England - London • Industry focus
3

Life sciences and healthcare

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Latham & Watkins

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Hailed as a ‘great firm to go to for big matters’, Latham & Watkins assembles a robust offering with M&A, carve-outs, and shareholder activism claims among the unit’s diverse workload. Robbie McLaren oversees matters and counts life sciences venture and growth capital investments among his practice strengths. Emily Cridland’s experience includes acting for clients on both the buy- and sell-side of share sales. Jennifer M. Gascoyne‘ is a popular choice for clients seeking assistance with capital markets transactions such as private placements. Samantha Peacock’s far-reaching corporate practice extends to advising on investments and reorganisations.
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Accolades

Client satisfaction

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

  • ‘The Latham team is incredibly responsive and dependable. I've had great interactions with the team. Latham is known for its broad and diverse practice, and I know that any legal question, on any topic, can be addressed.’

  • ‘The Latham team stands out by their promptness and dedication. We've built a good relationship and they know what our goals are. Samantha Peacock has been a great partner for us.’

  • ‘Diverse, talented team with relevant expertise.’

  • ‘We have worked mostly with Shing Lo and her team - great reviews all around.’

  • ‘Latham is a great firm to go to for big matters, drawing on a wealth of experience and resources. They want to get the job done and are tenacious.’

  • ‘Gail Crawford is dedicated, personable, dependable and professional; Robbie McLaren- great to have on your side- so experienced; market savvy; Samantha Peacock is a superstar associate - so professional, quick and great to work with.’

  • ‘Robbie Mclaren is absolutely outstanding - very knowledgeable, helpful with providing market guidance, well-connected and able to bring multiple specialists to help our needs, and he is also a lovely person. ’

Work highlights

Advised Abcam, a producer, distributor and seller of protein research tools, on a definitive agreement pursuant to which Danaher Corporation will acquire all of the outstanding shares of Abcam for US$24 per share in cash, with a total enterprise value of approximately US$5.7 billion including assumed indebtedness and net of acquired cash.
Advised Patient Square Capital and Apollo Therapeutics on the Patient Square lead US$226.5 million Series C financing round of Apollo Therapeutics. This was the largest bio-tech financing in the UK in 2023.
Advised BenevolentAI on its business combination with Odyssey Acquisition S.A.. The high-profile transaction values BenevolentAI at €1.5 billion and represents the largest-ever listing of a biotech company on Euronext Amsterdam and one of the largest-ever European listed deSPACs.

Lawyers

Practice head

Robbie McLaren

Other key lawyers

Emily Cridland; Jenna Gascoyne; Samantha Peacock; Oliver Mobasser; Antonina Semyachkova; Shing Lo; Gail Crawford