The Legal 500

Within Bank lending (including other sources of financing), tier 5

O’Melveny & Myers LLP has a busy and diverse practice that represents a number of active private equity and portfolio firms in the market, and benefited from the up-tick in lending and borrowing witnessed towards the end of 2010. It was involved in a number of high-value restructuring and CMBS financing transactions over 2010. It also represented CCMP Capital Partners on the financing of its $323m acquisition of infoGroup, which involved a $274m six-year term loan facility and a $50m five-year revolving credit facility; and assisted Freeman Spogli & Co and its affiliates on its $213m debt financing for the acquisition of Bright Now Dental, involving a successor credit facility agented by Wells Fargo Bank. New York-based Gregory Ezring co-heads the practice with Peter Healy in San Francisco. Also recommended are Thomas Baxter in Los Angeles, and Eric Reimer, who joined from Goodwin Procter LLP and divides his time between New York and Los Angeles.

Within Capital markets: debt offerings, O'Melveny & Myers LLP is a third tier firm,

The capital markets group at O’Melveny & Myers LLP is praised for its ‘true service orientation’ and has experience in advising issuers and managers in debt transactions, as well as high-yield debt expertise. Los Angeles-based John-Paul Motley and David Johnson led in providing advice to International Lease Finance Corporation in a $3.9bn Rule 144A/Reg. S senior secured notes offering and in a $500m unsecured notes offering. Acting for the underwriters, co-chair Peter Healy represented Deutsche Bank Securities, JPMorgan Securities, DNC Capital Markets, SunTrust Robinson Humphrey and UBS Securities in the public offering of Avalon Bay’s $250m aggregate principal amount of MTNs. Johnson also led in advising Barclays Capital, HSBC and UBS Investment Bank as joint bookrunning managers in Toyota Motor Credit Corporation’s offering of $1bn 1.375% notes. The ‘extremely responsive’ Brophy Christensen in the San Francisco office is recommended.

Within Capital markets: equity offerings, O'Melveny & Myers LLP is a third tier firm,

O’Melveny & Myers LLP’s securities practice is praised for its ‘24/7 availability across partners and associates’. Co-chairs of the practice Peter Healy in San Francisco and Gregory Ezring in New York are both highly recommended. Notable issuer mandates included advising the Government of Singapore, as lead investor of the sub-investment syndicate which acquired part of Skype Technologies, in a series of equity issuances. The team also represented Chinese economy hotel chain 7 Days Group Holding (7 Days Inn) in connection with its $127.8m IPO listing on the NYSE. Manager-side clients include Credit Suisse Securities, Barclays Capital, JPMorgan Securities and Morgan Stanley. It represented Bank of America Merrill Lynch as the underwriter of a $250m equity capital offering by Sunstone Hotel Investors. The group also advised Piper Jaffray as bookrunning manager, and Susquehanna Financial Group as co-manager, in Zhongpin’s $53m registered direct public offering of common stock. Particular sector strengths include life sciences and biotech. It recently advised Cell Therapeutics in a $30m registered direct offering of Series 3 preferred stock and warrants. San Francisco-based Brophy Christensen has ‘unparalleled depth of knowledge’, and John-Paul Motley in Los Angeles is also recommended.

Within Capital markets: high-yield debt offerings, O'Melveny & Myers LLP is a third tier firm,

O’Melveny & Myers LLP’s high-yield strength lies predominantly in advising issuer clients, and the team has a steady flow of instructions in the arena. Recent highlights include advising Conexant Systems in a $175m Rule 144A high-yield offering of 11.25% senior secured notes, as part of a balance sheet restructuring project, with David Johnson and John-Paul Motley in Los Angeles leading the transaction. The group also advised International Lease Finance Corporation in a Rule 144A/Reg. S offering of $2.75bn of unsecured notes, comprising $1.25bn 8.625% senior notes, and $1.5bn 8.75% senior notes. Co-chair of the corporate finance and capital markets practice Gregory Ezring represented portfolio company Quality Distribution in a $225m 9.875% second-priority senior notes offering. Ezring is based in the firm’s New York office, and provides key support to the California-based firm.

