About the Legal 500 series
Published for over twenty years, the Legal 500 Series provides the most comprehensive worldwide coverage currently available on legal services providers, in over 100 countries.
Used by commercial and private clients, corporate counsel, CEOs, FDs and professional advisers - as well as by other referrers of work both nationally and internationally - the series is widely regarded as offering the definitive judgement of law firm capabilities.
Editor's selections from the Legal 500 series...
The US Legal 500
FINANCE: Corporate restructuring
Given the counter-cyclical nature of corporate restructuring work, the recent credit crunch has led to an increase in the volume of work handled by lawyers in this area of law. Although Chapter 11 filings are now occurring with increased regularity and across almost all industries, the expected glut of bankruptcies was, however, a considerable time in coming. Indeed, the tail-end of 2007 and the first few months of 2008 were relatively quiet for corporate restructuring lawyers. While the sub-prime induced credit crunch had already taken hold of the economy, this took time to filter through to corporate balance sheets. Apart from a continuation of instructions on ongoing bankruptcies, a good deal of work handled by firms in this period related to counseling and advisory work about the potential trouble that lay ahead.
Ultimately, however, all this changed and corporates from all industries are either seeking out-of-court restructuring or under Chapter 11 protection. Of course, it was the financial services industry that was the first major casualty of the tightening of credit in the market. Wall Street has been decimated, investment banks saddled with exposure to risky mortgage backed securities, had billions wiped of their value. Paranoia was rife, with banks uncertain as to how much exposure their competitors had to the toxic securities, inter-bank lending dried up. Therefore, what began as a seemingly containable problem in one part of the mortgage market threatened the integrity of the US financial system. Read more...
The US Legal 500
MERGERS, ACQUISITIONS AND BUYOUTS: Antitrust
It has been an interesting period for antitrust lawyers in the US. On the transactional side, although merger activity has, on the whole, diminished as a consequence of the downturn in the economy and the unavailability of cheap credit, consolidation within the banking industry has brought about some challenging work for competition lawyers.
While it is too early to tell just how great its impact will be, the recent change to a Democrat administration is widely expected to usher in a period of stricter antitrust regulation. Indeed, a glance at President Obama’s election campaign statements regarding antitrust seem to bear this out. As well as declaring an intention to continue the government’s strict enforcement regarding cartel activity, he made some very strong overtures regarding heightened Department of Justice (DOJ) scrutiny of merger activity and dominant position abuse. Read more...
The Legal 500: Europe, Middle East & Africa
France
The economic slowdown did not prevent leading and mid-size law firms in France from posting strong results in 2008, with many firms even exceeding what they achieved in 2007.
A number of international law firms are now focusing on their core business areas at the expense of ancillary practices. As a result, a number of lateral moves occurred in 2008. Employment expert Joël Grangé joined Flichy Grangé Avocats from Gide Loyrette Nouel A.A.R.P.I., and Pascale Lagesse arrived at Bredin Prat from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP also lost key partners from its finance practice, with Michel Quéré joining Dewey & LeBoeuf and Jean L’Homme moving to Proskauer Rose LLP.
Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP hired bankruptcy partner Maurice Lantourne from Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP whilst Olivier Laude, former co-managing partner of Dewey & LeBoeuf, left to set up his new litigation boutique Laude Esquier Champey.
Read more...The Legal 500: Europe, Middle East & Africa
Germany
The German legal market has not been immune to the dramatic fallout from the sub-prime crisis. Consequentially there is a lack of confidence in the market. This has impacted on deal flows and law firms have noticed that many deals have been aborted, while many sources of funding have dried up considerably.
As a result of the turbulent economic times there have been fewer mega deals, however the mid-cap segment remains relatively unscathed. The crisis in the markets has had a negative impact on private equity deals, with some of the larger law firms steering a different course and concentrating more on the mid-market sector.
Insolvency lawyers witnessed a ‘crazy end to 2008’, with firms switching less busy lawyers to their insolvency department, in order both to make ends meet there and to take advantage of the situation. This trend is expected to extend throughout 2009 and into the following year. Similarly, the employment departments are seeing an increasing number of short-notice instructions.
IP has remained remarkably untouched, as practices are not relying on big corporate deals to bring in work. ‘While the market goes up and down, trade marks last forever’ seems to be the commonly held view.
Read more...The US Legal 500
LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT: Labor and employment litigation
The onslaught of wage and hour litigation continues unabated, although as the first wave passes, the focus has turned to cases of greater complexity or those relating to specific industries such as pharmaceuticals or construction. The most recent trend has been the spate of lawsuits alleging that pharmaceutical sales representatives have been misclassified as exempt from overtime requirements, which is a prime example of the new issues arising as claims are brought not by restaurant or retail workers but by highly-paid professionals.
