The Legal 500

Within Commercial contracts, tier 5

Jonathon Little, Elizabeth Robertson and newly promoted partner Rhys Thomas make up the team at Jones Day. The firm recently assisted Brit Insurance with major offshore ITO and BPO contracts, and counts Tech Mahindra, Legal and General and Ted Baker among its clients.

Within Corporate tax Corporate tax

Within Equity capital markets: US capability, tier 5

Jones Day’s ‘responsive and friendly’ Marie Elena Angulo has ‘good market intelligence and an extensive network of contacts, and always explains positions clearly and concisely’.

Within EU and competition, tier 4

Jones Day’s six-partner team acts for clients including AstraZeneca and the London Metal Exchange, and has strength in cross-border matters, behavioural issues, cartel risk management, and mergers. It acted for Apple in relation to the European Commission’s eBooks investigation. Frances Murphy and Vincent Brophy are recommended.

Within Financial services, tier 4

Jones Day’s team includes Tim Flood, who has grown the firm’s investment funds advisory practice; and bank regulatory capital and market infrastructure specialist John Ahern, who joined from Addleshaw Goddard LLP. The team advised on the regulatory aspects of an investment in Virgin Money.

Within Flotations: small and mid-cap, tier 4

Giles Elliott leads the capital markets team at Jones Day, which counts issuers and banks such as JP Morgan Cazenove as clients.

Within M&A: premium deals, £250m+, tier 6

Jones Day’s corporate team acted on 44 deals totalling $9.3bn in 2011, including advising new client Lascelles de Mercado & Co on its $350m hostile takeover by Black Sand Acquisition Limited. Paul Exley and Eric Stuart arrived from Simmons & Simmons LLP and Ashurst respectively, joining a team that includes the highly respected Leon Ferera.

Within Private equity: transactions, tier 6

Headed by the ‘very good’ Adam Greaves, Jones Day advises mid-market sponsors in the UK market as well as assisting clients in the context of the firm’s broader international offering. Recent highlights include advising WL Ross & Co on the equity funding of Virgin Money’s acquisition of Northern Rock. Other clients include Inflexion, Goldman Sachs and Alcuin Capital.

Within Venture capital, tier 6

At Jones Day, Adam Greaves is an ‘excellent operator’.

Within Fraud: civil, Jones Day is a first tier firm,

Jones Day continues to advise the joint liquidators of Weavering Capital, a London-based fund manager that collapsed in March 2009 following the discovery of a fraud covering up losses of over $500m. Sion Richards is ‘very sensible’. Rhys Thomas and Harriet Territt were promoted to partner, and Glyn Powell joined the team as of counsel from the SFO. Richard Anyamene is now at Mishcon de Reya.

Within Fraud: corporate crime Leading individuals: Fraud

Within Fraud: white-collar crime Leading individuals: Fraud

Within Banking litigation: investment and retail, tier 4

Jones Day, which rises a tier in the ranking, continues to act as special counsel to the Lehman estate (in bankruptcy). The firm also successfully represented a group of clients in the first-ever external review panel convened by the ISDA, and has since been instructed in respect of other potential determinations by the panel. Michael Brown and Sion Richards are recommended.

Within Commercial litigation, tier 4

Jones Day is recognised for its capabilities in high-stakes litigation. The practice represented Wael Khoury in relation to what is reportedly the Commercial Court’s largest-ever contempt of court application. Craig Shuttleworth is London litigation head; and Stephen Brown and Sion Richards are other key contacts.

Within International arbitration International arbitration

Within Corporate restructuring and insolvency, Jones Day is a third tier firm,

At Jones Day, US-qualified ‘restructuring lawyer par excellence’ Corinne Ball will now be splitting her time between the firm’s London and New York offices; the move is indicative of an increased focus on European restructurings and a shot in the arm following the departure of Adam Plainer to Weil, Gotshal & Manges. The team has been particularly active on distressed M&A transactions, including advising Wilbur Ross on the acquisition of Northern Rock by Virgin Money. Kay Morley advised the Jarvis Hotels Group on the restructuring and sale of the majority of its hotel portfolio to Jupiter Hotels. Leading restructuring lawyer Matthew French joined in March 2012.

Within Debt capital markets, tier 5

Jones Day kickstarted its DCM practice with the hire of Drew Salvest from Mayer Brown International LLP. His recent work, while at his previous firm, includes advising Global Switch Holdings on a €600m bond issue.

