Sullivan & Cromwell

Sullivan & Cromwell is one of Wall Street’s oldest and most prestigious law firms, headquartered in New York and widely regarded as a pillar of the traditional US “white shoe” legal establishment.

Founded in 1879 by Algernon Sydney Sullivan and William Nelson Cromwell, the firm built its reputation advising the corporate titans that shaped Wall Street - think J.P. Morgan (the man himself), Goldman Sachs, and Ford, for whom it handled its $643 million share offering in 1956, the largest ever at the time. 

During the Great Depression, the firm became known for its work in shareholder derivative litigation, antitrust actions, federal income tax law and securities. Insolvency was another crucial area of work - William Nelson Cromwell garnered the moniker ‘the physician of Wall Street’ for devising his ‘Cromwell Plan’ to reorganise insolvent companies before the dawn of federal bankruptcy law.

Today, the firm comprises around 840 lawyers across Asia, Australia, Europe and the US, and is known for its preference in training generalist lawyers and its conservative culture.

It is best known for its M&A, litigation, banking, capital markets, restructuring, tax and white-collar investigations offerings, and is one of the world’s most profitable law firms despite its relatively modest size, with global revenue around the $2 billion mark.

Sullivan & Cromwell opened in London in 1972, with the office growing to be one of its most important outposts. While S&C has garnered a reputation for being conservative in style and growth strategy with its relative lack of appetite for lateral hires and cross-border mergers, the firm has recently begun pursuing a more assertive growth strategy in the City. 

In particular, it has been building out its private capital platform in London - a shift away from its traditional dominance in public M&A, litigation and financial services work.

The plan became especially clear at the end of 2025 when Sullivan & Cromwell launched a significant hiring push in London. The firm recruited a series of high-profile partners from rivals including Kirkland & Ellis, Paul Hastings and Weil, spanning private equity, leveraged finance, restructuring and tax.

The move marked a notable departure from the firm’s historically cautious approach to lateral hiring - suggesting that even one of Wall Street’s most traditional firms is willing to adapt as competition for high-end private capital work intensifies.