The Legal 500

Allen & Overy LLP maintains its status as the leading finance firm in the City, alongside Clifford Chance, with unmatched depth in terms of institutional relationships and outstanding credentials on the highest-level domestic and international work. It has a raft of top-tier finance rankings including acquisition finance, corporate restructuring, debt capital markets, derivatives and structured products, PFI, and property finance, while on the contentious side it has a leading practice in banking litigation, international arbitration, civil fraud, contentious trusts, and public international law, where it moves up this year. Key deals for its M&A team included HBOS’ sale to Lloyds TSB, and acting for Heineken as part of the consortium which acquired Scottish & Newcastle, and it has a strong ranking for private equity, acting for funds such as Apax, BC Partners and Charterhouse. It rises in the rankings in pensions (non-contentious) and property litigation this year.

Key mandates for finance powerhouse Clifford Chance included advising Barclays on regulatory issues concerning the acquisition of Lehman Brothers’ businesses and its subsequent £7.4bn capital raising, while restructuring mandates included advising RBS on the refinancing and restructuring of the Wagon Group.
It is a dominant force in private equity, both funds and transactions, and won Legal Business‘ award for private equity team of the year at a testing time for the industry. M&A deals included acting for Candover at the head of the £1.7bn consortium acquisition of Expro, and advising British Energy on its £12.5bn sale to EDF, and it has also seen an uptick in emerging markets transactions. On the disputes side, it fields elite practices in banking and commercial litigation as well as international arbitration, and it is also renowned for its wide-ranging commercial property and property finance work. Promotions include pensions (non-contentious) and a new top-tier position in investment funds.

While Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP may still lag behind its fellow Magic Circle firms in certain areas of finance (acquisition finance, asset finance, bank lending, and derivatives among them), it continues to catch the eye with an impressive swathe of top-tier practices, such as corporate restructuring, where recent mandates include advising on Woolworths’ administration; M&A; equity capital markets; corporate tax; and EU and competition, where it advised the Bank of England on the financial crisis and issues arising out of the consolidation in the banking sector. It is a strong performer on the contentious side, with leading practices including commercial litigation, international arbitration, public international law and banking litigation, where it continues to represent HSBC in the high-profile OFT bank charges case. The firm won structured finance/debt capital markets and insurance teams of the year at the 2009 Legal Business awards.

Despite experiencing significant redundancies as the credit crisis started to bite, Linklaters LLP posted turnover of £1.3bn for 2008-09, making it the largest Magic Circle firm by revenue. A major contributing factor to these financial results were the fees generated through its representation of PwC, in the high-profile administration of Lehman Brothers. As well as its position at the head of the corporate restructuring ranking, the firm’s superb finance capabilities ensures top rankings in acquisition finance, bank lending, debt capital markets, derivatives, securitisation and investment funds, among others. In the corporate arena, it defended both Rio Tinto and Scottish Newcastle, against large and hostile bids, the latter winning the firm the corporate team of the year award at the 2009 Legal Business awards. On the contentious side, its deeply entrenched ties with major financial institutions such as RBS contributes to its top-tier ranking for banking litigation, while other core strengths include tax, financial services, investment funds, rail, and IT and telecoms.

Slaughter and May is distinguished from its Magic Circle competitors by its smaller size, independent status and ‘best friends’ strategy, and is widely recognised for the calibre and versatility of its lawyers as well as for the quality and depth of its corporate client base. The financial crisis led to a raft of high-profile, cross-disciplinary work for the firm, much of it from HM Treasury; examples included advising in relation to Northern Rock and Bradford & Bingley, the administration of the English subsidiaries of Kaupthing and Landsbanki, and the government’s £250bn Credit Guarantee Scheme. Key M&A mandates included Banco Santander’s exchange offer for Alliance & Leicester, and BHP Billiton’s proposed takeover of Rio Tinto, and the firm also acted on the buy side of five of the top ten European buyout deals over the year. Elsewhere, the firm maintains market-leading practices in EU and competition and corporate tax, and has an outstanding reputation in areas ranging from commercial and banking litigation to asset finance, bank lending, corporate restructuring, and corporate insurance. It moves up in debt capital markets, corporate restructuring and employee share schemes this year. The firm won law firm of the year at the 2009 Legal Business awards.

