Charges brought by the Office of Thrift Supervision against the firm in 1992 related to its representation of Charles Keating and his bank, Lincoln Savings and Loan, generated one of the most prominent legal ethics controversies of the decade.

As a result of his influence, Kaye Scholer was able to further expand into the Asian market, becoming the first New York–based firm to open a Shanghai office in 1998.

[8] Following the merger of London-based Clifford Chance and legacy firm Rogers & Wells, Kaye Scholer benefited from a series of key lateral partners in intellectual property and bankruptcy.

[11] In February 2018, The National Law Journal reported that the newly combined "firm has quietly reversed its post-merger branding efforts" and "scrubbed nearly all mention of ”Kaye Scholer” from its public image, changing its brand name, email addresses and web domain", while retaining the legal entity name in full.

In 2006, The American Lawyer magazine selected Kaye Scholer as the products liability litigation firm of the year.

[16] Kaye Scholer also had transactional practice, including those in aviation, bankruptcy, finance, mergers and acquisitions, private equity, and real estate.

Among Kaye Scholer's alumni are Judges Denise Cote and Analisa Torres[20] of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York; the late former Senator Abraham Ribicoff; Kenneth Feinberg, Special Master of the U.S. Government's September 11th Victim Compensation Fund; and the late Milton Handler, a Columbia Law professor and antitrust expert who drafted laws that include the first Food and Drug Act, the National Labor Relations Act and the GI Bill of Rights.