Thacher Proffitt & Wood LLP was an American law firm headquartered in
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
. At its peak, the firm was made up of approximately 365 attorneys with offices in New York City;
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
;
Mexico City
Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...
;
White Plains, New York
White Plains is a city in and the county seat of Westchester County, New York, United States. It is an inner suburb of New York City, and a commercial hub of Westchester County, a densely populated suburban county that is home to about one milli ...
; and
Summit, New Jersey
Summit is the northernmost City (New Jersey), city of Union County, New Jersey, Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, located within the New York metropolitan area. Situated on a ridge in north Jersey, northern–central Jersey, centra ...
.
History
The firm traced its founding back to 1848, when
Benjamin Franklin Butler
Benjamin Franklin Butler (November 5, 1818 – January 11, 1893) was an American major general of the Union Army, politician, lawyer, and businessman from Massachusetts. Born in New Hampshire and raised in Lowell, Massachusetts, Butler was a ...
Wall Street
Wall Street is a street in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs eight city blocks between Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway in the west and South Street (Manhattan), South Str ...
in New York City. The firm was headquartered in downtown Manhattan from 1848 until 2001, eventually occupying floors 38 through 40 of the
2 World Trade Center
2 World Trade Center (2 WTC; also known as 200 Greenwich Street) is a skyscraper being developed as part of the rebuilt World Trade Center complex in Manhattan, New York City. It will replace the original 2 World Trade Center, which was compl ...
building prior to the building's destruction in the
September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...
. All of the firm's employees survived the attacks, and the firm temporarily relocated to midtown Manhattan before moving to 2 World Financial Center in September 2003.
Thacher Proffitt was a market leader in the
mortgage-backed securities
A mortgage-backed security (MBS) is a type of asset-backed security (an "Financial instrument, instrument") which is secured by a mortgage loan, mortgage or collection of mortgages. The mortgages are aggregated and sold to a group of individuals ( ...
(MBS) market, and in fact was instrumental in the creation of the residential MBS and commercial MBS markets. The firm so controlled the market that the standard documentation used by mortgage traders was known as "Thacher docs" and "TP&W forms." The firm grew from 177 lawyers in 2003 to 350 lawyers in 2007, mostly due to the strength of its structured finance practice, which came to constitute 70% of the firm's revenue. The firm also had highly regarded real estate,
litigation
A lawsuit is a proceeding by one or more parties (the plaintiff or claimant) against one or more parties (the defendant) in a civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. ...
, corporate, tax and derivatives practices. In 2006, the firm was ranked among the top 200 by ''
The American Lawyer
''The American Lawyer'' is a monthly legal magazine and website published by ALM Media. The periodical and its parent company, ALM (then American Lawyer Media), were founded in 1979 by Steven Brill.Vault.
The
2008 financial crisis
The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...
, and in particular the collapse of
Bear Stearns
The Bear Stearns Companies, Inc. was an American investment bank, securities trading, and brokerage firm that failed in 2008 during the 2008 financial crisis and the Great Recession. After its closure it was subsequently sold to JPMorgan Chas ...
, the firm's largest client, significantly impacted the firm, leading to a breach of the firm's financing covenants and giving its lender,
Citigroup
Citigroup Inc. or Citi (Style (visual arts), stylized as citi) is an American multinational investment banking, investment bank and financial services company based in New York City. The company was formed in 1998 by the merger of Citicorp, t ...
, substantial control. The firm's offices in Mexico City and White Plains, New York, decamped to
Chadbourne & Parke
Chadbourne & Parke LLP, founded in 1902 by Thomas L. Chadbourne, was a 400 lawyer firm, which operated from
12 offices in ten countries. Chadbourne was known for its practices in project finance and energy, international insurance and reinsur ...
and
Greenberg Traurig
Greenberg Traurig is a multinational law firm, law and lobbying firm founded in Miami in 1967 by Mel Greenberg, Larry J. Hoffman, and Robert H. Traurig.
As of 2025, it is the eighth-largest law firm in the United States. The firm has 49 locati ...
respectively. The firm had merger talks at one point with
King & Spalding
King & Spalding LLP is an American multinational corporate law firm that is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with offices located in North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. It has over 1,300 lawyers in 23 offices globally. It is an A ...
, but these talks collapsed in December 2008. On December 21, 2008, approximately 100 lawyers (including 40 partners) left Thacher Proffitt & Wood to work for Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal. Two days later, on December 23, the firm's management officially announced dissolution of the firm. Shortly prior to its dissolution, the firm had been hired to advise the
United States Department of the Treasury
The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the Treasury, national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States. It is one of 15 current United States federal executive departments, U.S. government departments.
...
in connection with the
Troubled Asset Relief Program
The Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) is a program of the United States government to purchase toxic assets and equity from financial institutions to strengthen its financial sector that was passed by Congress and signed into law by U.S. Presi ...