US firm acts in $115bn mega deal

New York firm Cravath Swaine & Moore has advised on the biggest deal in history - a telecommunications merg-er worth $115bn.

The 442-lawyer firm, which has offices in London, represented MCI WorldCom on its merger with Sprint Corp. Cravaths partners made over $2m last year - the second biggest average profits per partner in New York.

The 500-lawyer Atlanta firm King & Spalding, which has offices in New York, Houston and Washington DC, advised Sprint Corp.

Cravaths partner Robert Kindler says the deal took a surprise twist when Bellsouth Corp made a $100-billion swoop for Sprint, forcing MCI WorldCom to "get its best price in".

King & Spalding partner Bruce Hawthorne says that about 50 lawyers from his firm's corporate, antitrust, tax and employee benefits departments were involved in the deal.

He adds that there was a was a "major sleep deficit" among his team since the deal hotted up in mid-September.

In 1994 King & Spalding helped Sprint in its abortive attempt to merge with Electronic Data Systems, a deal worth a mere $30bn.