The Legal 500

Within Bank lending (including other sources of financing), tier 6

Jones Day has an extremely strong national practice that is very popular for mid-market lender work. Brett Barragate, who divides his time between New York and Cleveland, and Chicago-based Robert Graves, jointly head the team, which has a strong spread of partners throughout Atlanta, Boston, Houston and San Francisco. On the borrower side, Chip Bensinger led the team advising ConAgra Foods on the financing necessary for its $5bn acquisition of Ralcorp Holdings. Robert Graves also advised Eastman Chemical Company on the $3.5bn financing connected to its $4.8bn acquisition of Solutia. The firm also acts for a number of lender clients, including Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup.

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Within Capital markets: debt offerings , Jones Day is a third tier firm,

Jones Day’s capital markets practice spans the US, and the team is experienced in all types of debt offering, providing both issuer and manager representation. Christopher Kelly in New York heads up the team, which also features John Owen, who advised Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Securities as representatives of the underwriters on several debt offerings by PepsiCo totaling $2.75bn. From Cleveland, Michael Solecki acted for The Sherwin-Williams Company in its $1bn senior notes offering, and also advised ConAgra Foods on three debt offerings of $250m each. Eric Maki in New York and Gregory Gorospe in Columbus advised Sprint Nextel Corporation on a $2.28bn offering of 6.000% notes due 2022.

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Within Capital markets: equity offerings , tier 4

Jones Day ‘acts as a true partner’ to clients, and ‘always responds quickly, efficiently and accurately’. The team advises an enviable list of major investment banks on the full range of equity offerings. Recently, Michael Solecki, and Cleveland-based department head Christopher Kelly represented Citigroup and Morgan Stanley in connection with the $277m public offering of common stock by Apartment Investment and Management Company (AIMCO), a self-administered and self-managed REIT, as well as the subsequent $55m secondary offering of common stock by AIMCO’s selling stockholders. In San Francisco, Michael Reagan has ‘great expertise in securities’, and Khoa Do is ‘a great manager and motivator’. Stuart Ogg in Los Angeles ‘has an extremely deep knowledge of capital markets and equity offerings. There is not a question he cannot answer’.

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Within Capital markets: high-yield debt offerings , Jones Day is a third tier firm,

The focus of Jones Day’s high-yield expertise remains on advising issuer clients, and New York-based Christopher Kelly continues to head up the practice. Key issuer mandates included advising Sprint Nextel Corporation on a $1bn Rule 144A/Reg. S offering of 9.125% notes due 2017 and a $1bn Rule 144A/Reg. S offering of 7.000% guaranteed notes due 2020. Gregory Gorospe in Colombus, Eric Maki in New York and Kimberly Pustulka in Cleveland led the transaction, and also advised the client on a further $1.5bn offering of 7.000% notes due 2020. Elsewhere, the team is growing its manager-side experience. In 2012, Alexander Gendzier in New York, together with Houston-based Angela Olivarez and Cassandra Mott, advised Jefferies & Company on Offshore Group Investment’s $775m Rule 144A/Reg. S offering of 11½% senior secured first-lien notes due 2015. Gendzier and Olivarez also acted for Citigroup Global Markets and Jefferies & Company as representatives of the initial purchasers in Offshore Group Investment’s $1.15bn Rule 144A/Reg. S offering of 7.5% senior secured first-lien notes due 2019.

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Within Corporate restructuring (including bankruptcy), Jones Day is a second tier firm,

