McDermott Will & Schulte


McDermott Will & Schulte is an international law firm with a diversified business practice. The firm is one of the largest-grossing law firms in the United States and globally, and its lawyers represent a wide range of commercial, industrial, and financial enterprises.
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History

Chicago lawyers Edward H. McDermott and William M. Emery founded the firm in 1934. They were initially focused as a tax law firm, and a corporate department was established in 1941 when Howard A. Will joined the firm. As the century progressed, the firm added capabilities across the legal spectrum, eventually opening eight more offices. By 1984, the firm had amassed one hundred fifty lawyers. Over the ensuing twenty years, the firm grew; in 2004, McDermott numbered over one thousand lawyers.
In November 2023, amid a wave of antisemitic incidents at elite U.S. law schools, McDermott Will & Emery was among a group of major law firms that sent a letter to top law school deans warning them that an escalation in incidents targeting Jewish students would have corporate hiring consequences:
We look to you to ensure your students who hope to join our firms after graduation are prepared to be an active part of workplace communities that have zero tolerance policies for any form of discrimination or harassment, much less the kind that has been taking place on some law school campuses.
On August 1, 2025, the firm merged with Schulte Roth & Zabel, forming a new firm under the name McDermott Will & Schulte.

Organization

McDermott has more than 1,750 lawyers across more than 20 offices in the United States and Europe.
The firm consists of multiple legal entities that are coordinated through service agreements:

Recognition and rankings

  • Chambers-ranked practices on two continents: 125+ Chambers-ranked lawyers: 350+ Legal 500 lawyer rankings: 380+ recommended lawyers Legal 500 practice rankings: 115+ ranked practices
  • In 2010, recognized by The Chambers Global Guide for excellence in numerous practice areas; several McDermott lawyers were ranked as leaders in their field.
  • In 2009, the Human Rights Campaign named McDermott Will & Emery as one of the record numbers of US companies earning the top rating of 100 percent in its annual Corporate Equality Index.
  • For the third quarter of 2008, McDermott's Mergermarket rankings included the top 20 for the number of US buyouts, the top 10 for the number of US-Midwest region deals, and the top 10 by the value of deals in Swedish M&A. According to Mergerstat, McDermott ranked in the top 20 for US-announced deals and among the top for US middle market advisors and US private equity advisors based on both value and number of deals.
  • In 2006, The National Law Journal named McDermott one of the top 15 defense litigation law firms in the United States on its annual Defense Hot List. Also in 2006, the firm was named one of the top 10 law firms on BTI Consulting Group's Market Movers list.
  • In 2005, the firm was named one of the top 10 law firms representing the growing healthcare industry in the United States.

Notable alumni