Latham & Watkins LLP - Who's Who Legal 70

What is the Who's Who Legal 70?

Latham & Watkins LLP in Who's Who Legal

	Project Finance
	15

	Private funds
	3

	Insolvency & Restructuring
	5

	Corporate Tax
	5

	Real Estate
	2

	Oil & Gas
	3

	Environment
	7

	Corporate Governance
	5

	Internet & e-Commerce
	2

	Corporate Governance
	5

	Trademarks
	1

	Public Procurement
	2

	Commercial Litigation
	2

	Management Labour & Employment
	1

	Patents
	1

	Capital Markets
	5

	Mining
	1

	Banking
	4

	Aviation
	2

	Competition
	12

	Life Sciences
	4

	Business Crime Defence
	2

	Mergers & Acquisitions
	7

With an additional 11 inclusions this year, Latham & Watkins achieves an impressive 89 listings in this book. Winner of the Who’s Who Legal Law Firm of the Year – California for the fifth time, the firm also continues to make its international presence known. It officially launched in Saudi Arabia via an association with the Law Office of Mohammed Al-Sheikh in Riyadh enhancing its Middle East practice and bringing the firm’s total to 30 offices.

With 13 lawyers listed, competition is one of the firm’s strong suits. The talent is spread across the board as competition lawyers feature in seven of the firm’s offices. In Washington the “top-tier” Abbot Lipsky is joined by co-chairs of the antitrust and competition practice Michael Egge and Margaret Zwisler. With over 30 years of experience, Zwisler has represented companies in antitrust class actions across a host of industries from motor vehicles to pharmaceuticals. One of three lawyers listed in San Francisco is the “very well regarded” Daniel Wall. His specialties include single-firm conduct litigation and the application of the antitrust laws to high technology industries. Also highly nominated are London-based John Kallaugher and Bruce Prager in New York. Managing partner of the Brussels office, Howard Rosenblatt, has a background in both EU and US competition law and is joined by the well recognised Marc Hansen, Susanne Zuehlke and Andreas Weitbrecht.

The firm also performs well in project finance with 12 lawyers listed in six countries. In London, William Voge is one of the most highly nominated individuals worldwide. Described by many as a name that simply has to be on the list, Voge earns the title “Who’s Who Legal Project Finance Lawyer of the Year”. New York-based Jonathan Rod and David Gordon are “outstanding” and in the Los Angeles office Jeffrey Greenberg is “an absolute star”. The Washington, DC office is home to the “exceptional” John Sachs and the “absolutely excellent” Dennis Nordstrom. Nicholas Collins in Abu Dhabi and Mohammed Al-Sheikh in Riyadh add to the firm’s strength in the Middle East. Joseph Bevash and John Sachs demonstrate the depth of their expertise as they feature in both the project finance and public procurement chapters.

The US offices stand out for environment work with the number of lawyers listed in this chapter increasing to eight, up three on last year. The “world-class” Gene Lucero in Los Angeles is deputy chair of the global environment, land and resource department and receives a significant number of nominations in this edition. Formerly a director of the Office of Waste Programme Enforcement at the EPA, he defends clients in enforcement actions brought by regulators and advises on compliance and environmental liabilities in business transactions. Also in Los Angeles, Robert Wyman is referred to as a “leading environment lawyer of his generation”.

In insolvency and restructuring Latham & Watkins LLP places eight professionals from five different offices in this chapter. New York-based Jan Baker is global co-chair of the firm’s insolvency practice and a “top-drawer” professional. Robert Rosenberg is also highly regarded in New York, having handled numerous workouts for international financial players such as Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs. Chicago’s David Heller is the global chair of Latham’s finance department and has over 30 years of experience representing lenders in workouts and bankruptcy proceedings. Richard Levy is another “big name” in Chicago, while Michael Lurey and Robert Klyman in Los Angeles rank “among the best the west coast has to offer”. John Houghton acts as global co-chair of the firm’s insolvency practice and is “very well thought of” by peers having acted for distressed investors and creditors in numerous high-profile restructurings, including British Energy, Eurotunnel, Lehman Brothers and Metronet. Hong Kong-based Simon Powell is one of the foremost litigators in this book.

The firm’s impressive corporate practice includes six lawyers in the M&A chapter and seven inclusions in the corporate governance chapter. Mark Gerstein, Christopher Kaufman, Charles Nathan and John Sachs are recommended in both these fields. For M&A work, Kaufman is referred to as “fantastic” and Gerstein, the global chair of the firm’s M&A group, as “well regarded”. The European offices impress in terms of tax specialists and four Latham lawyers appear in the corresponding chapter. In Germany, Thomas Fox, managing partner in Munich and Götz Wiese, managing partner in Hamburg are credited for their expertise. Olivier Delattre is singled out in Paris and Jordi Domínguez is the chair of the tax department in Spain.

Nominated to feature in multiple chapters, Laurence Cohen receives praise for his work in both trademarks and patent and the talent at this firm spans 23 practice areas we cover.