Musical Chairs: Wachtell Lipton's New Partners

Wachtell Lipton, the obscenely profitable and dazzlingly prestigious New York law firm, just elected three lawyers to its ~~millionaires’ club~~ partnership. By firm tradition, the partnership vote takes place on Election Day each year.

Expect an official announcement tomorrow; we bring you the news today. The three lucky, talented, and hardworking new partners are:

— Martin J.E. Arms (litigation; pictured inset, left);
— Gregory E. Ostling (corporate; pictured inset, center); and
— Eric M. Rosof (finance and restructuring) (pictured inset, right).

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By Above the Law

The promotions take effect on January 1, 2007. Upon information and belief, newly minted Wachtell partners take home seven-figure paychecks in their first year of partnership. This shouldn’t be that surprising, given that (1) average profits per partner at WLRK were $3,790,000 in 2005, and (2) Wachtell partner compensation is lockstep by seniority (except for a handful of senior partners, including Messrs. Wachtell and Lipton, who are “off the grid”).

We used to work at Wachtell Lipton, so we can pass along random tidbits about this high-powered trio:

Martin Arms: We worked a lot with him on the Silverstein/World Trade Center case. Very smart; British-born, and retaining a hint of Englishness; worked extensively with Herb Wachtell (an obvious plus in the partnership race).

Greg Ostling: He was in corporate and we were in litigation, so we didn’t get to know him terribly well. We’d see him around the halls. Snazzy dresser; good-looking.

Eric Rosof: We sat next to him and shared a secretary. Nice guy; a bit on the quiet side, almost shy; extremely hard-working (even by Wachtell standards).

Martin, Greg, and Eric: CONGRATULATIONS!!!