The Legal 500

Within Banking, finance and capital markets, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP is a first tier firm,

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP’s expertise at financial restructuring resulting from the financial crisis has continued, in managing the varied outturns – including extensive litigation- from BNP Paribas’s complex acquisition of Fortis Bank. Other work supports the team’s ‘very strong reputation’. This included working with Barclays Capital, as arranger, in Royal Park Investments’ refinancing, through contiguous issues of £280m and $6bn’s worth of commercial paper. Strong regulatory representation of Belgian state bodies is led by the ‘intelligent and professional’ Jan Meyers who remains ‘at the top for institutional matters’, whilst Laurent Legein has ‘very strong business acumen and industry knowledge’. Of counsel Laurent Ruzette is ‘a fine and thoughtful securities lawyer’, who displays a ‘very strong knowledge of all the underlying circumstances’ of transactions.

Within Competition, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP is a first tier firm,

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP’s thirteen-partner practice offers ‘very hands-on practical advice in extremely difficult situations’; junior associates are praised for ‘excellent technical legal skills’, overall, the team delivers a ‘consistent top-end service with a creative approach, year after year’. Partners singled out include Antoine Winckler (‘gets back to you quickly’), Nicholas Levy (‘good to deal with’), Romano Subiotto QC (‘second to none and very pleasant’), and Enrique González Diaz (‘works as if he were one of us, with incredible knowledge of how the Commission works’). Highlights included work for Hynix in relation to the DRAM sector inquiry, the Commission’s first cartel settlement decision. It also acted for Real Networks, ECIS, and SIIA in sequential abuse of dominance litigation against Microsoft, leading to a successful settlement, and represents NewsCorp in its bid to gain control of all of BSkyB, plus saw the agreed settlement of the Qualcomm litigation for Nokia, TI and Broadcomm.

Within Corporate and M&A , Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP is a first tier firm,

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP is described by clients as ‘the best in town’; whilst still managing complex outturns from 2009’s merger of BNP Paribas and Fortis, it acted at the quality end of a quieter market. Advising Bekaert on the simultaneous sale of diamond-like coating activities in the EU and the US demonstrates flair for cross-border deals. It also assisted GDF Suez/Electrabel on the sale, through an accelerated book-built placement, of 11.7% of Elia, and advised Truvo in a complex cross-border corporate restructuring involving €1.6bn of debt. Jan Meyers is ‘peerless in his ability to understand complex underlying business reality’.

Within Customs, trade, WTO and anti-dumping, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP is a third tier firm,

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP’s Till Müller-Ibold is recommended for ‘a deep analysis of legal issues combined with a very responsive attitude towards the client’. The wise counsel of John Temple Lang and Asger Petersen, a ‘wealth of experience and knowledge’, is also praised by clients. The team acted for Whirlpool, in a safeguards investigation launched by Ukraine as regards refrigerators and freezers.

Within EU regulatory: Financial services, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP is a first tier firm,

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP’s regulatory banking advice is exemplified through Till Müller-Ibold, who advised SWIFT on relevant EU regulations to key banking products and their export, and appropriate compliance monitoring.

Within EU regulatory: Information technology, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP is a first tier firm,

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP’s information technology clients include Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Hynix; the team’s advice ranges from the IT sector antitrust investigations, to regulatory impacts on IT M&A transactions.

Within EU regulatory: Privacy and data protection , Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP is a first tier firm,

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP has a dedicated interest in privacy law and data protection; clients include Dow Jones, SWIFT and Hertz; specific counselling on the Personal Data Protection Directive is also handled.

Within EU regulatory: Telecoms, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP is a first tier firm,

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP’s Maurits Dolmans is a key figure, supported by an ‘excellent team of professionals’. The Fixed-Mobile Convergence Alliance, a US not-for-profit, is a new client, alongside existing clients including Texas Instruments, Nokia and Broadcom.

Within Information technology, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP is a second tier firm,

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP is well versed in assisting clients in the IT industry, including software, hardware and internet ventures; clients are usually large multinationals, often advised by the firm’s competition law practice. Away from state aid, abuse of dominance, ECJ litigation and cartel settlements, (for big IT sector names Google and LG), the team’s IT work has regulatory connotations on standardisation, transactional elements (in IT-related M&A work), and advice on joint ventures. There is strong cross-over with its other EU regulatory work. Maurits Dolmans and Robert Snedders feature prominently.

Within Media and entertainment, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP is a first tier firm,

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP represents some of the biggest media industry names on key antitrust and EU regulatory issues; clients include UIP, Sony, Walt Disney and Google. Dirk Vandermeersch’s ‘excellent professional skill and knowledge’ makes him a key figure here. The team’s particular selling point is deep experience in Europe’s pay-television market, across all aspects of pay-television operations, including EU regulatory work with Sky Italia and News Corp. Maurits Dolmans is ‘a brilliant lawyer with an amazing work ethic’.