The Legal 500

United States

Real estate

Real estate - ranked: tier 5

Eversheds Sutherland

Eversheds Sutherland provides ‘a terrific level of service’ and the ‘efficient, thorough and intelligent team’ delivers ‘wise business judgment and strong guidance’. The firm continues to receive a broad mix of national and international mandates in the real estate space, advising on a number of retail, commercial and residential projects along with acquisitions, dispositions and joint ventures. James Jordan has extensive transactional expertise, regularly acting for corporates, limited liability companies and REITs on the full range of commercial real estate projects. Other key individuals include Robinson Plowden and Clayton Howell, who together advised the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia on a $400m development in Midtown Atlanta consisting of the ‘Coda’ office building and a high-performance computing center. In another highlight, Howell represented Hines in a number of projects, including its development of two office buildings at the mixed-use Atlantic Station. Named attorneys are based in Atlanta.

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United States: Dispute resolution

General commercial disputes

General commercial disputes - ranked: tier 5

Eversheds Sutherland

Eversheds Sutherland ‘provides the highest level of service’ and ‘its advice is always thoughtful’. Education and insurance litigation are mainstays at the firm; clients include Connecticut Hospital Association and the State of Florida. For the latter, Rocco Testani has been acting as lead counsel on a constitutional challenge to Florida’s K-12 public school system, which is pending before Florida’s First District Court of Appeal. Professional liability litigation is another strength, where Amelia Toy Rudolph is a key contact. Co-practice head Thomas Curvin and counsel Valerie Sanders are recommended. Above-named partners are based in Atlanta.

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United States: Finance

Capital markets: equity offerings

Capital markets: equity offerings - advice to issuers - ranked: tier 4

Eversheds Sutherland

Eversheds Sutherland, which is highlighted as ‘the most knowledgeable firm with respect to business development companies’, finds favor for its ‘strong responsiveness’ and ‘cost-efficient service’. Steven Boehm steers the Washington DC-based practice and has ‘great regulatory expertise’; he advised Runway Growth Credit Fund on its $275m private placement. In another highlight, Harry Pangas acted for Triangle Capital on its $136.5m follow-on equity offering. Executive partner Cynthia Krus and financial services head Stephen Roth are other names to note.

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Financial services regulation

Financial services regulation - ranked: tier 7

Eversheds Sutherland

While it is less focused on core banking regulatory matters than many of the firms in the rankings, Eversheds Sutherland provides an ‘excellent service’ to other key financial services clients including those in the insurance and asset management industries. Team head Stephen Roth excels at handling matters related to the regulation of registered insurance products and continues to assist the Committee of Annuity Insurers in its advocacy efforts to affect the direction and details of various agency proposals and initiatives impacting regulated insurance products. Roth has also been particularly active assisting numerous leading life insurers on securing the necessary SEC approvals pursuant to restructuring efforts in the registered funds space. ‘One of the pre-eminent collective investment trust lawyers in the country’, Clifford Kirsch is ‘very plugged into what is happening on both the business and regulatory fronts’. Steven Boehm provides ‘responsible and clear guidance’ on the regulatory issues impacting business development companies. Leveraging their expertise developed both in private practice as well as during tenures at the SEC, the ‘excellent’ John Walsh and Holly Smith are also recommended across a range of compliance and regulatory issues, while Brian Rubin, who also spent time at the commission, excels at defending clients in SEC and FINRA enforcement actions.

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United States: Industry focus

Energy regulatory: conventional power

Energy regulatory: conventional power - ranked: tier 3

Eversheds Sutherland

Eversheds Sutherland has a strong profile for transaction-related regulatory matters and counts electric power companies, financial institutions and energy commodity trading companies among its clients. Under the leadership of practice head Catherine Krupka, the group assisted electric utility Vistra Energy with the regulatory approvals of its acquisition of Dynegy, reached a settlement on behalf of Merrill Lynch related to the California Energy crisis and advised Just Energy on regulatory compliance matters. The team was strengthened by the arrival of Joseph Hall from Dorsey & Whitney LLP and Jonathan Gottlieb from Stinson Leonard Street LLP.

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Energy regulatory: oil and gas

Energy regulatory: oil and gas - ranked: tier 4

Eversheds Sutherland

Commended for its expertise in regulatory proceedings before the FERC, DOE and CFTC, Eversheds Sutherland acts for a broad client base that includes Calpine, Reedy Creek Improvement District and USG. A recent mandate for practice co-chair Paul Forshay was the representation of Energy Strategies, an energy consulting services provider, in a number of FERC rate cases related to the Tallgrass and ANR Pipelines. In another case, Forshay advised, alongside Herbert Short and Thomas Warren, Georgia-based Oglethorpe Power on a Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line’s FERC NGA Section 7 certificate matter.

