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Alan Klein, Co-Head of Simpson Thacher’s Mergers & Acquisitions Practice, was quoted in a The American Lawyer article titled, “The Tables Have Turned: What 20 Years of M&A Data Reveals About the Changing Big Law Hierarchy.” The article analyzed the past two decades of M&A league table data, noting that the roster of elite law firms handling the majority of corporate deal work has shifted due to changing trends, including the surge of private equity investment, the rise of the technology, telecommunications and pharmaceutical industries and the legal industry’s expanding geographic footprint. The article also noted that the Firm has had a consistent presence in the rankings and mentioned Simpson Thacher as being one of the five firms who have most improved their average ranking based on deal value during the time frame.

When discussing how firms with a large presence in New York were well positioned to take on private equity work as it grew to become a more dominant player in M&A, Alan said, “The investment banks who were advising corporations were all based in New York, the private equity firms were almost all in New York… and the law firms in New York were all part of that same ecosystem.”

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