Within Healthcare and life sciences, O'Melveny & Myers LLP is a second tier firm,

Litigation powerhouse O’Melveny & Myers LLP represents major health insurers and some life sciences manufacturers in regulatory matters, litigation and government investigations. Washington DC-based Brian Boyle and Los Angeles-based Michael Maddigan co-chair the practice, which has been representing Humana Inc on several matters including Uhm et al v Humana Inc, a successful Ninth Circuit appeal court case affirming dismissal of a Medicare consumer protection and fraud lawsuit. Wellpoint Health Networks is also a client in several matters, including an ongoing ERISA litigation centering on a patient’s allegations of wrongful denial of emergency transportation benefits.

Within Insurance: advice to insurers, O'Melveny & Myers LLP is a second tier firm,

With its flagship office in New York, O’Melveny & Myers LLP has a 25-partner insurance and reinsurance practice which provides ‘a level of service that is truly superb’, and ‘from a geographical viewpoint has no limitations’, with other offices in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Head of the insurance and reinsurance practice Paul Koepff is singled out by peers for his coverage work, and co-led the firm in its representation of ACE, obtaining a reversal of a $51m judgment made against it in favor of Hewlett-Packard (HP); in May 2010, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit rejected the lower court’s ruling that ACE had a duty to defend HP in connection with antitrust and unfair competition counterclaims brought against it, the decision coming after nearly ten years of litigation. Key figures in the team include Michael Yoder, who is able to ‘provide solid advice and outstanding direction’, and Richard Goetz, who is singled out for his reinsurance expertise.

Within Copyright, O'Melveny & Myers LLP is a third tier firm,

With ‘strong legal and technical knowledge’, O’Melveny & Myers LLP’s copyright practice focuses on traditional media content disputes as well as on the emerging technology sector. Apple is a key client, while 2010 saw the team advise software company Artifex in a copyright infringement suit against smartphone maker Palm Inc claiming unauthorized copying and distributing of registered technology. Robert Schwartz leads the entertainment and media group and assists artists, film and television groups and publishers in content-related disputes, while David Eberhardt and counsel David Sepanik form part of the ‘outstanding team’ in California. Eberhardt acted alongside lead partner Darin Snyder in a Ninth Circuit appeal for digital technology provider NDS Group in a long-running dispute with EchoStar involving piracy and copyright infringement issues arising from digital television viewing cards. Schwartz is currently representing GDC Technology and other defendants in a case involving copyright claims regarding movie theater 3D glasses. 2010 saw the team take over representation of Warner Brothers and DC Comics, in cases against co-creator Jerry Siegel’s rights to the Superman character, as well as acting on a newly filed case against Siegel, Schuster and other defendants.The team lost litigators Dale Cendali and Diana Torres, who left for Kirkland & Ellis LLP in early 2009. It took steps to fill the gap with the hire of New York-based Marc Ackerman from White & Case LLP.

Within Patent litigation: full coverage, tier 5

Based predominately in California, O’Melveny & Myers LLP offers a team experienced across various technologies including life sciences and electronics, with representative clients including Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics, Hulu and International Game Technology. Key attorneys include Darin Snyder, litigator Mark Samuels and Stephen Akerley, who represents Google and Lenovo Group. It hired IP litigator Eric Namrow from Jones Day’s Washington DC office to develop its expertise in patent litigation before the ITC, an area in which Namrow has particular strength. He is considered ‘a superstar IP lawyer and well respected by staff at the ITC’. The practice represented Top Victory Electronics in a favorable appeal of a patent infringement investigation brought before the ITC by Funai regarding digital television technology.

Within Private equity funds, tier 4

O’Melveny & Myers LLP has an international scope to its practice, with its New York and Los Angeles offices supplemented by capability to advise on investment management matters in Europe and Asia. Asia funds are a particular strength, although the practice has wider expertise across a range of disciplines, from mid-market buyout funds and spinouts of the private equity arms of major financial institutions, to developing alternative investment products and hybrid funds for new entrants into the private equity market. Recent highlights include advising the Calvert Foundation, a non-profit community investment organization, on forming the Communities at Work Fund, which will principally provide small business lending through community development loan funds to low-and-moderate income communities. It also advised Secured Capital Japan Co Ltd on the final closing of its fourth fund, which accepted $525m in subscriptions from LPs and aims to invest in a variety of real estate and related assets in Asia and particularly in Japan. Other clients include Apollo Management, Clarity Partners, BNY Mellon-Alcentra Mezzanine Partners and ICV Capital Partners. Phil Isom and Kathryn Sanders are recommended.

