Baker & McKenzie - The Who's Who Legal 100 2012

What is the Who's Who Legal 100?

The firm performs outstandingly in the corporate tax chapter, with 12 lawyers selected for inclusion from 10 offices. Seven of the practitioners are based in the US, with two lawyers from the Chicago office: Richard Lipton and John McLees. Lipton advises corporations, partnerships and limited liability companies on their tax planning and is “first rate”, while the “talented” McLees focuses his practice on advising business operations in Latin America. The Palo Alto office is also represented by two lawyers: John Peterson, chair of the global tax practice group, and Gary Sprague. Peterson is “world class” and focuses on intercompany pricing, structuring of international operations and high-technology tax issues and federal income tax controversies. Sprague advises on international corporate tax planning and controversies and represents software, high technology, and e-commerce companies. In Europe, Luis Briones, managing partner of the Madrid office, advises both Spanish and multinational companies on international tax planning in addition to counselling high net worth individuals. Also “highly recommended” is Juliana Cangussu Dantas from the Amsterdam office, qualified in both Dutch and Brazilian tax law and “superb” according to our research.

Twelve lawyers appear in the internet, e-commerce and data protection sector. The largest contingent is from the London office, where Harry Small features prominently. Small is head of the firm’s global technology practice group and particularly active in the field of outsourcing for major customers and suppliers. Also at the office, Robbie Downing is “highly regarded” for his work in the privacy and e-commerce fields. In the Netherlands, Robert Boekhorst is “excellent” when it comes to e-commerce matters and advises both Dutch and multinational corporations, including banks, IT manufacturers, distributors and telecommunications operators, as well as governmental organisations. Patrick Fair is based in Sydney and focuses on privacy law and online content regulation: he leads the firm’s national broadband network working group and is a “very able practitioner”. Matthias Scholz represents the firm’s Frankfurt office and chairs the European steering committee of the Baker & McKenzie information technology/communication practice. Scholz is particularly adept at advising on legal issues surrounding e-commerce. At the associated office of Trench Rossi e Watanabe Advogados in Brazil, Esther Flesch is a “leading practitioner”.

Baker & McKenzie is internationally renowned for its competition practice featuring in Global Competition Review’s 20 “elite” competition firms. The practice is one of the largest in the world with 316 specialists, and we include 10 lawyers in the corresponding section. Samantha Mobley leads the global antitrust and competition practice group, in addition to being head of the EU, competition and trade practice group of the London office. Mobley is a “pre-eminent” lawyer in the field with considerable expertise in the cartel and merger control fields. Head of the firm’s European and competition law practice in Brussels, Fiona Carlin is widely recognised as a “leading expert” in the fields of merger control, patent licensing, distribution agreements, state aid and compliance. Furthermore she has represented clients in cartel investigations up to appeal stage before the European courts in Luxembourg. The “excellent” Stephen Harris in Washington, DC, focuses on class actions, cartel and merger investigations, he often appears before the US and international courts and agencies. In Chicago, Roxane Busey is “highly knowledgeable” with over 30 years’ experience advising companies on a broad range of antitrust issues. Francisco Ribeiro Todorov at Trench Rossi in Brazil is a “prominent figure” with experience of handling cartel investigations, abuse of dominance cases and merger filings.

The firm garners 10 listings in the trademarks chapter. Eugene Arievich heads the firm’s CIS intellectual property group and is “very highly rated” by peers. He successfully represented Grande Group in a case against a Hong Kong-based company regarding the registration of the Akai trademark. Robert Arnold, based in Sydney, has specialised in IP protection for more than 20 years and his practice spans the Asia-Pacific region. In England, Paul Rawlinson advises on strategies for the protection and enforcement of IP rights; his clients include Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren and L’Oréal. Based in Bangkok, Say Sujintaya advises clients in the fashion, sporting goods, cosmetics, pharmaceutical and media industries in all IP-related matters, including trademark prosecution.

In the management labour and employment field, 10 professionals at the firm are selected for inclusion in the corresponding chapter, each from a different office. Günther Heckelmann in Frankfurt is “consistently highly nominated” throughout our research and his practice encompasses all labour and employment-related matters, in particular those in conjunction with complex global reorganisations. In London, head of the office’s employment group Christine O’Brien is praised for her work involving large-scale collective redundancy plans, discrimination claims and the enforcement of restrictive covenants and gardening leave clauses. Representing the Argentinian office, Carlos Andrés Arturo Dodds heads the office’s labour practice and handles employment contracts, litigation, workers compensation, and social security and pension funds. Robert Mignin in Chicago is a “leading expert” in contentious employment and labour matters and he has represented clients in matters relating to union organisation activities, labour negotiations and collective bargaining. Jennifer Van Dale is based in Hong Kong and specialises in advisory work relating to compensation, benefits, discrimination and data privacy. In addition, she has a “first-rate” practice in the implementation of HR policies.

Baker & McKenzie is a truly global firm with an strong network of offices that allows it to offer clients a seamless cross-border service. Our research demonstrates the firm’s depth of expertise across a multitude of practice sectors, throughout its international network.