Skadden Arps Slate Meager & Flom LLP

01 August 2007

Skadden Arps Slate Meager & Flom LLP in Who's Who Legal: California

Seven of the 11 partners that feature in the following chapters are based in LA, with the remainder from the San Francisco and Palo Alto offices. Unsurprisingly for a firm that won Who’s Who Legal’s international award for ‘Mergers & Acquisitions Law Firm of the Year’ in 2007, Skadden is particularly strong in the M&A chapter. (Its total of four lawyers is greater than any other firm, and is Skadden’s single largest contingent in any of the practice areas in this book.)The “outrageously talented” Brian McCarthy represented Walt Disney in its acquisition of Pixar Animation Studios – valued at around seven and a half billion dollars – and he was also one of the leaders in the corporate governance research. Joseph Giunta is regarded as a “major player” in M&A and co-head of the private equity practice Nicholas Saggesse also appears in the mergers and acquisitions chapter. The fourth partner is Kenton King, leader of the firm’s corporate group in the Bay Area and the sole representative of the Palo Alto office in this book. Overall, the firm was described as a “powerhouse” in this area, and its lawyers were said to be responsible for “some of the best work around”.


The firm is represented by more than one lawyer in the capital markets and commercial litigation chapters. In the latter, both are based in San Francisco, and that office has earned a strong reputation for takeover litigation in particular. Co-head of the firm’s West Coast litigation department James Lyons is well known for his securities defence practice, and Raoul Kennedy’s class-action work, and “assured presence” in the courtroom attracted praise. Kennedy also appears in our product liability chapter. For capital markets work, Nicholas Saggese and Gregg Noel, both from the LA office, appear. Lawyers from that office have represented Colony Capital, BNP Paribas, Texas Pacific Group and Deutsche Bank in banking matters, and David Reamer was among the most highly regarded individuals for his capital markets practice.


Skadden partners appear in three other chapters. The head of the West Coast SEC enforcement and white-collar defence practice, Richard Marmaro, is known for his successful defence of the former CEO of Gateway in an SEC enforcement action. He appears among the top business crime lawyers in the state. In a similar fashion, Michael Lawson, the leader of the employee benefits group in the Los Angeles office, appears in the corresponding chapter and received “a very high grade” from our respondents. Finally, Jose Allen from the San Francisco office was widely commended for his Proposition 65 and Superfund related litigation, and appears among the leading environmental lawyers in the state.

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