2024 DIVERSITY DATABASE UNDERWRITER Sullivan & Cromwell LLP

A BigLaw powerhouse, Sullivan & Cromwell has created a 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 for more than 130 years. The firm founders, Algernon Sydney Sullivan and William Nelson Cromwell, 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 enabled 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 equally highly regarded, especially with respect to securities litigation and white collar defense—two other rankings in which 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 obtain a well-rounded experience. The firm feels its generalist approach makes for better partners, and the vast majority of these 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 many of its “generalist” lawyers to work in-house at clients or other companies, in government service, and in 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 has a Moot Courtroom in its New York City office that lawyers can use to prepare for upcoming trials or training. The courtroom can be modified to approximate a trial court, appellate court, or arbitration venue, and houses 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 for responding to stress, client development, and self-advocacy.

• S&C is serving as debtors’ counsel to FTX and its affiliates in one of the most complex, high-profile bankruptcies ever. S&C advised FTX in filing a proposed plan of reorganization and has helped recover $7.4 billion of assets for the estate.
• S&C is advising OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT and Dall-E, in its continuing multiyear, multibillion-dollar partnership with Microsoft, enabling the deployment of OpenAI’s models in Microsoft’s consumer and enterprise products.
• S&C secured the release of Nicole Addimando, a survivor of severe domestic violence, who was convicted of murder in 2019 after killing her abuser in self-defense, and was sentenced to 19 years to life in prison. In the first appellate ruling under the Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act, S&C obtained a resentencing that reduced her sentence to seven-and-a-half years, an achievement recognized by the Financial Times’ top award for Innovation in Social Justice.
• In a case that is shaping the future of telecast and streaming rights for some of the biggest U.S. sports leagues, S&C won a critical ruling for Major League Baseball and four MLB teams in their battle with bankrupt Diamond Sports Group. (2023)

• Dealmakers of the Year, 2023—The American Lawyer (two S&C teams recognized for advising on Seagen’s acquisition by Pfizer and OpenAI’s partnership with Microsoft, respectively)
• Practice Groups of the Year, 2023—Law360 (Banking, Bankruptcy, Capital Markets, Fintech, Life Sciences, M&A, Project Finance, Tax, Transportation) nine practices recognized—tied for the most of any firm, earning “Firm of the Year” distinction
• Litigation Department of the Year – Financial Services, 2023—The American Lawyer
• Innovation in Deals and Financing, 2023—Financial Times Innovative Lawyers North America Awards (for OpenAI’s partnership with Microsoft)
• Sustainable ESG Deal of the Year (CMPC’s $500 million offering of hybrid green and sustainability-linked bonds)—Latin Finance