What Are the Top-Rated Corporate Law Firms in New York?

Specialist lawyers should handle the intricacies of corporate law. Fortunately, New York has many world-renowned and experienced organizations that can handle the most complex issues. Eliminate countless consultations trying to discover the best by finding the biggest names in one place. What are the top-rated corporate law firms in New York?

What Does Corporate Law Encompass?

Corporate lawyers serve businesses and entities, including nonprofit organizations. While other types of lawyers could represent individual employees, corporate law handles issues involving the stakeholders, owners, employees and assets.

The problems these lawyers contend with vary widely, from facilitating mergers and acquisitions to overseeing contract law. They deal with:

• Financials and taxes
• Employment and labor responsibilities
• Governance
• Real estate
• Antitrust
• Copyright and intellectual property
• Compliance
• Environmental adherence

These attorneys are experts at distilling complex corporate structures into their basic parts, while maintaining expert levels of knowledge in a wide breadth of legal domains. Knowing the full scope of a corporate law office can help entities decide whom to trust with their issues, as the staff must be competent in all business realms.

These lawyers should also be incorporating new practices frequently. Corporate needs are constantly changing, especially with the advent of disruptive technologies like artificial intelligence, with little to no legal precedent. The firms must also serve as the go-to experts in various subjects, like environmental regulation and cybersecurity, where regulatory progress is in flux.

What Are the Top-Rated Corporate Law Firms in New York?

These are the highest-quality professionals across the state with diverse and in-depth expertise in complicated corporate matters.

1. Olshan Frome Wolosky LLP

Olshan operates in New York and New Jersey, specializing in corporations, venture capital, hedge and private equity. It is based in New York but takes its lawyers internationally to solve problems relating to real estate, intellectual property, shareholder activism and numerous other focus areas. The team also has in-depth knowledge of the insurance and employment world.

The company prioritizes providing just and cost-effective services that feel personalized despite serving companies. It does so by prioritizing pro bono work, diversity and inclusion, community outreach and its Women’s Committee. These organizations prove that Olshan is a trustworthy and open-minded resource for small and large businesses in need of legal assistance.

Chambers USA noted the firm’s integrity, stating, “Olshan has a deep bench of resources to support us and an excellent team of professionals who are up to speed on all the latest developments.”

2. Cleary Gottlieb Steen and Hamilton

With an international presence in Paris, Abu Dhabi, Beijing and New York, to name a few, Cleary Gottlieb is a force in the industry. Its staff has been curating its craft in corporate law since 1946. It helps everything from human rights groups to sovereign governments, demonstrating versatility.

Reviewing Cleary Gottlieb’s practices demonstrates a willingness to expand for its clients as modern needs arise. Even though cybersecurity and environmental, social and governance subjects were nonessential in the 1940s when the firm was established, the team scaled to meet the most pressing issues in the modern corporate landscape. Its other strengths lie in privatizations, sponsor solutions, debt finance, corporate advisory, employee benefits and many others.

Reviews highlight the personal touch it has despite its large staff, saying, “I love the human and personal treatment they have as well as the professionalism and effectiveness.”

3. Kirkland and Ellis

Kirkland and Ellis has been around since 1909, beginning in private equity, transactions, and mergers and acquisitions. Now, it has an impressive 4,000 lawyers on staff in its 22 locations, expanding the firm’s knowledge into property litigation, restructurings, government disputes and more. Over the years, it has expanded its pro bono services and charitable giving contributions to make a larger impact.

Its unique, open-assignment system allows lawyers to pick the cases that matter most to them, ensuring each client receives a representative who truly cares about the subject. The staff features professionals from many backgrounds and skills, giving each a chance to get the best client outcome based on their strengths.

Many discuss Kirkland’s knowledge, saying, “The law firm of Kirkland and Ellis should be of infinite service to you, no matter what kind of legal or attorney assistance you need!”

4. Gouchev Law

Experience corporate law from the lens of a small, tech-focused business. With a tiny yet mighty group of 11 senior attorneys, its impact has the staying power of firms with many more hands on deck. What sets Gouchev apart from the competition is its focus on technology, helping entities as small as startups to larger established companies that are restructuring.

While other corporate firms may attempt to refine their skills in these categories, Gouchev can guide companies on concerns about service agreements, licensing, security, trademarks, exit strategies and more.

Feedback from a previous client highlighted the firm’s specialties and fierce representation, stating, “I knew about Gouchev Law’s stellar reputation. The result of Gouchev Law was a major legal win at half the cost of what my last attorneys charged. The attorneys at the firm are friendly to me but aggressive in protecting me. Working with the firm has paid off in a big way! They do everything from creating agreements with advisers, consultants, term sheets and issuing options to create operating agreements.”

5. Cravath, Swaine and Moore

Cravath is the oldest firm on this list, operating for over 200 years. Over this time, it has built a worldwide reputation with specialties in transactions, capital markets, derivatives and countless others. Its team has helped many high-profile cases, including Google’s $32 billion acquisition of Wiz and  Epic Games’ antitrust case.

While it has shaped modern corporate law, it never forgets to contribute to New York through food drives, reading programs and other humanitarian efforts. Even though it has a global presence, the staff never forgets to continue supporting local businesses.

