Shearman & Sterling LLP.

Overview

Headquartered in New York City in the United States with 20 offices that are located in major financial centers around the world, Shearman and Sterling LLP was founded in 1873. Well known for its litigation and transactional capabilities, it was the 17th largest law firm in the world when measured by annual revenue in 2006. Some of its litigation strengths are in International Arbitration, Capital Markets, Finance, and Mergers & Acquisitions. The firm has spread its practices in several areas such as public international law, U.S. federal law, New York as well as California state law, as well as law pertaining to other countries such as England, France, Germany, Italy, European Union, and Hong Kong. The firm is established on a firm set of values to which it is committed strongly. It focuses its utmost capabilities and complete resources on their clients, so that their interests are maintained at all times. Shearman believes in pursuing excellence and professionalism in its work and business and aims to deliver quality as well as innovation in all spheres of service. It strongly believes in the pursuit of its core values so that its clients get the maximum benefit of its professional and specialized services. Shearman and Sterling LLP had modest beginnings with 7 staff members in its New York Wall Street Office. Today, it has around 1000 attorneys in 20 offices globally. It was founded in 1873 by Thomas Shearman and John William Sterling. Initially concentrating on litigation and transactional matters, the firm cultivated a number of important business ties representing important people such as Jay Gould and Industrialist Henry Ford. This strategy culminated in a number of important business ties such as the Rockefeller family, Citigroup and Deutsche Bank. Witnessing international expansion in post World War II era under the direction of Boykn C. Wright, who joined as a senior partner from another firm with a group of attorneys. The firm established its first office in Paris in 1963. In post war Germany, the firm cultivated important long term relationships with important blue chip companies such as Siemens and BASF. It also assisted Daimler in its listing on the NSE in 1993, which was the first such listing by a German company. It also assisted this company in its purchase and subsequent sale of Chrysler. It also is well known for its ability to compete in strategic legal markets. It has particularly made its name in the field of mergers and acquisitions in the United Kingdom. The firm has also played an important role in negotiating the Iranian Hostage Crisis by representing Citibank during the strong negotiations that followed after the US government froze all Iranian assets in US banks. Shearman and Sterling has been involved for many decades in Latin America as well. It played an important legal part in the Brady transactions and also won several accolades in the privatization of numerous state-owned entities. The firm launched an office in Sao Paulo in Brazil. It also has a significant presence in the Asia-Pacific region, and has offices in Hong-Kong, Beijing, Singapore and Shanghai.

Practice Areas

Shearman & Sterling LLP. practices law in the following areas and works with its clients to provide the best possible legal solutions.

Hiring Criteria

Shearman & Sterling LLP. follows the set of hiring criteria outlined below.

Shearman & Sterling continuously believes that the way one can be a successful lawyer in today's world is to continuously hone one's skills and always aim for perfection. The firm truly believes that learning is a lifetime commitment. It believes in always providing extensive resources and programs to help their lawyers achieve their goal.

The firm is looking for candidates who have a strong academic background and possess the capability to demonstrate motivation and initiative. Besides, candidates should possess a strong desire and interpersonal skills so that they can work effectively with their clients as well as coworkers. Shearman and Sterling recruit from reputed law colleges in the United States as well. Some of these include:

Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law
Columbia University Law School
Duke University School of Law
Fordham University School of Law
George Washington University Law School
Georgetown University Law Center
Harvard Law School
Hofstra University School of Law
Howard University School of Law
New York University School of Law
Northwestern University School of Law
St. John's University School of Law
Stanford Law School
University of Michigan Law School
University of Pennsylvania Law School
University of Toronto Faculty of Law
University of Virginia School of Law
Yale Law School
York University Osgoode Hall Law School
List Any Job Fairs / Consortia Attended (previous fall)
Tulane/Washington University/Vanderbilt NY Interview Program

Candidates are also chosen from reputed law job fairs such as:

William & Mary/Washington & Lee NY Job Fair
Cornell NYC Job Fair
American University NY Job Fair
Boston College/Boston University NY Job Fair
National BLSA Job Fair

In 2011, 35 summer 2Ls were considered for associate offers. The firm visited 19 law schools for recruitment in 2011 besides attending 6 job fairs and consortia in the same year.

Pro bono

At Shearman and Sterling, pro bono work is considered to be an essential part of every lawyer's work and practice. The firm strongly believes that pro bono activities connect their lawyers with the communities in which they work while serving the needs of needy and impoverished people and nonprofit organizations which have limited access to legal services.

Pro bono practices at Shearman are regarded as the cornerstone of the firm's lasting commitment to bring positive change in the social fabric of the local as well as global communities. It believes in making a tremendous impact on the daily social backdrop and even improving the lives of pro bono clients around the world.

The firm has a full-time pro bono counsel and a staff that works exclusively on pro bono efforts. In 2011, the firm devoted approximately 48,000 hours to pro bono matters. This work included assisting low-income veterans to micro-finance and development efforts for low-income entrepreneurs worldwide.