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Energy transactions: conventional power

Energy: transactions: conventional power - ranked: tier 4

Eversheds Sutherland

Eversheds Sutherland has a varied client base that takes in IPPs, private equity funds, electric cooperatives and, increasingly, investor-owned utilities. In the Atlanta office, practice co-head Thomas Warren was busy on a number of transmission projects, while global energy co-head Herbert Short advised Goldman Sachs as underwriter on the multibillion-dollar debt restructuring of Basin Electric Power and Tri-State Electric Cooperative. Ram Sunkara and Dorothy Black Franzoni jointly head the team.

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Energy transactions: oil and gas

Energy transactions: oil and gas - ranked: tier 5

Eversheds Sutherland

Key figures at Eversheds Sutherland include Houston-based Benjamin Clark, who regularly acts for oilfield services companies such as Schoeller Bleckmann America, and LNG specialist Ram Sunkara, who divides his time between Houston and Atlanta.

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Energy: renewable/alternative

Energy: renewable/alternative - ranked: tier 3

Eversheds Sutherland

Eversheds Sutherland regularly assists major utilities companies with M&A and tax equity investments into renewable energy projects, and the team is also highly proficient in acting for the developers of projects. In one example of the latter, practice head Dorothy Black Franzoni is advising the East Kentucky Power Cooperative on the construction of an 8.5MW solar electric generation facility in Kentucky. Thomas Warren and Ram Sunkara are additional contacts in the Atlanta-based team.

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Insurance: non-contentious

Insurance: non-contentious - ranked: tier 3

Eversheds Sutherland

Eversheds Sutherland’s transactional and regulatory team has a ‘strong reinsurance practice’, is adept at pension risk transfer mandates, and is applauded for its ‘exceptional industry knowledge and business acumen’. It represented Nationwide in its acquisition of Jefferson National Financial Corporation. The Committee of Annuity Insurers is also a client. Bert Adams, James Dwyer and the ‘brilliant’ Atlanta-based Scott Burton in Atlanta are recommended, as are Ling Ling, who has ‘deep knowledge and extensive experience in reinsurance’, counsel Matthew Hazlett, who is ‘very responsive’, and of counsel David Massey in Washington DC. Cynthia Shoss and Stephen Roth, who is also based in Washington DC, lead the team. Named individuals are based in New York unless otherwise indicated.

Leading lawyers

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United States: Intellectual property

Patent: prosecution (including reexamination and post-grant proceedings)

Patent: prosecution (including reexamination and post-grant proceedings) - ranked: tier 6

Eversheds Sutherland

Post-merger Eversheds Sutherland has considerably expanded its client base and now serves an impressive list of clients, mainly from the consumer products industry, but also from the e-commerce, automotive, electronics and technology sectors. Microchips Biotech, Magnolia Liquefied Natural Gas and Novaled are clients. The Atlanta-based team of practice head Peter Pappas includes key attorneys Ann Fort, Malvern Griffin, Daniel Warren and Christopher Chan.

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United States: Labor and employment

Employee benefits, executive compensation and retirement plans: design

Employee benefits, executive compensation and retirement plans: design - ranked: tier 5

Eversheds Sutherland

The advice at Eversheds Sutherland is ‘always clear, concise and precise’, according to one client, who describes the ‘efficient and understanding’ Adam Cohen as ‘the best lawyer in the field of qualified plans, executive compensation and taxation’. In recent highlights, counsel Meredith O’Leary teamed up with Paul Lang and Michael Hepburn to counsel a longstanding client on all its design, administration and compliance issues. On the healthcare side, Vanessa Scott is currently advising on the ACA implications of some of its insurance lines. Some of the firm’s noteworthy clients include Cox Enterprises, the US Chamber of Commerce and the HR Policy Association. Brenna Clark and Carol McClarnon were made partner in the Atlanta and Washington DC offices, respectively. Named lawyers are based in Washington DC except where otherwise stated.

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United States: M&A/corporate and commercial

M&A: middle-market (sub-$500m)

M&A: middle-market (sub-$500m) - ranked: tier 1

Eversheds Sutherland

In early 2017, Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP merged with British multinational law firm Eversheds LLP, creating Eversheds Sutherland, which expanded its corporate and M&A team in Atlanta with the addition of partner David Phillips, the former deputy general counsel and corporate secretary at Axiall. The practice, which is ‘business oriented, responsive, dedicated and time efficient’, has sector strength in timber, energy and natural resources, private equity, media and financial services (including fintech). Robert Pile and Brian Murphy in Atlanta advised payment technology solutions company First Data Corporation (FDC) on structuring issues and due diligence regarding its acquisition of CardConnect; practice head Wade Stribling and Michael Voynich advised USA Television, a portfolio company of MSouth Equity Partners, on its acquisition of several television stations; and Edward Kallal is ‘a very reliable, dedicated, responsive and competent counsel with high ethical standards’. Thomas Herman, Marc Rawls, Michael Gurion, David Zimmerman are also key Atlanta advisers. Additional highlights included advising Cox Media Group on its sale of the businesses of Cox Target Media, one of the largest direct marketing service providers in the US, to Platinum Equity; and assisting Atlanta-based mid-market private equity firm Argonne Capital with the sale of its portfolio company, Lube Stop, an Ohio-based operator of 51 quick oil change locations. Bert Adams in New York, and Washington DC-based William Dudzinsky Jr and Douglas Leary are also recommended.

