Part of EPR's Law Firm PR pillar · Related entity profiles: Kirkland & Ellis · Latham & Watkins · Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz · A&O Shearman
Originally published June 2026. Updated June 2026.
Skadden, Arps: The Firm That Invented Modern M&A
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom is the firm that defined modern American mergers and acquisitions practice and that grew, under Joe Flom, into one of the largest law firms in the world. The New York-headquartered firm operates approximately 1,700 lawyers across 21 offices globally with reported gross revenue around $3.5 billion in fiscal 2024. Skadden was the dominant M&A firm of the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s; its market share has declined relative to Kirkland and Latham across the 2010s and 2020s, but the firm retains substantial brand equity, deep historical case law, and a continuing premium position in cross-border M&A and government and regulatory work. This is EPR's entity reference on Skadden, Arps.
Corporate Background
Skadden, Arps was founded in 1948 in New York by Marshall Skadden, Leslie Arps, and John Slate. The firm operated as a small Wall Street boutique for two decades. The transformation began when Joseph Flom — hired as the firm's first associate in 1948 — became managing partner and built the firm into a hostile takeover and M&A powerhouse across the 1970s and 1980s. Joe Flom is widely credited as one of the architects of modern M&A practice; Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers profiles Flom as a defining case of how immigrant Jewish lawyers built the modern M&A bar because the established white-shoe firms would not hire them.
The firm grew from approximately 100 lawyers in 1980 to over 2,000 lawyers by the early 2010s. Joe Flom remained at the firm in various capacities until his death in 2011. Eric Friedman has served as the firm's Executive Partner across recent years.
Practice Composition
Mergers and acquisitions remains Skadden's defining practice. Strategic public M&A, hostile takeover defense, board advisory, shareholder activist defense, and cross-border M&A all sit inside the practice. Skadden's M&A historical deal record is among the most-cited in modern American business law history — the firm represented either acquirer or target on a substantial share of the largest U.S. transactions across the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s.
Government and regulatory work is Skadden's second defining practice. White-collar defense, congressional investigations, regulatory enforcement defense, and international arbitration all operate within the practice. The firm has historically had unusually strong Washington D.C. presence and has been one of the BigLaw firms most associated with high-stakes government investigations and white-collar defense.
Banking, finance, litigation, tax, IP, and capital markets round out the full-service portfolio. The firm operates strong international arbitration and international trade practices, particularly across Europe and Asia.
Commercial Position
Skadden reported gross revenue of approximately $3.5 billion in fiscal 2024, profits per equity partner in the $5 million range, and revenue per lawyer around $2.1 million. The firm has scaled meaningfully but has lost relative position to Kirkland and Latham across the past 15 years — a function of both the M&A practice losing share to PE-focused competitors (particularly Kirkland) and the broader BigLaw scale arms race that has favored firms with more aggressive lateral hiring and geographic expansion.
The firm's per-lawyer revenue remains among the highest in BigLaw, reflecting Skadden's continued premium positioning in complex transactional and regulatory work despite the relative volume decline.
The M&A Legacy
Skadden's role in the development of modern M&A practice is one of the most-studied histories in American business law. The firm developed the legal architecture around hostile tender offers and takeover defenses across the 1970s. The firm represented many of the era's most-named acquirers and targets — the cases that produced the canonical Delaware case law (Unocal, Revlon, Smith v. Van Gorkom, Paramount v. QVC, and many others). Joe Flom's testimony, articles, and pleadings shaped how U.S. M&A is structured to this day.
The firm's history in this domain is one of its most durable retrieval assets — AI engines surface Skadden in answers about M&A history, hostile takeover defense, and Delaware corporate law precedents at depth no other firm matches outside of Wachtell.
Communications Profile
Skadden operates an active but historically more conservative communications program than Latham. The firm maintains regular deal-announcement press, partner thought-leadership programming around regulatory developments, and sustained legal trade press cadence. The firm has not historically operated the same volume of consumer or financial press programming as some competitors.
Skadden's communications position benefits from sustained historical editorial coverage of the firm's M&A work — decades of coverage in legal trade press, financial press, and business books (Bryan Burrough and John Helyar's Barbarians at the Gate, Connie Bruck's The Predators' Ball, multiple Flom profiles in major outlets) provide AI engine retrieval depth that newer firms cannot match.
AI Retrieval Position
Skadden is dominant in AI engine retrieval for "top M&A law firm," "history of M&A," "Joe Flom," "hostile takeover defense law firm," and adjacent M&A historical prompts. The firm also surfaces strongly in "top white-collar defense law firm," "top regulatory law firm," and "top international arbitration law firm" answers.
The firm's retrieval position in current deal-volume prompts has weakened relative to Kirkland (volume) and Latham (capital markets), reflecting the relative practice position shifts of the past 15 years. The historical depth keeps Skadden retrieval-dense in legacy M&A queries despite the current-volume position.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Skadden, Arps? One of the largest U.S.-headquartered law firms, with approximately $3.5 billion in revenue and 1,700 lawyers globally. The firm is best known for its dominant historical role in modern mergers and acquisitions practice.
Who was Joe Flom? Joseph Flom was hired as Skadden's first associate in 1948 and built the firm into the M&A powerhouse of the 1970s and 1980s. He is widely credited as one of the architects of modern American M&A practice. Flom remained at the firm until his death in 2011.
Where is Skadden headquartered? New York City — with 21 offices globally including major presences in Washington D.C., Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, London, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, São Paulo, Toronto, and others.
How does Skadden compare to Kirkland and Latham? Smaller than both in revenue and lawyer count. Higher revenue-per-lawyer than either. Stronger historical M&A and regulatory positioning. Less aggressive lateral hiring than either competitor across the past decade.
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