2022 DIVERSITY DATABASE UNDERWRITER Sullivan & Cromwell LLP

A BigLaw powerhouse, Sullivan & Cromwell has followed—if not created—the blueprint for legal success: It has grown internationally and in response to the increasing cross-border M&A, restructuring, and finance transactional demands of the biggest corporate clients in the world. 

Kind of a Big Deal

Sullivan & Cromwell has consistently steered the development of many of the world’s corporate titans over the past 130-plus years. The firm founders, Algernon Sydney Sullivan and William Nelson, advised J.P. Morgan—as in the man himself—during the creation of Edison General Electric in 1882 and later guided key players in the formation of U.S. Steel and the financing of the Panama Canal. These lucrative foreign ventures caused the firm to be one of the first to expand internationally. 

Today, S&C boasts 13 offices across eight countries and handles some of the biggest deals and litigation in the world. It is consistently among the top 10 firms in Vault’s General Corporate, M&A, Project Finance, Securities/Capital Markets, and Banking and Financial Services rankings. Its litigation work is just as highly regarded, especially with respect to securities litigation and white collar defense—two other rankings where the firm sits among the top 10.

Generally Speaking

In a world of specialization, S&C is known for its unique “generalist approach.” S&C associates work across subgroups, industries, and geographic locations to get a well-rounded experience. The firm feels its generalist approach makes for better partners, and the vast majority of those partners begin their legal careers with S&C—either directly out of law school or after clerkships or government service—with a very limited number of lateral hires. S&C also sends plenty of its “generalist” lawyers to work in-house at clients or other companies, to government service, and to other careers. 

Associates are also armed with a career plan through which they focus on their skills, gaps in experience, and goals. If associates need additional guidance, they can turn to the firm’s internal career and alumni services office, which offers confidential career counseling whether they intend to stay at the firm or pursue a different career path.

Hitting the Books

S&C attorneys can be sure of one thing: The firm’s training is robust. It offers extensive internal training programs, and through S&C University—an online, on-demand, in-house viewing platform—lawyers can access recordings of these trainings from their computers. But in-house presentations are only the tip of the training iceberg. The firm even has a Moot Courtroom in its New York City office that lawyers can use to prepare for upcoming trials or train. The courtroom can be modified to approximate a trial court, appellate court, or arbitration venue, and boasts technology such as an interactive markup display. Not all training at the firm is practice-based; the firm’s Women’s Leadership Lunch Series offers regular career development programming. Past lunch topics have included crisis management, resilience, strategies on responding to stress, client development, and self-advocacy. 

• We advised Canadian Pacific in its successful $31 billion takeover battle for Kansas City Southern, enabling the client to prevail over a higher competing bid (2021)
• We prevailed in a jury trial for Columbia University in its patent dispute with NortonLifeLock, winning a $185 million verdict that could be trebled due to the jury’s finding of willful infringement (2022)
• We advised Belize in its innovative “Blue Bond” debt-for-nature swap involving the Nature Conservancy (2021)
• We advised FalconX on becoming the first and only cryptocurrency-focused swap dealer registered with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (2022)