Top Five Offices | New York HQ, Washington, D.C. Chicago, Los Angeles, London
Total attorneys | 1,622
Major departments/practices | mergers and acquisitions, litigation, corporate restructuring
First-year pay | $140,000
2001 summer associates | 266
2001 fall first-years | 160
Who to call | Carol Sprague, director of legal hiring, 212-735-2076
Web site | skadden.com
Random firm-name anagram | MEEK PERSON SHALL DRAFT DAMAGES

What makes the perennially hot New York–based megafirm hot right now? Volume, volume, volume!

In 2000, Skadden handled more M&A deals than any other firm—102, to be precise, with a total value of, ho hum, $270.2 billion. Among its most notable transactions: The firm represented Citigroup in its $31 billion acquisition of Associates First Capital Corp. and Mannesmann AG in its merger with Vodafone AirTouch PLC. More recently, lawyers in the firm’s Boston and D.C. offices represented educational publisher Houghton Mifflin Company in its $2.2 billion acquisition by French media conglomerate Vivendi Universal.

In addition to M&A, Skadden boasts world-class practice groups in some of today’s busiest areas—corporate restructuring, handled primarily by the New York and Chicago offices (four of the largest 10 bankruptcies in 2000), and energy (you may have read about this issue lately), handled by the D.C. branch. Skadden vacuums up more lawyers per year than just about any other firm in the world. Last fall, it received close to 8,000 resumés, conducted some 3,500 on-campus interviews, and ultimately hired 266 summer associates. Worldwide, Skadden has grown from 160 lawyers in 1978 to more than 1,600 lawyers today. You say a Godzilla-size firm isn’t necessarily your bag? Placement experts point out that a large firm, with deep pockets and multiple diversified practice areas, ain’t a bad place to work in an uncertain economy.