Top Five Offices | Los Angeles HQ, New York, Washington, D.C., Orange County, California, San Francisco
Total attorneys | 787
Major departments/practices | litigation, corporate, labor, media
First-year pay | $125,000
2001 summer associates | 175
2001 fall first-years | 93
Who to call | Leslie Ripley, national manager, recruiting and professional development, 213-229-7000
Web site | gibsondunn.com
Random firm-name anagram | BRUNCH COD URGENT SIN
“Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac.” If Henry Kissinger’s famous dictum is true, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher is dead sexy. No firm is better connected to the Bush administration. Solicitor General Ted Olson—you remember, the guy who argued George W. into office—spent 33 years at Gibson before assuming his SG post. Partner Miguel Estrada has been nominated to the U.S. Court of Appeals’ D.C. Circuit, a major Supreme Court feeder. And Gibson’s Eugene Scalia (Antonin’s son) has been nominated for solicitor of labor, the top legal job at the Department of Labor.
Two of the firm’s largest practice areas are corporate law and litigation. On the corporate side, recent deals include representing Intel Corporation in its $400 million acquisition of LightLogic and Northrop Grumman in its $3.8 billion acquisition of Litton Industries. In litigation, Gibson recently prevailed when a judge ruled in favor of American Airlines and dismissed an antitrust case in which the carrier was accused of driving competitors out of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport by undercutting their fares. The Justice Department is appealing.
Since 1991, Gibson’s roster of lawyers has grown by 23 percent, from 641 to 787. This fall, the firm will visit 41 campuses, seeking to hire some 145 summer associates for 2002. Want to work at a top all-around shop? Want to be a GOP playa’ someday? Try to be one of the 145.