Attention Young Legal Deal Makers: Did You Make the Cut?
The excellent DealBook Special Section, in today's New York Times, has a piece by Andrew Ross Sorkin that the New York deal lawyers among you will love. It's entitled The Facebook of Wall Street’s Future:
Here is a snapshot of more than 100 people who make up the next generation of deal makers, everyone 40 years old or younger and linked by where they went to college (and chosen based on dozens of interviews). Think of the list as a Facebook of Wall Street’s future.This is not an exhaustive inventory of all the up-and-comers on Wall Street, where new faces constantly come up with the next clever idea. But it demonstrates the power of certain schools as career starting points.
In terms of law schools -- there are lots of business schools on the chart, too -- the "certain schools" include Harvard, NYU, Georgetown, and Penn (among others; these four seem to have the most graduates on the map -- 6, 6, 4, and 4, respectively).
Correction: Oops, sorry (and thanks to this commenter for pointing out our error). Columbia Law School has 7 featured alums. CLS, holla!
It's tough to escape "tier-ism," even when you move from the heart of the legal world to the point where it overlaps with the deal world. But do take note of the large area at the center of the illustration for people with "No Graduate Degrees."
Some of the names on the map will be familiar to ATL readers. A few shout-outs, after the jump.
One tipster pointed out:
I personally witnessed law firm PR machines trying to get their people on there... Check out the only law firm associates that appear to be on there: Melissa Sawyer and Danny Serota of Sullivan & Cromwell.Sound familiar? Think there might be a reason for it?
Why yes! Didn't both Melissa Sawyer and Dan Serota make cameo appearances in Aaron Charney's original pro se Complaint, in the famous case of Charney v. Sullivan & Cromwell? Could their placement on the NYT's list of top young dealmakers, perhaps aided by S&C's PR operation, represent an attempt to distance them from that distasteful litigation?
For the record, though, Sawyer and Serota aren't the only Biglaw associates on the map; there are several others. One of them is Wachtell Lipton's David Shapiro, a colleague of ours from our WLRK days. Rumor has it that a partner basically had to order the famously hardworking Shapiro to take a vacation (after he went for some ridiculously long period of time -- we're talking YEARS -- without taking time off).
Addendum: One source pointed out to us: "Check out the largest grouping on the chart: 'No Graduate Degrees' (31). Doesn't the size of this group partially undermine the thesis of this graphic, which is all about educational connection? Do the 'No Graduate Degree' people have alumni events where they get together and talk about their lack of graduate or professional education?"
Rebuttal Addendum: But inclusion of the "No Graduate Degrees" people still has some point, since their undergraduate educational connections are reflected.
P.S. We've filed this under "Shameless Plugs" because we contributed a piece to the Special Section.
The Facebook of Wall Street’s Future [DealBook / New York Times]
Comments
First! Go Rams!
Posted by: First! | October 3, 2007 03:56 PM
Congrats to all of them, I look forward to being in that group someday.
Posted by: Anonymous | October 3, 2007 03:59 PM
GO CUBBIES!!!
Posted by: Second | October 3, 2007 03:59 PM
Nice map. Must have taken some time to compose, but its interesting - then again, it will be even more interesting to look back 30 years or do a map today of the older generation of business leaders and see where they went to school.
Posted by: Neil Sandhu | October 3, 2007 04:07 PM
l8me
Posted by: Anonymous | October 3, 2007 04:09 PM
GO GUNNERS!
Posted by: Anonymous | October 3, 2007 04:11 PM
Do people at the New York Times really just sit around giving eachother HJ's all day and vomiting on themselves?
This might be the most elaborate, least relevant diagram I've ever seen.
Posted by: Nerds | October 3, 2007 04:13 PM
I second that. GO CUBBIES!!
Posted by: Lowly BigLaw Paralegal | October 3, 2007 04:19 PM
4:13 - Concur completely, there are several people who evidently aren't connected to anyone else. Maybe they just give good NYT reporter HJ.
