The Legal 500

Within Asset finance and leasing, tier 5

Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP has a broad equipment finance practice, which primarily revolves around aviation assets, and which advises airlines and financial institutions. In New York, group chair John Hoyns mainly acts for airlines on transactions such as restructurings, asset purchases and capital markets matters. Hoyns recently advised Continental Airlines on its $427m offering of pass-through certificates to finance 12 used and six new aircraft, and assisted Republic Airways with its $6.5bn purchase of 80 Airbus A320 aircraft. Washington DC-based Steven Chung is noted for his work with financial institutions – sponsors, lenders, commercial banks and Ex-Im banks – and he recently advised Tennenbaum Capital Partners on the purchase and financing of five Boeing 767s on lease to United Air Lines. Miami-based Mark Denham has strong ties to Latin America, and tax group chair Andrew Braiterman, who is based in New York, is also recommended for his equipment leasing expertise.

Within Corporate restructuring, tier 7

Well-known for its creditor-side work, Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP also has strength in distressed investment matters and receives regular instructions from financial institutions, derivative counterparties and purchasers of assets. Led from New York by James Giddens, the team’s transaction list has a strong financial services focus. It recently represented the Bank of Nova Scotia as agent on two syndicated loans totalling over $1.3bn to operating subsidiaries of Adelphia Communications Corporation in Adelphia’s Chapter 11 proceedings. The firm also successfully represented a UK-based public company as one of the largest creditors to bankrupt US solar energy producer, Spectrawatt.

Within International arbitration, Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP is a second tier firm,

Praised for the ‘depth of its bench’, Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP has experience in a broad range of areas, including investment, construction and engineering, pharmaceuticals, and oil and gas disputes. Clients include the Kingdom of Bahrain, the Republic of Lithuania, and RosInvestCo UK, a minority Yukos stockholder. In 2011 the team represented a leading Turkish company for oil exploration and development in an ICSID arbitration against the Republic of Kazakhstan, concerning hundreds of millions of dollars of investments made in the oil and gas sector of Kazakhstan from the 1990s, and involving a variety of public international law claims. Another client is the government of Canada, which the firm is acting for in an LCIA arbitration brought by the US under the 2006 Softwood Lumber Agreement; in the arbitration, the US alleges that measures taken by the Province of British Colombia in administering Crown forestlands amount to circumvention of the SLA, seeking $500m in remedies. On the commercial side, the team is representing Forest Laboratories in the prosecution of an AAA arbitration involving the licensing of a human labor induction drug. The team includes ‘world-class practitioners’, with John Townsend recommended as a ‘peerless litigator whose knowledge of the people and process of international commercial arbitration is unsurpassed’. John Fellas is highly regarded by peers.

Within International trade, Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP is a third tier firm,

With ‘in-depth expertise’ and an ‘impeccable understanding of commodity trade’, Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP recently expanded the team: Joanne Osendarp and John Ryan from Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP (the former was head of the firm's international trade group), and customs compliance specialist Melanie Frank. The firm has a broad stable of clients from Asia, Europe and the US. ‘Outstanding’ department head Amanda DeBusk is an ‘expert in the field’, and recently advised Dell and Cree on complex export control questions, as well as assisting Koch Chemical Technology Group on sanctions and FCPA matters. DeBusk provides ‘personal, hands-on service where appropriate’, and has ‘developed a solid team to back up her skills’. She was also recently appointed to the State Department Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy: Sanctions Subcommittee. Kenneth Pierce is noted for his trade remedy advice, and counts the Royal Thai Government and TyssenKrupp Steel Europe as regular clients. Elsewhere, Osendarp and John Townsend are providing advice to the Government of Canada in the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA), concerning the US-Canada softwood lumber dispute. IP and international trade partner Jennifer Groves left the firm in 2011.

Within Product liability and mass tort defense: pharmaceuticals and medical devices, Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP is a third tier firm,

Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP continues to play prominent roles in significant matters for Merck including the Vioxx litigation, for which it shares the role of national coordinating counsel; and Fosamax, in which it is defending the client in MDL and state court litigation. Another client is the New York Blood Center, which it serves as lead counsel in hundreds of cases involving blood and blood products allegedly contaminated by HIV and hepatitis. While the cases have been reduced owing to improved screening and testing, the firm continues to act in a handful of ongoing matters in which cases of alleged donor and transfusion injuries are being actively litigated. Robb Patryk, Diane Lifton and Ted Mayer lead the practice. Other recommended attorneys include Charles Cohen, James Fitzpatrick and Daniel Weiner, and all are based in New York.

Within Product liability and mass tort defense: toxic tort, Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP is a third tier firm,

Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP has considerable know-how in this field and has been representing Chemtall for a number of years in a dual-state action based on alleged exposure to polyacrylamide, a component in an industrial water-purifying chemical manufactured by the company. Plaintiffs allege an increased risk of neurotoxic, genotoxic, carcinogenic and reproductive injuries after exposure to polyacrylamide while working at a coal plant. Other high-profile matters included acting for ABS in the Kingdom of Spain’s $1bn action against it, in which the plaintiff alleged that the company’s conduct during various surveys was responsible for the oil spill resulting from the sunken oil tanker M/T Prestige. The claim was recently dismissed without prejudice following seven years of complex multinational litigation. Robb Patryk and managing partner Ted Mayer are recommended; both are based in New York.

Within M&A: middle-market (sub-$500m), Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP is a third tier firm,

New York-based international law firm Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP has represented Daimler in connection with investments in Tesla Motors since 2009, and recently acted for Rockwood Holdings, a global specialty chemicals and advance materials company, in the sale of its AlphaGary plastic compounding business to Mexichem, the sale including substantially all of AlphaGary’s worldwide business operations, including operations in the US, UK and Canada. Other key mandates included advising the joint administrators for Nortel Networks Europe, Middle East and Africa in numerous sale transactions, the most recent transaction being the sale of Nortel’s patent portfolio to a consortium consisting of Apple, EMC, Ericsson, Microsoft, Research In Motion and Sony. Also of interest, the group assisted the Government of Jamaica in the sale by Air Jamaica of certain of its principal routes to Caribbean Airlines in exchange for a 16% stake in Caribbean Airlines and an injection by the Government of Trinidad of $50m of new equity into Caribbean Airlines. New York-based Candace Beinecke, Kenneth Lefkowitz, James Modlin, Charles Samuelson and Avner Ben-Gera are key contacts.