The other main development in this area is the increase in litigation resulting from widespread reductions in force, as a hostile economic climate forces workers to scrutinize the reasons for their termination in more detail and makes them more likely to pursue claims of wrongful termination if they cannot secure employment elsewhere. Along with these trends, new legislation continues to fuel changes in the employment landscape and further developments are expected from the Obama administration. Read more...
UK Legal 500
London - Dispute resolution
Recent economic turbulence linked to the credit crunch has played its part in raising the spectre of a more litigious era. Over the last two years, an emphasis on banking and financial markets litigation has pervaded the City, with firms recognising that companies and individuals are looking to recover losses that have resulted from the excesses of the bull market, and the heightened regulatory crackdown by institutions such as the Financial Services Authority (FSA) and Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has also increased demand for defendant lawyers. In 2007, Berwin Leighton Paisner LLP hired senior financial regulatory lawyer Nathan Willmott from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP, and in 2008 recruited banking litigation specialist Segun Osuntokun from DLA Piper UK LLP, while other notable lateral hires include Clare Canning, Simon Willis and Matthew Lawson moving from Barlow Lyde & Gilbert LLP to Mayer Brown International LLP. Debevoise & Plimpton LLP also recruited the former Attorney General and eminent barrister Lord Goldsmith QC.
The US Legal 500
FINANCE: Bank lending
Triggered by the subprime crisis, banks saddled with highly toxic mortgage securities have been forced into massive writedowns. Confidence was shattered and inter-bank lending ground to a halt, as banks were overcome with paranoia over each other’s exposure to these assets. With financial institutions rationing capital as they set to shore up their own debilitated balance sheets, liquidity dried up, making it difficult for even fundamentally sound businesses to secure funding, let alone ones with a more precarious credit history.
The mega-sized leveraged buyouts (LBOs) that until as recently as the middle of 2007 were flooding the market, disappeared almost overnight. Consequently, law firms that derived a high proportion of instructions from private equity sponsors have taken quite a hit. Indeed, in general, the practices that have coped best with the turbulent market conditions have been those with a diverse client base and also a degree of flexibility and ability to adapt to the conditions. Therefore, while senior secured syndicated transactions, investment grade and the like will still be considered, more so perhaps than in other years, the editorial will also look at asset-based lending, mezzanine financing and bankruptcy-related financing. Read more...
Asia Pacific Legal 500
China
China’s growth has been put into sharp focus as the western markets have struggled. As one of the BRIC countries (along with Brazil, Russia and India), it is seen as one of the world’s most important emerging markets. The country’s infrastructure, both physical and legal, continues to develop at a rate unparalleled in the major economies.
China’s Internet consumption hit RMB398.8bn (US$53.89bn) last year, while the country’s tax revenue jumped 31% last year to RMB4.94 trillion (US$676.33bn) as the domestic economic boom raised corporate profits. According to preliminary estimation, in the first half of 2008, the gross domestic product (GDP) of China was RMB13,061.9bn, a year-on-year growth of 10.4% after deducting price factors. All these factors show signs of the continuing economic prosperity and the new avenues for investment that have kept the financial and legal markets active. That China is widely tipped to become the world’s leading energy consumer in the next few years might also be considered another key trend, not just demonstrating its consumption patterns but giving some idea as to the areas of industry that have become dominant. Read more...
The Legal 500: Europe, Middle East & Africa
Ukraine
Serhiy Chorny heads the highly rated four-partner team at Baker & McKenzie – CIS, Limited. Recently the practice advised PrivatBank, Ukraine’s largest commercial bank, on the $110m securitisation of an autoloans portfolio, the first of its kind in Ukraine. Other clients include IFC, ING Bank and Standard Bank, which it advised on a $154m syndicated loan to First Ukrainian International Bank.
Magisters offers borrower and lender clients a broad-based practice that covers syndicated loans, capital markets, structured finance and project finance. The highly-regarded Olga Khoroshylova heads the ten-lawyer team which advised Ukraine’s Ministry of Finance on all its external state borrowings in 2007. Other clients include Alfa Bank, which it represented on several billion-dollar EMTN programmes, Credit Suisse, Erste Bank and Standard Bank.Read more...
