Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP - Who's Who Legal 70

What is the Who's Who Legal 70?

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP in Who's Who Legal

	Capital Markets
	11

	Corporate Tax
	7

	Arbitration
	1

	Private funds
	1

	Insolvency & Restructuring
	1

	Real Estate
	2

	Banking
	7

	Oil & Gas
	1

	Corporate Governance
	6

	Life Sciences
	1

	Corporate Governance
	6

	Business Crime Defence
	2

	Commercial Litigation
	1

	Mergers & Acquisitions
	8

	Competition
	19

In the capital markets chapter 16 lawyers appear from seven cities. In New York, former director of the division of corporation finance of the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Alan Beller is “absolutely first-class”. He features in the capital markets and corporate governance chapters. He has acted for the Prudential Insurance Company and Goldman Sachs, among others. Alongside Beller is the former general counsel of the SEC Edward Greene, and Jeffery Karpf who counts Citigroup among his major clients. Leslie Silverman is a “stand-out lawyer” and Nicolas Grabar and Jorge Juantorena are part of a “formidable team”, which is further strengthened by the inclusion of the “excellent” Mitchell Dupler in DC. This strength is matched by the London office. Sebastian Sperber specialises in US law and attracted numerous admiring comments. Daniel Braverman is also well known, especially for his experience of working in Russia. In Frankfurt, Ward Greenberg and Thomas Kopp are lauded for their “impressive” capital markets expertise. They are joined by Christof von Dryander, a “leading authority” in capital markets, who also gains a mention in the banking chapter. The firm has a dual presence in Brussels, with the “leading” Jan Meyers, who has also established“impressive” international corporate governance and M&A reputation, and the “distinguished” Laurent Legein. Pierre-Yves Chabert is known in the Paris circuit as “one of the best” in capital markets. He enjoys further listings in corporate governance and M&A.

The firm is one of the most highly nominated in the competition research with 15 of its partners selected in this chapter. The Brussels office is one of the best in Belgium with eight lawyers included. Nicholas Levy is a “market leader”, while Antoine Winckler is regarded as one of the premier EU competition lawyers. John Temple Lang is “universally respected” and Maurits Dolmans is regarded as a “superstar” by our sources.

In banking, the firm’s profile is extremely high, “Cleary are involved in everything at the moment” in the words of one respondent. Robert Tortoriello is “simply exceptional” in his knowledge of cross-border transactions. Lee Buchheit is “absolutely terrific”, while John Murphy Jr in DC is praised for his “encyclopedic regulatory knowledge” and work in relation to financial sector restructurings, privatisations and troubled institutions. Derek Bush is a leading financial services regulation expert, as is Seth Grosshandler on structured finance. Paul Glotzer is “brilliant” on private equity transactions involving global financial institutions. Elsewhere, Scott Senecal is a “big name” in the Russian market and Roberto Casati is “one of the top lawyers in Italy”, renowned for his securities and finance practice. He also specialises in directors’ duties and cross-border mergers, so makes an appearance in the corporate governance and M&A chapters. He is joined in those chapters by Victor Lewkow, a New York based lawyer of “superior talent”. He has worked closely with the “formidable” Daniel Sternberg, and “top-rate” Paul Shim on major deals such as the US$15.5 billion sale of ALICO and the acquisition of Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group by Hertz .

All but one of the corporate tax inclusions hail from New York. Of note is the “outstanding” James Peaslee. He specialises in corporate income and taxation of secured transactions. He is joined by Leslie Samuels, James Duncan and Erika Nijenhuis, who make up the “excellent” team that advised the securities industry and financial markets association (SIFMA) on major financial institutions, in relation to the sub-prime meltdown and credit crisis.

The firm is also represented in a range of other areas, including natural resources, private funds, real estate, business crime defence, arbitration and insolvency.