Within ERISA litigation , O'Melveny & Myers LLP is a first tier firm,

O’Melveny & Myers LLP’s ERISA litigation lawyers achieved a number of important victories for its clients in 2010. The ‘excellent’ team provides its clients with keen insight into what events trigger litigation, how courts interpret fiduciary obligations, and what best practices to employ to minimize liability risk. Put simply, one client attests that ‘it is the best ERISA firm I have ever worked with’. A recent example of work the firm has undertaken is its representation of Edison International and Southern California Edison. The suit was part of a number of class actions brought by the same St Louis-based plaintiffs’ firm against companies with large 401(k) retirement plans. These cases have all generally alleged that 401(k) plans breached their fiduciary duties and committed prohibited transactions by charging excessive fees to plan participants, including through the use of retail mutual funds as plan investment options. The court had previously dismissed the vast majority of plaintiffs’ claims via summary judgment. What was left – claims that the inclusion of six mutual funds in the Edison 401(k) Plan constituted breaches of fiduciary duty and that the inclusion of a money market fund was also a breach of fiduciary duty – proceeded to a bench trial in October 2009, followed by further briefing in 2010. In the July order, the court found that the defendants did not breach their fiduciary duty of loyalty by selecting any of the six mutual funds in question. Other representative clients include Bank of America Corporation, Ford Motor Company, Fidelity Investments, Humana and Prudential. Practice chair Robert Eccles, one of the doyens of ERISA litigation, is ‘a perfect gentleman, fantastically brilliant and instills the confidence in clients that they will prevail’. He is ‘steady, prudent and a pre-eminent ERISA litigator’. Also recommended is his colleague Gary Tell, who before joining the firm, spent several years with the Department of Labor’s Office of the Solicitor, where he assisted the Employee Benefits Security Administration with investigations and handled ERISA litigation across the United States. Brian Boyle also has considerable experience in ERISA litigation.

Within Labor and employment litigation, O'Melveny & Myers LLP is a second tier firm,

O’Melveny & Myers LLP is another firm that has a small but cutting-edge labor and employment litigation team. ‘The firm has provided us with uniformly timely and excellent guidance and advice. The lawyers have a unique understanding of how our industry operates, and the counsel they give us reflects that knowledge’. ‘The individual lawyers with whom we most often work grasp the issues the company is facing very quickly, and offer practical solutions’. An example of its tenacity was its representation of FedEx Ground Package System, in multidistrict litigation where its classification of its pickup and delivery personnel as independent contractors (as opposed to employees) has been challenged by plaintiffs in dozens of cases implicating thousands of pickup and delivery personnel nationwide. The firm successfully defeated numerous class certification motions, and recently succeeded in obtaining summary judgment in 21 of the cases along with a holding that the class members (thousands of delivery personnel) were independent contractors (and not employees). Other highlight work included representing Delta Air Lines in a matter against the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA in the Eastern District of New York, and acting for Hershey in a nationwide wage and hour collective action under the Fair Labor Standards Act, and a class action under California law seeking recovery for overtime, lost meal and break periods, alleged paycheck irregularities, and other supposed wage and hour violations. The firm also won a sweeping victory in the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit for clients US Airways Group and US Airways in a groundbreaking Railway Labor Act case. The firm focuses on developing areas of the law and is currently representing employers in disputes regarding theft of confidential and proprietary information and trade secrets by former employees including the investigation of alleged information thefts. Framroze Virjee, Robert Siegel, Jeffrey Kohn and Apalla Chopra are recommended.