Admired for providing a ‘top-shelf product’ Jones Day has the ‘necessary size and depth of resources to ensure that any problem is handled swiftly and delicately’. Among the 25-partner team’s many accolades, it receives particular recognition for its ‘great combination of high service and fair pricing’ and for its ‘superb litigators’ that ‘always arrive prepared for any scenario that may unravel that day’. Driven out of New York by ‘exceptional lawyer’ and ‘formidable tactician’ Paul Leake, the firm’s restructuring practice fields an enviable national footprint that was bolstered in May 2012 through the hire of a group of lawyers from Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP’s Los Angeles office. The new arrivals included former Los Angeles managing partner Bruce Bennett, Sidney Levinson, James Johnston and Joshua Mester and of counsel Monika Weiner. Other offices that house significant restructuring personnel are Chicago, Cleveland, Columbus, Dallas, Houston, San Francisco and Washington DC. As one of the rare firms that has the capacity to handle a steady volume of both debtor and creditor instructions, it continues to impress with the scope of its expertise. Most notably, on the debtor side, it recently acted as lead debtors’ counsel to US baked-goods giant Hostess Brands in its Chapter 11. The complex case involved more than $800m in secured debt and a $75m DIP financing facility with Silver Point. On the creditor side, the firm represented the official committee of unsecured creditors in the Chapter 11 cases of General Maritime Corporation and its subsidiaries. Other representative clients include Plant Insulation Company, AFA Foods and PT Arpeni Pratama Ocean Line. Distressed M&A specialist Corinne Ball is a ‘phenomenon in the courtroom’ and Richard Wynne and David Heiman are also recommended.

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Within Municipal bankruptcy, Jones Day is a third tier firm,

Jones Day boosted its business restructuring and reorganization practice with the arrival of several partners from now defunct Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP. It added four lawyers to its California location, namely Sidney Levinson, Joshua Mester and notably the nationally acclaimed Bruce Bennett and praised of counsel James Johnston. Johnston and Bennett were lead counsel to Orange County, CA in its Chapter 9 case, and have tremendous experience in the municipal space representing debtors and creditors alike. Rather than consisting of partners exclusive to this area, the municipal bankruptcy team comprises the experience of a broader base of experts in the fields that matter in municipal defaults. Its client base is mainly made up of bond insurers such as MBIA, which the firm represented in the Jefferson County, AL proceedings related to in-detail risk assessment, litigation strategies and the negotiation of any proposed plan of adjustment. The firm also acted for MBIA in Harris County Houston Sports Authority’s default regarding $900m in municipal bond debt. Heather Lennox is also recommended

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Within Structured finance , tier 5

Jones Day’s practice group covers the structured finance and derivatives securities areas with recent focus on restructuring existing financings. The team has ‘a high level of business knowledge and wide breadth of experience’. In a recent instruction, the firm’s lawyers advised a major financial institution as sponsor to an asset-backed commercial paper conduit in connection with the purchase of $80m Variable Rate Term Preferred Shares (VRTP Shares) in a private placement by Eaton Vance Floating-Rate Income Trust, a diversified closed-end management investment company. New-York based Mark Sisitsky heads a practice recommended for derivatives and derivatives matters, including litigation. Alice Yurke, whose practice covers registered and unregistered structured and derivative products, is ‘very practical in framing key issues for business decision makers’. Practice group clients include Citigroup Global Markets, Kaiser Aluminum and Xcel Energy.

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Within Environment: litigation, tier 4

Jones Day’s ‘very good’ practice is capable of handling a wide variety of environmental work including toxic tort, climate change, vapor intrusion, rare earth mining, and hydraulic fracturing cases. In 2012, the firm obtained a dismissal of nine out of ten claims brought against Midwest Generation for CAA violations brought by the state of Illinois and the US Department of Justice. The firm is also representing Xcel Energy in global warming litigation relating to greenhouse gas emissions. This includes continued representation, on appeal, against the native village of Kivalina, and in a separate class action over liability due to the damage brought by Hurricane Katrina. Kevin Holewinski heads the practice, which recently recruited Thomas Skinner from Mayer Brown. Thomas Donnelly is ‘extremely knowledgeable and experienced in this area’.

