White - shoe Firm - Wikipedia White - shoe Firm White - shoe firm is a phrase used to describe leading professional services firms in the United States, particularly firms that have been in existence for more than a century and represent Fortune 500 companies. It typically -- but not always -- refers to banking, accounting, law, and management consulting firms, especially those based in New York and Boston. The phrase `` white shoe '' has a distinctly different meaning and history in Australia. Contents 1 Etymology of US phrase 2 Usage in the United States 3 Usage in Australia 4 Examples 4.1 Banks, investment banks, and merchant banks 4.2 Accounting firms 4.3 Management Consulting firms 4.4 Law firms 4.5 The `` new '' white - shoe banks 4.6 The `` new '' white - shoe law firms 5 See also 6 References 7 External links Etymology of us phrase The phrase derives from `` white bucks '', laced suede or buckskin shoes with a red sole, long popular in the Ivy League colleges. A 1953 Esquire article, describing social strata at Yale University, explained that `` White Shoe applies primarily to the socially ambitious and the socially smug types who affect a good deal of worldly sophistication, run, ride and drink in rather small cliques, and look in on the second halves of football games when the weather is good. '' The Oxford English Dictionary cites the phrase `` white - shoe college boys '' in the J.D. Salinger novel Franny and Zooey ( 1957 ) as the first use of the term. Usage in the United States The term originated in the Ivy League colleges and originally reflected a stereotype of old - line firms populated by WASPs. The term historically had antisemitic connotations, as many of the New York firms known as `` white shoe '' were considered off - limits to Jewish lawyers until the 1960s. The phrase has since lost some of this connotation, but is still defined by Princeton University 's WordNet as `` denoting a company or law firm owned and run by members of the WASP elite who are generally conservative, '' which shows that the original connotation has not changed entirely. A 2010 column in The Economist described the term as synonymous with `` big, old, east - coast and fairly traditional. '' In the 21st century, the term is sometimes used in a general sense to refer to firms that are perceived as prestigious or high - quality ; it is also sometimes used in a derogatory manner to denote stodginess, elitism, or a lack of diversity. Usage in Australia A similar term in Australia, `` white shoe brigade '', has been used in the past to describe a group of Queensland property developers who backed, and benefitted from, former Queensland State Premier Sir Joh Bjelke - Petersen. The term is a contemptuous allusion to the lower social class antecedents of such men, revealed by their gaudy and tasteless choice of clothing, which included brightly coloured or patterned shirts, slacks with white stripes or in pastel shades, and shoes and belts of white leather, these often having gold or gilt buckles. They became known for shady deals with the government concerning property development, often with dire consequences for heritage buildings. Examples The following US firms are often referred to as being white - shoe firms : Banks, investment banks, and merchant banks Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. First Boston ( acquired by Credit Suisse, 1990 ) J.P. Morgan & Co. ( acquired by Chase Manhattan, 2000, now JPMorgan Chase ) Morgan Stanley White Weld & Co. ( acquired by Merrill Lynch, 1978 ) Accounting firms Deloitte Ernst & Young KPMG PricewaterhouseCoopers Management Consulting firms McKinsey & Company Boston Consulting Group Bain & Company Law firms Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft Coudert Brothers ( defunct, 2006 ) Covington & Burling Cravath, Swaine & Moore Davis Polk & Wardwell Debevoise & Plimpton Dewey & LeBoeuf ( defunct, 2012 ) Donovan, Leisure, Newton & Irvine ( defunct, 1998 ) Goodwin Procter Hogan & Hartson merged with Lovells LLP into Hogan Lovells. Kirkland & Ellis King & Spalding Latham & Watkins LLP Mayer Brown McCarter & English Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy Mudge Rose Guthrie Alexander & Ferdon ( defunct, 1995 ) Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler Pillsbury Winthrop Ropes & Gray Shearman & Sterling Sidley Austin Simpson, Thacher & Bartlett Sullivan & Cromwell White & Case Willkie Farr & Gallagher WilmerHale Winston & Strawn The `` New '' white - shoe banks While the term `` white - shoe '' historically applied only to those law firms populated by WASPs, usage of the term has since been expanded to other top - rated prestigious firms. Many of these firms were founded as a direct result of the exclusionary tendencies of the original white - shoe firms, which provided limited opportunities for Jewish and Catholic lawyers, as well as other non-WASPs. Goldman Sachs Lazard Frères & Co. Deutsche Bank Lehman Brothers ( defunct, 2008 ) UBS William Blair & Company The `` new '' white - shoe law firms Cahill Gordon & Reindel Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher Greenberg Traurig Jones Day Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel Norton Rose Fulbright O'Melveny & Myers Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison Squire Patton Boggs Proskauer Rose Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan Reed Smith Steptoe & Johnson Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz Weil, Gotshal & Manges Boies, Schiller & Flexner ( BSF ) See also Big Three law firms, an informal term for leading law firms in New Zealand. Big Four law firms, an informal term for leading law firms in Japan. Big Five law firms, an informal term for leading law firms in South Africa. Big Six law firms, an informal term for leading law firms in Australia. In 2012, three of these firms merged with overseas firms, and one other began operating in association with an overseas firm. As a consequence, it has proposed that the term is no longer applicable to the Australian legal profession, displaced by the concept of Global Elite law firms or International Business law firms. Magic Circle, an informal term for the London headquartered law firms with the largest revenues, the most international work and which consistently outperform the rest of the London market on profitability. Offshore magic circle, an informal term for leading law firms in offshore financial centers. Red Circle law firms, an informal term for leading law firms in the People 's Republic of China coined by The Lawyer magazine in 2014. For further information, also see the list of the largest Chinese law firms. Seven Sisters law firms, a collection of seven leading Canadian law firms with offices in Toronto. Silver Circle is an informal term for perceived elite corporate law firms headquartered in the United Kingdom that are the main competitors for the magic circle. These firms have a lower turnover than the members of the Magic Circle, but consistently have an average profits per equity partner ( PEP ) and average revenue per lawyer ( RPL ) far above the UK average ( and, in some instances, higher than members of the magic circle ). Contrary to what the term Silver Circle may suggest, there is no Golden Circle. References Jump up ^ Safire, William ( November 9, 1997 ). `` On Language ; Gimme the Ol ' White Shoe ''. New York Times. Jump up ^ Chensvold, Christian. `` Russell Lynes On The Shoe Hierarchy, Esquire 1953 ''. Ivy Style. Retrieved 16 June 2016. ^ Jump up to : Chambliss, Elizabeth ( 2005 ). `` THE SHOE STILL FITS ''. Legal Affairs. Retrieved June 16, 2016. Jump up ^ Seltzer, Irwin M. ( February 8, 2016 ). `` Remembering the ' White - Shoe Firm ' ''. The Weekly Standard. Retrieved June 16, 2016. Jump up ^ `` white - shoe ''. WordNet. Princeton University. Jump up ^ `` Frozen - term watch : `` white - shoe '' ``. The Economist. September 3, 2010. Retrieved June 16, 2016. Jump up ^ Dempster, Quentin ( April 23, 2005 ). `` Sir Johannes Bjelke - Petersen : Corrupt populist ''. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on July 25, 2008. Jump up ^ Gard, Stephen ( 1994 ). Fantastic Australians. Kangaroo Press. ISBN 0 - 86417 - 588 - 4. Jump up ^ Surowiecki, James ( 1998 - 06 - 15 ). `` White - Shoe Shuffle ''. New York. New York Media LLC. Retrieved 2008 - 06 - 01. Jump up ^ Timmons, Heather ; Christopher Palmieri ( 2002 - 01 - 21 ). `` The Perils of J.P. Morgan ''. Bloomberg Businessweek. McGraw - Hill Education. Retrieved 2008 - 06 - 01. Jump up ^ `` Morgan Stanley 's ' white - shoe ' dissidents continue war of attrition ''. Finfacts Ireland. April 17, 2005. Jump up ^ Stracher, Cameron ( March 24, 2000 ). `` The Law Firm 's New Clothes ''. New York Times. Jump up ^ Lin, Anthony ( February 6, 2007 ). `` Does the Future Belong to Cadwalader ? ''. New York Law Journal. Jump up ^ Rost, Peter ( September 12, 2007 ). `` Covington & Burling, a Pfizer law firm, caught cleaning up its reputation on Wikipedia ''. BrandweekNRX. Jump up ^ Martinez, Jose ( March 3, 2006 ). `` Shoes are whiter than most in city ''. NY Daily News. New York. Jump up ^ Moyer, Elizabeth ( October 26, 2005 ). `` Dimon Woos Mergers Lawyer Hersch To JPMorgan ''. Forbes.com. Jump up ^ Labaton, Stephen ( September 24, 1989 ). `` Rainmaker : Mario Baeza of Debevoise ''. The New York Times. Jump up ^ van der Pool, Lisa ( July 18, 2008 ). `` Dewey & LeBoeuf 's local head count drops post-merger ''. Boston Business Journal. Jump up ^ Herman, Eric ( July 1, 2002 ). `` Scandal Draws Top Lawyers ''. New York Daily News. Jump up ^ McMorrow, Paul ( March 25, 2014 ). `` Seaport Moving in Direction of Back Bay ''. Boston Globe. Jump up ^ McMorrow, Paul ( December 25, 2012 ). `` Seaport is Rising, but Not From Tech ''. Boston Globe. Jump up ^ Dougherty, Carter. `` The Israeli Connection ''. VirtualCXO. Jump up ^ Hobbs, Meredith ( 7 April 2008 ). `` Daily Report Dozen : King & Spalding ''. Retrieved 9 August 2017. Jump up ^ Scheiber, Noam ( 21 July 2013 ). `` The Last Days of Big Law ''. Retrieved 20 December 2016. Jump up ^ Standard, Pacific ( 19 May 2015 ). `` Are You Getting Paid What You 're Worth ? ''. Retrieved 20 December 2016. Jump up ^ McKay, Peter A. ; Mollenkamp, Carrick ( 10 April 2006 ). `` Refco Suits Spotlight White - Shoe Law Firm 's Role ''. Retrieved 20 December 2016 -- via Wall Street Journal. Jump up ^ Weiss, Gary ( March 4, 2002 ). `` Commentary : Et Tu, Enron Lawyers ? ''. Businessweek. Jump up ^ `` The Elite Face - Off : NY vs. London - Adam Smith, Esq ''. Retrieved 20 December 2016. Jump up ^ `` Cuomo Picks Maria Vullo as State 's Top Financial Watchdog ''. The New York Times. 22 January 2016. Retrieved 20 December 2016. Jump up ^ CBS News ( PDF ) http://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/pdf/062807_off_the_record.pdf. Missing or empty title = ( help ) Jump up ^ Qualters, Sheri ( August 29, 2007 ). `` Humor Helps the Firm Go Video ''. The National Law Journal. Jump up ^ Nelson, Katie ( November 2, 2009 ). `` NY Daily News ''. New York. Jump up ^ `` Chicago Tribune ''. November 11, 2009. Jump up ^ Schneider - Mayerson, Anna ( February 18, 2007 ). `` Associate Gets Crushed Beneath White Shoe ''. New York Observer. Jump up ^ `` History of White & Case LLP -- FundingUniverse ''. Retrieved 20 December 2016. Jump up ^ Morgan, Spencer ( April 7, 2009 ). `` Andy Spade Is a Giant in New York ''. New York Observer. Jump up ^ van der Pool, Lisa ( July 1, 2011 ). `` Bill Lee : Still making his case ''. Boston Business Journal. Jump up ^ Hawkins, Asher ( June 28, 2010 ). `` SEC 's Revolving Door Often Spins More Than Once ''. Forbes. Jump up ^ Sorkin, Andrew Ross ( December 11, 2005 ). `` They 're All Paying Customers to Wall Street ''. The New York Times. Jump up ^ Gomez, Edward M. ( September 16, 2008 ). `` With Wall Street crisis, now it 's official : The sky is falling in ''. SFGate World Views. Jump up ^ Gendar, Alison ( September 14, 2009 ). `` Straight - shooter judge could break up Junior Gotti 's perfect game ''. NY Daily News. New York. Jump up ^ Rubinstein, Dana ( July 24, 2008 ). `` It 's Complicated : Insurance Firm Spills Space Gobbled by Former UBS President, Cleary Gottlieb ''. New York Observer. Jump up ^ Gray, Geoffrey ( December 15, 2003 ). `` Charity Busters ''. City Limits. Jump up ^ Itkoff, Valerie ( June 21, 1991 ). `` Greenberg 's New Stripes ''. Miami Review. Jump up ^ Karni, Annie ( August 5, 2012 ). `` Katz in Political Cradle ''. New York Post. Jump up ^ `` Focus : Greenberg Traurig Maher ''. The Lawyer. June 21, 2009. Jump up ^ `` Greenberg Traurig, LLP History ''. Jump up ^ http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/09/12/50215.htm Jump up ^. Commercial Observer http://commercialobserver.com/2014/12/silverstein-recaps-1177-avenue-of-the-americas/. Missing or empty title = ( help ) Jump up ^ Selvin, Molly ( May 19, 2006 ). `` Who Wins This Case ? Lawyers ''. LA Times. Jump up ^ Gertner, Jon ( January 15, 2006 ). `` What Is a Living Wage ? ''. New York Times. Jump up ^ Stull, Elizabeth ( May 23, 2007 ). `` Gay Couple Sues Landlord for Discrimination ''. Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Jump up ^ Buford, Talia ( May 7, 2006 ). `` Patton Boggs to pay Chevron $15 M ''. Politico. Jump up ^ Leiby, Richard ( December 2005 ). `` The Liberal on Karl Rove 's Case ''. Banderas News. Jump up ^ Zaitchik, Alexander ( August 28, 2014 ). `` Sludge Match : Inside Chevron 's $9 Billion Legal Battle With Ecuadorean Villagers ''. Rolling Stone. Jump up ^ `` Business - Minding your MANNERS ''. Lubbock Avalanche - Journal. June 9, 2002. Jump up ^ Lin, Anthony ( May 16, 2006 ). `` Can the ' Jewish Law Firm ' Success Story Be Duplicated ? ''. New York Law Journal. Jump up ^ Donohue, Pete ( December 11, 2005 ). `` MTA Pays Big Shots To Fight A Strike ''. NY Daily News. New York. Jump up ^ ANN W., ANN W. ( September 24, 2000 ). `` He May Have Played a Lawyer on TV, but Nanny Produced the Brief ''. LA Times. Jump up ^ Simpson, Jake ( January 24, 2013 ). `` Reed Smith Adds Goodwin Procter PE, M&A Partner In NY ''. Law 360. Jump up ^ Rosen - Molina, Mike ( August 7, 2008 ). `` Overbilling lawsuit prompts debate over ethical duties to smaller clients ''. Law 360. Jump up ^ Passerella, Gina ( January 24, 2013 ). `` Law Firms ''. Law 360. Jump up ^ `` IRS punts on secret $6 billion bailout for Puerto Rico : 2011 ''. The Daily Caller. April 4, 2011. Jump up ^ Mainland, Alexis ; Goodman, J. David ; Iaboni, Lisa ; Vega, Tanzina ; Dance, Gabriel ; Han /, Rebecca ( March 10, 2008 ). `` Milestones in an Ambitious Career : 1992 ''. New York Times. Jump up ^ `` Girl Trouble ''. New York Magazine. October 16, 2000. Jump up ^ Weiss, Debra Cassens ( August 19, 2009 ). `` Wachtell Nabs Top Spot Again In Prestige Rankings ''. ABA Journal. Jump up ^ Belkin, Lisa ( January 24, 2008 ). `` Who 's Cuddly Now ? Law Firms ''. New York Times. Jump up ^ Sargent, Greg ( September -- October 2005 ). `` The Ricochet ''. Mother Jones. Jump up ^ Fitzgerald, Patrick ( March 13, 2009 ). `` SunCal Lawyer Whacks Weil ''. Wall Street Journal. Jump up ^ `` Federal Judge Recuses Herself From A Second Fusion GPS Case ''. The Daily Caller. Retrieved 2018 - 03 - 15. Jump up ^ Beaton Research & Consulting ( 2012 ). An obituary for the term `` Big 6 '' law firms in Australia Archived 2012 - 11 - 07 at the Wayback Machine... Retrieved 14 November 2012. Jump up ^ `` Elite ' red circle ' firms Zhong Lun and Jun He plot merger as consolidation grips China legal market The Lawyer Legal News and Jobs Advancing the business of law ''. www.thelawyer.com. Retrieved 2016 - 04 - 09. Jump up ^ `` Ashurst, Herbies ride out tough year ; BLP, Macfarlanes, SJ Berwin succumb ''. The Lawyer. 14 July 2008. Retrieved 25 October 2010. Jump up ^ `` Silver Circle ''. The Lawyer. 3 September 2007. Retrieved 25 October 2010. Jump up ^ Fletcher, Martin ( 28 August 2005 ). `` ' Silver circle ' firms upset the legal order ''. London : The Times. Retrieved 25 October 2010. Jump up ^ http://www.chambersstudent.com/law-firms/types-of-law-firm/the-silver-circle External links Etymology, de novo Blog, December 18, 2004 Origin of phrase, Phrase Finder forum, June 25, 2005 Chambliss, Elizabeth ( September -- October 2005 ). `` Terms of Art ''. Legal Affairs. Lin, Anthony ( May 16, 2006 ). `` Can the ' Jewish Law Firm ' Success Story Be Duplicated ? ''. New York Law Journal. Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=White-shoe_firm&oldid=839084022 '' Categories : Law firms of the United States Hidden categories : Pages with citations lacking titles Pages with citations having bare URLs Webarchive template wayback links Talk Contents About Wikipedia Add links This page was last edited on 1 May 2018, at 04 : 27. About Wikipedia

Question: what does a white shoe law firm mean
Answer: a phrase used to describe leading professional services firms in the United States, particularly firms that have been in existence for more than a century and represent Fortune 500 companies