Slaughter and May is a leading international law firm with a worldwide corporate, commercial and financing practice.
The firm: The firm is recognised throughout the business community for its commercial awareness and commitment to clients. Every client receives a personal service tailored to their requirements; special emphasis is placed on partner involvement, approachability and continuity of client service.
International work is central to the firm’s practice. The firm’s close working relationships with leading independent law firms around the world enable it to provide clients with a first-class integrated legal service worldwide.
Types of work undertaken: Slaughter and May has a diverse and extensive international practice:
Asset management: the establishment, structuring, promotion and administration of investment funds; fund and investment products and reorganisations; and alternative investments.
Capital markets: capital issues ranging from ‘plain vanilla’ to highly structured products; sovereign debt; initial public offerings; rights issues; convertible and exchangeable securities; placings; equity derivatives, hedging and stabilisation of equity and equity-related products.
Commercial real estate: all types of commercial property transactions as well as construction and engineering projects.
Competition: EC, UK and cross-border merger control, cartels, abuse of dominance, market investigations, State aid, public procurement, and sectoral regulation; and competition.
Competition litigation: advising on competition litigation before English and European courts including appeals against decisions of competition authorities and regulators and private actions for damages and other forms of relief.
Corporate and commercial: a range of corporate and commercial work including demergers and reorganisations; joint ventures; returns of capital; corporate governance and general advice.
Corporate recovery and insolvency: advising companies, directors, creditors, insolvency practitioners and other parties on complex restructuring and refinancings.
Dispute resolution: handles a full range of litigation and arbitration, including complex international and domestic disputes, as well as regulatory investigations and inquiries, risk management and mediation.
Environment: compliance, management and liability and the environmental aspects of corporate and financing transactions.
Financial regulation: a range of regulatory issues affecting financial institution clients and non-regulated customers.
Financing: acquisitions/leveraged finance; loan finance; derivatives; securitisations; structured finance; and leasing and asset finance.
Information technology: advising companies active across a broad range of new and mainstream technologies on their technology and e-commerce-related matters.
Infrastructure, energy and natural resources: a range of matters for infrastructure, energy and natural resources clients, including mergers and acquisitions, projects and investments.
Intellectual property: creation, exploitation and enforcement of IP rights including on global IP licensing strategies; R&D arrangements and franchising; multi-jurisdictional and domestic IP disputes such as patent litigation and alternative dispute resolution.
M&A: buying and selling public and private companies and businesses, often involving a cross-border element.
Outsourcing: a range of outsourcing and other strategic sourcing projects across a broad range of sectors and jurisdictions and for a variety of services (ITO, BPO, HRO).
Pensions and employment: employment, pensions and employee benefit matters.
Private equity: venture capital investment through to the largest and most complex crossborder mergers and acquisitions and from the initial investment all the way through to exit.
Sport: on-field matters (such as player contracts, transfers, registration issues and disciplinary actions); other sporting authority disciplinary and arbitration proceedings; and regulation of participants by sports governing bodies.
Tax: tax aspects of corporate transactions and activities; the development of tax-efficient structures and instruments; and tax disputes.
Other offices: Beijing, Brussels, Hong Kong
Breakdown of work %
Corporate and commercial 68
Dispute resolution 10
Commercial real estate 5
Corporate tax 5
Competition 5
Pensions/employment 5
Intellectual property 2
Number of UK partners 115
Number of other UK fee-earners 573
Above material supplied by Slaughter and May.