Overview
Introduction
With an illustrious history dating back to 1819, Cravath remains a leanly staffed, relatively small firm with its headquarters in New York City and offices in London and Washington, DC. The firm’s new NYC office at Two Manhattan West is designed to foster community with common areas, amenity spaces, and barista and beverage bars. Associates have no billable hour requirement, yet the firm is among the top most profitable firms. Often described as having a “sink-or-swim” environment, the firm utilizes a unique work rotation system that l...
Firm Stats
Total No. Attorneys (2024)
No. of Partners Named (2024)
Featured Rankings
No. of 1st Year Associates Hired (2023)
No. of Summer Associates (2024)
Base Salary
Vault Verdict
Cravath is known for setting the standard for associate starting salaries, but it sets a high bar in many ways, including reputation and quality of work. The hiring process is ultra-competitive, focusing on T14 schools, top grades, and journal or work experience. Colleagues are collaborative and friendly, perhaps a byproduct of them working together on leanly staffed teams. Because of Cravath’s small teams, partners work closely with associates and are invested in their development. Exceptional orientation and training programs also contribute to associates’ career progress. The firm can be opaque on matters like finances and promotion. Associates take on significant responsibility for challenging and sophisticated work, though inevitably, they must tend to some more clerical task...
Firm's Response
Our most important long-term goal is the professional development of our lawyers, and we take a holistic approach to this objective—one that recognizes the importance of training, relationship-building, mentoring, and balancing career and outside obligations and interests. Our lawyers come from a wide range of backgrounds, but they all sha...
About the Firm
With two centuries under its belt, Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP is one of the nation’s preeminent law firms. Cravath has settled on a lean-and-mean approach to world dominance with three strategically placed offices in New York, London, and Washington, DC.
Storied History, Market Leader
Cravath is one of the nation’s most storied law firms and has certainly made its mark. Firm founders Richard Blatchford and William Seward served in Lincoln’s administration, with Seward as his Secretary of State. The firm had its hand in representing famed abolitionist Horace Greeley and inventor Samuel Morse, organizing NBC for its original shareholders, and handling the famed 13-year antitrust lawsuit that began in 1969 for IBM.
Cravath is a market leader in salaries, bonuses...
Associate Reviews
- “I find the day-to-day atmosphere great. Colleagues are very friendly, and there are enough firm functions that you can meet people from other teams and year groups.”
- “Day-to-day atmosphere is extremely cordial, both attorney/attorney and attorney/staff interactions. We have regular get-togethers after work for socializing.”
- “The culture is professional but also social. There are many social events that are firm-sponsored, and on a day-to-day basis, the lawyers are all very collegiate together and the staff is great.”
- “The firm hosts monthly happy hours where most of the lawyers at the firm chat over food from local restaurants. Given the structure of the teams here, where a group of associates is staffed on multiple matters together, there is a lot of natural camaraderie that forms. Many of my closest friends in New York City work at the firm.”
Why Work Here
Here’s what you may not know: The professional development of our lawyers is our most important long-term objective. Our continued success depends on our ability to attract and develop the best talent, and we are committed to providing our lawyers with a rewarding and well-rounded professional experience.
We are not, and do not strive to be, the largest law firm measured by number of offices or lawyers. Our goal is to be the firm of choice for clients facing their most challenging legal issues, most significant business transactions and most critical disputes. To that end, we recruit the nation’s most outstanding law students and focus on training and developing them into world-class lawyers through our hallmark Rotation System.
Diversity at Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP
Getting Hired Here
- “Looking for down-to-earth, smart people. Good grades are a must from any school. The vast majority of attorneys come from a handful of top law schools, but we hire exceptional people down the rankings as well.”
- “Cravath, unlike some of its peer firms, does a great job of recruiting talented students from lower-ranked schools (myself included). While the majority of students come from T14 schools, I have been pleasantly surprised by the variety of schools from which Cravath recruits. Generally, I've found the firm to prefer students who are friendly and bring diverse backgrounds to the firm, both cultural and experiential.”
- “Firm hiring is very competitive. They look for people who are extremely smart, driven, and dedicated. Mostly T14 schools like Harvard, Columbia, NYU, and Penn.”
- “Grades are very important. I did not have journal experience, but I did have prior work experience, which I believe helped. Harvard, NYU, and Columbia tend to send a lot of students to Cravath.”
Perks & Benefits