Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates (known as Skadden) is an American multinational law firm headquartered in New York City. The firm comprises approximately 1,800 lawyers.
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History
The firm was founded in 1948 in New York by Marshall Skadden, John Slate, and Les Arps. The same year, Joseph Flom was hired as the firm's first associate. In 1959, William R. Meagher joined the firm and its first female attorney, Elizabeth Head, was hired. In 1960, the firm's name became Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.
In 1973, the firm opened its second office in Boston. In 1981, Peggy L. Kerr became the first woman to become a partner at Skadden. In 1987, the firm opened its first international office in Tokyo.
In November 2023, amid a wave of antisemitic incidents at elite U.S. law schools, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom was among a group of major law firms that sent a letter to top law school deans warning them that an escalation in incidents targeting Jewish students would have corporate hiring consequences.
Agreement to support Trump administration (2025)
In March 2025, the firm came to an agreement with the Trump administration to contribute $100 million of pro bono legal services to support the goals of the second Trump administration. The move was widely criticized. In July 2026, the Department of Justice subpoenaed Skadden in an investigation of the deal.
In July 2026, Representative Jaime Raskin, and Senators Adam Schiff and Richard Blumenthal (who serves as ranking member of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations) requested by letter that the firm submit details of its government work, in light of its March 2025 agreement with the Trump administration, and to explain its apparent conflict of interest in advising Intel while the Trump administration acquired 10% equity in the company.
Key people
The firm has 334 partners worldwide. Notable partners include:
Patrick B. Fitzgerald, former U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; as special counsel for the Department of Justice, the federal prosecutor in charge of the investigation of the Valerie Plame Affair
Fred T. Goldberg, Jr., commissioner of Internal Revenue (1989–92), assistant secretary for tax policy in the Department of the Treasury in 1992
Mark N. Kaplan, former CEO of Drexel Burnham Lambert and Engelhard
Michael Leiter, former director of the National Counterterrorism Center
Stephen C. Robinson, former federal district court judge sitting in the U.S. District Court for the SDNY; former U.S. attorney for the District of Connecticut
Rankings
In 2015 and 2016, Skadden was the fourth-largest law firm in the U.S. by revenue. In the 2015 Global 100 survey by The American Lawyer, it ranked as the fourth-highest grossing law firm in the world. In 2016, the firm had approximately 1,700 attorneys in 22 offices.
In 2016, Skadden was 187th on Forbes' list of America's Largest Private Companies by revenue. In 2015, it became the first law firm to ever handle more than $1 trillion in M&A deals in a single year and, for the third time in six years, the Financial Times' "Innovative Lawyers" report named Skadden the most innovative law firm in North America.
In 2025, the firm was ranked fifth-largest in the world by revenue, and fifteenth-largest by number of attorneys, with nearly 1800 on its roster.
Other work
Russia and Ukraine
Skadden has a history of representing clients with ties to the Vladimir Putin regime in Russia, such as Alfa Bank, Roman Abramovich, and to Viktor F. Yanukovych's pro-Russian regime in Ukraine. In 2020, the firm paid a $4.6 million settlement for misleading U.S. authorities regarding its lobbying on behalf of a Russia-aligned Ukrainian government.
In 2012, Skadden began representing Viktor F. Yanukovych, a pro-Russian president of Ukraine, from 2010 to 2014. Paul Manafort had helped to arrange for the hiring of the firm. One of the firm's actions on Yanukovych's behalf was to produce a report justifying his imprisonment of former prime minister Yulia V. Tymoshenko, a pro-European, and denying that the action had been a political prosecution, although many Western countries characterized it as such. Later that year, a team of American lawyers commissioned by the government of Ukraine concluded that Tymoshenko's trial had not been fair and her rights had been violated.
After Yanukovych lost power in Euromaidan and fled to Russia, Skadden's work on his behalf led to several federal investigations. Firm attorney Alex van der Zwaan was convicted of lying to the FBI about his work on Yanukovych's behalf and served 30 days in jail. In 2019, firm lawyer Gregory B. Craig was indicted on charges of lying to federal prosecutors about the work he did at Skadden on behalf of the Yanukovych, but was acquitted in a jury trial.
Tymoshenko made plans to sue Skadden, and in May 2020 it was revealed that the firm had paid at least $11 million to settle the case before a lawsuit could be filed.
Skadden, along with Mercury Public Affairs and the Podesta Group, was investigated by the U.S. attorney's office for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) for possible lobbying violations regarding former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. In 2019, Skadden agreed to pay a $4.6 million settlement to the Department of Justice over the firm's failure to register as a foreign agent under the Foreign Agent Registrations Act.
Skadden has been involved in representing Russian groups in corporate deals worth around $90 billion. Skadden has represented Alfa Bank, a Russian bank closely associated with Russian oligarchs and the Vladimir Putin regime. After Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 and amid heavy sanctions against Alfa Bank, Skadden said it was "in the process of ending our representations of Alfa Bank." Skadden has a long-standing relationship with Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich – Skadden refused to say whether it still represented him in 2022.
Political contributions
As a group, Skadden partners and employees have historically contributed far more to Democratic political candidates than to Republicans.
Notable relationships with the firm
Amelia Boone, obstacle racer, 2012 Spartan Race World Champion and three-time Tough Mudder champion
Bruce M. Buck, chairman of Chelsea Football Club
Gregory B. Craig, former White House counsel to President Barack Obama
William Daly, Deputy Commissioner, National Hockey League
George B. Daniels, judge, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (2000–)
Robert Del Tufo, former New Jersey attorney general and U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey
John Feerick, former dean of Fordham University School of Law
Joseph Flom, name-partner
Chip Flowers, first African-American elected official in Delaware (state treasurer) and co-chair, National Democratic State Treasurers (2010–2014)
Greg Giraldo, comedian
Keith Gottfried, general counsel for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (2005–09)
Jamieson Greer, trade official under President Donald Trump
Natasha Hausdorff, British barrister, international news commentator, and Israel advocate
Laura Ingraham, Fox News anchor and host of The Ingraham Angle