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Within Insurance: advice to policyholders, Jones Day is a third tier firm,

Jones Day’s global insurance recovery practice ‘exceeds expectations’ and continues to aggressively recruit. It is co-led by Steven Sigalow in Cleveland and ‘extremely good negotiator’ Martin Myers in San Francisco, who is ‘patient and warm in his style’ and ‘very responsive’. The broad practice offers ‘incredible client service’ that is ‘efficient and effective’. It handles a variety of insurance recovery matters domestically and globally, and clients ‘use the firm anywhere in the world’. Active clients include Adobe, Chevron, Dell and Levi Strauss. The practice operates on a ‘right lawyer for the right need’ basis, regardless of office location. Jack Montgomery in Pittsburgh, for instance, represented Federal-Mogul in a $88m claim for property damage and business interruption loss due to the 2011 flooding in Thailand. The ‘tenacious’, ‘creative’ and ‘highly dedicated’ Tyrone Childress in Los Angeles worked with Union Pacific Railroad Company on various matters, including prosecuting insurance coverage claims relating to hurricanes and floods, derailments, and major accidents. Ed Joyce and Dave Steuber are also recommended.

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Within Patent litigation: full coverage, Jones Day is a third tier firm,

Jones Day has ‘a strong, deep bench of talent and capabilities’, led by Anthony Insogna and Brian Poissant. Poissant represented Myriad in a Federal Circuit hearing, which affirmed the client’s right of eligibility to patent two genes. He also acted for the plaintiff in Marine Polymer Technologies v HemCon, with an en banc federal appeal hearing affirming a patent infringement judgment in favor of the client regarding asserted patent claims for biocompatible polymers. Blaney Harper is ‘a hard working and aggressive advocate, with a creative mind that seeks new solutions to old problems’, who won for defendants in Email Link v Treasure Island at a district court hearing. The practice also successfully obtained summary judgment of non-infringement in favor of IBM as defendant to a case brought by Auburn University. Hilda Galvan (‘a highly skilled negotiator, spot-on advice’), David Witcoff (‘client focused and possesses a rare blend of engineering/scientific knowledge as well as top notch trial skills’), Greg Lanier and Steven Corr are all key attorneys.

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Within Trademarks: litigation, tier 4

Jones Day’s trademark practice is co-chaired by trial lawyer John Froemming, who has a longstanding reputation for litigating major trademark cases, and Meredith Wilkes, who has particular expertise in domain name and online-related infringement matters. The team acts for major consumer brand owners such as J&J, Chevron, Deckers Outdoor, Richemont, Rolls-Royce and The North Face. Froemming is representing Abercrombie & Fitch in a high-profile trademark infringement case brought by the star of reality television show Jersey Shore, Michael Sorrentino and MPS Entertainment regarding the plaintiff’s ‘Situation’ trademark. Froemming won a Ninth Circuit appeal affirming a previous trial ruling for BMW as plaintiff regarding infringement and cybersquatting claims against the defendants’ use of the MINI WORKS mark. The practice has also handled federal court actions and TTAB opposition proceedings for Entrepreneur Media.

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Within Employee benefits and executive compensation, Jones Day is a third tier firm,

Jones Day has been lead counsel to the pension plan sponsor in two of the largest pension de-risking transactions in US history: the Verizon buy-out annuity transaction, designed to remove approximately $7.5bn in Verizon balance sheet liabilities attributable to outstanding pension obligations; and General Motors’ $26bn termination and annuitization of its salaried employees pension plan. Other work highlights included advising Georgia Gulf Corporation in its merger with the commodity chemicals division of PPG Industries for $2.1bn; and assisting Lam Research Corporation in its $3.3bn stock-for-stock acquisition of Novellus Systems. Evan Miller, who ‘is a genius at this work’, co-chairs the EBEC practice with Daniel Hagen. Other recommended attorneys include Robert Marshall, Brian Holmen, Travis DeHaven, Rory Lyons and counsel Kathleen Hohler.

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Within ERISA litigation , Jones Day is a third tier firm,

Jones Day advises on all areas of ERISA fiduciary breach litigation - including stock drop cases, accrued benefit cutback and other challenges to the structure and operation of defined benefit plans, as well as retiree health, ERISA preemption, and disputes involving multiemployer plans. In Nobleza v Macy’s, the firm successfully defended Macy’s, its directors, and the Macy’s pension and profit-sharing administrative committee in a lawsuit alleging ERISA violations based on Macy’s alleged failure to locate former employees and notify them at the time they became eligible to receive normal retirement pensions. In Dewhurst v Century Aluminum, the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled in favor of the firm’s client, Century Aluminum Company, in an important case involving the modification of retiree healthcare benefits. Co-chair of the firm’s employee benefits and executive compensation group Evan Miller, Sara Pikofsky, John Newman and Geoffrey Ritts are all experienced in ERISA litigation.

