Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft
Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox law firm
Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP (known as Cadwalader) is a law firm based in New York City. It is the city's oldest law firm<ref name="Bagli03">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Yale00"/> and one of the oldest continuously operating legal practices in the United States.<ref name="Hoffman15">Template:Cite news</ref> Attorney John Wells founded the practice in 1792. Cadwalader's Lower Manhattan headquarters is one of its five offices in three countries. In 2022, the firm had approximately 400 attorneys.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Overview
New York City's oldest law firm,<ref name="Bagli03"/><ref name="Yale00"/> Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft is headquartered at 200 Liberty Street in Lower Manhattan.<ref name="Barbarino14"/> The firm's managing partner, Patrick Quinn, oversaw approximately 400 attorneys as of 2022.<ref name="Beck15">Template:Cite newsTemplate:Dead link</ref> It operates out of five offices across the United States and Europe. In addition to its Wall Street location, Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft has offices in Washington, D.C., Charlotte, North Carolina, London, and Dublin.<ref name="Gordon15">Template:Cite news</ref> In 2021, Cadwalader generated $608.9 million in revenue, with profits per partner of $4.38 million.<ref name="Hoffman15" />
History
In 1792, attorney John Wells, a Princeton graduate who was one of approximately 80 lawyers in New York City at the time, founded the law firm that ultimately became known as Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft.<ref name="Moody92">Template:Cite news</ref> The firm became a partnership called Wells & Strong<ref name="Swaine12">Template:Cite book</ref> in 1818 when George Washington Strong joined Wells' practice.<ref name="Moody92"/>
Wells' death in 1823<ref name="Yale00"/> prompted Strong to bring in George Griffin as partner. Griffin then left in 1838 and George Washington Strong partnered with Marshall Bidwell.<ref name="SyracuseLibraries">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> George Washington Strong's son, George Templeton Strong, a lawyer and noted diarist, joined the firm in 1844. The firm became known as Strong, Bidwell & Strong.<ref name="Linden01">Template:Cite book</ref> The firm became Bidwell & Strong in 1855 after George Washington Strong's death.<ref name="SyracuseLibraries"/> Charles E. Strong, George Templeton Strong's cousin, became the firm's chief in the 1870s. During his tenure, he considered shuttering the firm and moving from law to banking.<ref name="Moody92"/> In 1878, Strong partnered with John Lambert Cadwalader, who was assistant secretary of state during President Ulysses S. Grant's administration.<ref name="Moody92"/>
Corporate law and civic responsibility
George W. Wickersham, an antitrust lawyer, joined the firm in 1883<ref name="Yale00"/> and made partner in 1887.<ref name="Moody92"/> Wickersham was named U.S. Attorney General under President William Howard Taft.<ref name="Moody92"/> Henry W. Taft, President Taft's brother, began working at Cadwalader in 1889.<ref name="Yale00">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He became partner in 1899 and served as special assistant to the U.S. Attorney General from 1905 to 1907.<ref name="YaleObits45">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The firm became known as Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft in 1914.<ref name="Moody92"/>
In the 1930s, Cadwalader was involved with the custody trial determining the guardianship of Gloria Vanderbilt.<ref name="Moody92"/><ref name="Goldsmith11">Template:Cite book</ref> Catherine Noyes Lee became Cadwalader's first female partner in 1942.<ref name="Moody92"/>
Cadwalader expanded its footprint as the firm opened an office in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 1996,<ref name="Gordon15"/> established a London presence in 1997<ref name="BloombergNews">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and opened its first office in China, located in Beijing, in 2005.<ref name="Raymond08">Template:Cite news</ref>
In the mid-1990s, a group of young partners formed what some at Cadwalader referred to as Project Rightsize, an effort from 1994 to 1995 to remove less productive partners.<ref name="Barrett98">Template:Cite news</ref> The group shuttered Cadwalader's office in Palm Beach, Florida, and reduced a branch in Los Angeles, California. In all, 17 partners, nearly 20 percent, left the firm.<ref name="Barrett98"/> Critics said the move was driven by individuals' financial interests and two former partners successfully sued Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft for violating its partnership agreement.<ref name="Barrett98"/>
Following the September 11 attacks, Cadwalader assisted families of those killed,<ref name="Fordham">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> including immigrant families.<ref name="Navarro02">Template:Cite news</ref> A portion of the firm's post-9/11 work occurred when attorneys learned there was no central resource for families seeking benefits; as a result, Cadwalader lawyers put together the "Handbook of Public and Private Assistance Resources for the Victims and Families of the World Trade Center Attacks", which was released in November 2001.<ref name="Fordham"/> The firm released an expanded version the following year.<ref name="Fordham"/>
