Martin Lipton
Who
The "Elvis Presley of M&A," Marty Lipton is one of New York's most famed corporate attorneys and a founding partner of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz.
Backstory
When four scrappy young NYU Law grads got together in 1965 and decided to start their own practice, few guessed it would quickly become one of the most prestigious firms in town. But within a decade of starting out, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz—founded by Herbert Wachtell, Martin Lipton, Leonard Rosen, and George Katz—had already earned a reputation as one of the most capable firms specializing in mergers and acquisitions. Lipton's first big deal arrived in 1974 when he represented Laurence Tisch's Loews Corp. in a hostile, nine-month bid to take over CNA. It was in the early '80s that Lipton really cemented his rep as a legal superstar when he unveiled an unheard-of tactic, the so-called poison pill, to thwart unwanted takeovers. Lipton put it to use for the first time on behalf of El Paso Corp. in 1982, and it's since become a corporate standard.
During the golden era of M&A in '80s, Lipton was involved in some of the biggest deals of the day. Phillips Petroleum retained him to defend itself against takeover attempts by T. Boone Pickens and Carl Icahn. Lipton repped Beatrice Companies in its sale to Henry Kravis's KKR in 1986. (Other titans he worked with over the years: Felix Rohatyn, John Gutfreund, Eric Gleacher, Rupert Murdoch, Herb Allen, and Barry Diller.) But it wasn't just Lipton's formidable legal skills that cleared the way for his rise to the top: A skillful self-promoter, he also discounted his work to attract business, and WLRK was the first firm to begin charging clients on a contingency-fee basis (typically 1%), a financial model that has since become commonplace.
Of note
Now in his 70s, Lipton remains active at the firm—he's widely believed to be the highest paid corporate lawyer in the U.S—and is regularly sought out by the city's power brokers for his insight into complex legal and financial matters. Lipton advised longtime friend Sandy Weill after Eliot Spitzer launched a probe into Citigroup, and he was involved in the management shakeup at Morgan Stanley in 2005, advising the board of the company as well as former CEO Philip Purcell. Lipton and Herb Wachtell also represented Larry Silverstein in the real estate developer's dispute over insurance claims related to Sept. 11 and his fight with the Port Authority over control of the redevelopment plan. One less cheery moment for Lipton over the past few years: The veteran lawyer was thrust into the spotlight in the wake of former NYSE CEO Dick Grasso's 2003 pay scandal. Lipton had been the Big Board's chief counsel and, it turned out, had assured Grasso that his $140 million pay package was above board. More recently, Lipton advised the Bancroft family on their sale of Dow Jones to Rupert Murdoch. Although Lipton keeps up his busy schedule, he's long since handed over day-to-day management of the firm to the next generation. Ed Herlihy and Daniel Neff are WLRL's co-chairmen; Meyer Koplow is executive partner.
Board game
Lipton is the chair of the NYU Board of Trustees. Perhaps not coincidentally, the board is full of people he's worked with in the past, including Barry Diller, Henry Silverman, Larry Silverstein, Ken Langone, and Dick Grasso. In fact it was Lipton who was responsible for convincing Langone to make the largest donation to the NYU Medical Center in the institution's history, a total of $200 million since 1999. Lipton is also a trustee of NYU Law School.
Personal
He and his wife, Susan, live on Park Avenue in the 60s. Despite the multibillion-dollar deals he works on, Lipton is fairly low key. One reporter described him as a "frumpy little man with Coke-bottle glasses and frizzy white hair."