The Legal 500: Europe, Middle East & Africa
Iceland
Everything has changed in the Icelandic legal market. Following the credit crunch-induced economic implosion in late 2008, the jurisdiction’s small corporate legal community have been forced to shift their focus almost overnight from supporting rapid, heady economic growth, built primarily on the perceived success of Iceland’s banking and financial sector, to becoming what one lawyer termed ‘firemen’, providing urgent advice to a crisis-stricken banking and business community. What had been a market increasingly dominated by a wave of sophisticated financing and optimistic outbound M&A transactions has become one where lawyers have quickly become experts on emergency bankruptcy law rushed through in response to the nationalisation of three of Iceland’s largest banks. In the short-term, Icelandic firms have thrived on advising the myriad of parties tied up in Iceland’s failed banking system, with smaller full-service practices finding themselves as heavily involved as dominant market players LOGOS legal services, BBA // Legal and Lex Law Offices. However, behind the frantic activity is an underlying uncertainty over how the legal market is likely to adapt in the long-term, to what is sure to be a vastly different, post-crisis environment.Read more...
Asia Pacific Legal 500
India
Despite surging inflation and the stock market losses of 2008, India’s upwardly mobile middle class continues to reap the financial gains of a buoyant economy. Consequently, the legal community is enjoying an unprecedented range of work, and in the last year found itself especially busy with telecoms, automotive and energy clients. Incoming funds work also remains lively, especially within the real estate and infrastructure sectors, and private equity continues to dominate the M&A scene.
However, despite persistent lobbying and clear incentives for domestic law firms to grow, The Partnership Act still limits each Indian firm to 20 partners, and local firms are prohibited from constructing websites or otherwise advertising their services. The restrictions limit growth options both domestically and internationally, although many practitioners continue to regard them as promoting stability, continuity and identity within the legal community. A handful of law firms are rumoured to have opened up additional offices under different names to circumvent this legislation but the legal market comprises small and mid-sized firms, often either family-run or in the form of sole proprietorships. Control of even the biggest firms is frequently found in the hands of a select few. Read more...
The Legal 500: Europe, Middle East & Africa
Portugal
The past year has helped to measure the initial success of the numerous mergers witnessed in 2007, when Portugal’s legal market appeared to adopt a ‘bigger is better’ approach. While some firms have emerged stronger than before, others have had to come to terms with perhaps less fruitful attempts at expansion, resulting in a series of spin-offs and demergers.
One surprise departure was that of Pedro Cardigos, who left newly formed ABBC – Azevedo Neves, Benjamim Mendes, Bessa Monteiro, Carvalho & Associados – Sociedade de Advogados RL to launch Cardigos e Associados. Though the split is amicable, it nonetheless serves to highlight the unforeseen partner integration difficulties some firms have experienced.Read more...
Press releases
Legal Developments worldwide
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Harmonising Anti-Circumvention Protection with Copyright Law
Technological measures are increasingly used by rightholders in order to protect their intellectual property rights in digital content. The effect of such measures is to restrict the access to and the use of digital content, by associating pre-defined and self-executing usage rules with it. Within an increasing number of legislations, technological measures enjoy legal protection against circumvention. However, these new rules have been subject to rather severe criticism, especially from a copyright law point of view, the general claim being that anti-circumvention protection threatens to ruin the delicate balance of interests cast in the provisions of copyright law. -
How to stop fraud before it happens
Stopping fraud before it happens is the ultimate goal of a successful fraud prevention and awareness programme. Whilst it is important that fraud prevention controls are robust and are methodically implemented, too often companies fail to recognize that it is the perception of the likelihood of detection and sanction which discourages a person from perpetrating fraud, rather than the actual effectiveness of the internal controls and anti-fraud measures. -
Consumer Protection Act and leases
The Consumer Protection Act 2008 (“ the Act ”) was assented to on 24 April 2009 and is to come into operation incrementally with the majority of the provisions coming into effect 18 months after the date on which the Act was signed by the President. Accordingly the majority of the provisions of the Act will come into operation on 24 October 2010. -
The impact of competition law changes/developments on M&A activity
The Impact of Competition Law changes/developments (including the practices and policies of the Commission/Tribunal) on M&A activity - with a specific focus on 2008 and also forward looking taking into account expected legislative changes. If possible mention actual company names/cases wherever possible to make it have real life application -
Contributed tax capital: simplicity at last!
