The Legal 500

Within Structured finance , Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP is a second tier firm,

Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP’s New York-housed Paul Watterson and Craig Stein co-head a 20-strong group characterized by ‘first class service and knowledgeable attorneys who are never stuck for a solution’. The practice straddles structured products and derivatives, and well supported by the tax practice, provides a sophisticated expertise which absorbs complexity and generates innovation. In recent instructions, Paul Watterson and Craig Stein acted as counsel to several private funds in the creation of a special purpose vehicle allowing those funds to enter into a credit default swap with a major European bank, and Joseph Suh, commended for his expertise across the structured and derivatives field, acted as counsel to several private investment vehicles managed by Performance Trust Investment Advisors investing in undervalued residential mortgage-backed securities. Adam Katz is commended for his work on collateralized and synthetic CDOs, and Philip Azzollini for his wide asset-backed expertise and experience. Special counsel Kristin Boggiano is ‘a great asset, a very promising young lawyer’ in the derivatives space. The group acts for clients including Cerberus Capital Management, Deerfield Capital Management, Fortress Investment Group, Guggenheim Partners and Wells Fargo Securities.

Within Alternative/hedge funds, Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP is a first tier firm,

Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP has a rarefied reputation in the hedge funds industry, thanks to its 40-year history advising institutional investors, investment advisory firms and funds. Fielding 100 attorneys with hedge funds expertise, including 17 partners, the team has the critical mass and knowledge base to offer a high-end service to a large number of individual funds (the practice represents over half of the Alpha 100). Clients include FrontPoint Partners, Credit Suisse and Deerfield Capital Management. It further strengthened its capability in 2010 by hiring Daniel Hunter, bringing his expertise in European feeder and hybrid funds over from Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP. The team brings to bear tailored expertise in tax, derivatives and employment matters, and recently formalized its regulatory capability with the launch of a dedicated compliance practice comprising over 70 lawyers, many of whom have experience with the SEC. The practice has been advising investment banks on novel structures for their proprietary trading businesses, and former institutional managers on establishing their own operations. One such example is its advice to FrontPoint Partners on its pending spin-off from Morgan Stanley. Fund formation work – traditionally the practice’s biggest strength – remains depressed, but 2010 saw the team advise Paul Orwicz on forming Sursum Capital Management to trade in the TMT and energy sectors, as well as creating two distressed debt and equity funds for Alden Global Capital. It is this ability to straddle industry sectors and investment strategies that holds great appeal to clients, who appreciate the vast experience and seniority of Paul Roth and abilities of Stephanie Breslow.

Within Private equity funds, tier 4

Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP’s investment management practice is renowned for its market-leading hedge fund capability, and has cultivated a solid following for its private equity capability. Its strategy is to focus on high-end fund formation in areas such as venture capital, real estate private equity, distressed assets and secondary transactions. In 2010, the practice advised Centerbridge Partners on a private equity fund focusing on investments in distressed debt, and also advised Silver Point Capital on launching Delaware and Cayman Islands funds focusing on investing in industrial, commercial and commercial real estate loans. It also advised CarVal Investors, a majority-owned subsidiary of Cargill, on launching two funds targeting credit investment strategies and aggregate capital commitments of $1.5bn. Practice co-head Stephanie Breslow has ‘tremendous expertise’, while Phyllis Schwartz is highlighted particularly for venture capital matters.

Within Securities: shareholder litigation, tier 5

Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP is a good choice for complex securities litigation, particularly cases involving parallel SEC and regulatory proceedings. Primarily based in New York, the firm opened an office in Washington DC, where Richard Morvillo has a particularly good track record for securities and white-collar crime litigation. The firm has been involved in several high-profile securities trials in recent years, most notably it successfully defended Guillaume Hannezo, the former CFO of Vivendi Universal, against thousands of federal securities fraud class action, 15 of which went to trial. Hannezo was fully exonerated after a four-month trial and seven years of litigation. The firm is also defending Dr Edward Scolnick, the former president of Merck Research laboratories against a federal securities class action relating to the cardio-vascular drug VIOXX, as well as related ERISA and shareholder derivative actions. Other recent clients include ABN AMRO, Hansen Natural Corporation, and TD Ameritrade. The hugely experienced Martin Perschetz heads the well regarded team.

Within M&A: middle-market ($500m-999m), Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP is a second tier firm,

New York-based law firm Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP also has offices in Washington DC and London. The ‘always dependable’ Marc Weingarten heads the department. When hedge fund manager FrontPoint Partners agreed to be spun-off from Morgan Stanley, the firm aided FrontPoint and its CEOs Daniel Waters and Michael Kelly in crafting the deal. The practice also represented the asset management division of Credit Suisse Group in its acquisition of a significant non-controlling, minority interest in York Capital Management for $425m in up-front consideration. As for larger deals, DynCorp International, a leading global government services provider in support of US national security and foreign policy objectives, was represented in connection with its $1.5bn sale, including the assumption of debt, to affiliated funds and managed accounts of Cerberus Capital Management, a private investment firm. Talecris Holdings, an affiliate of Cerberus Capital Management, was assisted in the proposed merger of Talecris Biotherapeutics Holdings with Grifols. The team acted for Cerberus Capital Management as buyer in the award-winning $895m acquisition of the Caritas Christi Health Care hospital chain. Clients praise Stuart Freedman for his ‘resourcefulness’.

Within Private equity buyouts, tier 5

Building on its magnificent standing in the funds industry, Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP has created a genuinely significant transactions practice, acting for some of the biggest names in the sector. Clients include Veritas Capital, Cerberus Capital Management, Castle Harlan and Marlin Equity Partners. During the economic downturn, the firm has continued to work on some substantial transactions, including representing New York’s Veritas Capital on its $815m acquisition of Lockheed Martin’s Enterprise Integration Group. The firm also advised Cerberus on its acquisition of Boston-based Caritas Christi Health Care, through Cerberus’s newly formed affiliate Steward Healthcare System. Amongst other notable deals, the firm represented Castle Harlan on its $200m acquisition of Pretium Packaging. Senior figures in the department include Marc Weingarten, Robert Goldstein and Stuart Freedman, who recently rejoined the firm after serving as president of a leading investment firm.

Within Domestic tax: East Coast, tier 5

Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP’s New York tax group provides ‘a very high level of quality, excellent response, backed by extensive industry knowledge’. Strong in the financial service space, Alan Waldenberg, ‘very sharp, and one of the best business-oriented lawyers in the tax area’, chairs the department, in which Dan Kusnetz is ‘responsive and always a pleasure to work with yet firm on matters of substance’. Recent headline work includes the hugely complex Chrysler recue and restructuring, and the representation of Cerberus Capital Management in connection with the $7.5bn in federal aid advanced to its GMAC affiliate.

Within Financial products, Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP is a second tier firm,

Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP’s New York tax group comprises five partners backed by a highly experienced special counsel and 13 associates. Over half of partner time is spent working in the wider financial products and structured finance area, frequently instructed by the firm’s large following of hedge funds and private equity managers. In a recent GFC-linked matter, the highly rated Phillip Azzollini and group chair Craig Stein acted as counsel to a private fund in the transfer of several residual mortgage-backed certificates by a company to which the private fund was a senior lender; the transaction was a private sale which required approval by a bankruptcy court. Also recommended for expertise in the practice are Shlomo Twerski and Dominique Padilla Gallego.