Thacher Proffitt & Wood LLP

The Company

Thacher Proffitt & Wood LLP (Thacher), a 160-year-old Wall Street law firm, has a long history of advising some of the world’s largest financial institutions and was recently retained by the U.S. Treasury to provide legal advice related to the federal bailout, Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). In 2007, Thacher was ranked the 131st largest law firm in the United States by The American Lawyer and posted nearly US$195 million in revenue.

The Situation

Given the ongoing financial crisis and Thacher’s exposure to the financial services industry, it became clear to the firm’s Planning Committee that they faced a severe reduction in their revenue in 2008. As a result, they would not have the financial resources to continue operations in their current form into the new year.

The Transaction

KPMG Corporate Finance LLC assisted Thacher as it explored various strategic alternatives for the firm, its partners, and employees. Given our assessment, about 100 lawyers from Thacher, including 40 partners, joined Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal (Sonnenschein). These lawyers reflected a wide variety of practice areas, including structured finance, corporate and financial institutions, real estate, and litigation and dispute resolution. As a result, effective January 1, 2009, Sonnenschein will have approximately 800 lawyers and will nearly double the size of its New York office.

KPMG Corporate Finance LLC was able to respond quickly to Thacher’s needs and provide senior-level assistance on a broad range of issues. The services provided by KPMG Corporate Finance LLC and its affiliates included assistance with due diligence, valuation, strategy, structuring, lease negotiations, financial modeling and analysis, and tax advice.