Leading lawyers

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United States: Media, technology and telecoms

Outsourcing

Outsourcing - ranked: tier 3

Eversheds Sutherland

In Atlanta, ‘vastly experienced and prominent market player’ Peter Quittmeyer and Robert Pile are co-heads of the practice at Eversheds Sutherland, which climbs the ranking on the basis of its expanding global outsourcing practice and its strong roster of US buy-side clients. R. Robinson Plowden is ‘very prominent in the data center leasing space’. The ‘co-operative and collaborative’ Michael Steinig in Washington DC is ‘a pleasure to work with and always works through issues in a way with which the client is comfortable’. New Washington DC-based hire Michael Bahar, who was previously general counsel to the minority staff of the US House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, leads the US cybersecurity and data privacy team and has extensive outsourcing experience. The firm’s recent highlights include advising Georgia Technology Authority on a $150m IT initiative to move to a multi-sourced model for service provision.

Leading lawyers

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United States: Real estate

Construction (including construction litigation)

Construction (including construction litigation) - ranked: tier 2

Eversheds Sutherland

The ‘outstanding’ construction team at Eversheds Sutherland has ‘first-rate knowledge and an ability to get to the bottom line with cost-effective solutions’. Atlanta-based Lee Davis heads the practice, which works on projects across the country from its bases in Atlanta and New York. The construction team primarily represents owners and manufacturers, including major clients within the energy, power and infrastructure sectors, and focuses largely on contentious construction work; recent highlights include representing a major electrical goods manufacturer in claims for major cost overruns arising from a construction project in New York City and defending a firm of contractors against claims arising from the design and construction of a sports arena. ‘Conscientious and proficient’ Henry Parkman (Atlanta) is recommended for ‘his integrity, honesty and judgment’. In March 2018, Jennifer Fletcher re-joined the firm, closing her sole practice.

Leading lawyers

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United States: Tax

International tax

International tax - ranked: tier 4

Eversheds Sutherland

Eversheds Sutherland, which results from the February 2017 merger between Sutherland Asbill & Brennan and the UK-based Eversheds, has ‘strong technical expertise combined with great client service and pragmatism’. Jeffrey Friedman, Robert Chase and Michele Borens in Washington DC and Atlanta-based Eric Tresh are key partners in the group, which advises global businesses on structuring and restructuring cross-border transactions and joint ventures as well as on cross-border withholding tax, application of bilateral income tax treaties, overseas currency, taxable presence and transfer pricing matters. Comcast Corporation, Cox Enterprises and Great-West Life are notable clients.

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US taxes: contentious

US taxes: contentious - ranked: tier 2

Eversheds Sutherland

Eversheds Sutherland is ‘superb’ and is commended for its ‘strategic advice, technical knowledge and team depth’. Washington DC-based practice head Jeffrey Friedman, Atlanta’s Eric Tresh and others have been assisting global telecoms conglomerate Comcast in a number of major tax controversies, including a dispute with the Mississippi Department of Revenue concerning the proper computation of the client’s capital value for corporate franchise tax purposes and a multi-year appeal involving numerous California tax issues, including ‘apportionability’ of income, combination and sourcing. The client base also includes Verizon and Microsoft. New York’s Marc Simonetti, Atlanta’s Maria Todorova, and of counsels Jerome Libin and Jerold Cohen, who are based in Washington DC and Atlanta respectively, are all recommended. Susan Seabrook joined the Washington DC office from Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney in August 2017.

Leading lawyers

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US taxes: non-contentious

US taxes: non-contentious - ranked: tier 3

Eversheds Sutherland

Eversheds Sutherland’s tax team ‘provides excellent legal service from a technical law as well as business perspective’. It is most renowned for its expertise in the TMT industry, where its lawyers advise on transactional tax, SALT issues, planning and investment tax structuring. Recent highlights include Robert Chase advising Philip Morris International in various public debt offerings with an aggregate value of $6bn. The ‘honest, down-to-earth and trustworthy’ Jeffrey Friedman and Michele Borens in Washington DC ‘have a deep and thorough understanding how the technical tax laws practically apply to technology companies, especially when it comes to emerging issues in this rapidly growing industry’.

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