The System’s History

While there are many things that make Cravath a unique place, one of the most fundamental is the Cravath System. It was designed to produce lawyers with breadth, creativity and a deep working knowledge of a wide variety of practice areas.

In the early twentieth century, when Paul Cravath was a young lawyer and our Firm was already in its ninth decade, the practice of law was dominated by one- and two-lawyer firms where a trainee apprenticed and made a living based on the clients that the apprentice could bring into the practice. As the industrial revolution was taking shape and transforming business, Paul Cravath recognized that the practice of law needed its own evolution. He introduced a system that would enable law firms to build the depth and scale of talent required to handle the complex transactions and disputes that accompanied the development of the 20th century global economic system.

He focused on hiring top graduates directly out of the best law schools, training them broadly as generalists and promoting from within to create a team with shared values and experience. Besides placing a strong emphasis on law school grades as an indicator of legal aptitude, he also sought other attributes—a passionate dedication to the practice of law as a profession, a willingness to work hard and meticulous attention to the quality of the work.

Once at the Firm, associates would work with a partner and a team of associates and then rotate to another group to learn other disciplines. Over time the most talented of the associates would become partners, but only after being well-versed in the many aspects of the Firm’s practice.

The rotation system fostered collaboration and eliminated the need for associates to compete for work, clients, training or bonuses. This approach carried over to partnership where partners did not compete with one another for origination credit or hold their own “book of business.” With all clients viewed as clients of the Firm, they would always get the best possible advice on their matter regardless of who their key partner contact was.

Paul Cravath’s innovative approach created a self-sustaining method for incubating talent, promoting on the basis of merit and incentivizing a collaborative approach to lawyering that resulted in increasingly sophisticated legal work product befitting a period of innovation in American business. It was through this value system, which we still use today, that Paul Cravath created a new model for American law firms and other professional services firms.