Within Emerging markets, tier 5

Edwin Borrini at Jones Day in 2011 advised Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation in relation to an unsecured $1bn facility agreement made available by Russian Commercial Bank (Cyprus).

Within Investment funds Investment funds

Within Trade finance, Jones Day is a third tier firm,

At Jones Day, the ‘helpful and knowledgeable’ Ed Borrini advised the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi on an $80m Coface-backed loan to Kazatomprom and Astana Solar. David Fricker, who excels on pre-export finance structures, advised Standard Bank on a $100m borrowing base facility for Tiway Oil. Michael Pabst arranged a $170m syndicated project finance facility for Base Resources Ltd.

Within Employee share schemes, tier 5

John Papadakis is recommended at Jones Day.

Within Employment: employers and senior executives, tier 7

Jones Day’s team, though small, advises on heavyweight matters including multimillion-pound exit packages and shareholder disputes. It recently assisted Altium Capital in relation to its redundancy exercise. Mark Taylor is praised by competitors, and acts for Legal & General, Harsco and ANSYS.

Within Pensions, tier 4

Jones Day suffered a blow with the loss of its former head of department Rosalind Connor to Taylor Wessing LLP. Stephen Brown and new group head John Papadakis remain, and continue to advise clients such as Hanson, Edmundson Electrical and Eastman Chemical Company. The litigation team is representing Procter & Gamble in a case concerning the transfer of pension liabilities under TUPE.

Within Product liability: defendant, tier 5

Jones Day has a European product liability and recalls practice, with commercial litigator Ian Lupson the main contact in London.

Within Mining and minerals, Jones Day is a third tier firm,

Highly rated finance and emerging markets lawyer Michael Pabst at Jones Day advised Base Resources Limited, a minerals exploration and development company, on the US aspects of a $175m placement and rights issue.

Within Oil and gas, tier 5

Jones Day’s already strong reputation for oil and gas M&A was bolstered by the arrival of Paul Exley from Simmons & Simmons LLP in September 2011. Exley heads a team which in 2011 advised Petronet Holdings on its acquisition of Galana Africa.

Within Power (including electricity, nuclear and renewables), tier 4

Jones Day has been active in conventional and renewables, and has experience in nuclear decommissioning matters. It advised Saudi Masader Company on its bid for the Qurayyah power project in Saudi Arabia. Paul Exley, who joined from Simmons & Simmons LLP in September 2011, heads the group.

Within Commercial property, Jones Day is a third tier firm,

Jones Day advises five of the 23 REITS in the UK, and advised Metric on the establishment of a joint venture with the Universities Superannuation Scheme creating a £150m fund. ‘The commerciality of any proposal is considered, which is invaluable’, with David Smith praised as ‘knowledgeable and always eager to help’. David Roberts, new partner Iain Hindhaugh and associate Alice Conway are ‘all very good’.

Within Construction, tier 4

Jones Day acts in arbitrations and adjudications concerning energy and resources projects, and real estate disputes in the Middle East. The team acted for Barwa Real Estate Company in an ICC arbitration against a contractor, concerning FDIC contract law. China State Construction and Engineering Corp is also a client. Hamish Lal leads the group.

Within Property finance, Jones Day is a third tier firm,

Jones Day takes ‘a practical and commercial approach, not playing point-scoring games’. It advised Delancey/DV4 Ltd on the £1.1bn takeover of Minerva. Other clients include MSREF, Macquarie Bank and M&G. Andrew Barker and Liz Saxton are recommended.

Within Property litigation, tier 5

Commercial litigator Craig Shuttleworth now heads Jones Day’s group, following Richard Anyamene’s move to Mishcon de Reya in October 2011.

Within Intellectual property, tier 5

Jones Day focuses on cross-border work, and acts for various multinationals. Alastair McCulloch covers a wide range of industry sector matters, including hi-tech patents. Neil Coulson joined Baker Botts (UK) LLP.

Within IT and telecoms, tier 4

Jones Day’s Jonathon Little leads on transactional IT matters, and recently acted for Brit Insurance on outsourcing systems to Infosys. On the contentious side, the firm represented Apple in an EC investigation regarding the sale of e-books. Nicholas Cotter has experience in contentious telecoms regulatory matters.

Within Pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, tier 4

Jones Day’s competition head Frances Murphy is experienced in European court proceedings, and recently advised AstraZeneca in an ECJ appeal of a case involving alleged abuse of regulatory procedures in relation to its ulcer drug Losec. Other clients include Sanofi-Aventis, Mercury Pharma and MedImmune.