United States > Industry focus > Overview
Recently, it has been a busy period for energy litigation, with firms such as Kirkland & Ellis LLP, Covington & Burling LLP and King & Spalding LLP involved in various litigation arising out of the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion and the resulting oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. This matter has involved environmental aspects and many law firms such as Bingham McCutchen LLP, ranked for environment, have also been involved. Many firms have a fully integrated approach to handle issues which bridge energy and environmental matters, and firms recognise that environmental issues are at the forefront of energy company concerns. The Trans Alaska Pipeline Project System (TAPS), which involves transactional, regulatory and litigation issues, is a notable example that involves firms prominent in both arenas.
On the transactional side, after little merger activity, many firms have been instructed by energy companies looking for ways to increase their reserves, acquire oil and gas fields and invest in new technology. Latham & Watkins LLP advised Goldman Sachs on its merger between Allegheny Energy and FirstEnergy, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP advised RRI Energy in its merger with Mirant, and Baker Botts L.L.P. advised Schlumberger on its merger with Smith International, to name a few. Another key trend includes companies acquiring smaller companies, such as the merger that saw Halliburton snap up Boots & Coots.
Texas-based firms are prominent in the traditional upstream oil and gas space, but several firms have built on that grounding, such as Sidley Austin LLP, which has expanded its offering and represents various clients in the electric utility space as well as in other industries. Meanwhile, firms on the East Coast naturally have a greater propensity for work before The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and other regulators such as the Department of Energy (DOE), North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The energy ranking covers oil and gas, LNG, nuclear, and alternative and renewable energy sources (among them wind, hydro and solar power).
With its strict regulations, California is one of the most active states for environmental regulatory matters, with firms such as Bingham McCutchen LLP, Latham & Watkins LLP, Gibson Dunn and Morrison & Foerster LLP advising on matters from California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) to Proposition 65.
The environment ranking covers cleantech, Clean Air Act matters, climate change, groundwater, toxic chemical, radioactivity, public nuisance matters and endangered species issues. Firms recommended for litigation have the capability to operate at a high level in courtroom litigation and arbitration across most energy or environment sectors respectively, or are outstanding in one or several areas. Equally, for the transactional and regulatory rankings, firms are noted for relevant M&A, capital markets transactions, licenses and royalties, compliance and issues with the regulatory bodies, among others.
The healthcare and life sciences section addresses coverage of law firms with contentious and/or non-contentious practices in the healthcare and life sciences space. The former is defined as representing healthcare service provider organizations (and healthcare centers of one type or another), healthcare professionals and also health insurers – firms are ranked for this type of work in the healthcare table accompanying this text. The write-up also covers representation of life sciences and medical equipment manufacturers and distributors, as well as pharmacies, and venture capital and private equity investors, with relevant firms ranked in the accompanying life sciences table. Firms with a substantial body of work across the entire industry may appear in both tables with coverage of their capabilities detailed in the text to follow. Text entries for firms occur in sequence by tier, with firms appearing in the higher of two places if they appear in both tables.
Given the extensive scope of the coverage the rankings includes many types of practice, from full-service firms serving every type of client to excellent boutiques focused on providing the highest caliber of service in one or two specialized areas of law. Coverage includes M&A and licensing, litigation, investigations, labor and employment services, and regulatory advice. Because certain legal disciplines are covered and assessed in more detail in dedicated sections elsewhere in the book, they are not assessed as part of the coverage here (but are mentioned in summary where pertinent to highlight adjunctive strengths). Specifically, IP is covered in the intellectual property chapter, while product liability and mass tort law is given detailed examination in the litigation chapter. Recommended lawyers are based in Washington DC unless noted otherwise.
Firms in the insurance market have had to stay abreast of the changing political and legal landscape in the sector, particularly the increased pressure that is being placed on state regulators. 2010 saw the introduction of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). This has led not only to constitutional challenges pending in the Supreme Court and Republican efforts in Congress to repeal certain provisions, but also to uncertainty as to its implications and greater ramifications. In its current form, the ACA establishes federal standards relating to the regulation of health insurance, and delegates enforcement authority of such standards to state regulators. Another significant piece of legislation is the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which created the Federal Insurance Office (FIO) with the aim of rectifying a lack of insurance expertise at federal level, and potentially brings insurance companies as well as other financial entities under scrutiny if certain activities are found to present systemic risk.
Many of these regulations come in the wake of the incremental convergence of the banking, financial and insurance industry sectors. This convergence also brings opportunities for law traditionally strong in capital markets and financial services to represent participants in the insurance space.