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Within Labor and employment litigation, Jones Day is a first tier firm,

At Jones Day, ‘the overall service is excellent. Not only has it been successful in each litigation, but it is also very responsive to our needs in providing effective advice and counsel that is tailored to the particular needs and expectations of our company’. It is deemed ‘excellent for complex litigation’ by clients. The firm has stand out experience in wage and hour class and collective actions and whistleblower litigation. It represented the defendant in Sandifer v United States Steel Corporation in which the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals held that the FLSA’s compensable workday cannot begin and end with non-compensable activity and rejected the DOL’s contrary position on the issue. In Jirak v Abbott Laboratories, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the firm’s client Abbott Laboratories, in a collective action lawsuit brought against it by current and former pharmaceutical sales representatives. The Court reversed the decision of the district court and a $3.5m judgment against the firm’s client. ‘I would put this firm among the best with which I have worked’. Global head of the labor and employment practice Lawrence DiNardo presides over a knockout group that includes issues and appeals practice leader Glen Nager, Matthew Lampe, Ronald Johnson, Rick Bergstrom, Donald Munro, Curt Kirschner and Aaron Agenbroad. Michael Gray ‘is an enthusiastic advocate who has consistently ensured a high quality service. He has been extremely effective on both a strategic and tactical level’. Stanley Weiner is ‘responsive, scholarly yet approachable’, and Alison Marshall ‘has been a thoughtful partner and has guided us effectively through some very complex issues’.

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Within Labor-management relations, Jones Day is a first tier firm,

‘We continue to use the labor law department’ at Jones Day ‘because it is very responsive and the lawyers we use have a very strong work ethic’. The firm represented the Chicago Board of Education in litigation related to the strike by the Chicago Teachers Union. The strike settled the day after the firm filed a motion for temporary restraining order against the teachers union seeking to enjoin the strike as illegal under the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act and a clear and present danger to the health and safety of the 400,000 students of the Chicago public school system. The firm is advising Verizon in connection with collective bargaining covering approximately 45,000 employees in Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Washington DC; represented American Steamship Company and its subsidiary, Liberty Steamship Company in connection with a protracted three-year labor dispute with the United Steelworkers of America; and served as lead negotiator during collective bargaining negotiations between The Philharmonic-Symphony Society Of New York and the Associated Musicians Of Greater New York Local 802, American Federation Of Musicians. Willis Goldsmith’s ‘strength is his ability to be creative and use of out-of-the-box thinking when necessary to advance management’s position with the union. In this he is superb!’ ‘His levity under duress continually moves the negotiations forward, averting union strikes that have been a real threat’. ‘His knowledge of labor law surpasses anything we had been exposed to during negotiations prior to his arrival’. Aaron Agenbroad, Curt Kirschner, Brian Easley and Donald Munro are also highly experienced labor management relations specialists. Further bolstering its already significant reputation for expertise in labor law, the firm welcomed NLRB and union specialist Doreen Davis from Morgan Lewis where she was national co-chair of the labor-management relations and labor disputes practice.

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Within Workplace and employment counseling, Jones Day is a second tier firm,

