United States > Tax > Financial products > Law firm and leading lawyer rankings

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP provides tax structuring and advisory services to its sophisticated financial services client base. New York-based Gary Silverstein represented Natixis New York Branch as issuer in a $370.2m securitization of commercial mortgage loans. He also represented Barclays Bank as loan seller in a $1.32bn single-asset securitization of a floating-rate mortgage loan originated by Barclays and Deutsche Bank for The Blackstone Group. Mark Howe in Washington DC advises asset managers and custodian banks on structured products. Jason Schwartz, a recently promoted partner in Washington DC, represented Citi as arranger in an unusual 'credit securitization'.

The New York-based team at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton is strong in sovereign debt offerings and has recently worked on high-value issuances for Argentina, Chile, Indonesia and Senegal; Erika Nijenhuis leads this work. Alongside Corey Goodman and Doug Borisky, Nijenhuis also advised various underwriters, initial purchasers and placement agents, including Citigroup Global Markets, Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs, on hundreds of real estate mortgage investment conduit transactions and numerous CLO transactions. William McRae is another name to note, as are team leaders Diana Wollman and Jason Factor.

Clifford Chance advises on numerous high-value debt programs. It advised Corporate Property Associates 17, a publicly held non-traded REIT, in connection with its merger with W.P. Carey, a commercial-focused net-lease REIT, valued at $6bn. The firm also has a strong CLO and CDO practice, and has advised on $21bn of products for a variety of clients, including Arbor Realty Trust, LoanCore, Money360 and other issuers. New York-based Richard Catalano leads the team, which also includes Philip Wagman, Avrohom Gelber, David Moldenhauer and Michael Seaton. Alan Kravitz  left to become counsel at Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP in February 2018.

At Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, Menlo Park-based Rachel Kleinberg advised Comcast on its $2.5bn offering of 3.150% notes. Po Sit and Lucy Farr, both in New York, have advised Morgan Stanley in connection with over $16bn in global notes offerings since November 2017. Tax group leader Neil Barr advised Comcast and NBCUniversal on a $5.5bn notes exchange offer. New York-based Michael Farber works with Farr and Sit on large-scale structured products matters. Dana Trier re-joined the team as counsel in March 2018, following a period as deputy assistant secretary for tax policy at the US Treasury.

Mayer Brown is praised for its 'unique position on the tax consulting side in dealing with the taxation of global equities'. Recently, the team acted for DNB Markets, a Norwegian investment bank, in the private placement of $108m in investment-grade-rated project notes, to finance two Uruguayan solar power plants, operated by Atlas Renewable Energy; New York-based Russell Nance  led this matter. Nance also represented investment funds managed by CarVal Investors in the acquisition of a portfolio of non-prime credit card receivables from Signet Jewelers. In fund formation, Anne Marie Konopack in Chicago  represented LaSalle Investment Management in the formation of LaSalle Property Fund, an open-ended real estate fund. Other key names include Thomas Humphreys and the 'outstanding' Mark Leeds in New York, as well as Remmelt Reigersman in Palo Alto; they work with large banks and other financial institutions on debt products. New York-based Michael Marion's clients include Northcross Capital Management and Goldman Sachs Asset Backed Securities Corporation. James Barry and Jason Bazar lead the team. Incomings included JoonBeom Pae, who joined in New York in October 2018 from Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP; Michael Lebovitz, who joined in Los Angeles from PwC the following month; and Zal Kumar, who joined in August 2018 was previously a director at the New York City department of finance. Jared Goldberger was recently made up to partner.

Shearman & Sterling LLP's team are praised for their 'informed, knowledgeable and practical' approach. Kristen Garry, in Washington DC, is a key name in the team, and recently advised the underwriters of The Boeing Company’s offering of $700m of senior notes. Alongside team co-head Laurence Crouch, Garry advised BMO Capital Markets in connection with Bank of Montreal’s registered public offering of $850m. 'Premier attorney' Michael Shulman jointly leads the team with Crouch. Thomas Johnston and Robert Rudnick are also names to note. Nathan Tasso was promoted to partner in January 2018, while Todd Lowther joined as partner from Thompson & Knight LLP in April 2018. Thomas Johnston retired from the firm in December 2018.

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP advises on the tax aspects of complex global debt offerings. New York-located Pamela Lawrence Endreny advised a consortium of bookrunners on a $1bn high-yield offering of senior notes by The AES Corporation in two tranches. Endreny also advised a public company in the renewable energy sector on its $2.4bn investment fund. Jessica Hough in Washington DC advised the bookrunners on a $500m offering of 5.875% fixed-to-floating rate non-cumulative preferred stock notes by MetLife. Palo Alto-based Sean Shimamoto assisted Nasdaq-listed 111 with its $100m initial public offering of American depositary shares and their listing on the NYSE. David Rievman is also noted. Kirk Wallace retired.

Dentons advises on the tax implications of debt and equity issuances as well as swaps, insurance-linked securities, prepaid forward contracts and other complex financial products. Recently, Timothy Santoli and Jon Hutchens in New York led a team advising on Spire Capital Partners' acquisition of Vector Media, financed through a credit facility. New York-based Erik Klingenberg advised placement agents fundraising for CoreVest American Finance 2017-2 Trust, a securitization of multi-borrower single family rental properties which is guaranteed by Freddie Mac. Andrea Mandell is also recommended. Kelli Wikoff in Kansas City was made partner in January 2018. Practice head John Harrington is based in Washington DC.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP's practice is led by Robert Scarborough in New York and Claude Stansbury in Washington DC. In the last year, both have advised Citigroup on a range of derivative-based synthetic financing programs for the bank's acquisitions and other transactions. Other recent highlights include advising MUFG Securities EMEA plc on CLO transactions. A team including New York-based counsel Dennis Caracristi is also advising the oil and petroleum unit of state-owned (by China) Sinochem Energy on its IPO in the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, valued at $2bn. New York counsel Reed Carey is also recommended.

The team at McDermott Will & Emery LLP advises on the US tax aspects of cross-border matters for large financial institutions. Partners leading the group's work include Andrea Kramer in Chicago, and David Taub and John Lutz in New York. The team is working with Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Citibank on the tax aspects of long-term financing products, specialty finance products, derivative transactions and structured finance arrangements. Kramer represented a number of clients in the CFTC, CME Group and New York Mercantile Exchange investigations over the application of the Commodity Exchange Act and various exchange rules. The firm welcomed Charles Moll and Troy Van Dongen into its San Francisco office and counsel Marcy Jo Mandel into its Los Angeles office in August 2018; the trio joined from Winston & Strawn LLP. The group also added Steven Hadjilogiou and two associates in Miami in March 2018 from Baker McKenzie LLP. Departures included Washington DC-based Robin Greenhouse to the IRS as a division counsel in June 2018, and Dallas-based Kristina Novak to the IRS as an associate chief counsel in August 2018. In addition, New York-based Madeline Chiampou departed to S&P Global as tax counsel in September 2018, and Gale Chan, a Washington DC.partner, joined PwC as a tax manager in August 2018. Additionally, Alan Schwartz joined Reed Smith LLP in 2019.

The New York-based team at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP advises on complex transactions relating to, among other things, restructurings, private equity, private fund structures and real estate. Jeffrey Uffner and Michelle Jewett are representing an ad-hoc group of holders of unsecured bonds issued by Seadrill Limited and North Atlantic Drilling related to the Chapter 11 cases of Seadrill and a number of its direct and indirect subsidiaries currently pending in the Southern District Court of Texas. Mayer Greenberg advises large banking groups on complex transactions. Micah Bloomfield is also noted.