The FirmAn elite, historic Wall Street firm with roughly 875 lawyers across 13 offices globally and a track record spanning well over a century advising the most significant corporates and financial institutions on their most complex matters. The firm is consistently ranked at the very top of Chambers USA and Chambers Global, with dozens of Band 1 practice rankings, and is widely regarded as one of a small handful of firms that sits at the true top of the market across M&A, capital markets, and banking/regulatory work. The Practice The capital markets group is considered a market leader in equity capital markets and is regularly involved in some of the most complex and high-profile transactions in the space. The team represents top-tier issuers and underwriters — from blue-chip public companies and high-growth private companies to the major investment banks themselves — and is particularly known for its strength in cross-border and US-related matters, including IPOs, SPACs, ADS offerings, and SEC-registered transactions. On the debt side, the group handles significant cross-border and investment-grade/high-yield debt mandates, including large SEC-registered global note offerings and Rule 144A transactions. The practice draws heavily on the firm's related strength in M&A and banking/regulatory work, giving associates a broader technical grounding than a standalone capital markets seat.
The Work:- Equity offerings: IPOs, follow-ons, convertible offerings, and private placements for both issuers and underwriters
- Debt offerings: investment-grade and high-yield note offerings, both SEC-registered and Rule 144A, often multi-billion-dollar and cross-border in natureSPAC and de-SPAC transactions, and other structured/novel equity products
- Ongoing securities law counseling for public company clients — disclosure, reporting, and governance matters that flow naturally from the transactional work
- What the Associate Will Be Doing
- Drafting and negotiating offering documents, underwriting agreements, and related transaction documentation
- Managing due diligence and disclosure workstreams on live deals, working directly with issuers, underwriters, and banking counsel
- Advising on securities law and disclosure questions for public company clients on a standing basis, not just deal-by-deal
- Working closely with the M&A and banking/regulatory groups on multi-disciplinary transactions, broadening exposure beyond pure capital markets work
- Taking on increasing responsibility for deal management and direct client contact as a mid-level associate
- Career Benefits
- Cravath-scale compensation at one of the highest-grossing firms in the market
- Exposure to some of the largest and most sophisticated capital markets transactions globally — a strong credential for future in-house, banking, or partnership-track moves
- Training within a practice widely regarded as the top ECM franchise in the market, alongside a top-tier DCM book
- A close-knit, elite platform where associates work directly with senior partners and sophisticated repeat clients, rather than being one of many on a large, diffuse deal team