Jones Day continues to impress with the breadth and consistently high-level advice that it offers its clients. The firm’s global labor and employment practice includes over 150 dedicated practitioners across the Americas, Europe and Asia. It advises on all phases of the design, implementation and administration of compensation and benefits programs and agreements. On the traditional labor side, the firm can assist with collective bargaining, contract enforcement and union organizing. It has teams that can help with the employment aspects of corporate transactions, provide counseling on federal and state wage-hour matters and provide insight on labor and employment healthcare law. The firm has experience advising on the most sensitive workplace and employment matters including the investigation of sexual harassment, theft and other misconduct; the assessment of risks and options attendant to terminations; and the implementation of nondiscriminatory reductions-in-force and plant closings. It also has distinct expertise in advising on disputes involving the enforcement of covenants not to compete, alleged misappropriation of trade secrets, and efforts by competitors to hire clients’ employees. The firm offers advice on a national and international level. Representative clients include American Hospital Association, Verizon Communications, Verizon Wireless, McDonald’s, Morton’s Restaurant Group, Career Builder, IBM, Stanford Hospital and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, Las Vegas Sands and St. Josephs Health System. Labor and employment practice leader Lawrence DiNardo, Michael Gray, Terri Chase, Rick Bergstrom and of counsel Dan Carter are all highly recommended.

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Within Product liability and mass tort defense: aerospace/aviation, Jones Day is a third tier firm,

Jones Day’s small team is well regarded for its knowledge of NTSB regulations and disputes concerning component parts manufacturing. It represents clients ranging from technology providers to passenger and cargo airlines in product liability litigation in the US and internationally. Pittsburgh-based John Goetz was instructed to defend Pilatus Aircraft and Pilatus Business Aircraft in several lawsuits in Los Angeles and Montana, concerning wrongful death claims arising from the crash of a Pilatus PC-12 aircraft in March 2009. The team also successfully assisted Doncasters Group in vacating a $28m damages award against it by the Missouri Court of Appeals, following a fatal aviation incident. Cleveland-based Richard Bedell assisted TECT Aerospace during an investigation carried out by the Department of Justice (DoJ) into the properties and performance of wing spars on the T-6 Texan aircraft, which is used to train US Air Force and Navy pilots. Other mandates included acting for a motion and control company in litigation concerning aircraft components, and advising a parts distributor on its responding to a Notice of Proposed Civil Penalty from the Federal Aviation Administration. Kevin Boyce andDavid Monde are other names to note.

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Within Product liability and mass tort defense: automotive/transport , tier 4

Pittsburgh-based John Goetz and Paul Pohl are Jones Day’s key contacts for representation in class action litigation. The team represents automotive manufacturers and component part suppliers across the transport and aviation sectors. Joseph Finley, Traci Lovitt and David Monde led the defense of Yamaha in product liability litigation at the Georgia Court of Appeals concerning its Rhino off-road vehicle. The team has also handed several other Rhino-related cases, and has obtained eight out of nine defense verdicts in those cases that have gone to trial.

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Within Product liability and mass tort defense: consumer products (including tobacco), Jones Day is a first tier firm,

Jones Day is a ‘go-to’ firm for prominent consumer product manufacturers and has ‘a terrific reputation’ across the market. Its trial practice is extremely busy but has the necessary critical mass to handle major multi-district litigation throughout the country. A team including John Walker and David Monde recently obtained a defense verdict for RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company in an Engle progeny lawsuit before a federal court. Cleveland-based Mark Belasic and Dennis Murphy successfully defended the same client in a wrongful death claim brought by the widow of a deceased victim of lung cancer. The group also has a long-term client relationship with The Sherwin-Williams Company, for which it is national counsel in litigation concerning lead paint and pigments, and, in 2012, practice head Paul Pohl helped the client to achieve class decertification in Illinois. Boston-based Dana Baiocco and Christopher Morrison represented footwear company Vibram USA as nationwide defense counsel in putative class actions and false advertising disputes. Theodore Grossman heads the litigation team in Cleveland and has played a key role in several large class actions.

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Within Product liability and mass tort defense: toxic tort, Jones Day is a first tier firm,

Pittsburgh-based Charles Moellenberg and ‘leading litigator’ Paul Pohl oversee the group at Jones Day, which acts for Sherwin-Williams as national counsel in litigation flowing from the sale of lead paints and pigments. One notable work highlight saw the team obtain class decertification in Illinois, after parents brought claims to recover the cost of children’s blood tests for lead poisoning. Elsewhere, the firm has represented the same client in over 160 personal injury claims in Wisconsin, at both state and federal court levels. Mary Ellen Powers in Washington DC and Houston-based Nancy MacKimm defended IBM in nine property damage and personal injury lawsuits in New York state arising from alleged instances of air pollution and other environmental damaged linked with an old IBM factory. Boston-based Traci Lovitt is one of several advisers to ExxonMobil in a high-profile appeal concerning the alleged presence of methyl tertiary butyl ether in Queens, New York. Other clients include National Semiconductor Corporation and Xcel Energy.

