Ken Rivlin > A&O Shearman > New York, United States > Lawyer Profile
A&O Shearman Offices

1221 AVENUE OF THE AMERICAS
NEW YORK, NY 10020
NEW YORK
United States
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Ken Rivlin

Work Department
Environmental & Sanctions
Position
Partner
Career
Ken is Global Co-Head of Environmental & Sanctions and a member of the Board at A&O Shearman. He founded the U.S. Environmental Law Group and co-heads the International Trade Group.
Ken and his team advise corporates, financial institutions, funds, governments, and NGOs on a wide range of regulatory and risk issues in transactions, stand-alone compliance matters, and disputes, including: sustainability & ESG, climate risk, emissions trading & decarbonization, corporate reporting & disclosure, governance and risk management, the Equator Principles and similar voluntary standards, supply chain sustainability, toxic tort risk, and human rights. Ken and his team also advise on U.S. and international economic sanctions, foreign direct investment rules (CFIUS), anti-corruption and anti-bribery compliance, and similar matters. Ken writes and speaks frequently on environmental and regulatory matters, and is a Lecturer-in-Law at Columbia University School of Law, where he co-teaches a seminar called “Environmental and ESG Concerns in Business Transactions and Corporate Decision-making.”
He is the former Chair of the Advisory Council for the Institute at Brown (University) for Environment and Society, Member (and former President) of the Board of Trustees for the Human Needs Food Pantry, Former Chair of the New York City Bar Committee on International Environmental Law, , a member of the Leadership Council for the Environmental Law Institute, and has served on numerous additional boards. He also is a core member of the International Environmental Lawyers Network, and a member of the Environmental Law Advisory Committee at Columbia Law School.
Ken is widely recognized as a leading international lawyer by the principal legal ratings publications, including Chambers & Partners (Ranked Band 1), The Legal 500 (Ranked as “Hall of Fame”) and Who’s Who Legal (“Recommended”).
Lawyer Rankings
London > Risk advisory > ESG
A&O Shearman‘s ESG team is praised for providing ‘fantastic and thorough advice on a variety of topics’. These include risk management, transactional support and ESG diligence, and sustainable finance and investment. The group is additionally well placed to represent clients in contentious ESG work as evidenced by its representation of an alliance of small island states in climate change proceedings. The ‘extremely impressive‘ Matthew Townsend heads up the team alongside the New York-based Ken Rivlin. Townsend’s broad expertise extends to supply chain risk management and international conventions on pollution. Lorraine Bayliss frequently brings her knowledge in international project finance to bear on mandates for the unit. Guled Yusuf has notable experience in handling arbitration connected to the energy, natural resources and infrastructure sectors.
United States > Environment > Environment: transactional
(Hall of Fame)A&O Shearman is a popular choice for major US corporations, government agencies, and NGOs, including the US Department of Energy and General Electric seeking assistance with product responsibility, chemicals, and energy. Ken Rivlin is at the helm of the firm’s US and global environmental law group and he takes an active role advising on regulatory and risk issues of transactions. Jason Pratt offers ‘sound advice’ to companies and financial institutions regarding the impact of environmental and climate change laws on commercial transactions. Felise Cooper co-leads the firm’s global producer responsibility and product compliance team and frequently assists business enterprises, investors, and sponsors in assessing ESG risks on projects and environmental risks in transactions, while Maria Christopher Bell is predominantly active in drafting and negotiating indemnity, having served as a key advisor to General Electric. Other key members include Nick Ognibene,a n expert on environmental risks in complex cross-border transactions and Washington DC-based Jake Ely and Brendan Holman who are highly recommended for environment-related transactional risk management. All the team, other than Ely, are based in New York.
Lawyer Rankings
- Hall of Fame United States > Environment > Environment: transactional
- Environment: transactional United States > Environment
Top Tier Firm Rankings
- Media, technology and telecoms > Advertising and marketing: litigation
- Finance > Structured finance: securitization
- Dispute resolution > Securities litigation: defense
Firm Rankings
- Finance > Capital markets: debt offerings
- Finance > Capital markets: global offerings
- Finance > Commercial lending: Advice to bank lenders
- Environment > Environment: transactional
- Tax > Financial products
- Dispute resolution > Financial services litigation
- Dispute resolution > General commercial disputes
- Finance > Project finance
- Energy > Renewable/alternative power
- Finance > Structured finance: derivatives and structured products
- Finance > Structured finance: securitization
- Media, technology and telecoms > Technology transactions
- Tax > US taxes: non-contentious
- Finance > Capital markets: equity offerings
- Finance > Capital markets: high-yield debt offerings
- Antitrust > Civil litigation/class actions: defense
- Finance > Commercial lending
- Finance > Commercial lending > Advice to direct lenders/private credit
- Labor and employment > Employee benefits, executive compensation and retirement plans: transactional
- Finance > Fintech
- Tax > International tax
- Dispute resolution > M&A litigation: defense
- Antitrust > Merger control
- Media, technology and telecoms > Outsourcing
- Antitrust > Cartel
- Energy > Energy transactions: oil and gas
- M&A/corporate and commercial > Private equity buyouts: middle-market (Up to $500m)
- Finance > Financial services regulation
- Dispute resolution > International arbitration
- M&A/corporate and commercial > M&A: large deals ($1bn+)
- Intellectual property > Patents: litigation (full coverage)
- Real estate > Real estate
- Finance > Restructuring (including bankruptcy): corporate
- Dispute resolution > Corporate investigations and white-collar criminal defense
- International trade and national security > CFIUS