Chambers USA described Cravath as an “impressive and varied group that advises and litigates on antitrust matters, often with an international flavor,” whose “practitioners are well versed in the overlap between antitrust and other areas, such as securities and IP law.”

6. Sullivan and Cromwell

For over 140 years, Sullivan and Cromwell has only hired the best graduates from law schools and distributed its deep legal knowledge to its clients. It has worked with entities inside and outside the U.S., including charities, cultural institutions, governments and industries. It is strongly committed to sustainability with transparent documentation of the firm’s goals and certifications, including LEED and NABERS.

Its corporate practices include tax, litigation and everything in between. However, the team also offers a rarely seen service — issues concerning artificial intelligence. It is one of the few with this specific offering, making it a forerunner in these subjects.

Testimonials tout the firm’s legacy, saying, “Sullivan & Cromwell is at the top of my list of firms when it comes to giving legal advice that takes into account our commercial needs. The lawyers never give advice in a vacuum.”

7. Jones Day

For over 20 years, Jones Day has been acknowledged in the BTI’s Client Service A-team report for outstanding industry recognition. It is because of the firm’s commitment to high-quality services across practices, including capital markets, bankruptcy, intellectual property, litigation and more.

Jones Day participates in some of the corporate world’s most interesting issues, from fintech security to autonomous vehicles. Its diversity demonstrates its willingness to learn about new and emerging markets, while representing them with the same level of quality since the company’s inception.

Testimonials and surveys note the team’s commitment as one of its biggest strengths, including how they bring “a combination of aggressiveness and new approaches to help clients meet their objectives.”

New York’s Corporate Law Firms at a Glance

Learn where to find each firm in New York, their years in operation and the number of employees across locations.

What Makes a Good Corporate Lawyer?

The best corporate lawyers have specific characteristics, which helped the methodology behind these choices. After beginning to work with a firm, clients can judge its authoritativeness and experience based on these qualities.

Industry Relevance

The staff must remain up to date with numerous outlets. They should know the most recent, groundbreaking corporate suits happening worldwide that could set a precedent for future operations. Lawyers must also stay in touch with regulatory agencies and policymakers, as their determinations influence the trajectory and accuracy of their work.

Clear Communications

Clients may be unaware of why corporate lawyers make certain decisions. Firms should be able to concisely and accessibly relay justifications for every action to clients. It is a careful balance, as experts require accountability from those they represent.

Therefore, the complex information they relay to defendants must translate to them in a way that will not jeopardize their circumstances. The best corporate lawyers educate their clients while preventing misunderstandings. The communication should allow clients to apply what they have learned to their company to avoid similar occurrences in the future.

Relentless Loyalty

Lawyers demonstrate their aptitude based on their ability to stand for their clients. The skill manifests in numerous ways, from adamantly negotiating terms to suit the corporation’s needs to actively listening to the outcomes the business wants from the partnership. When interacting with any opposition, the corporate lawyer should demonstrate no hesitancy in supporting their client’s well-being.

Emotional and Practical Resiliency

The business world is cutthroat, and corporate lawyers must have well-established emotional and mental boundaries to withstand its pressures. They are constantly overextending their analytical prowess and maintaining resilience against lengthy and time-consuming legal battles. Corporate lawyers should responsibly manage their health and well-being to empower their clients, despite the adaptability required to handle corporate matters.

Willingness to Innovate

Mergers, taxes and employee rights will always be staples in corporate legal work. However, novel needs could appear yearly. Corporate layers must be prepared to learn new skills in landscapes that courtrooms have never traversed.

For example, when the internet became normalized, corporate lawyers had to unravel how to handle intellectual property and copyright before many people knew the standard. Teams must desire to lead the change and establish precedents for emerging concerns. They may also have to work on organisational elements of their business such as answering the phone, booking meets etc., but a law firm virtual receptionist can make this a little easier. Even so – even the biggest corporate lawyers out there sometimes need to step in and innovate to ensure their calendar is working properly.

What Are the Skills and Services Corporate Lawyers Should Have?

Corporate lawyers should also display their practical skills to assert their competitiveness. The most important include:

• Business acumen: Firms only succeed if they have empathy and awareness for how corporations operate from the inside.
• Organization: Workers should be able to maintain documents, conversations, data and more for accessibility and security.
• Research skills: Lawyers should be able to apply their clients’ arguments to existing precedents or know where to find information to back their cases.
• Reporting: The best firms have strict documentation protocols to protect clients. They must know how to create reports for them, such as financial or compliance records.
• Writing: Corporate lawyers must know how to construct bulletproof documents without any loopholes or confusion, from contracts to printed negotiations.
• Time management: Many cases are time-sensitive, requiring corporate lawyers to sometimes make sacrifices for the betterment of their clients.

The Top-Rated Corporate Law Firms in New York

Establishing a business relationship with a law firm is a vulnerable experience, even for the most profitable and long-standing companies. It requires a complex structure full of property, employees and value to put its future in the hands of a handful of representatives. This is why knowing the most elite performers is crucial. Corporations can settle disputes by contacting one of these firms with full confidence.

Devin Partida writes about investor technologies, big data and apps. She is also the Editor-in-Chief of ReHack.com.