Within Leading trial lawyers,

Daniel Petrocelli, O’Melveny & Myers LLP: Los Angeles-based Daniel Petrocelli is emerging as one of the leading trial lawyers of his generation. In 2010, Petrocelli’s heavy caseload was dominated by two major clients: former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling and Lennar Corporation. In the case of the former, Petrocelli achieved a unanimous 9-0 victory in the US Supreme Court, which ruled that the ‘honest services’ law on which the government based its case did not apply to Skilling, as he had never been accused of acting for his own gain. Following this ruling, Petrocelli has returned to the lower courts, arguing that Skilling’s 19 convictions must be reversed. Meanwhile, Petrocelli has successfully represented the real estate developer Lennar Corporation on two headline-grabbing matters. The first involved a record-breaking 11-month trial, where Lennar fought off claims of mismanagement and accounting fraud made by the San Diego developer Nicolas Marsch III, and was ultimately awarded $12m in damages. The second case involved a lawsuit against the supposedly reformed fraudster Barry Minkow, who, since emerging from jail, had reinvented himself as a securities fraud investigator who targeted public companies for alleged improprieties. Following a public attack that Minkow made on Lennar, which resulted in the company’s stock losing 20% in value in one day, Lennar sued Minkow, who it later transpired had been recruited by Marsch III to help retrieve money he felt he was owed by Lennar. Based on the evidence that Petrocelli’s team had amassed, the SEC and Department of Justice ultimately dropped their investigations into Lennar and commenced investigations into Minkow, who has since pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit securities fraud.

Within Product liability and mass tort defense: automotive/transport , O'Melveny & Myers LLP is a third tier firm,

O’Melveny & Myers LLP has maintained its reputation as a ‘top class action firm’, despite the departure of John Beisner and Stephen Harburg to Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP. The firm’s tendency is to handle only trial and appellate cases with the highest exposure, rather than dealing with more mundane matters on a day-to-day basis. Ford has been instructing the firm for a number of years, and the group has recently been defending it against three class actions involving claims that the engines in its vehicles contained defects that resulted in issues including poor air conditioning and engine performance. The team attained a federal district court’s final approval of a favorable class settlement. Its track record for the client includes defending it against a number of putative class actions, including the highly publicized Bridgestone/Firestone controversy of recent years. It has also defeated attempts to certify nationwide classes in cases including Walsh v Ford. American Honda is also a key client. Randy Edwards, based in San Francisco, is particularly recommended for class actions. Brian Anderson in Washington DC and Tad Allan in Los Angeles are also recommended.

Within Product liability and mass tort defense: pharmaceuticals and medical devices, O'Melveny & Myers LLP is a second tier firm,

O’Melveny & Myers LLP is a ‘great firm’ with ‘uniformly excellent’ product liability lawyers located across the US, primarily Los Angeles and Washington DC. The firm typically acts on high-end cases and is representing Matrixx Initiatives before the US Supreme Court in a securities class action concerning the over-the-counter cold remedy Zicam. It was alleged that the company violated federal securities laws by failing to disclose that Zicam caused a loss of sense of smell in some users. The team recently argued that the appeals court used the wrong standard in allowing the case to proceed, a line of defense that could have significant implications for the industry more widely if upheld. It is also defending Amylin Pharmaceuticals in 53 personal injury cases brought by approximately 270 plaintiffs concerning Byetta, an injectable medication for type-2 diabetes, alleging that the client failed to adequately test or monitor side effects and failed to warn doctors or patients of the risk of developing pancreatitis. The departure of John Beisner, Stephen Harburg and Jessica Miller to Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP was a significant loss that is still being felt. However, the expertise of highly respected product liability chair Richard Goetz in Los Angeles and Brian Anderson in Washington DC has ensured the practice remains busy and capable.

Within Securities: shareholder litigation, O'Melveny & Myers LLP is a third tier firm,

Headed by Jeff Kilduff , O’Melveny & Myers LLP’s quality securities litigation group has made a big impression on the market in the past few years, both on the East Coast, which focuses more on financial institutions, and the West Coast. With top-notch litigators working at every level of the court system, the firm recently represented Matrixx Initiatives and some of its officers and directors in a consolidated securities fraud action argued before the US Supreme Court. The plaintiffs allege that Matrixx’s failure to disclose adverse information regarding its homeopathic cold remedy, Zicam, led to an artificially inflated stock price. The action was initially dismissed without prejudice by the district court, though this was reversed on appeal by the Ninth Circuit. While the firm has long represented major issuers, more recently it has landed several significant matters for underwriters and financial institutions in general. Bank of America, which is a major client of the firm, has also retained the securities litigation group on a number of critical matters. Most notably, the team scored a major victory for the bank in the Countrywide Financial Corporation Shareholder Derivative Litigation that was launched against officers and directors of Countrywide, which is a subsidiary of the client. The highly experienced Jeffrey Kilduff has also been leading the defence of Fannie Mae against securities class actions, individual securities actions, shareholder derivative actions and an ERISA class action. Other key partners include Matthew Close in Los Angeles, Seth Aronsen and Bill Sushonin New York, and Robert Stern in Washington DC.

