The Legal 500

Within Product liability and mass tort defense: aerospace/aviation, Bryan Cave LLP is a second tier firm,

Bryan Cave LLP primarily acts for aviation industry manufacturers. It handles all of Boeing’s McDonnell Douglas legacy cases, including litigation relating to the 154-fatality Spanair MD-82 accident in Madrid, Spain in August 2008. It also regularly receives instructions from Teledyne Continental Motors on aircraft accident personal injury and wrongful death claims nationally. Other clients include Guam Airport and the port authorities of New York and New Jersey. The aviation team’s standout partner is Jeffrey Morof in Chicago. R Bruce Duffield is also recommended, along with Washington DC-based Douglas Winter.

Within Product liability and mass tort defense: automotive/transport , Bryan Cave LLP is a second tier firm,

Bryan Cave LLP is ‘one of the most prominent firms in the automotive sector’ and has an ‘outstanding reputation’ as a result of its involvement in a number of high-profile product liability cases. These include cases concerning automobiles (including trucks and ATVs), industrial vehicles (such as forklifts), tires and components, railroad equipment and watercraft. Highlights included representing Mercedes-Benz and Volvo in consumer fraud class actions. It also won a unanimous jury defense verdict for Ford in Garcia v Ford, a death and amputation case arising from a collision and vehicle fire in a 1997 model Ford Explorer, a win that significantly forestalled the threat of similar litigation. Other clients include Bombardier, Cottrell, Evenflo, Michelin and U-Haul. St Louis-based Stephen Strauss, Dan Ball and Peter Herzog are recommended, as is of counsel John Thomas. In Chicago, R Bruce Duffield is an experienced and well-renowned practitioner.

Within M&A: middle-market (sub-$500m), Bryan Cave LLP is a second tier firm,

Bryan Cave LLP is experienced in assembling multi-disciplinary teams which can be required for the successful completion of a transaction, and regularly calls upon other firm attorneys for assistance in areas such as financing, tax, human resources, IP, environmental and other regulatory matters. St Louis-based William Seabaugh leads the global transactions practice. Seabaugh’s representative deal roster includes advising Ralcorp in its $1.2bn acquisition of American Italian Pasta, acting for Emerson Electric and Monsanto in multiple acquisitions and divestitures, and assisting five privately held businesses in separate sale transactions to private equity buyers for an aggregate consideration in excess of $700m. Also in St Louis, deputy leader Steven Baumer has acted for Monsanto Company in connection with various strategic investments, and represented Anheuser-Busch Companies in connection with cross-border investment activities. Baumer has experience in a number of different industries, including agriculture, aviation, manufacturing, technology, solar energy, banking, life sciences, telecommunications, private equity and consumer goods. New York-based deputy leader Jay Dorman was counsel on the $600m sale of Barnes & Noble College Booksellers to Barnes & Noble, and assisted in the $700m acquisition by GameStop of French retailer Micromania.

Within Construction (including construction litigation), tier 5

Bryan Cave LLP’s construction team advises clients from project conception to completion, advising on contracts and handling disputes. The firm continues to represent MEMC Electronic Materials, the global supplier of silicon wafers, in its construction projects domestically and abroad; the team has handled a number of expansion projects for the client and recently advised on the development of a new headquarters building in St Peters, Missouri. Other ongoing transactional work includes representing a large national retailer in relation to a variety of US constructions and related contract administration. Key attorneys include Steven Becker, who specializes in transactions, and JD Moore, who is a strong litigator with experience in the procurement and sale of construction services.

Within Land use/zoning , Bryan Cave LLP is a second tier firm,

Bryan Cave LLP’s land use lawyers, urban planners and registered architects are led by Robert Davis, who has 30 years’ experience in land use, historic preservation and environmental law matters. While the firm has a land use presence across many US states, its core practice is in New York, where the firm represents a number of municipalities and developers, including Gotham Organization in a 1.1 million sq ft development in Manhattan; the plans, which include 1,350 new apartments, retail space and a public school, required numerous land use approvals, a zoning map and special permits. The City Planning Commission and City Council recently approved the large-scale urban development, which will revitalize Manhatten’s Far West side.

Within Real estate, Bryan Cave LLP is a third tier firm,

Bryan Cave LLP’s impressive geographic footprint reaches across Georgia, North Carolina, Illinois, Texas, California, Arizona, Missouri, New York and Washington DC. The 44-partner team provides services regarding all aspects of real estate ownership, transactions, capital markets and financing. Practice head Ronald Emanuel is an ‘excellent deal maker’, who has ‘very good business sense’ and ‘well honed legal skills’. This ‘very responsive’ team is able to ‘handle the most complicated transactions’ and represented Och-Ziff Real Estate and its affiliates on dozens of transactions including high-value asset and debt acquisitions, joint venture arrangements and restructurings. Lawrence Gottesman is representing LNR Partners and Berkadia Commercial Mortgages as the special servicers of $4bn of securitized commercial mortgages pursuing subsidiaries of General Growth Properties. It is also representing LNR Partners as special servicer of $160m of securitized commercial mortgages relating to the Innkeepers USA bankruptcy. Emanuel and Lars Lagerman acted for an institutional lender on the $550m sale of its resort portfolio, comprising defaulted timeshare loans made to project sponsors. Sandor Green is representing AIMCo, a longstanding client and one of the largest REITs in the US, on its sale of 35 multi-family residential properties across 16 states. Stephen Sparks is advising the Industrial Development Authority of the City of Kansas City and the Planned Industrial Expansion Authority of Kansas City on a PPP involving the $700m financing of the National Nuclear Security Agency campus under development in the city.