Profile: Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy LLP

Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy LLP - Who's Who Legal '70'

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

PROJECT FINANCE
Over the past three years, Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy LLP has closed more than 100 project financings, raising more than US$100 billion for infrastructure projects across the globe. The firm has 13 representatives nominated in five jurisdictions. The majority are based in the United States, with four in the New York office. Richard Brach is a “big player”, known for industrial, pipeline, energy and mining projects – he also appears in our mining chapter – and for his Latin America expertise. Douglas Harris was praised for his “technical excellence” and recommended for his work in the power generation and transmission sector. Jonathan Green is head of the firm’s leveraged finance group and an “undeniably great lawyer”, well-known for his work in both domestic and Latin American projects. The final inclusion in New York is Eric Silverman, who was praised as “commercial and business-oriented”. He and Green also appear in the oil and gas chapter.

Jonathan Maizel heads the DC office’s project finance practice and is well known for his work in the power sector. Alongside him is Glenn Gerstell, the managing partner of the office. Reports state that he is “profoundly impressive” for telecommunications related projects. Ed Feo in Los Angeles is “the most prominent project finance lawyer on the west coast”, according to our sources.

Milbank has three partners in London on our list. Phillip Fletcher (the managing partner of the firm’s European offices), John Dewar and Cathy Marsh. In Germany, Rainer Magold is well known for his large-scale asset financing and PPP transactions. And, in the Far East, the firm calls on the regional expertise of Tokyo-based Gary Wigmore and David Zemans in Singapore.

CORPORATE AND FINANCE
Four partners appear in the aviation chapter, three from New York. Elliot Gewirtz heads the firm’s global transportation finance department and is “as good a lawyer as there is for this type of work”, according to one source. Helfried Schwarz is similarly highly rated; he is “very bright and easy to deal with”. Elihu Robertson is leader of the firm’s global finance group. Young Joon Kim in Hong Kong is recognised for his expertise on Korean corporate transactions.
Also in Hong Kong, Anthony Root is head of Milbank’s corporate practice in Asia and “extremely highly rated” for capital markets work.

Michael Fitzgerald in the New York office is highly regarded by his peers, especially for Latin American matters. He is joined by Trayton Davis, who is recognised as a “guru” for securitisations. The banking chapter sees two more lawyers featured. Winthrop Brown appears in DC and Rainer Magold in Frankfurt. Milbank’s German offices also provide nominated lawyers in the corporate tax and M&A research. In the former field, Rolf Füger in Munich stands out for his expertise in the private equity sector, while in the latter area Norbert Rieger is rated as “absolutely superb” for public M&A work.

Three US-based partners appear in the insolvency and restructuring chapter. Dennis Dunne is the practice group leader of the financial restructuring group, and clients are “very impressed by him”. Luc Despins is “well known in the market”. Robert Moore in Los Angeles maintains a “very high profile in this area” across all types of work. Linda Dakin-Grimm divides her time between the Los Angeles and New York offices and she is recommended for her work on insurance and reinsurance disputes; she is said to be“very effective and knows her stuff ”, and “clients love her work”.

DISPUTES AND IP
Jeffrey Barist in New York is former chair of the firm’s national litigation department and appears in the commercial litigation chapter. Recognised for both his litigation and arbitration expertise, he was fêted for his work relating to financial services, securities, insolvency and international law. In the business crime chapter, George Canellos from the same office has a “terrific” reputation.

The firm’s presence in the IP chapters is centred around the “hugely impressive” David Perkins. He heads the IP practice in London and earns sufficient nominations to appear in both the trademark and patent chapters. Parker Bagley in New York is a “first-class” trademark litigator, praised for his recent successful defence of Anheuser Busch against trademark infringement claims. Christopher Chalsen heads the firm’s IP group and was repeatedly recommended for his patent work in particular. Peter Nesgos, also from the New York office, is an “authority” on telecommunications finance, and appears in the regulatory coomunications chapter.