Within Supreme Court and appellate, O'Melveny & Myers LLP is a second tier firm,

O’Melveny & Myers LLP is highly recommended for its US Supreme Court and appellate capabilities. The ‘terrific’ Walter Dellinger is one of the most experienced advocates in the market, while Sri Srinivasan – who has argued 17 US Supreme Court cases, including five in the past two terms – has quickly established himself as one of the very best of the new generation. One client, who watched Srinivasan represent a rival, says ‘I saw him argue and was completely impressed by his presence, sense of engagement with the judges, ability to think on his feed, and his sense of humor’. Jonathan Hacker is also ‘among the very best’. One of the firm’s biggest recent highlights was its representation of former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling in successfully petitioning the US Supreme Court for a review of his convictions. Following a unanimous ruling, the firm can now return to the lower courts to argue that Skilling’s remaining 19 convictions should be overturned. The firm achieved another unanimous ruling in the US Supreme Court for Hertz, in a case that establishes an important diversity jurisdiction standard. Elsewhere, in the Court of Appeal for the Ninth Circuit, the firm represented ACE Property and Casualty Insurance Co in winning its dispute with Hewlett-Packard, thereby reversing a $51m judgment made against its client.

Within Trade secrets, O'Melveny & Myers LLP is a third tier firm,

Clients from the high-tech, medical technology, banking, communications and media sectors consult the 21 IP partners at O’Melveny & Myers LLP for advice on trade secret litigation, encompassing employee movement issues, theft of intellectual property and the defence of white-collar criminal investigations. Strength on the West Coast is complemented by partner support in New York and Washington DC, with many lawyers holding degrees in technical subjects. Recent highlights include representing three defendants against patent infringement and trade secret misappropriation asserted by Taiwanese Richtek Technology, achieving the right to use the products at issue in a settlement. Eric Amdursky in Silicon Valley saw the creation of the largest provider of fingerprint sensor management software after client UPEK sued AuthenTec for patent infringement and defended counterclaims of trade secret appropriation.

Within White-collar criminal defense , tier 5

O’Melveny & Myers LLP’s bi-coastal 16-partner team has a ‘strong cadre of highly motivated and conscientious personnel’ who provide expertise across the white-collar landscape. As comfortable at handling internal investigations for major corporations, as it is representing executives on trial, the lawyers within the team ‘display a friendly manner’ but are ‘feverishly dedicated to pursuing the needs of the client’. The firm continues to handle a significant amount of work within the financial services sector advising on a number of the “hot button” issues including securities fraud and insider trading. Largely handled out of New York, Howard Heiss is one of the key contacts for financial services-related mandates and as part of an impressive caseload is representing a major financial institution in SEC and state regulatory investigations relating to its auction rate securities. Carolyn Kubota is ‘easy to work with and demonstrate considerable sincerity’. Praised for her ‘exceptional skills in front of the jury’, Kubota has handled more than 20 jury and bench trials in state and federal courts including securing a high-profile victory for Jack Wolter, a former senior executive at W R Grace, in one of the largest ever federal environmental criminal cases. Jeremy Maltby has a ‘very high level of legal knowledge’ across a range of matters including securities fraud, money laundering and FCPA abuses, and is ‘very effective in developing meaningful and timely briefs during trial’. Richard Grime is ‘excellent at handling FCPA matters’ and is regularly involved in worldwide investigations for both domestic and foreign corporates from a range of industries, where he is able to leverage off the firm’s impressive global network.

