Lawyers: The Factories

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If Barry Goldwater, Nelson Rockefeller, George Romney or William Scranton runs for President in November and loses, a pattern is sure to be broken. None of the four is likely to become a practicing lawyer, and it is something of a tradition for defeated G.O.P. presidential nominees to join big Wall Street law firms. After losing to F.D.R. in 1940, Wendell Willkie entered the partnership now named Willkie Farr Gallagher Walton & Fitzgibbon. In 1955 Tom Dewey joined Ballantine, Bushby, Palmer & Wood, which promptly renamed itself Dewey, B., B., P. & W. Richard Nixon has joined Mudge, Stern, Baldwin & Todd, and the firm has changed its handle to Nixon, Mudge, Rose, Guthrie & Alexander.

For the big law firm, a Willkie, Dewey or Nixon is a valuable catch; apart from the newcomer's legal talents, his very name can be counted on to pay off in new and profitable business. For the ex-candidate, the arrangement is just as rewarding. Six-figure incomes are common among senior partners of big law firms. At N., M., R., G. & A., Richard Nixon could take in $200,000 a year.

Solid & Durable. The traffic moves in both directions; big-time lawyers shift readily into high posts in business and government. The late John W. Davis of Davis Polk Wardwell Sunderland & Kiendl left Wall Street in 1924 to be come the Democratic candidate for President; he lost and went back to lawyering. Several Cabinet officers, Henry L. Stimson and John Foster Dulles among them, have been Wall Street lawyers. Defense Secretary McNamara's newest deputy, Cyrus Vance, came from Simpson Thacher & Bartlett. The big outfits, sometimes referred to as "factories" (the term makes the lawyers wince), also supply a sizable share of the presidents, board chairmen and directors of large corporations.

"Factory" lawyers fall into two broad categories: partners, who divide up the profits, and associates, who are paid salaries. With 24 partners and 47 associates, the Nixon firm barely ranks among New York City's 20 biggest. At the top in size is Shearman & Sterling, with 158 lawyers. Outside New York, firms with as many as 50 lawyers are uncommon: there are five in Philadelphia, five in Houston, four in Chicago, four in Cleveland, two in Los Angeles, one each in Washington, Boston and San Francisco.

Although their names sometimes suffer drastic changes, the big law offices are usually solid and durable institutions. Most of today's giants are direct descendants of firms established generations ago. Nixon, Mudge, Rose, Guthrie & Alexander, for example, traces back to 1869. Relationships with clients tend to be just as durable. Shearman & Sterling has represented one New York bank for the past 67 years.

Unlike The Defenders. In both style and substance, most of the law practiced in the big shops differs radically from the work of attorneys who operate alone or in small firms. A rare star performer, such as Edward Bennett Williams or Melvin Belli, may get rich with an essentially one-man show, but the average income of U.S. lawyers working on their own comes to about $8,000 a year. In big firms, the starting salary for an associate fresh from law school is about $8,000, and the average income of partners and associates is about four times that amount.