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Within Supreme Court and appellate, Jones Day is a second tier firm,

Jones Day is known for its ‘outstanding people’; the firm’s lawyers ‘really listen, so that they understand the issues and objectives that are important to the client’. The work speaks for itself: this was the only firm to have two lawyers arguing on 2012’s ‘Obamacare’ challenge. The firm’s lawyers were successful on both counts it argued: Michael Carvin handled the tax and spending clause argument in DHS v Florida, and Gregory Katsas took the lead on the anti-injunction argument. In 2012, a team led by Michael Fried won another Supreme Court victory on behalf of client Kouichi Taniguchi in Taniguchi v Kan Pacific Saipan, a case about the costs of translating documents. In April 2013, the highly recommended Gregory Castanias was retained by Myriad Genetics to argue The Association for Molecular Pathology v United States Patent and Trademark Office, where the Court will consider fundamental issues of patent eligibility of isolated DNA molecules. The firm also fields an impressive bench: since 2004, 14 lawyers from the firm have argued 23 arguments before the Court. The firm is also impressive on the appellate front, with Noel Francisco’s government regulatory practice particularly well regarded. Francisco secured a favourable ruling on behalf of Reynolds Tobacco, after the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit ruled that the US Food and Drug Administration’s proposed graphic warning labels on cigarette packs are unconstitutional. Castanias is also known for a strong Federal Circuit-oriented practice. Practice head Glen Nager is ‘outstanding as a high-level strategist and counselor, and a technically excellent attorney’.

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Within Technology: data protection and privacy, Jones Day is a third tier firm,

Jones Day’s interdisciplinary practice led by Kevin Lyles in Columbus and Mauricio Paez in New York leverages the firm’s international footprint and broad expertise, advising multinationals on a wide range of issues around data protection, security and privacy compliance, data processing, retention and transfer and data breach notification and remediation. Paez, who is recommended for his ‘deep industry knowledge’, is primary privacy counsel for Groupon, mining operator Cliffs Natural Resources and the Timken Company, also assisted Nissan with its global data breach and risk assessment and Godiva with its global HRIS system deployment. Contentious work included handling numerous privacy cases for Experian, and representing Visa in an action regarding encrypted data. Lyles advises healthcare clients on HITECH Act compliance notably in connection with electronic records management and data security.

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Within Technology: outsourcing, Jones Day is a third tier firm,

Kevin Lyles in Columbus, and Mauricio Paez in New York co-chair Jones Day’s US practice, which handles big-ticket and mid-market deals covering ITO and BPO and facilities management for clients in the banking, retail, telecoms, utilities and healthcare industries in the US and internationally. Recommended for its ‘industry knowledge and strong support in negotiations’, the group has developed a streamlined approach to outsourcing transactions that support its work advising customers and providers on complex transactions. Lyles and his team support HCA in its efforts to improve the overall quality and effectiveness of inpatient and outpatient services in its owned hospitals by outsourcing the management of clinical service lines to qualified physicians. Jeffrey Kapp in Cleveland advises healthcare clients. Paez, who wins praise for his ‘deep industry knowledge’, undertakes energy-related outsourcing transactions, notably representing Oncor Electrical Delivery Company in negotiations with IBM regarding its ITO agreement renewal and extension, including mainframe modernization.

