Cravath Swaine & Moore
New York, NY · Led by Faiza Saeed
Revenue
$1.8B
Lawyers
600+
Offices
3
Founded
1819
About Cravath Swaine & Moore
Cravath is the firm that literally wrote the playbook for modern Big Law. The 'Cravath System' of hiring top graduates, training them rigorously, and promoting from within revolutionized the entire profession. With only about 600 lawyers and just 3 offices, they are by far the smallest firm on this list by headcount, yet their per-lawyer profitability is stratospheric.
Practice Areas
Notable Alumni
Robert Patterson (U.S. Secretary of War)
Rowan Gaither (Ford Foundation President & RAND Corporation Chair)
Samuel Williston (Harvard Law Professor & Contracts Law Pioneer)
Fun Fact
The 'Cravath System' - hiring only from top law schools, paying associates on a lockstep scale, and an up-or-out promotion model - was invented by Paul Cravath in the early 1900s and is still the template used by elite law firms worldwide.
Get Glen's Musings
Occasional thoughts on AI, Claude, investing, and building things. Free. No spam.
Unsubscribe anytime. I respect your inbox more than Congress respects property rights.
Keep Exploring
Am Law 100
The definitive ranking of America's most powerful law firms by revenue.
Read moreLegal TecheDiscovery Leaders
The top companies powering legal technology and electronic discovery.
Read moreProfilesBillionaire Profiles
157 profiles of the world's most successful investors and entrepreneurs.
Read more