White-shoe firm
White-shoe firm is a phrase used to describe the leading professional services firms in America, particularly firms that have been in existence for more than a century and represent Fortune 500 companies. It frequently—but not always—refers to securities, law and management consulting firms, and frequently (but not always) refers to firms in New York City. A similar phrase, Magic Circle, refers to law firms in the UK, while the Big Six refers to leading Australian law firms and Seven Sisters to similar Canadian firms.
Etymology and Definition of White-Shoe
According to William Safire, the phrase derives from "white bucks", a type of laced suede or buckskin shoe with a red sole, long popular among upper-class New Englanders, especially at Ivy League colleges.[1] Originally, it reflected a stereotype of old-line firms populated by WASPs, but the phrase has since become innocuous. In the case of investment banks (Goldman, Lazard, Lehman), the term referred to not only WASPs but also aristocratic Jews. However, it is still defined by Princeton University's Wordnet as "denoting a company or law firm owned and run by members of the WASP elite who are generally conservative," which shows that the original connotation has not changed entirely [citation needed].
Examples of white-shoe firms
The following firms are often referred to as being white-shoe firms:
Securities firms
- Goldman Sachs[2]
- JPMorgan Chase[3][4]
- Lazard[5]
- Morgan Stanley[6]
- Rothschild[7]
- The Blackstone Group
- Evercore Partners
- Credit Suisse First Boston
- UBS
Law firms
- Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft[8][9]
- Chadbourne & Parke[10]
- Cravath, Swaine & Moore[11]
- Davis Polk & Wardwell[12]
- Debevoise & Plimpton[13]
- Dewey & LeBoeuf[14]
- Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy[15]
- Ropes & Gray[16]
- Shearman & Sterling[17]
- Simpson, Thacher & Bartlett[18]
- Sullivan & Cromwell[19]
The "New" White-Shoe Law firms
While the term "white-shoe" historically applied only to those law firms populated by WASPs, usage of the term has since been expanded to other top-rated prestigious law firms. Many of these firms were founded as a direct result of the exclusionary tendencies of the original white-shoe firms, which provided limited opportunities for Jewish and Catholic lawyers, as well as other non-WASPs.
- Alston & Bird [20]
- Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison[21] [22]
- Proskauer Rose[23] [24] [25] [26]
- Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom [27] [28]
- Weil, Gotshal & Manges [29] [30] [31]
- Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton
Consulting firms
Accounting firms
Other uses of the term
A similar term in Australia, "white shoe brigade", has been used in the past to describe a group of Gold Coast property developers who backed, and benefitted from, former Queensland State Premier Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen. [1]
Related phrases
- Magic circle, seen as the five (or six) top law firms in the United Kingdom; also used to describe the top four Commercial Chambers at the Bar
- Global Quartet or Big Four, referring to members of the Magic Circle other than Slaughter and May as it has, in general, not pursued a policy of international expansion
- Seven Sisters, referring to the seven Canadian law firms considered to be the top tier
- Big Six, referring to six Australian law firms perceived to be the top tier
- Big Three, referring to three Texas law firms considered to be the top tier
Notes and references
- ^ William Safire, No Uncertain Terms: More Writing from the Popular "On Language" Column in The New York Times Magazine, 2003
- ^ Goldman Sachs Buys Share of Parking Garage Firm
- ^ Surowiecki, James (1998-06-15). "White-Shoe Shuffle". New York. New York Media LLC. Retrieved 2008-06-01.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|work=(help) - ^ Timmons, Heather (2002-01-21). "The Perils of J.P. Morgan". BusinessWeek. McGraw-Hill. Retrieved 2008-06-01.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|work=(help); Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ The New york Times: They're All Paying Customers to Wall Street
- ^ Morgan Stanley's 'white-shoe' dissidents continue war of attrition
- ^ Classic, white-shoe European boutique Rothschild
- ^ The Law Firm's New Clothes - New York Times
- ^ Does the Future Belong to Cadwalader?
- ^ [http://www.opednews.com/populum/diarypage.php?did=12858}
- ^ SHOES ARE WHITER THAN MOST IN CITY
- ^ Forbes.com: Dimon Woos Mergers Lawyer Hersch To JPMorgan
- ^ Stephen Labaton, 'Rainmaker: Mario Baeza of Debevoise,' The New York Times September 24, 1989
- ^ Dewey & LeBoeuf’s local head count drops post-merger - Boston Business Journal:
- ^ Businessweek: Commentary: Et Tu, Enron Lawyers?
- ^ Vault.com: Law Firm Highlights: Ropes & Gray LLP
- ^ Vault.com: Shearman & Sterling, 1999 Edition
- ^ Vault.com: Simpson Thacher & Bartlett
- ^ Anna Schneider-Mayerson, Associate Gets Crushed Beneath White Shoe, New York Observer, Feb. 18, 2007
- ^ "Tom Daschle's Washington," Wall Street Journal, February 4, 2009, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123371143249046139.html
- ^ New York Times - What Is a Living Wage?
- ^ Gay Couple Sues Landlord for Discrimination
- ^ Business - Minding your MANNERS 06/09/02
- ^ lawjobs.com Career Center - Can the 'Jewish Law Firm' Success Story Be Duplicated?
- ^ Why Work for Proskauer Rose LLP? - a service from Vault.com
- ^ Mta Pays Big Shots To Fight A Strike
- ^ "Milestones in an Ambitous Career", New York Times, March 10, 2008, http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/03/10/us/20080310_SPITZER_FEATURE.html#
- ^ "Girl Trouble", New York Magazine, October 16, 2000 http://nymag.com/nymetro/nightlife/singles/features/3938/
- ^ Lisa Belkin, Who’s Cuddly Now? Law Firms, New York Times, January 24, 2008, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/24/fashion/24WORK.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1
- ^ Greg Sargent, "The Ricochet", Mother Jones, September/October 2005, http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2005/09/the_ricochet-3.html
- ^ Patrick Fitzgerald, "SunCal Lawyer Whacks Weil," Wall Street Journal, March 13, 2009 http://blogs.wsj.com/bankruptcy/2009/03/13/suncal-lawyer-whacks-weil/
- ^ On Language; Gimme the Ol' White Shoe