The story
The firm was founded in 1948 in New York by Marshall Skadden, John Slate, and Les Arps. The same year, Joseph Flom was hired as the firm's first associate. In 1959, William R. Meagher joined the firm and its first female attorney, Elizabeth Head, was hired. In 1960, the firm's name became Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.
In 1973, the firm opened its second office in Boston. In 1981, Peggy L. Kerr became the first woman to become a partner at Skadden. In 1987, the firm opened its first international office in Tokyo.
In November 2023, amid a wave of antisemitic incidents at elite U.S. law schools, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom was among a group of major law firms that sent a letter to top law school deans warning them that an escalation in incidents targeting Jewish students would have corporate hiring consequences.
Agreement to support Trump administration (2025)
In March 2025, the firm came to an agreement with the Trump administration to contribute $100 million of pro bono legal services to support the goals of the second Trump administration. The move was widely criticized. In July 2026, the Department of Justice subpoenaed Skadden in an investigation of the deal.
In July 2026, Representative Jaime Raskin, and Senators Adam Schiff and Richard Blumenthal (who serves as ranking member of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations) requested by letter that the firm submit details of its government work, in light of its March 2025 agreement with the Trump administration, and to explain its apparent conflict of interest in advising Intel while the Trump administration acquired 10% equity in the company.
From Wikipedia’s article on Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5