Profile: McDermott Will & Emery LLP

McDermott Will & Emery LLP - Who's Who Legal '70'

What is the Who's Who Legal '70'?

TAX AND CAPITAL MARKETS
With its history rooted in tax matters, unsurprisingly the firm is most evident in our corporate tax chapter. The firm has been busy of late and is currently representing Diageo in connection with the tax, corporate and regulatory aspects of the restructuring of its US corporate group. It has also acted for AES in the divestiture of Electricity of Caracas and for Tyco, among others. Lowell Yoder from Chicago co-chairs the international tax practice group and leads in terms of nominations. He is closely followed by the “extremely respectable” and “very good” Peter Nias from the London office. Peter Faber features in the New York section and Washington DC is home to Stephen Wells and William Goldman. Arndt Raupach from the Munich office deserves mention for his “brilliant reputation” in the area.
Thomas Murphy’s expertise in the capital markets arena is noted. Murphy is partner-in-charge of the Chicago corporate practice and co-heads the firm’s securities practice group.

COMPETITION
The firm’s antitrust practice has over 80 members and five practitioners from three offices are included in our chapter. In the past year the firm has acted for major multinationals including Mars, which it advised in connection with its acquisition of pet food company Nutro. They also represented J-M Manufacturing – the largest PVC pipe manufacturer in the United States, in the acquisition of its largest domestic competitor.

Scott Megregian heads the European competition group and co-heads the Brussels office. Dividing his time between London and Brussels, Megregian has established himself as a leader in the field and peers have “always found him to be very good”. Ian Rose is also based in London; Clive Stanbrook QC practises in Brussels. The Washington, DC, office is a source of talent with Joseph Winterscheid and Raymond Jacobsen both performing exceptionally well in our survey.

Winterscheid “has a great manner and a good reputation” and Jacobsen works on high-profile and complex mergers, according to sources.

The aforementioned Stanbrook also features in the trade & customs chapter alongside Philip Bentley QC in Brussels and Michael House from Washington DC. Michael Pope also features in two chapters – Product Liability and Insurance & Reinsurance.


BUSINESS CRIME DEFENCE and COMMERCIAL LITIGATION
McDermott Will & Emery is also particularly strong in the white-collar criminal defence arena and is represented in the chapter by five practitioners. Mark Pearlstein and Michael Kendall are two of “Boston’s best”. Pearlstein is head of the Boston trial department and Kendall is known in the market as “a very good lawyer”. The “terrific” Gordon Greenberg, from the Los Angeles office represented Ross Perot and Perot Systems in the congressional hearings concerning the California energy crisis. James Sanders joins Greenberg in the LA office and is also well regarded. The final entry is Abbe David Lowell from Washington DC who is also a practitioner of high repute.

Juliet Blanch heads the firm’s international dispute resolution group from London and is a prominent feature in the commercial arbitration chapter. Competitors were quick to note that she “knows her stuff” and is “going places”.

Other Areas
The London office is also home to two MWE practitioners in the management labour and employment chapter. David Dalgarno and Alison Wetherfield, head of the London office employment group. Both performed well in the research.

Boston-based Susan Cooke, head of the firm’s environmental practice group, and Jeffrey Bates appear in the environment chapter. Joel Freed in Patents and Fred Feinstein in Real Estate also make the grade.