Within Antitrust, O'Melveny & Myers LLP is a second tier firm,

O’Melveny & Myers LLP has been busy across the antitrust space and bolstered its practice with two new partners, Tom McCoy and Jonathan Sallet, recently joining the Washington DC office. Sallet’s background includes having served as chief policy counsel at MCI Telecommunications, while McCoy spent 16 years at Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). The practice enhanced its profile by representing AMD and its executives during the FTC investigation of Intel, which resulted in one of the largest settlements achieved in antitrust litigation by a single plaintiff. The highly recommended Richard Parker, who co-chairs the practice, advised Apple during a DOJ investigation relating to agreements between companies not to hire away each other’s skilled workers, in which a favorable consent decree was reached for Apple with the DOJ. The team has a strong relationship with Samsung, for which it is acting in the optical disk drive cases, one of the largest multi-district litigation actions of recent times, and in the cathode ray tube cases. In addition to its strong client base on the technology side, the team has also worked on significant matters for clients such as Delta Airlines, several CIGNA companies and Asiana Airlines, which the team advised on the Foreign Trade Antitrust Improvements Act. The team has also acted on several large-scale mergers for multinationals in a range of other industries including beverages, pharmaceuticals and oil and gas. The firm suffered the significant loss of the highly regarded former FTC chairman Tim Muris along with Christine Wilson and Bilal Sayyed to Kirkland & Ellis LLP.

Within M&A: large deals ($1bn-5bn), O'Melveny & Myers LLP is a second tier firm,

O’Melveny & Myers LLP’s Ilan Nissan heads the M&A and private equity practice. Software, entertainment, gaming and chemicals-related M&A have all recently picked up for the firm. The team represented AMC Entertainment in its agreement to acquire substantially all of the assets of Kerasotes ShowPlace Theatres, and assisted a buyer backed by ARCH Venture Partners and Polaris Venture Partners in the purchase of the Iceland assets of deCODE genetics, a global leader in analyzing and understanding the human genome, the transaction being a rare example of a successful sale in bankruptcy for a life sciences company. The practice also advised Arcot Systems in its acquisition by CA Technologies, represented CCMP Capital Advisors in connection with its agreement to acquire infoGroup, a provider of data-driven and interactive resources for targeted sales, marketing and research solutions, and assisted Conexant Systems, a supplier of semiconductor solutions for imaging, audio, embedded modem, and video surveillance applications, in a definitive agreement with SMSC, a leading semiconductor company.

Within Private equity buyouts, tier 5

O’Melveny & Myers LLP maintains a strong record in the private equity environment, with notable expertise on both the East and West Coast. In Los Angeles, John Laco heads the office’s transactions group and represents clients such as Beachpoint Capital, American Capital and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board. New York and San Francisco-centered Paul Scrivano advises clients including Apollo Management, ONCAP Management Partners, Palo Alto Investors, and JER Partners. The firm has completed a series of deals on behalf of Apollo in recent years, including its $1bn investment in NCL Corporation and its acquisition of Regent Seven Seas Cruises in 2008. The firm’s London office also impresses clients, as do its partners in Asia.

Within Venture capital and emerging companies, O'Melveny & Myers LLP is a third tier firm,

With its headquarters in Los Angeles, O’Melveny & Myers LLP naturally has a more intense focus on the West Coast emerging company and venture capital environment. Even so, it is one of few firms that have successfully transported a powerful practice to the East Coast. The firm has a particularly fine record in IT, software and internet advice. Its success in this sector is illustrated by the number of key clients that have risen from start-up status to major global brand. Led by Silicon Valley-based Steve Tonsfeldt, the firm represented Yahoo! on its acquisition of Citizen Sport and its purchase of online publishing platform Associated Content in 2010. Tonsfeldt also led the team that advised Slide on its $228m acquisition by Google, while fellow Silicon Valley partners Paul Sieben and Warren Lazarow represented Like.com on its sale to Google. Other clients include Insight Venture Partners, International Game Technology, Microsemi and Western Digital. Life sciences expert Sam Zucker is also recommended.

Within Domestic tax: West Coast, O'Melveny & Myers LLP is a second tier firm,

O’Melveny & Myers LLP’s tax practice is chaired from New York although the five West Coast offices house the larger complement. Well rooted in the region’s technology and bio-science sectors, and media industries, the firm also has a strong Asia practice. Luc Moritz is highly respected for his cross-border work, which includes a niche in India-linked transactions. Robert Blashek combines a structured finance and tax practice, and Silicon Valley-based Robert Fisher is recommended for transactional work. The lawyers named are based in Los Angeles except where indicated otherwise. Clients include the Weinstein Company, WebMD and Houlihan Lokey.