Profile: Allen & Overy LLP

Allen & Overy LLP - Who's Who Legal '70'

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

PROJECT FINANCE
A&O is a leader in project finance, boasting 18 practitioners from 13 offices in their global network in our list. The firm is known for its advice to governments, sponsors, banks, and project companies on projects and financings throughout the world, in sectors including infrastructure, power and accommodation. Alan Rae Smith is known for his power-related expertise; he is joined in the UK section by “PPP guru” Anne Baldock, Andrew Trahair, and Chris Rushton (“fantastically knowledgeable on Asian projects”). Brian Harrison, who is also in the banking chapter, leads the Asia practice from Hong Kong and is joined by “very solid practitioner” Thomas Brown. Simon Black in Shanghai is also highly regarded; “I have always found him to be excellent,” said one of our sources. In Japan, Aled Davies is especially well known in the power sector. Kayal Sachi’s nomination is evidence of Allen & Overy’s visibility in Singapore and he is said to be “building quite a profile in this area”. With a reputation as “one of the leading authorities on projects in the Middle East”, it is no surprise that two Allen & Overy lawyers appear in the United Arab Emirates section of the project finance chapter. Bimal Desai in Dubai is one of the most highly regarded figures worldwide, according to our findings. He is also included in our oil & gas chapter. Duncan Macnab also fared well, with respondents describing him as a “throughly capable performer”. The firm is also strong throughout Europe for project finance work. In France, Tim Scales is highly regarded. In Frankfurt the leader of the German projects practice, Peter Stenz, has advised banks and sponsors on energy, infrastructure and telecoms projects. Catia Tomasetti appears in Italy, thanks to her reputation for being “absolutely first class” and the “very impressive” Bart Meesters keeps a high market profile in the Netherlands and like Harrison is also included in the banking chapter. Gonzalo Martín de Nicolás features in Spain and the “very knowledgeable” David Slade practises in New York. The final nomination for the firm is Marcell Németh, a “very fine lawyer” based in Hungary.

CAPITAL MARKETS
Boyan Wells is one of the practice area’s most recognised experts.

Wells has been involved in many high-profile deals including advising BAA in relation to its multi-tranche €3 billion offering. Stephen Miller is rated by sources as “one of the main players in the market” and is joined on the following pages by Jeffrey Golden, another highly rated London partner, who co-heads the firm’s US law and derivatives practices. Golden also chairs the American Bar Associations section on international law. Angela Clist is “great for covered bonds” and Roger Wedderburn-Day has “the nicest combination of presence and commercial and legal flair”, according to our sources. Founding member of the derivative products group in London Simon Haddock remains a player in this area. He is joined in the chapter by Geoff Fuller, who completes the firm’s contingent in our London list.

Johannes Bruski in Frankfurt was recommended as “one of the leading practitioners” for debt capital markets and Dirk Meeus, who heads the firm’s corporate practice in Belgium, emerges as one of the country’s most nominated individuals. Niels van de Vijver was consistently recommended in the Netherlands, as was Dan Lauder in Paris. Zoltán Lengyel comes recommended in Hungary and Henri Wagner is partner in charge of the banking and capital markets practice in Luxembourg.

Andrew Harrow is “well known” in Hong Kong and heads the firm’s Asian capital markets practice. Ken Aboud in Singapore was praised for his knowledge of Islamic finance.

CORPORATE POWERHOUSE
Alan Paul is “excellent for big ticket M&A” and “a star at Allen & Overy”. Paul was consistently recommended and is one of the UK’s best regarded practitioners in the mergers and acquisitions chapter. He is joined in this section by Keith McGuire, also from London, Johan Dirk Kleyn in Amsterdam, Wim Dejonghe in Antwerp, Igor Palka in Bratislava, Marc Feider in Luxembourg, Jan Myska in Prague and Hans Rolf Koerfer in Düsseldorf. The firm’s entry in the corporate governance chapter is also extremely international with practitioners from Amsterdam, London, Frankfurt and Hong Kong also featuring prominently.

Banking is big business for the firm and A&O’s performance in this chapter (12 practitioners are listed) is testament to its reputation in the area. Yet again, the London office is seen as the “backbone” of the practice, and we feature five lawyers from the City. Chairman of the firm’s global banking practice Michael Duncan leads his colleagues in the voting and was described by one competitor as a “superlative lawyer”. Timothy Polglase (“one of the best LBO lawyers around”), David Morley and Anthony Humphrey also feature in London. The firm is also strong throughout Europe with Victor De Serière (“one of the towering figures in the local market”) and the aforementioned Bart Meesters in Amsterdam. Peter Bienenstock in Brussels, Neil George Weiand in Frankfurt, Iñigo Gómez-Jordana from Madrid and Mikuláš Touška from Prague join Arkadiusz Pedzich in Warsaw and the aforementioned Brian Harrison in Hong Kong.

