Templates coming soon.

General Editorial Guidance

Legal 500 US submissions should reflect the firm’s core legal capability within a defined practice area rather than the broader commercial industry in which the client operates. Matters should demonstrate substantive legal work completed during the past 12 to 18 months and should clearly identify the lawyers leading the engagement. Firms should avoid duplicating the same matter across multiple categories unless the work involved materially different legal disciplines or separate teams.

Corporate & M&A
This category covers public and private mergers and acquisitions, private equity transactions, venture capital investments, joint ventures, corporate restructurings, and corporate governance matters. It includes transactional work involving strategic acquisitions, divestitures, growth investments, and corporate reorganizations for public and private companies.

The category is centered on corporate transactional execution and advisory work. Standalone lending, restructuring, or capital markets matters are generally covered in separate finance-related categories unless directly integrated into the transaction itself.

Banking & Finance
This category covers acquisition finance, leveraged finance, syndicated lending, private credit, commercial lending, restructuring, and refinancing matters. It includes representation of lenders, borrowers, private credit funds, financial institutions, and other market participants in financing transactions and debt restructurings.

The emphasis is on financing transactions and debt structures rather than general corporate advisory work. Relevant matters may include secured and unsecured lending, cross-border financing, debtor and creditor representation, and restructuring transactions involving distressed assets or liabilities.

Commercial Disputes
Commercial Disputes covers complex business litigation and arbitration, including contract disputes, shareholder disputes, fiduciary duty claims, fraud claims, partnership disputes, securities-related commercial claims, and other business tort matters. The category includes trial work, appellate litigation, and commercial arbitration proceedings.

The focus is on sophisticated disputes arising from commercial relationships and business operations. Intellectual property disputes, employment disputes, and white-collar investigations are generally covered in separate categories unless they form part of a broader commercial dispute.

Intellectual Property
This category covers patent litigation, patent prosecution, trademark disputes, copyright matters, trade secret litigation, licensing disputes, and intellectual property portfolio management. It includes both contentious and non-contentious intellectual property work across a range of technical and commercial industries.

The category emphasizes legal work where intellectual property rights form the central issue in the representation. Incidental IP issues arising within broader commercial litigation or corporate transactions generally do not fall within the core scope of this category.

Technology, Media & Telecoms
Technology, Media & Telecoms covers technology transactions, software licensing, digital platform work, data privacy and cybersecurity matters, telecommunications regulation, artificial intelligence issues, and media-related commercial transactions. It includes advisory, regulatory, and transactional work involving technology and digital infrastructure businesses.

The category focuses on technology-driven legal work and regulatory issues affecting technology, media, and telecommunications companies. Patent litigation and general corporate work are generally addressed in separate categories unless directly connected to the technology engagement.

Healthcare & Life Sciences
This category covers healthcare regulatory work, healthcare transactions, compliance counseling, reimbursement matters, healthcare investigations, and operational legal issues affecting healthcare and life sciences organizations. It includes work for healthcare providers, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology businesses, medical device manufacturers, and related sector participants.

The category is focused on healthcare-specific regulatory and operational legal work. Standalone intellectual property matters or general corporate transactions are generally covered elsewhere unless the healthcare regulatory component is central to the engagement.

Labor & Employment
Labor & Employment covers employment litigation, labor disputes, workplace investigations, restrictive covenant matters, wage-and-hour disputes, discrimination and harassment claims, labor-management relations, workplace counseling, employee benefits, executive compensation, retirement plans, and immigration matters. It includes both contentious and advisory work involving employer-side workforce management, compensation structures, compliance obligations, and workforce mobility issues.

The category focuses on employment and labor law issues affecting employers and workforce operations across both contentious and non-contentious matters. Relevant work may include employment litigation, workplace compliance counseling, labor relations, ERISA litigation, executive compensation arrangements, benefits design, and business immigration support connected to workforce management and corporate operations.

Real Estate
This category covers commercial real estate acquisitions and dispositions, development projects, leasing transactions, land use matters, real estate finance, and related property transactions. It includes work for developers, lenders, institutional investors, REITs, and commercial property owners.
The emphasis is on transactional and development-related real estate work. Standalone construction disputes are generally addressed in separate disputes categories unless they are directly connected to a broader real estate development matter.

Energy – Transactional & Regulatory
This category covers oil and gas transactions, renewable energy projects, electric power matters, energy infrastructure development, permitting, regulatory compliance, and energy-sector transactional work. It includes representation of energy companies, infrastructure developers, utilities, sponsors, and investors.

The category focuses on transactional and regulatory work involving the energy industry. Energy litigation, financing, and disputes are generally categorized separately unless they are integral to the underlying transactional or regulatory engagement.

Insurance
Insurance covers insurer-side litigation, insurance coverage disputes, policy interpretation matters, reinsurance disputes, and insurance advisory work. It includes representation of insurers, carriers, and institutional policyholders in complex insurance-related matters.

The category is focused on coverage analysis, insurance disputes, and insurer-side representation. Plaintiff-side personal injury and claimant litigation are generally outside the intended scope of this category.

White-Collar Crime & Investigations
This category covers government investigations, internal corporate investigations, criminal defense for companies and executives, enforcement proceedings, regulatory investigations, and compliance-related defense matters. It includes representation in matters involving agencies such as the DOJ, SEC, FTC, and other federal and state enforcement authorities.
The category focuses on investigations, enforcement actions, and criminal or regulatory defense work. General commercial litigation and civil disputes are typically addressed in separate disputes categories unless accompanied by parallel government investigations or enforcement exposure.

Tax
This category covers transactional tax, international tax, tax controversy matters, federal and state tax advisory work, and disputes involving taxing authorities. It includes tax planning and advisory work connected to corporate transactions, restructurings, financing arrangements, and cross-border operations.

The category focuses on substantive tax analysis, tax structuring related to transactions and reorganizations, and contentious tax matters involving audits, investigations, or litigation. Employee benefits and executive compensation matters are generally categorized separately from core tax work.

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