Talk:White-shoe firm/Archives/2014

Weil, Gotshal Manges

I removed Weil, Gotshal Manges from the examples list. With regards to law firms the white shoe brigade were overtly WASP institutions that until at least the Second World War had anti-semitic hiring policies. "Jewish firms" like Weil, Gotshal and Skadden Arps were set up in opposition to the White Shoe firms, so while their current success rivals or exceeds many of the old WASP firms they are non the less not white shoe firms. 129.67.157.172 (talk) 01:41, 16 January 2008 (UTC)

Just because two news reports refer to Weil as a white shoe firm, this does not make it one. White shoe is a historic and social construct which is probably best defined by a those within the legal profession. No one would tell you that Weil is white shoe. I believe it was founded as late as 1931 and perhaps not even on Wall Street. Which bank was it connected to anyway? None strikes in my mind, its big in BANKRUPTCY which was traditionally what white shoe firms shunned. It should be removed, any thoughts? Take a vote? --Mediterraneo (talk) 18:32, 25 March 2008 (UTC)

   FYI, Skadden wasn't a "Jewish firm". While it was formed as an alternative to the white shoe firms, it was formed by three white shoe renegades, not by jews. In addition to Weil, the other historically great jewish firm was Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. 141.211.81.236 (talk) 04:12, 15 March 2008 (UTC)

I suppose the reputation of Skadden as a "Jewish firm" stems from the fame of Joseph Flom, the longest-lived of the named partners and probably the most renowned. And its precisely because the firm was an anti-white-shoe-establishment-type that it was open to hiring non-WASPs elites, and therefore earned its "Jewish" association. 220.255.2.25 (talk) 06:06, 2 March 2014 (UTC)

Management Consulting

I'm not sure whether Bain is a white shoe company. BCG and Booz are listed although they both are no white shoe firms. I'm pretty sure I have often read about McK as a white shoe firm.

None of the consulting firms are technically classified as WSFs in literature and historical - not even MBB. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.140.5.249 (talk) 04:12, 23 January 2013 (UTC)

Management consulting firms, even the MBBs, were never labelled as "white shoe". This is because as a profession or industry sector, management consulting only arose at the earliest in the 1920s (AT Kearney, McKinsey) and only started taking off post-WWII. The term white-shoe had always only applied to the traditional banks and law firms that provided professional services to the NY-centric financial sector. In fact if you notice, most of the prestigious (by today's reckoning) consulting firms were/are founded and headquartered outside of NYC. AlphaBet678 (talk) 06:15, 2 March 2014 (UTC)