentors.
Summer associates have opportunities to gain valuable public interest experience and a deeper insight into the judicial system. Throughout the summer, they may work directly with pro bono clients through organizations like Sanctuary for Families, the Legal Aid Society of New York, Lawyers Alliance for New York, New York State Small Business Development Center's Veterans Program and youth services centers such as The Door. Summer associates observe trials, visit judges’ chambers and have lunch with judges.
Summer associates stay in close contact with their associate and partner colleagues, and are afforded the opportunity to participate in various events, including cooking classes, premier New York sporting and cultural events, a chartered fishing excursion, and evenings attending Broadway shows. Summer associates are invited to lunches, happy hours and dinners with Cahill attorneys throughout the summer, and to receptions held at partners’ homes.