Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP - The Who's Who Legal 100 2012

What is the Who's Who Legal 100?

Gibson Dunn’s strongest showing is in the competition section with 11 lawyers listed, including the head of the practice in Los Angeles and co-chair of the global antitrust practice, Daniel Swanson, a “very knowledgeable” trial and appellate litigator. His fellow co-chair and leader of the San Francisco practice group, Gary Spratling, focuses on international antitrust and trade issues, having worked as a US official in the Department of Justice, he is “well regarded” for anti-cartel enforcement. Also in the team is Joel Sanders, an experienced federal and state antitrust lawyer, particularly on unfair competition and business practice law, and is considered to be “one of the best in California”. Former head of antitrust at American Airlines, Trey Nicoud is a “very good lawyer” acting in both civil and criminal investigations with a focus on distribution and anti-competitive practices during joint ventures and M&As. Robert Cooper is listed for his practice representing pharmaceutical companies in high-value litigations and comes “very highly recommended”.

Representing Texas is M Sean Royall, co-chair of both the antitrust and trade regulation practice group and information technology and data privacy group. His former role as the deputy director of the Bureau of Competition at the Federal Trade Commission recommends him as “a great lawyer”. His practice is centred on government investigations, particularly in cartel cases, commercial litigation class actions and merger control work.

Over in New York, Peter Sullivan runs that office’s practice group and is the co-chair of the firm’s antitrust group. He has over 30 years of experience representing clients such as Hewlett-Packard, Nissan and Foster & Kleiser, in complex commercial and antitrust litigation, merger matters and government investigations.

The firm’s DC office boasts two lawyers. Jarrett Arp is the co-chair of the 2012 ABA/IBA International Cartel Workshop and a recognisable lawyer in the field and Joseph Kattan has represented a broad range of companies in antitrust litigation, arbitrations and federal investigations.

In Europe, Peter Alexiadis, a merger control lawyer with a focus on telecommunications, distribution and licensing, earns a second listing in the regulatory communications for his practice. David Wood, who spent 10 years at the antitrust enforcement division of the European Commission, also represents the Brussels office.

Seven lawyers feature in the corporate governance chapter in DC, California and Texas. Amy Goodman leads the DC team and co-chairs the securities regulation and corporate governance practice group. She advises clients in respect to securities law, regulatory issues and related governance matters and “has her ear to the ground on many matters”. Founder of the Washington, DC, office and former chair of the ABA committees on federal securities regulation, corporate governance and its task force on the regulation of insider trading, John Olson is “top of the list” and enjoys a “great reputation” as does securities expert Ronald Mueller. That office also boasts Brian Lane, who counsels companies on corporate governance and regulatory issues under federal securities laws.

Orange Country head and co-chair of the securities regulation and corporate governance practice, James Moloney brings his experience as former Special Counsel at the Division of Corporation Finance in Washington, DC, to the table. Alongside him is Wayne Smith, fellow co-chair and an experienced securities and fraud litigator. He is “well regarded, tough and very good”.

In Dallas, Jeffrey Chapman features in both the corporate governance and M&A chapter for his advisory practice counselling directors on corporate matters such as takeover strategy, duties and disclosure under law.

M&A team co-chair Dennis Friedman has over 40 years of practice advising major clients such as Citigroup on its financing of Express Script’s acquisition of Medco, the second-largest M&A transaction of last year, as well as Transatlantic Holdings, Ask Jeeves, Visa and Tommy Hilfiger. He is joined in the research by “big players” in Washington, DC, Howard Adler and Stephen Glover, alongside Jonathan Layne in Los Angeles.

Other notable lawyers include Jim Walden in the business crime section, who successfully acted for Joseph Cassano, the former chief executive officer of AIG, during an Securities and Exchange Commission investigation. Commercial litigator Randy Mastro led the defence for Chevron in a $27 billion suit from Ecuador for alleged environmental liabilities. He is joined in that chapter by Theodore Boutrous, James Clark and Gregory Kerwin. In the management, labour and employment chapter, former solicitor at the US Department of Labour and co-head of the practice group in DC, Eugene Scalia is experienced in dealing with class actions such as Dukes v Wal-Mart Stores, and boasts extensive knowledge of ERISA laws, as does William Kilberg.

Our research selects lawyers from the firm in and additional 12 practice areas, including real estate, banking, private funds, product liability, construction and trade and customs.