Simpson Thacher

A Wall Street institution, Simpson Thacher houses elite teams in M&A, banking, capital markets, private equity, and litigation. With more than 1,000 lawyers across 11 global offices, Simpson Thacher has long held its spot among the top law firms in the world.

Hear Them Roar

In 1884, three Columbia Law grads—John Woodruff Simpson, Thomas Thacher, and William Milo Barnum—hung a shingle in lower Manhattan. It didn’t take them long to leave their mark in the history books, jumping right into the railroad reorganizations of the 1880s and having a hand in some of the most important deals relating to U.S. infrastructure; for example, advising General Electric as it set up power and light companies, the American Locomotive Company during its establishment, and the American Gas and Electric Company during its initial structuring. The work in these early years were but a preview of the sophisticated work to come.

Racking Up Rankings

With top 10 rankings in six of Vault’s transactional practice area rankings—Private Equity, Securities/Capital Markets, Banking & Financial Services, General Corporate Practice, M&A, and Project Finance—Simpson Thacher sits pretty upon the corporate throne. The firm has one of the world’s premier M&A practices, with unique strength in all aspects of private equity. Simpson Thacher’s award-winning corporate practice leads front-page deals involving M&As, private fund formation and investments, equity and debt capital markets offerings, joint ventures, project financings and infrastructure development, structured financings, syndicated loans, debt restructurings and bankruptcies, privatizations, and real estate transactions. The firm counts American Electric Power, Apax Partners, Aramark, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Blackstone, Carlyle Group, EQT, First Reserve, Hellman & Friedman, Hilton Hotels, KKR, Mars, Microsoft, New Mountain Capital, Silver Lake Partners, Stonepeak, and Weight Watchers among its clients.

While their corporate counterparts are making deals, the firm’s litigators are making their own headlines. Simpson Thacher is among the top 30 firms in Vault’s General Commercial Litigation rankings and top 10 firms in Vault’s Securities Litigation rankings. The firm’s securities litigators have represented the most prominent financial institutions and corporations in securities fraud and financial-related litigation, including Alibaba, Bausch Health, Blackstone, Change Healthcare, HCA, JPMorgan Chase, KKR, Pfizer, TD Bank, Travelers, Twitter, and Viacom. Simpson also brings its A-game to white collar work. Its Government and Internal Investigations attorneys handle financial fraud, FCPA, healthcare fraud, insurance fraud, FCA violations, anti-money-laundering violations, and other matters.

Ready, Ready, Ready

Associates at Simpson Thacher can be sure that they have the support they need to develop in their legal careers. First years participate in the firm’s innovative training program called STBReady, which is taught in collaboration with Columbia Business School. The program covers business and financial literacy, as well as the kind of work associates do in their specific practice areas using industry-specific knowledge and techniques. The training also helps associates hone their efficiency and teamwork, knowledge sharing, and technological skills.

• Simpson Thacher is an M&A powerhouse, representing Microsoft in its $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Blackstone on its $63 billion take-private of Atlantia SpA (the world’s largest-ever infrastructure take-private) and is advising Allen & Overy in its combination with Shearman & Sterling.
• We continue to lead on investment vehicle fundraisings, advising on Blackstone Real Estate Partners X, which raised $30.4 billion (one of largest drawdown funds ever raised); CVC Capital Partners IX, which raised €26 billion (one of the largest-ever buyout funds); and Blackstone’s Strategic Partners IX, which raised $22.2 billion (one of the largest secondaries funds).
• We are ranked #1 in digital infrastructure deals announced in 2023 across the Americas by TMT Finance, advising on transactions in this cutting-edge sector such as Silver Lake’s $61 billion sale of VMWare to Broadcom.
• The Firm continues to lead on pro bono work nationwide, arguing before the Fifth Circuit in a case over Mississippi’s voting ban for criminals, winning a First Amendment case in Kansas over anti-voter provisions and securing a significant settlement in a major Title IX gender discrimination case profiled in The New York Times.

• Named a “Firm of the Year” and recognized as a Practice Group of the Year in Capital Markets, Fund Formation, Healthcare, Insurance, Private Equity, Real Estate and Technology categories, 2023—Law360
• Named Insurance Litigation Department of the Year, 2023—New York Law Journal
• Named Tech Industry Advisory Team of the Year, 2023—The Recorder
• Named U.S. Law Firm of the Year, 2023—Legal Business
• Honored with Seven Seals Award, 2023—U.S. National Guard and Reserve