Skadden

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Skadden is one of the most profitable and well-known law firms in the world. Renowned for its M&A prowess, the firm is an all-star across practice areas, with over 1,700 lawyers around the globe.

From Proxy Fights to Powerhouse

Launched in 1948 by Marshall Skadden, Les Arps, and John Slate, Skadden wasn’t afraid to jump into proxy-fight work during the 1950s and 1960s, setting the stage for the hostile takeovers the firm handled in later years. Much of Skadden’s ethos can be attributed to Joe Flom, who participated in most of the major M&A deals of the 1970s and 1980s, establishing Skadden’s reputation for aggressive strategies and spearheading the firm’s practice diversification efforts. Skadden boasts top-notch practices in capital markets, finance, private equity, antitrust, tax, blockchain/digital assets, white collar defense, appellate and international arbitration, commercial litigation, securities litigation, products liability litigation, restructuring, national security, intellectual property, real estate, energy and infrastructure, and other areas.

Brioche and Butter

Although Skadden is a multifaceted firm, its forte remains M&A. Deals such as DuPont-Conoco, U.S. Steel-Marathon Oil, and the 1989 takeover of RJR Nabisco launched Skadden into the highest rung of American law firms, and in 2015, the firm was the first to handle over $1 trillion in globally announced M&A deals in a single year. A mainstay atop M&A rankings by Chambers and Partners and the Legal 500, Skadden was among The American Lawyer’s 2026, 2025, and 2024 Dealmakers of the Year and named Best Lawyers’ 2026 Law Firm of the Year in Corporate Law. Skadden is one of only six firms to appear on global M&A league tables every year since 2020.

Don’t be deceived by Skadden’s M&A foundation—the firm’s litigators are first-rate. Skadden has held a top spot in Vault’s Securities Litigation rankings since 2011 and received seven Tier 1 rankings in Benchmark Litigation’s 2026 U.S. rankings. The firm has also repeatedly been named among BTI Consulting Group’s Fearsome Foursome.

A standout in tax, Skadden has ranked No. 1 for Tax in Vault’s rankings every year since inception (2010), has garnered 11 Tier 1 rankings across eight jurisdictions in ITR World Tax 2026, and was named Corporate Tax Law Firm of the Year at the Lexology Index Awards in 2025. The firm’s tax group assists clients in resolving large, complex, and global tax controversies, as well as in tax investigations and tax-related class actions, among other areas.

Skadden is also widely recognized for its antitrust and competition work by Chambers and Partners and Best Lawyers and in Benchmark Litigation and The Legal 500, among others. The firm is among the Top 10 on Global Competition Review’s Global Elite list and was named 2024 Chambers USA Antitrust Firm of the Year.

Do-Gooders

Pro bono isn’t merely an afterthought at Skadden. In 2025, Skadden’s U.S. attorneys averaged 89 hours of pro bono work. Attorneys and business services professionals at the firm have completed nearly 3 million pro bono hours in the past 15 years, with nearly 140,000 pro bono hours in 2025.

• Union Pacific Corporation in its acquisition of Norfolk Southern Corporation at an enterprise value of $85 billion.
• CME Group in securing a defense victory in a three-week jury trial in which plaintiffs alleged over $2 billion in damages.
• Amazon.com, Inc., in a victory in one of the largest transfer pricing cases in decades and the first involving e-commerce. In rejecting the IRS' attempt to assert over $1 billion of additional tax liability, the U.S. Tax Court ruled that the government's approach was "arbitrary, capricious, and unreasonable."
• Fujian Jinhua in obtaining the acquittal of all charges in a high-profile, eight-week criminal trade secrets trial brought by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California and the DOJ’s National Security Division.

• North America Innovative Lawyers honoree and Top 20 Most Innovative Law Firms, 2025—Financial Times
• BTI Client Service 30, 11 years in a row, 2025—BTI Consulting
• Securities Firm of the Year, U.S. Awards, 2026—Benchmark Litigation
• Top Five law firm on the Prestige Leaders list, 2025—Law360 Pulse
• 2025 Firm of the Year and Most Practice Groups of the Year wins (102) among peer firms since the awards’ inception (2010)—Law360