Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz also has a pretty distinguished backstory. Founder Martin Lipton invented the “Poison Pill Defense” in the 1980s to help companies ward off hostile takeovers. Technically called the “shareholder rights plan”, the poison pill allowed investors to buy more shares at a discount if one shareholder acquired a certain percentage of the company’s stock. This made it harder for corporate raiders to aquire a company without the board’s approval. The firm was closely involved in the takeover of Getty Oil by Texaco – the largest corporate takeover in history at the time (although it turned sour when thwarted suiter Pennzoil sued Texaco, and won). And in 2008,a team of Wachtell lawyers advised the US Treasury Department on the takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during the financial crisis. Headquartered in Manhattan, the firm was founded in the 1960s and is said to be the most profitable law firm in the US. It pulled in revenues of $5.085m per lawyer last year, a