Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP - Who's Who Legal 70

What is the Who's Who Legal 70?

Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP in Who's Who Legal

	Capital Markets
	4

	Corporate Governance
	3

	Patents
	1

	Environment
	1

	Real Estate
	1

	Mergers & Acquisitions
	3

	Corporate Tax
	2

	Mergers & Acquisitions
	3

	Corporate Tax
	2

	Insolvency & Restructuring
	1

	Commercial Litigation
	2

	Competition
	2

	Banking
	4

The firm now has approximately 400 lawyers and concentrates on four key areas: corporate and tax, litigation, trusts and estates and environmental law. Although not the largest of our Who's Who Legal ‘70' firms, Cravath has an "outstanding reputation" and a notable presence in this book.
Twenty-eight Cravath lawyers appear in eleven chapters. Nearly all of the partners listed are based in New York, with just one representative from the firm's London office appearing.

Banking and Finance
Four Cravath partners are featured in the banking chapter. Rob Kiessling leads the firm's practice and concentrates on a wide variety of matters encompassing mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, structured finance and syndicated bank financings. He was described as "outstanding" and wins the Who's Who Legal banking lawyer of the year award for the third time. James Cooper is another notable performer, polling recommendations from many of the practice area's top names. Cooper joins Kiessling on our list of the most highly regarded individuals worldwide. The "stand-out" James Vardell and syndicated loan expert Allen Parker also feature prominently.

Capital markets is another strong practice area for Cravath: four partners are listed in the chapter. Three of these are based in New York, including Kris Heinzelman who is, according to one prominent figure, "One of the best I've ever dealt with bar none." He currently heads the firm's corporate department. Heinzelman spends a lot of time representing investment banks, and the "exceptionally talented" David Mercado also features prominently. William Rogers's work on international securities offerings was noted and he came "highly recommended" in the research. Gregory Shaw from the firm's London office has an "excellent reputation in the field".

Corporate
Four highly rated partners feature in the mergers and acquisitions chapter. Faiza Saeed builds upon an excellent performance in the last edition, appearing for the first time in our breakdown of the practice area's most highly nominated individuals, along with established names Richard Hall and Allen Finkelson. Among other matters Saeed worked in a team representing JPMorgan Chase as adviser to Wendy's International in its merger with Triarc Companies. Hall is "universally respected", and was recently part of a Cravath team advising Orbotech in its agreement to acquire Photon Dynamics. Finkelson and Alan Stephenson also fared well in our research and are an integral part of what one source labelled "an excellent team at an excellent firm".

Two of the four partners listed in the mergers and acquisitions chapter (Hall and Finkelson) also feature in the corporate governance chapter. Hall is an "exceptionally skilled corporate lawyer" known in particular for his governance work relating to transactions. The "great" Finkelson appears alongside him in the higher reaches of the voting, as does Robert Joffe. David Mercado, who is also credited in the capital markets chapter, confirms Cravath's outstanding reputation in the area.

Stephen Gordon is head of the tax department at the firm and was hailed by his competitors as "terrific" for both domestic and international taxation. Michael Schler "writes extensively" and is a frequent speaker and has a "great practice" to complement his academic record.

Commercial Litigation
Cravath has three highly rated partners featured in the commercial litigation chapter. "One of the top disputes lawyers in town", Paul Saunders was commended for both his litigation and arbitration work in the fields of antitrust, securities, employment discrimination and IP. Robert Joffe is viewed as a "legend" by his peers, who pointed to his representation of Time Warner at the FTC in connection with its merger with AOL and other matters, as well as his competition work, such as representing Sprint in the Nextel transaction. Like Joffe, the firm's presiding partner Evan Chesler also appears in our competition chapter and is also mentioned in the patents section. He has been lead counsel in antitrust, securities, IP and other commercial cases for the likes of IBM, Time Warner, Xerox, DuPont and GlaxoSmithKline and is regarded as a "giant" and "one of the pillars of the New York legal community".

Further Expertise
All of Cravath's three nominees in the competition sector generated tremendous numbers of nominations. Making yet another appearance in our book, Robert Joffe, is "an outstanding litigator and counsellor" with a strong antitrust practice and Evan Chesler is an "overall fantastic litigator". Katherine Forrest completes the trio and is known for her "high value" deals, including recent work for Time Warner Cable and Schneider Electric.

The firm also has representatives in three further chapters, all of whom head their departments. Richard Levin is an eminent figure in the insolvency and restructuring market and was one of the principal authors of the Bankruptcy Code and the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978.

The "highly regarded" Roger Turner is the head of the real estate group at Cravath. His clients include a number of major real estate investment funds and their sponsors, including Morgan Stanley, O'Connor Capital Partners, Westbrook Partners and Tishman Speyer Properties, as well as other more traditional real estate clients that include the Dermot Company and the Sea Island Company.

Jeffrey Smith is the partner in charge of the firm's environment group. Smith's practice encompasses environmental matters relating to financings, underwritings and mergers and acquisitions, nationally and internationally in all industries.