Sullivan & Cromwell has an extensive track record of helping clients navigate some of the biggest crises in recent history. During the 2008 financial crisis, S&C was the trusted advisor for many major banks. Institutions including AIG, Barclays, Bear Stearns, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Lehman Brothers turned to S&C for guidance through crisis-related merger and financing advice, and then through the defense of the aggressive investigations, enforcement actions, and civil litigation that ensued. S&C remains the go-to firm for high-profile, industry-shaping cases today.
S&C guided Volkswagen and Fiat Chrysler through their emissions crises, BP through its Deepwater Horizon settlement, and Wells Fargo through high-stakes investigations pertaining to its sales practices. Most recently, we have been advising FTX in its Chapter 11 proceedings and internal and governmental investigations, and representing the parent of Silicon Valley Bank in its Chapter 11 cases. Multinational corporations, including BHP, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, UBS, Microsoft, and Walgreens Boots Alliance, trust S&C to guide them through their most complex and critical matters.
Potential crisis situations, which result in investigations and litigation with potentially significant consequences, routinely implicate legal issues that require multidisciplinary expertise to resolve effectively and efficiently. S&C’s generalist tradition and cross-disciplinary approach help clients process and prioritize complicated legal, business, governmental, public relations and shareholder relations issues as quickly and effectively as possible. Our team features over a dozen former government lawyers who have held senior leadership positions within the Department of Justice, the SEC and the CFTC and who understand how prosecutors and regulators approach investigations and litigation. In addition to providing high-level strategy, our lawyers regularly act as coordinating counsel to corporate clients needing a multi-faceted and multi-jurisdictional legal response to a crisis. Their business acumen, expertise in developing novel solutions to unique situations, and history of working effectively with the full range of government authorities have made S&C the pre-eminent law firm for companies facing institutional crises.
“Sullivan & Cromwell is where the biggest companies in the world look to when they need their biggest problems solved – not garden-variety headaches but literal bet-the-company issues.”
–Benchmark Litigation