By now, many will have heard something about c ontributed tax capital (CTC). A year or so hence, the concept will form part of the South African tax terrain – to the relief of tax practitioners who have had to trawl through the Income Tax Act’s (“the Act”) three-to-four page long definition of a dividend . I certainly heaved a sigh of relief when I read the Revenue Laws Amendment Bill of 2008 (“Bill”). -
The Consumer Protection Bill – Changing the Face of Litigation and Dispute Resolution
The Consumer Protection Bill is the Department of Trade and Industry’s omnibus consumer protection legislation which has been passed by Parliament and is currently awaiting the President’s signature. -
Deliberate manipulation of securities prices will invariably and inevitably be harshly penalised
Deliberate manipulation of securities prices will be harshly penalised. That’s the clear message to emerge from the 17 February 2009 Financial Services Appeal Board case of Michael Berman vs the Financial Services Board . -
Unconstitutionality of the Competition Amendment Bill By Andrew Smith and Emmylou Wewege
It is hoped that the President will refer the Competition Amendment Bill to the Constitutional Court rather than sign it into to law so as to resolve its unconstitutionality and avoid unnecessary litigation. Failure to do so will spark constitutional challenges which will prevent it from being implemented while that litigation unfolds. -
New Laws in the Pipe Line to Decisively Respond to the Challenge of Climate Change
New laws may be in the pipeline in South Africa to address climate change after the South African Finance Minister’s (“the Minister”) Budget speech o n 11 February 2009. In the 2009 Budget speech, the Minister announced specific additional measures which South Africa will implement in responding to climate change. -
Big business beware – the class and derivative actions are coming! by Carl Stein
The trend over the past decade in the USA , and more recently in the UK after the enactment of its new Companies Act in 2006, towards more aggressive shareholder activism seems likely to be followed in South Africa once our new Companies Act becomes operative. This new Act is only awaiting the State President’s signature in order to become law, although it will only come into operation at least one year after the State President does so.
Press releases
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Agrofert Successful in Law Suit against PKN Orlen
PRAGUE (30 June 2009) – The Arbitration court in Prague has decided in favour of company Agrofert Holding (“Agrofert”) in its claim against Polish company Polski Koncern Naftowy Orlen (“PKN Orlen”). The Polish company has to pay, on the basis of decision of the arbiters, a contractual penalty which exceeds EUR 77.2 million (over 2 billion CZK) with accessories. -
UBS CHF 3.8bn share placement
On June 25, 2009, UBS AG (SIX: UBSN) announced that it is offering 293,258,050 newly issued shares from authorized capital to a small number of institutional investors at a price of CHF 13.00 per share. After deducting cast associated with the placement, the amount of new equity capital expected to be raised is approximately CHF 3.8 billion. -
DWS reprises advisory role for MENA Infrastructure fund's investment in Oman's power sector
Denton Wilde Sapte continues to act as legal advisor for MENA Infrastructure Fund, picking up an instruction to advise on its second investment, in which it has taken 32.8% of the shareholding in Oman's United Power Company SAOG (UPC). -
Three partner admissions at Carey Olsen in Jersey
Carey Olsen is strengthening its corporate, finance and fiduciary teams in Jersey by admitting three partners to these key practice areas. -
Penningtons celebrates SRA and Farriers Registration Council tender wins
Penningtons Solicitors LLP's professional regulation group is celebrating two key appointments with the news that it has been successful in tenders to advise both the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) and The Farriers Registration Council. -
Penningtons advises on Trans-Siberian Express luxury travel deal
Penningtons Solicitors LLP has advised international tour operator Australian Pacific Touring (UK) Limited on its purchase of a majority share in GW Travel Limited, the market-leader in long-distance luxury rail tours. GW Travel's flagship holidays are trips on the world-famous Trans-Siberian Express. -
Penningtons trainee encourages young Londoners to choose a career in law
Catherine McCann, a trainee solicitor at Penningtons Solicitors LLP's City office, has been invited to contribute to a new guide published by the London Chamber of Commerce & Industry to help young people consider the many types of jobs available in the capital. -
BAKER & MCKENZIE ADVISES FIBERWEB ON JOINT VENTURE WITH PETROPAR
London/Chicago/Sao Paolo, 26 June 2009 - Baker & McKenzie has advised Fiberweb plc on its proposed joint venture with Petropar S.A. The 50/50 joint venture, which will be named FitesaFiberweb, is intended to create the second largest producer of spunbond and non woven fabrics in North and South America. Completion of the transaction is subject to the approval of both Fiberweb and Petropar shareholders. -
Salans awarded Best European Law Firm
Salans has been awarded a Special Distinction in the Best European Law Firm award category at the 2009 International Legal Alliance Summit & Awards (“ILASA”). -
unit specialising in transaction and financing consultancy
HERMANN Rechtsanwälte Wirtschaftsprüfer Steuerberater and the Munich-based team at Grub Brugger join forces: Joint establishment of a unit specialising in transaction and financing consultancy