Posted by: anon | October 3, 2007 04:20 PM
sawyer is hot. right?
Posted by: Anonymous | October 3, 2007 04:23 PM
Cubs Suck
Posted by: The Return of S. Bartman | October 3, 2007 04:27 PM
Lat: "these four seem to have the most graduates on the map."
Let's look at the numbers:
HLS (6), NYU (6), GULC (4), Penn (4)
Columbia has 7 (the most of any law school). You'd think that after your warm welcome here, you'd show us a bit more love.
Posted by: Anonymous | October 3, 2007 04:38 PM
East coast snobs rule! Friggin' dorks.
Posted by: Anonymous | October 3, 2007 04:42 PM
You know, if it wasn't for that whole Yale thing....
Posted by: Anonymous | October 3, 2007 04:50 PM
What "whole Yale thing?"
Posted by: Donald Kimble | October 3, 2007 05:20 PM
This is the dumbest thing I have ever seen.
Posted by: Anonymous | October 3, 2007 05:22 PM
Agreed with 5:22. This chart is mere pr for the people who are on it. Does anyone honestly think that the associates on it are making deals? Did they sleep with the reporter?
Posted by: Anonymous | October 3, 2007 05:54 PM
Melissa Sawyer is smokin'
Posted by: Anonymous | October 3, 2007 06:00 PM
Lat, you should consider a post of M. Aiello and J. Woolery for Non-Top-Tier Graduates of the Day.
Posted by: Anonymous | October 3, 2007 06:42 PM
Count how many times each law firm was mentioned.
5x - Wachtell
4x - Davis Polk
3x - Skadden, Latham, Simpson Thatcher, Cravath
2x - Sullivan Cromwell, Weil Gotshal, Debevoise, Cleary Gottlieb,
1x - Wilson Sonsini
So, I assume those firms are top of the pop, aren't they?
Btw - who cares about the law schools...you better think about were you gonna work...!
Posted by: associate | October 3, 2007 06:46 PM
So what! I'd still rather be making 125K a year and sitting on my couch at 6:30 smoking kick ass weed... SUCKAS
Posted by: So what | October 3, 2007 07:21 PM
goes to show how US news doesn't really represented GULC in the right place
Posted by: Anonymous | October 3, 2007 08:14 PM
Does anyone from Michigan have the poster from Serota's student government days when young Serota's head was photoshopped onto the body of a large standard poodle?
Posted by: Anonymous | October 3, 2007 10:24 PM
goes to show how US news doesn't really represented GULC in the right place
Because 4 of the thousands og graduates it has churned out made a PR publication?
You can;t be serious? There is also a Widener grad on the chart- By your standard Widener should be top tier.- YOU ARE A DOUCHE
Posted by: HUH? | October 4, 2007 05:46 AM
One of the Wachtell lawyers and the two Sullivan & Cromwell lawyers are associates. The rest of the lawyers on the list are all partners.
Posted by: Anonymous | October 4, 2007 09:27 AM
Let's call it like it is. I don't think anyone on this list promoted themselves or did PR to get on this list. I know this for a fact in at least a few of the cases. These are not the only current or future dealmakers under 40 on the Street and I'm sure there are others out there who are just as good, if not better, and just as influential, if not more so. But clearly some people out there that were asked think they're pretty good. And I'd lay money down that everyone on that list has worked hard to get where they are. In school. In their careers. Long hours. High stress. So if anyone has a gripe here, I would suggest not taking it out on the people on the list. Their hands are clean in all this and they've earned their stripes to get where they are.
Posted by: Anonymous | October 4, 2007 10:44 AM
Thank you for that post and the self-promotion Danny Serota.
Posted by: Anonymous | October 4, 2007 10:57 AM
Danny Serota doesn't have time to come visit this site.
Posted by: Anon | October 4, 2007 11:24 AM