During the 2008 financial crisis, Cadwalader reduced its number of lawyers by about 20 percent in 2008. A reporter for The Wall Street Journal suggested the move was meant to lower operating costs as demand for its services decreased. Then-Chairman W. Christopher White stated, "There was a bubble, we rode that bubble, it contracted, and we adjusted".<ref name="Jones08">Template:Cite news</ref> Also during the fiscal crisis, Cadwalader attorneys served as advisers for the U.S. Treasury as Chrysler and General Motors restructured.<ref name="DeLaMercedJ09">Template:Cite news</ref> Cadwalader expanded in China with a Hong Kong office in 2010.<ref name=ZankiJanuary92015>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2011, it opened offices in Houston<ref name="HoustonBizJournal11">Template:Cite news</ref> and Brussels.<ref name="Lipman15">Template:Cite news</ref>
In 2013, James C. Woolery left JP Morgan Chase for Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft. The next year, Woolery was selected to take over as the firm's new chairman starting in 2015.<ref name="DeLaMerced14">Template:Cite news</ref> In January 2015, when the chairman-elect was slated to take the chairman's post, the firm announced Woolery had left Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft to launch a hedge fund.<ref name="Beck15"/> The firm eliminated the chairman position and Managing Partner Patrick Quinn began overseeing the firm.<ref name="Beck15"/>
In 2025, it agreed to a deal with Donald Trump to do 100 million dollars' worth of pro bono work on behalf of causes promoted by Trump,<ref name="auto1">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="auto2">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="auto">Template:Cite news</ref> followed by mass resignations of lawyers.<ref name=lawco>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Areas of practice
Cadwalader's practices cover varying areas of law, including: antitrust, capital markets, corporate, energy and commodities, finance, financial restructuring, financial services, health care/not-for-profit, intellectual property, litigation, tax and private wealth, and white collar defense and investigations.<ref name="ChambersandPartners">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}Template:Dead link</ref> The firm has long-standing client relationships with premier financial institutions, Fortune 500 companies, government entities, charitable and health care organizations, and private clients.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> The firm also takes on pro bono assignments, providing attorneys for non-profit organizations, including those assisting women, children and immigrants.<ref name="Women'sHealthWeekly09">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="NYSBA">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
One of the firm's highest-profile pro bono clients was Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai.<ref name="Malala">Template:Cite news</ref> Cadwalader began representing the female education activist in 2012, while she was seventeen years old and still hospitalized by a Taliban shooting. The firm continued to represent her for two years, ultimately establishing the Malala Fund, a nonprofit organization advocating for women's access to education.<ref name="Malala" />
Rankings and recognition
Law associates surveyed for the Vault 100 law firm rankings placed Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft at No. 53 on its 2024 list of most prestigious firms to work for.<ref name="VaultLaw100">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2015, U.S. News & World Report named Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft "Law Firm of the Year" for derivatives and futures law.<ref name="USNewsBestLawFirms">Template:Cite magazine</ref> Cadwalader was ranked No. 1 on the Commercial Mortgage Alert's top issuer counsel<ref name="CMAIssuer15">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and top underwriter counsel<ref name="CMAUnderwriter15">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> tables for commercial mortgage-backed securities in 2015. Additionally, the firm received recognition in 2015 for its business culture<ref name="Triedman15">Template:Cite news</ref> and diversity.<ref name="Maniace15">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Roberts14">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In 2021, The American Lawyer ranked Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft No. 85 on the Am Law 100,<ref name="AmLawProfile">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> an annual ranking of U.S. firms by gross revenue.<ref name="Blumenthal12">Template:Cite news</ref> The publication also classified Cadwalader as one of only twenty-four "Superrich Firms" in the United States, categorized as those generating at least $1 million in revenue per lawyer and $2 million in profits per partner.<ref name="AmLaw">Template:Cite news</ref>
Notable staff
- John Lambert Cadwalader, US Assistant Secretary of State, name partner of Cadwalader<ref>Case and Comment, Volume 20, 1914.</ref>
- Oscar Cox, General Counsel of both the Lend-Lease Administration and the Office for Emergency Management, Assistant Solicitor General of the United States, and General Counsel of the Foreign Economic Administration.<ref>"Oscar S. Cox Papers," Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library & Museum.</ref>
- Michael E. Horowitz, Inspector General of the US Department of Justice<ref>"Meet the Inspector General," U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General.</ref>
- Jonathan Kanter, assistant attorney general for the US Department of Justice Antitrust Division
- William Schwartz, law professor and Dean of the Boston University School of Law
- Stephen N. Shulman, represented Egil Krogh during the Watergate scandal, served as General Counsel of the Air Force and Chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
- Henry Waters Taft, antitrust lawyer, name partner of Cadwalader
- Richard H. Walker, general counsel of corporate and investment banking at Deutsche Bank, and director of the SEC Division of Enforcement
- Charlie Wang, lawyer and CEO of car companies
- George W. Wickersham, US Attorney General in the administration of President William H. Taft, President of the Council on Foreign Relations
- Todd Blanche