Profile: Shearman & Sterling LLP

Shearman & Sterling LLP - Who's Who Legal '70'

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

CORPORATE AND FINANCE
With eight lawyers featuring from five separate jurisdictions in the capital markets section, the firm offers clients a truly global platform. Recent highlights for the group include advising Bovespa on its US$3.7 billion listing on the Brazilian stock exchange. In London, Julian Tucker heads the office’s structured finance practice and is said to be “right at the forefront” of the industry. David Beveridge enjoys an “awesome reputation” according to sources, with one rival noting that he “stands out by a mile”. Stephan Hutter in Germany also enjoys an excellent reputation among clients and peers and the “quite outstanding” Robert Ellison gives the firm a presence in the Italian market.

Matthew Bersani in Hong Kong is Asia managing partner and co-head of capital markets in Asia and Europe. William Hirschberg and Antonia Stolper feature in the New York section. Of Hirschberg, one leading corporate source noted that he is a “pre-eminent bank capital markets attorney with [a] vast reservoir of knowledge”. Stolper’s emerging markets practice comes highly recommended, particularly in Latin America. Abigail Arms in Washington, DC held a number of positions within the division of corporation finance of the US Securites and Exchange Commission and is recommended as “very experienced”.
Hirschberg also makes an appearance in the banking chapter, where he is joined by four other lawyers from the New York office. Hirschberg heads the firm’s banking practice for the Americas, and was highly praised, especially for his cross-border transactions. Reade Ryan is of counsel to the firm and “in the pantheon of all time greats”, according to respondents. Jonathan Weld, also of counsel, was also strongly recommended. Bradley Sabel boasts an “encyclopedic knowledge of the sector”, gained in part from the 18 years he spent at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Peter Blessing in New York was praised during our research for his “very technical” and “brilliant mind” in the corporate tax arena. Robert Rudnick practises in both New York and Washington, DC, and represents clients in federal income tax matters. In London the “very popular” Michael McGowan comes recommended. Gottfried Breuninger co-heads the worldwide tax group and acts as managing partner of the Munich office.

James Garrity was touted as “one of the best in the US” for insolvency and restructuring. Douglas Bartner heads the firm’s bankruptcy and reorganisation group. Robert Mackinnon is of counsel to the firm and is a “respected name in the area”. In California Steven Sherman manages the firm’s West Coast private financing and bankruptcy practice. Sherman is particularly active in chapter 11 bankruptcies and out-of-court reorganisations.

Shearman & Sterling provides three lawyers for our mergers and acquisitions chapter. Peter Lyons co-heads the firm’s M&A group and clients include American Cyanamid Company, BASF and Boston Scientific. John Madden is co-managing partner of the firm and a former head of the M&A group. Rated as an “outstanding” practitioner he has participated in many high-profile transactions. Georg Thoma in Düsseldorf has a “great reputation in the market” and was sufficiently nominated to appear in our list of leading practitioners worldwide. Thoma also features in the corporate governance section, where he and his colleague Martin Winter were both praised as “stars in the field”.

PROJECTS AND INFRASTRUCTURE
Shearman & Sterling LLP’s reputation as a “project finance powerhouse” is reflected in our findings: it boasts eight partners in the following pages, in five countries. Three are based in London, led in the voting by managing partner Kenneth MacRitchie, who “gets the deal done and commands great client loyalty”. David Platt “has a very good name in the market”. Another successful nominee – the head of the firm’s project finance group – Nicholas Buckworth is known for his work in the Middle East.
In New York, Cynthia Urda Kassis is a “stand-out” and the firm is represented by two nominees in the UAE: Tim Pick and Philip Dundas, the managing partner of the office. In Asia, Edward Turner appears in Hong Kong, and Bill McCormack “stands out” in Singapore. Dundas, Pick and Platt also feature prominently in the oil and gas section.


DISPUTE RESOLUTION AND LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT
Shearman & Sterling is especially strong in Paris for arbitration. Yas Banifatemi is a new entry this year. She is said to be “experienced and excellent” and “very hard working”. Emmanuel Gaillard is “the biggest name in Europe if not the world” and “the leading light at Shearman & Sterling”, according to sources. He also appears in the commercial litigation chapter. Fernando Mantilla-Serrano is another prominent Paris-based practitioner. Sources noted he “brings in the Spanish work“ and that he is very good on Latin American arbitrations. Philippe Pinsolle comes recommended as “experienced”. Meanwhile, Richard Kreindler in Germany is “well known” and John Savage in Singapore is rated as “the best in Asia”.
Georg Jaeger practises in the Mannheim office and comes recommended for management-side labour and employment work.

COMPETITION AND TRADE
Kenneth Prince and Wayne Collins fly the flag for the New York office in the competition chapter. Collins was described as “among the best in the US for merger-related antitrust”; Prince, who leads the global antitrust group, is noted for his criminal antitrust defence work. In Belgium, Annette Luise Schild is managing partner of the Brussels office and also has great experience of merger-related competition work. The final partner to be listed for competition is Hans Jürgen Meyer-Lindemann, who heads up both the Brussels and the Düsseldorf offices. Thomas Wilner comes recommended as “extremely strong and firmly in the top tier” for trade and customs work.

REAL ESTATE
Chris Smith in New York received nothing but praise and was hailed as “a dean of the bar”, and is well versed in national and international work. He is joined by Lee Kuntz whose real estate investment and finance practice was a source of admiration from his peers. Ian Nisse in London completes the group. His practice emphasises structuring and financing funds, joint ventures, investment transactions and development projects.