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Within Technology: transactions, Jones Day is a third tier firm,

Jones Day’s licensing and technology transaction practice works closely with the firm’s M&A practice and its leading partners in Silicon Valley, San Diego and New York, are recognized by peers and clients alike. Warren Nachlis in New York ‘combines legal acumen with excellent judgment and an appreciation of the business setting’. In 2012, he advised SAP in its $4.3bn acquisition of Ariba, and acted for Sanofi with the $425m divestiture of its Dermik dermatology unit to Valeant Pharmaceuticals. Thomas Briggs in San Diego advised Alcatel-Lucent in the $1.5bn sale of its worldwide Genesys business to Permira. The firm’s strength in pharmaceuticals and life sciences has led to increased instructions in industrial and renewable chemicals industry. In a cross-border deal involving US, Netherlands and Brazilian entities, Briggs represented Bunge in the formation of a joint venture with Solazyme to build and operate a renewable oils production facility in Brazil. Other clients include Abbott, Bayer CropScience, Celgene, Procter & Gamble and Texas Instruments.

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Within Antitrust, Jones Day is a first tier firm,

Jones Day’s antitrust practice is ‘among the best’, where ‘the lawyers are responsive, practical and really understand their client’s business’. The firm exhibits a truly national practice, with partners peppered across five states, and internationally, the Washington DC and Brussels offices act as the key antitrust hubs. The scope of this ‘terrific’ department is also diversified; it is strong in merger reviews, civil and criminal disputes, and government investigations, and clients praise the industry knowledge that a number of the lawyers can offer through previous senior positions at US enforcement agencies. Recent non-contentious work highlights include advising Goodrich Corporation on its acquisition by United Technologies Corporation (UTC) for $18.4bn, which marks the largest acquisition in UTC’s history. On the contentious side, the team is defending Adobe Systems and Intuit in antitrust actions brought on behalf of a putative nationwide class alleging that many prominent technology and entertainment companies in the US conspired to fix and suppress employee compensation. The firm provides specialist antitrust expertise in a number of areas; notably, global practice head Phillip Proger is recommended for retail and pharmaceutical matters; J Bruce McDonald, is strong in mandates involving the airlines and energy industries; Craig Waldman is the contact for hi-tech and software issues; and Toby Singer is well regarded for hospital healthcare work. In Washington DC, Ryan Thomas was recently promoted to partner, and of counsel Kenneth Field rejoined the firm following six years at the FTC, where he served as counsel to the director of the Bureau of Competition. Elsewhere, in Chicago, Michael Sennett and Pamela Taylor make ‘a great team’ and are also ‘very well connected with the FTC’.

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Within M&A: large deals ($1bn-5bn), Jones Day is a first tier firm,

Jones Day is ‘outstanding, and has great knowledge of our company and industry’. Another client says of the firm’s attorneys: ‘I will call them and no others’. The firm’s M&A practice is the largest single component of its non-disputes business, and recent highlights include advising: SAP in its $4.3bn acquisition of Ariba; Gavilon Holdings on its $3.6bn acquisition by Marubeni Corporation, one of the largest, general trading companies in Japan; and The Sherwin-Williams Company in its $2.34bn acquisition of Consorcio Comex, which manufactures and sells architectural and industrial coatings in Mexico, the US, and Canada. Mid-market mandates included advising The Weir Group regarding its $675m acquisition of Seaboard Holdings, an independent wellhead solutions provider that is focused on the North American, unconventional oil and gas drilling, and production, market. In private equity, the team advised Temasek Holdings (Private) in connection with its $1.125bn co-investment in Venari Resources, a deep-water exploration, and production, company. New York-based, firm-wide M&A head Robert Profusek is ‘one of the leading lawyers for complex, big-dollar M&A work’; Cleveland-based James Dougherty and Lyle Ganske, Dallas and Houston-based Scott Cohen, Elizabeth Kitslaar, in Chicago, Silicon Valley-based Daniel Mitz and William Rowland, in Atlanta, are key M&A contacts. Cohen ‘always contributes important, new ideas, which help immensely’. Cleveland-based Charles Hardin Jr is the firm-wide private equity head.

