Skadden

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Skadden is one of the most profitable and well-known law firms in the world. It was the first law firm to exceed $1 billion in annual revenue, now the industry brass ring. Renowned for its M&A prowess, the firm is an all-star across practice areas, boasting an army of nearly 1,700 lawyers around the globe.

If the Shoe Fits

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, banking, 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

Multifaceted as it is, Skadden’s forte is still M&A. Deals such as DuPont-Conoco, U.S. Steel-Marathon Oil, and the 1989 takeover of RJR Nabisco launched Skadden into the top rung of American law firms. Skadden was recognized among The American Lawyer’s 2025 and 2024 Dealmakers of the Year, respectively, for representing Mars in its $35.9 billion acquisition of Kellanova, the largest U.S. merger announced in 2024, and Activision Blizzard in its $75 billion acquisition deal by Microsoft, the largest-ever technology deal and gaming industry deal. The firm is a mainstay atop Vault’s M&A rankings and regularly ranks in the top tier for M&A by Chambers USA, Chambers Global, Best Lawyers, and the Legal 500 and, in 2015, was the first firm to handle over $1 trillion in globally announced M&A deals in a single year.

Don’t be deceived by Skadden’s M&A foundation—the firm’s litigators are first-rate. The firm has been named a finalist in the New York Law Journal’s Litigation Department of the Year competition in the General Litigation, Class Action, and Finance categories. It has held a top spot in Vault’s Securities Litigation rankings since 2011 and was named 2025 Law Firm of the Year for Commercial and Securities Litigation by Best Lawyers. The firm is an inaugural member of BTI Consulting Group’s Feared Opponents and has been named repeatedly among its Fearsome Foursome.

Skadden has also consistently ranked No. 1 for Tax in Vault’s rankings and once again was the only firm to achieve Tier 1 rankings for Transactional Tax in all four of the key trans-Atlantic financial centers of Frankfurt, London, New York, and Paris in ITR World Tax 2025. The firm’s tax group assists clients in resolving large, complex, and global tax controversies, as well as handling tax investigations and defending tax-related class actions and professional liability disputes.

Do-Gooders

Pro bono isn’t merely an afterthought at Skadden. In 2024, Skadden attorneys in the United States averaged more than 100 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 168,000 pro bono hours in 2024. All pro bono hours count toward the firm’s 1,800 billable hour target.

• Mars, Incorporated, in its $35.9 billion acquisition of Kellanova, the largest deal of 2024.
• Viking Holdings Ltd. on its $1.5 billion initial public offering (IPO) of its ordinary shares on the New York Stock Exchange, the largest NYSE IPO and the second-largest U.S. IPO in 2024.
• 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 Report, 2024—Financial Times
• BTI Client Service 30, one of only four firms recognized 10 years in a row, 2024—BTI Consulting
• A-List, top 10 most successful firms, 2024—The American Lawyer
• More overall New York Legal Awards than any other firm, 2023—New York Law Journal
• Most Practice Groups of the Year awards (96) among peer firms since inception of the awards (2010)—Law360