Herbert Smith LLP remains outstanding for dispute resolution, regulatory and energy matters, and is promoted to the top tier in insurance/reinsurance litigation on the back of significant work for the likes of Eagle Star Insurance Company, Munich Re and Swiss Re. It is well positioned across corporate and in financial services, particularly on the contentious side. Its top-six position for M&A is underpinned by its notable US law capability, a transatlantic offering that also translates to its credible equity capital markets practice; it recently advised the underwriters on the £660m Resolution IPO and the US$500m Global MENA Financial Assets IPO. Promotions include corporate restructuring (where the team advised Ernst & Young as administrators of Nortel); hedge funds; defendant product liability; property finance; and VAT and indirect tax, while new rankings include criminal fraud, and defamation and privacy. Its energy focus was reflected in winning the 2009 Legal Business award for energy and natural resources team of the year.

Ashurst LLP stands out in private equity, acting for clients ranging from mid-market players to the likes of Apax, Blackstone and Cinven, and also in acquisition finance, where recent clients include JPMorgan and Autonomy. On the M&A side, its headline deals included advising Enodis on two competing £1bn offers, and Imperial Energy on its takeover by ONGC. It maintains a market-leading PFI practice, recently attracting major waste and leisure projects, and has a wide-ranging disputes practice that has been assisting Total and Abbey among others. Other notable strengths are real estate, construction (where it rises in the ranking this year), and capital markets. It also rises in corporate restructuring, investment funds and corporate/regulatory insurance, and is new to the Islamic finance section. It won Legal Business’ competition team of the year in 2009, for its work for Virgin Media in relation to Ofcom’s review of the pay-TV market.

Lovells LLP is a major player in commercial property (along with construction and planning), with key deals including, on the retail side, advising Henderson Global Investors on the establishment of a new fund and the acquisition of several factory outlet centres. In M&A, it had financial adviser roles on Rio Tinto and British Energy, and is a leading choice for insurance sector work. With a leading practice in insurance/reinsurance litigation and defendant product liability, and with great strength across dispute resolution generally (including pensions, property and fraud cases), it moves up in banking litigation in recognition of its regulatory expertise and its experience in both investment and retail banking disputes, and is also new to the public international law section. Other strengths are Islamic and trade finance, and VAT and indirect tax. It is new to the private equity (funds) and emerging markets sections, and moves up in pensions, property finance and IP, among other areas.

Norton Rose LLP’s strategic focus remains on five core areas: transport; financial services; technology; energy; and corporate finance. With expertise in rail, shipping and aviation, the firm tops the asset finance table, and also leads the way for Islamic finance, where it is able to call on the expertise of a strong offering in the Middle East. On the corporate side, its involvement in big-ticket deals (such as its representation of Carlsberg on its £10bn consortium bid for Scottish & Newcastle) sees it move up in the premium M&A category, and it also has a pre-eminent reputation for small and mid-cap flotations. It is also well represented in the dispute resolution and finance sections, where it gains promotion in the emerging markets, debt capital markets and international arbitration sections. On the international front, the firm is set to merge with Deacons Australia. Peter Martyr† was named managing partner of the year at the 2009 Legal Business awards.

The financial services sector is a central focus for Simmons & Simmons, along with energy and infrastructure (advising on the €5bn Turkey-to-Austria Nabucco gas pipeline); TMT (advising Virgin Media and TfL on IT aspects of the congestion charging scheme); and particularly life sciences (where clients include Takeda and Alliance Medical). It is also first rate for employment matters, and maintains strong construction and commercial property practices. Its promoted environment practice provides contentious and non-contentious advice, with areas of expertise including nuclear energy, at the intersection of the firm’s strengths in energy and infrastructure. Other promotions include criminal fraud, corporate tax, Islamic finance, pension disputes, and IP.