There Are Cliques in BigLaw, Too

Call us petty, but when we read that seven of the biggest of BigLaw (by PPP, of course) had collaborated on a FORTY page comment letter to the SEC, we immediately started thinking about who was left out.

Then we started wondering how they’d decide the hierarchy of signature blocks (because we have a strange fetish for the order in which names appear).

Then we were going to look for typos, figuring that they’d be all competitive with each other on the nitpicking, but the banality of pontification about shareholder-access rules killed us.

After the jump, a quick summary of the substance, then the firms cool enough to be invited to the party.

According to the summary Ted Mirvis (not a signatory, but his partner is) put up, the letter recommends

• The SEC should amend Rule 14a-8(i)(8) to permit stockholders to utilize Rule 14a-8 for proxy access proposals.
• The SEC should not adopt Rule 14a-11 until there has been sufficient experience with private ordering of proxy access under amended Rule 14a-8 to permit the SEC to make a more informed decision as to whether a prescriptive rule governing proxy access is necessary and desirable.
• If the SEC disagrees with the firms’ view, the SEC should not adopt a prescriptive proxy access rule any earlier than the 2011 proxy season.
• Finally, any prescriptive proxy access regime should permit private ordering under state law so as to permit stockholders to modify the SEC’s proxy access regime as they see fit, including by opting out entirely

The lawyers and their firms (they signed on behalf of their firms listed alphabetically, not ranked by number of followers on Twitter or any other popularity indicium)

• Richard Hall from Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP;
• Phillip R. Mills from Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP;
• Charles M. Nathan from Latham & Watkins, LLP;
• John G. Finley from Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP;
• Marc S. Gerber from Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP;
• James C. Morphy from Sullivan & Cromwell LLP; and
• Eric S. Robinson from Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz.

Poor Kirkland. Off the top of our heads, that’s the firm that was probably the closest to getting invited to sit at the cool kids’ table, but got shut out. What other firms do you think were oh so close to getting an invitation?

Note the other interesting thing about that list? Only Cravath and [see comments] Wachtell are is still a balls-out general partnerships. Considering Hall and Robinson are is risking unlimited personal liability, they he should have gone to the top of the list.

Related posts:

1. BigLaw Gangs up on NYS Legislature
2. BigLaw Vets All Over Best-Paid GC List
3. Best Law Firms List Out – Wachtell Not #1
4. Diving into the “End of BigLaw” Debate
5. Wall Street Even Owns Tech Deals