The story
Founded by Algernon Sydney Sullivan and William Nelson Cromwell in 1879, in New York City.1
Founded in 1879 by Algernon Sydney Sullivan and William Nelson Cromwell, Sullivan & Cromwell advised John Pierpont Morgan during the creation of Edison General Electric (1882) and later guided key players in the formation of U.S. Steel (1901). Cromwell developed the concept of a holding company, persuading New Jersey to include it in state law and enabling companies incorporating there to avoid antitrust laws. The firm also worked with less-successful businesses during the volatile decades before the establishment of modern federal bankruptcy laws; it pioneered efforts to reorganize insolvent companies through what became known as the "Cromwell plan." Cromwell attorney Rodgin Cohen was called "the physician of Wall Street" for his ability to rescue failing companies.
The post-World War I era saw an expanded need for financing. Sullivan & Cromwell designed many of the equity and debt agreements used during this period, including 94 loan agreements to European borrowers during one seven-year period. The firm's business expanded substantially during the 1930s, when it began to represent companies facing increased regulation and became for a time the world's biggest law firm. During the Great Depression and its aftermath, the firm litigated in the newly emerging fields of shareholder derivatives, antitrust actions, federal income tax law, and registration under the Securities Act of 1933. The firm developed the first major registration statement under the Securities Act of 1933 and influenced the development of tax law in the mutual fund industry.
Sullivan & Cromwell performed the legal work for the Ford Motor Company's $643 million offering in 1956, the biggest ever to that date. Evolving business trends continued to be reflected in the firm's organization; a banking practice was formed in 1968, and a mergers and acquisitions unit was established in 1980, as M&A began to accelerate. By the middle of that decade, the M&A unit generated a third of the firm's revenue. In 2008, the law firm was one of the five that advised on a merger on the tobacco companies Altria and UST. The firm was active in the recovery of the 2008 financial crisis, with then-chairman H. Rodgin Cohen described by the New York Times as having “one of the largest roles” in resolving bailouts and mergers including Bear Sterns and AIG.
The firm advised the cryptocurrency exchange FTX prior to its 2022 collapse and worked in an advisory role following the company’s declaration of bankruptcy. In January 2023, a bipartisan group of four U.S. Senators published a letter arguing that Sullivan & Cromwell had a conflict of interest as FTX bankruptcy counsel due to its significant pre-bankruptcy work. Law Professors Jonathan Lipson and David Skeel argued that as FTX was nearing bankruptcy, Sullivan & Cromwell urged then-CEO Sam Bankman-Fried to transfer control of the company to John J. Ray III by making false promises about Ray's role and failed to suggest that Bankman-Fried and others might face criminal liability. In October 2024, a class-action lawsuit brought by FTX investors against Sullivan & Cromwell was voluntarily dismissed after a U.S. Bankruptcy Examiner found the firm had neither participated in fraud nor overlooked warning signs while representing FTX prior to its bankruptcy filing.
It is one of the most profitable law practices in the world, with 2024 profits per partner exceeding $6.7 million.
In 2024, the firm hired a background check company to scour social media and review news reports and footage from protests. Candidates could face scrutiny even if they weren’t using problematic language but were involved with a protest where others did. Roderick A. Ferguson, a Yale professor of American studies, argued that to "make the leap that it’s all the students", “can mimic racist thinking, sexist thinking, homophobic thinking, that one instance becomes a character of all.”
Representation of Donald J. Trump
In January 2025, Sullivan & Cromwell announced its representation of Donald J. Trump in the appeal of his conviction on 34 felony counts for paying hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels prior to the 2016 election. In doing so, the firm became the first major law firm to risk its reputation by defending Trump from criminal prosecution, with the New York Times writing, "Some clients might look askance at any affiliation with a polarizing president." Robert Giuffra, co-chair of Sullivan & Cromwell, joined a phone call where President Donald Trump negotiated the targeting of law firms and lawyers under the second Trump administration with the law firm Paul, Weiss as a first among law firms who had discussions with Trump early in his second term. The firm has been reported to be the favored firm of Trump. James McDonald, a partner at the firm, was nominated to be the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York by Trump.
From Wikipedia’s article on Sullivan & Cromwell, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4