White-shoe firm: Difference between revisions
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* [[Davis Polk & Wardwell]]<ref>[http://www.forbes.com/facesinthenews/2005/10/26/jpmorgan-dimon-hersch-cx_em_1026autofacescan06.html?partner=yahootix Forbes.com: Dimon Woos Mergers Lawyer Hersch To JPMorgan]</ref> |
* [[Davis Polk & Wardwell]]<ref>[http://www.forbes.com/facesinthenews/2005/10/26/jpmorgan-dimon-hersch-cx_em_1026autofacescan06.html?partner=yahootix Forbes.com: Dimon Woos Mergers Lawyer Hersch To JPMorgan]</ref> |
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* [[Debevoise & Plimpton]]<ref>Stephen Labaton, 'Rainmaker: Mario Baeza of Debevoise,' ''The New York Times'' September 24, 1989</ref> |
* [[Debevoise & Plimpton]]<ref>Stephen Labaton, 'Rainmaker: Mario Baeza of Debevoise,' ''The New York Times'' September 24, 1989</ref> |
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* [[Dewey & LeBoeuf]] |
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* [[Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP]]<ref>[http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/02_09/b3772098.htm Businessweek: Commentary: Et Tu, Enron Lawyers?]</ref> |
* [[Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP]]<ref>[http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/02_09/b3772098.htm Businessweek: Commentary: Et Tu, Enron Lawyers?]</ref> |
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* [[Shearman & Sterling]]<ref>[http://www.vault.com/career/Shearman___Sterling__1999_Edition.html Vault.com: Shearman & Sterling, 1999 Edition]</ref> |
* [[Shearman & Sterling]]<ref>[http://www.vault.com/career/Shearman___Sterling__1999_Edition.html Vault.com: Shearman & Sterling, 1999 Edition]</ref> |
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Revision as of 22:07, 23 May 2008
White shoe firm is a phrase used to describe the leading professional services firms in America, particularly firms that have been in existence for more than a century and represent Fortune 500 companies. It frequently—but not always—refers to securities, law and management consulting firms, and frequently (but not always) refers to firms in New York City. A similar phrase, Magic Circle, refers to law firms in the UK, while the Big Six refers to leading Australian law firms and Seven Sisters to similar Canadian firms.
According to William Safire, the phrase derives from "white bucks", a type of laced suede or buckskin shoe with a red sole, long popular among upper-class New Englanders, especially at Ivy League colleges.[1] Originally, it reflected a stereotype of old-line firms populated by WASPs, but the phrase has since become innocuous. In the case of investment banks (Goldman, Lazard, Lehman), the term referenced not only WASPs but also aristocratic Jews.
Examples of white shoe firms
 |
The following firms are often referred to as being White Shoe firms:
Securities firms
- Brown Brothers Harriman[2]
- Goldman Sachs[3]
- Lazard[4]
- Lehman Brothers[5]
- Merrill Lynch[6]
- Morgan Stanley[7]
Law firms
- Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft[8][9]
- Cravath, Swaine & Moore[10]
- Covington & Burling [11][12]
- Davis Polk & Wardwell[13]
- Debevoise & Plimpton[14]
- Dewey & LeBoeuf
- Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP[15]
- Shearman & Sterling[16]
- Simpson, Thacher & Bartlett[17]
- Sullivan & Cromwell[18]
The "New" White-Shoe Law firms
While the term "white shoe" historically applied only to those law firms populated by WASPs, usage of the term has since been expanded to other top-rated prestigious law firms. Many of these firms were founded as a direct result of the exclusionary tendencies of the original White-Shoe firms which provided limited opportunities for Jewish and Catholic lawyers, as well as other non-WASPs.
- Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison[19]
- Proskauer Rose[20] [21] [22] [23]
- Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom [24] [25]
- Weil, Gotshal & Manges [26] [27]
Consulting firms
Notes and references
- ^ William Safire, No Uncertain Terms: More Writing from the Popular "On Language" Column in The New York Times Magazine, 2003
- ^ HRO Today: Same Difference
- ^ Goldman Sachs Buys Share of Parking Garage Firm
- ^ The New york Times: They're All Paying Customers to Wall Street
- ^ New York Post: LEHMAN'S $4B PUTS SHORTS IN THEIR PLACE
- ^ Merrill Reportedly Readies Tribal Bond Deal: Firm Is Crossing the T's on the Red Herring for Seminole Issue, Said Sources
- ^ Morgan Stanley's 'white shoe' dissidents continue war of attrition
- ^ http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C01E0D6143DF937A15750C0A9669C8B63]
- ^ http://www.law.com/jsp/llf/PubArticleLLF.jsp?id=1170682662248
- ^ SHOES ARE WHITER THAN MOST IN CITY
- ^ http://www.brandweeknrx.com/2007/09/covington-burli.html]
- ^ http://www.law.com/jsp/llf/PubArticleLLF.jsp?id=1189451732837
- ^ Forbes.com: Dimon Woos Mergers Lawyer Hersch To JPMorgan
- ^ Stephen Labaton, 'Rainmaker: Mario Baeza of Debevoise,' The New York Times September 24, 1989
- ^ Businessweek: Commentary: Et Tu, Enron Lawyers?
- ^ Vault.com: Shearman & Sterling, 1999 Edition
- ^ Vault.com: Simpson Thacher & Bartlett
- ^ Anna Schneider-Mayerson, Associate Gets Crushed Beneath White Shoe, New York Observer, Feb. 18, 2007
- ^ Gay Couple Sues Landlord for Discrimination
- ^ http://www.lubbockonline.com/stories/060902/bus_0609020012.shtml
- ^ http://www.law.com/jsp/law/careercenter/lawArticleCareerCenter.jsp?id=1147696528718
- ^ http://vault.com.cn/companies/whyus/whyus_main.jsp?wu_page=2&product_id=412&ch_id=242&tabnum=6
- ^ http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/news/2005/12/11/2005-12-11_mta_pays_big_shots_to_fight_.html
- ^ "Milestones in an Ambitous Career", New York Times, March 10, 2008, http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/03/10/us/20080310_SPITZER_FEATURE.html#
- ^ "Girl Trouble", New York Magazine, October 16, 2000 http://nymag.com/nymetro/nightlife/singles/features/3938/
- ^ Lisa Belkin, Who’s Cuddly Now? Law Firms, New York Times, January 24, 2008, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/24/fashion/24WORK.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1
- ^ Greg Sargent, "The Ricochet", Mother Jones, September/October 2005, http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2005/09/the_ricochet-3.html
- ^ Inside McKinsey: Enron isn't its only client to melt down. Suddenly, times are trying for the world's most prestigious consultant