Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP

Cahill holds Band 1 rankings in Chambers USA for Banking & Finance (specifically leveraged lending) and Capital Markets. The firm is the leading advisor on leveraged finance transactions, regularly serving as counsel to the arranger banks on the largest and most complex leveraged buyout financings. Its high-yield practice has been involved in more high-yield bond offerings than virtually any competitor. Cahill's litigation practice handles significant First Amendment, media defense, and commercial disputes, and the firm has a long history of defending press freedom, including representing major media organizations in landmark cases. The antitrust practice also commands strong market recognition.

Cahill uses a free-market assignment system and maintains its lean staffing model as a deliberate strategic choice. The firm seeks academically strong candidates who display good judgment, self-confidence, and enthusiasm for the practice of law. Callback interviews involve meeting with four lawyers for approximately 30 minutes each over a two-hour period. Associates benefit from the firm's small size, with roughly 300 lawyers, junior associates receive levels of responsibility and client contact that associates at larger firms typically do not see until their mid-level years. The firm's tight-knit culture means that every associate is known to the partnership.

Cahill's combination of extreme profitability, small size, and market-leading leveraged finance work makes it one of the most distinctive firms in BigLaw. The firm has represented arranger banks in some of the largest leveraged transactions in history, and its media defense practice carries forward a tradition of protecting press freedom that dates back decades. For students who want sophisticated financial work in a setting where every lawyer matters, Cahill offers an experience that mega-firms simply cannot replicate.