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Within Private equity buyouts, Jones Day is a third tier firm,

Jones Day has maintained a considerable share of the middle market. The firm ranked first for number of US transactions in the first three-quarters of 2012, according to Buyouts magazine. Clients commend the ‘strong team’ for having ‘very hands-on’ senior lawyers, ‘excellent transactional knowledge’, ‘extreme responsiveness’, and for being ‘very hard working’ and ‘detail oriented’. Clients also highlight the firm’s ‘global reach’ and powerful ‘Asia footprint’, and point to the highly effective contribution and assistance of the firm’s tax, employment, antitrust, and financing departments. In 2012, the firm recruited eminent New York-based private equity specialist Ira White from the now-defunct Dewey & LeBouef LLP and he brings a wealth of connections, including to One Equity Partners. Other key clients of the wider practice include The Riverside Company, Baird Capital Partners, High Road Capital Partners, Blue Point Capital Partners, Kirtland Capital Partners and Resilience Capital Partners. The Riverside Company is one of the firm’s most active clients and it continued to advise the private equity house on multiple transactions in 2012. Cleveland-based and private equity head Chuck Hardin is the relationship partner for Riverside and is described by clients as ‘world class’ and an ‘exceptional business lawyer’. Clients also recommend Cleveland partner and ‘excellent lead partner’ Denise Carkhuff and New York’s Robert Kennedy, who is ‘very hands-on’, ‘creative’ and ‘pragmatic’.

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Within Venture capital and emerging companies, tier 4

Jones Day has experienced solid growth in California in recent years, especially in Silicon Valley. High-profile clients include Five9, MarkLogic, Plum, Minted and Nimble Storage. Early stage clients include Neurotech Pharmaceuticals, DermLink and Grid Net. Venture clients range from Adams Street Partners to Granite Ventures, while strategic investors such as SAP and SanDisk, illustrate the breadth of the practice. Silicon Valley partner Tim Curry is a prominent name in the emerging and tech company space. In 2012, he represented Adams Street Partners on its Series D financing of LogRhythm. Curry also advised cloud services company Fuhu on its Series C financing provided by KDDI, Japan’s second-largest mobile service operator.

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Within Construction, Jones Day is a first tier firm,

The construction team at Jones Day impresses with its ‘knowledge of the law’ and ‘very strong depth’. It forms part of the wider business and tort litigation practice and is able to draw on the firm’s wider resources to provide key industry players with the full range of support, from advisory matters to high-profile litigation. It ‘provides the highest level of service for public entities in construction cases’, and is acting for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority in appeals arising from disputes with Tutor-Saliba-Perini in relation to the construction of sections of the Los Angeles subway system. The team is also acting for CityCenter against general contractor Perini in litigation surrounding the $8.5bn CityCenter mega-development in Las Vegas. The 18 million sq ft project led by a joint venture of MGM Resorts International and Dubai World has produced wide-ranging litigation totaling more than $500m in claims and counterclaims between CityCenter, Perini and numerous subcontractors. In 2012, the firm handled extensive discovery in this litigation, took and defended depositions, and managed a number of subcontractor claims. The team is spread across various US offices, with ‘extremely bright trial attorney’ Daniel McMillan being based in Los Angeles, and leading lawyers Stephen O’Neal and Andrew Ness operating from San Francisco and Washington DC, respectively.

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Within Real estate, Jones Day is a third tier firm,

Jones Day provides an ‘outstanding level of service’, and, with its ‘deep resources’, is able to handle ‘the most demanding assignments’; its attorneys are ‘experienced and aggressively fight for their clients’ best interests’. Strengths of the 21-partner team include private equity investments, real estate fund formations, and transactions for multi-family owners, developers and real estate lenders. Robert Lee and David Lowery lead the US practice and are supported by the ‘knowledgeable, prompt and practical’ Brian Sedlak as well as by Scott Specht, whose ‘wealth of experience allows him to handle a wide variety of deals’. Specht advised Metropolitan Life Insurance Company and Georgia-Pacific LLC on a $112m loan secured by a 1.1 million sq ft office building in Atlanta. The firm also assisted Arctic Glacier Income Fund regarding the real estate portfolio of its subsidiaries, including over 70 manufacturing and distribution facilities in 17 states. Other major clients include Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Black Creek Group, Goldman Sachs, and TriGate Capital.

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