Sources in our corporate tax research have “a great deal of respect and admiration for” Patrick Mears and David Lewis, whose experience relating to joint ventures, acquisitions, disposals and reconstructions was noted. Jean Schaffner was described to researchers as “absolutely outstanding”; he is the partner in charge of the tax department in the Luxembourg office. Eugen Bogenschuetz is head of German tax and “clearly top of his profession” according to a fellow nominee.
The insolvency & restructuring chapter boasts a strong London-based triumvirate and single entries in Amsterdam and Hong Kong. In London, Ian Field is “top-notch”, according to at least one competitor.

Gordon Stewart heads the firm’s global restructuring group and is “one of the deans of the insolvency bar”. Mark Sterling is said to be “very, very able”. Sterling is managing partner of the firm’s global restructuring and insolvency practice and he led the team advising the Schefenacker group on its successful restructuring. David Kidd was praised for his understanding of the market in the PRC and Hong Kong, where he is based. Kidd heads the firm’s Asian restructuring group and is regarded as “wholly capable and sensible”. The “excellent” Rob Abendroth is based in the Netherlands and focuses his practice on domestic and cross-border restructurings.

André Marc in Luxembourg and Hans Rolf Koerfer in Düsseldorf are featured in the insurance & reinsurance chapter. Marc has done a great deal of restructuring work for banks and was described to researchers as “thorough and very impressive”.

DISPUTE RESOLUTION
Allen & Overy fields an impressive seven practitioners in the commercial litigation chapter. Tim House in London heads the global litigation practice and comes recommended as an “expert on derivatives disputes”. Guy Henderson is an “absolute star”, recognised both domestically and overseas as “one of the premier lawyers in this area”. Four of the following five practitioners are based in Europe, with Arnold Croiset van Uchelen and Willem van Baren in Amsterdam (van Baren is also in our aviation chapter with six others from the firm), Koen Van den Broeck in Brussels and Luc Demeyere in Antwerp.

Louis Kimmelman in New York was described as “hugely impressive both in the courtroom and in arbitration proceedings” and both he and Demeyere also appear in our commercial arbitration chapter. They are joined in the chapter by an excellent showing from the London office, where Judith Gill is “positive and thorough”, “excellent”, “terrific” and “a star”. Stephen Jagusch is “very charming and nice – which matters in arbitration” and “extremely impressive”. Matthew Gearing is “one of the brightest of the bright young things”; he relocated from London to Hong Kong in April and has taken over the Asia arbitration practice.  

COMPETITION
The firm can also boast 12 practitioners in the competition chapter and stakes its claim as one of the leading international firms for antitrust work, with top tier clients such as BskyB, ABN AMRO and GlaxoSmithKline. In 2007 the firm advised Iberdrola on its £11.6 billion acquisition of Scottish Power; Macquarie on its £8 billion acquisition of Thames Water; and News Corporation on non-US antitrust and regulatory aspects of its takeover of Dow Jones. The Brussels office performed extremely well with Michael Reynolds standing out with a great many nominations. Reynolds led the team advising Sun Microsystems, one of the original complainants in the Microsoft case, and is joined in the city by Martin Bechtold and Dirk Arts. London offers up the firm’s largest contingent in the chapter, with four highly regarded practitioners selected. Philip Mansfield is “an extraordinay attorney” and is accompanied in the chapter by Alistair Lindsay, Mark Friend and John Wotton. Tom Ottervanger and Paul Glazener give the firm a strong presence in Amsterdam; Ellen Braun in Hamburg, Silvia D’Alberti from Rome and Marta Sendrowicz from Warsaw further highlight the firm’s European strength.

FURTHER STRENGTHS
The firm has some standout individuals in IP and IT law, with Geert Glas featured in the patents, trademarks and internet & e-commerce chapters, which fields two other attorneys from the firm – Ian Ferguson and Herald Jongen. The trademarks section is more heavily populated with a total of seven representatives of the firm, one of whom is Pierre Lenoir, who is one of two A&O partners in the patents chapter.

Five management labour and employment specialists were selected for the chapter.  Four individuals, including the “fantastic” Mark Mansell, are featured in the regulatory communications section and three strong practitioners can be found in the real estate section. This showing is mirrored in the environment chapter, where Owen Lomas, Matthew Townsend and Antonella Capria can be found. Arent van Wassenaer, selected for the Netherlands section of the construction chapter, brings the firm’s impressive showing to a close. The number of chapters in which the firm features highlights the strength and depth of expertise on offer to clients of this international powerhouse.