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December 01, 2010

FT's US Innovative Lawyers: Return of the Generalist?

Posted by Usha Rodrigues

The Financial Times just ranked US law firms on innovativeness (is that a word?). The overall top 5 are listed below, followed by separate rankings for several categories:

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom
Davis Polk & Wardwell
Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison
Mayer Brown
Paul Hastings

Financial Services

Skadden for restructuring and IPO of Primerica, a Citi sub
Mayer Brown for "saving the student loans system after the financial crisis"
Cleary for Citigroup's capital raising and repayment under the TARP
Davis Polk for strengthening Citi's capital ratios and liquidity after the crisis

M&A

Skadden: acting for CF Industries in its hostile takeover of Terra Industries,

Litigation

Paul Weiss: fighting actuarial malpractice in Alaska
Debevoise: serving as main strategist for Siemen's audit committee
Davis Polk: defending Siemen's against an FCPA investigation
Paul Hastings: defending Eisai's patent against Teva Pharmaceuticals
Weil Gotshal: DMX music licensing litigation

Plus the categories "restructuring" and "automotive sector", but I'm tired of typing. If you're like me, dear reader, you're thinking: "Well, that's interesting FT. How'd you come up with them there rankings?"

Apparently law firms were invited to send examples of their work to the FT, who worked in collaboration with RSG Consulting. The work was comparatively assessed on three criteria: "the originality of the legal work or business situation; the rationale of the lawyers doing the work-- that is, their strategic input, levels of proactivity and leadership values; and the impact of the work on the client, which includes an assessment of how transformative that work will be for industry and the way in which legal work in that field is done." 270 submissions, 54 law firms.

Most interesting was the tenor of the introductory piece:

Innovative lawyers come in all shapes and sizes, but they have a set of attributes in common. First, they have to be excellent technicians and masters in their fields of legal practice. Second, they have to be business people. The ability to knit these two skill sets together seamlessly is the foundation of the innovative lawyer.

But to be a stand-out entry in the US Innovative Lawyers report, they have to go one step further. As can be seen from the top-ranked entries, the lawyers have stepped into the shoes of actuaries, scientists, ambassadors, artists and historians – they have crossed their own professional constraints in pursuit of their clients’ objectives.

Jeffrey Rosen, deputy presiding partner of Debevoise & Plimpton, asks whether the generalist lawyer is returning. This view is echoed by Robert Giuffra, a partner at Sullivan & Cromwell, who observes that “a generalist approach produces better innovators than a specialist one”.

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The Financial Times just ranked US law firms on innovativeness (is that a word?). The overall top 5 are listed below, followed by separate rankings for several categories:

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom
Davis Polk & Wardwell
Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison
Mayer Brown
Paul Hastings

Financial Services

Skadden for restructuring and IPO of Primerica, a Citi sub
Mayer Brown for "saving the student loans system after the financial crisis"
Cleary for Citigroup's capital raising and repayment under the TARP
Davis Polk for strengthening Citi's capital ratios and liquidity after the crisis

M&A

Skadden: acting for CF Industries in its hostile takeover of Terra Industries,

Litigation

Paul Weiss: fighting actuarial malpractice in Alaska
Debevoise: serving as main strategist for Siemen's audit committee
Davis Polk: defending Siemen's against an FCPA investigation
Paul Hastings: defending Eisai's patent against Teva Pharmaceuticals
Weil Gotshal: DMX music licensing litigation

Most interesting was the tenor of the introductory piece:

Innovative lawyers come in all shapes and sizes, but they have a set of attributes in common. First, they have to be excellent technicians and masters in their fields of legal practice. Second, they have to be business people. The ability to knit these two skill sets together seamlessly is the foundation of the innovative lawyer.

But to be a stand-out entry in the US Innovative Lawyers report, they have to go one step further. As can be seen from the top-ranked entries, the lawyers have stepped into the shoes of actuaries, scientists, ambassadors, artists and historians – they have crossed their own professional constraints in pursuit of their clients’ objectives.

Jeffrey Rosen, deputy presiding partner of Debevoise & Plimpton, asks whether the generalist lawyer is returning. This view is echoed by Robert Giuffra, a partner at Sullivan & Cromwell, who observes that “a generalist approach produces better innovators than a specialist one”.

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