Sidley Austin LLP - The Who's Who Legal 100 2012

What is the Who's Who Legal 100?

Alongside the expansion of its business faculties, Sidley continues to be active in the pro bono field: in the last year staff and lawyers dedicated almost 100,000 hours to pro bono service, including the Capital Litigation Project, which provides legal assistance to prisoners on Alabama’s death row. In conjunction with Exelon, the firm’s Chicago office also hosts quarterly clinics to help asylum seekers and refugees obtain lawful permanent resident status and bring family members to the US.

Sidley Austin is a truly international and full-service firm – lawyers from 12 offices across Europe, Asia-Pacific and the US are listed across 23 practice areas. In the US alone the firm has 93 listings, earning it our award for US law firm of the year for the second consecutive year. The Chicago office is particularly renowned and Sidley also takes the award for Illinois Law Firm of the Year, an accolade it has won every year since the award’s inception.

The firm scoops an additional award for its trade and customs practice, which is described by peers and clients alike as “utterly brilliant”. Ten attorneys are listed for their proficiency in this sector. Six of these are based in the Washington, DC, office, including Richard Belanger, who has a particular expertise in customs, export controls, trade remedies, trade policy and related legislation. The “sharp-minded” Lisa Crosby draws on her experience as an import specialist for the US Customs Service to gain a detailed understanding of clients’ issues. Andrew Shoyer chairs the firm’s international trade and dispute resolution practice and is considered “a national authority” on the implementation and enforcement of international trade and investment agreements. Three names are listed from the Geneva office. Among them is Scott Andersen who has “a wealth of experience” on the use of WTO rules to resolve trade disputes. Sources admire his “clear, practical advice”. In Brussels the “excellent” Arnoud Willems frequently advises governments, industries and major corporations on trade and customs legislation as well as on the negotiation, conclusion and implementation of trade agreements and WTO rules.

Sidley’s life sciences team is “phenomenally strong” and this publication recognises 15 of its brightest stars. Six are based in the Chicago office, including the “terrifically skilled” Michael Davis who has served as national coordinating counsel in pharmaceutical, food products, and chemical litigation. Sara Gourley’s practice is concentrated in the areas of pharmaceutical and medical device defence, especially multi-jurisdictional coordination and defence of class actions. Sources commend her “unfailing good judgement”. Both Davis and Gourley are additionally listed for their product liability defence work. David Pritikin, who is also recognised in the patents chapter, has served as lead counsel in many high profile cases, including more than a dozen Hatch-Waxman cases involving important pharmaceutical products. Coleen Klasmeier is based in Washington, DC, and heads Sidley’s food, drug and medical device regulatory practice. She is “globally respected” for her work in this area. Fellow DC lawyer Paul Kalb is a global coordinator of Sidley’s life sciences practice and represents many of the world’s leading drug, biotech and device manufacturers as well as hospitals and other institutional health-care providers. His “first-class” work spans criminal, civil, and administrative enforcement actions and related civil litigation involving health-care fraud and abuse and off-label promotion. Brussels-based duo Maurits Lugard and Maarten Meulenbelt garnered votes for the “exceptional” breadth and depth of their knowledge in the life sciences sector, while New York partner Thomas Beck is considered “second to none” by peers and also earns a listing in the patents chapter.

Capital markets is another of Sidley’s top practice areas and 13 names feature in the corresponding chapter. The New York office performs particularly well in this chapter with six of its attorneys recognised for their work in the field. Edward Fine is co-head of the firm’s New York global finance practice and has nearly 30 years of experience representing issuers, underwriters and purchasers of mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities in the public and private markets. Renwick Martin focuses on mortgage- and asset-backed financings of all types and has “enviable experience and great client relationships”. Senior counsel Norman Slonaker is “a definite inclusion on anyone’s list” while James O’Connor’s “superb” work has an emphasis on real estate investment trusts, financial institutions and energy companies. Gerard Hekker and Matthew Sheridan in Singapore “make a fantastic team” and the representation of the firm’s Asia offices is further strengthened by the inclusion of Thomas Albrecht in Hong Kong. His “outstanding” practice has recently included a number of whole business securitisation transactions, cross-border finance transactions, distressed asset purchases involving a variety of purchasers and assets, and workouts and restructurings. Further listings in London and San Francisco attest to Sidley’s market-leading capital markets practice.

Twelve Sidley lawyers appear in the Environment chapter. Judith Praitis, a partner in the Los Angeles office, is head of the West Coast environmental practice group and a global co-chair of the firm’s environmental group. She is “fiercely intelligent as well as being a joy to work with” according to one source. In DC Christopher Bell is “hugely admired” for his expertise in climate change, product regulation and stewardship and supply chain management, while Angus Macbeth’s practice benefits from his experience as chief of the pollution control section and as deputy assistant Attorney General in the land and natural resources division of the US Department of Justice. In Chicago Laura Leonard is considered “an insightful, reliable adviser” and Robert Olian gives “clear, reasoned and responsive counsel”. Kristina Nordlander practises from the Brussels office and earned plaudits not only for her “stellar” environment practice, but also for her competition work.

Eight lawyers are listed for their private funds work. Susan Lewis is a partner in the New York office and has worked on a variety of domestic and offshore public and private investment funds, including private equity funds, venture capital funds, real estate funds, and mezzanine funds. Sources describe her practice as “first-rate”. Chicago-based partner William Kerr is co-head of Sidley’s investment funds, advisers and derivatives group and is “renowned for his excellent client service and detailed legal knowledge”. In London Bruce Gardner is commended as a “very clever lawyer who is dedicated to his clients” while Scott Peterman is one source’s “first port of call” for hedge fund formation matters in Hong Kong.

Sidley’s extensive capabilities earn it multiple listings in a further 18 practice areas. Seven partners are listed in the insurance chapter, with London’s Nigel Montgomery and Chicago’s William Sneed earning particular praise for their “exceptional” work in this sector. Charles Douglas is one of six attorneys featured for their litigation practices. He recently tried a major price-fixing class action for AT&T Corporation and has extensive litigation experience in major antitrust, trade regulation, securities, product liability and commercial litigation. Sharp Sorensen is one of five listed in the tax chapter and is widely praised for his “commercial, sensible advice”.

Sidley Austin’s outstanding performance across the full spectrum of practice areas confirms its reputation as a leader amongst international full-service law firms.

Sidley Austin LLP - Professional Notice

Offices

Beijing, Brussels, Chicago,

Dallas, Frankfurt, Geneva, Hong Kong,

Houston, London, Los Angeles, New York,

Palo Alto, San Francisco, Shanghai,

Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo, Washington, DC

In 2012, Sidley is celebrating 30 years in Asia as one of the few US law firms to have maintained a continuous presence in the region for three decades. The firm has six offices in Asia-Pacific alone: Singapore, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai and Sydney, with a total of 26 partners and more than 130 other legal staff professionals. Also in 2012, Sidley opened its 18th office in Houston, Texas with the addition of seven partners coming from seven different firms in Houston. This represents a significant expansion of the firm’s service to energy-based clients.

Sidley values the recognition it has received in response to its leadership in its wide cross-section of legal services around the globe. Among these accolades, which come from professional peers, publications and industry journals and clients in numerous industries, are:

• Received the most first-tier national rankings of any US law firm in the 2011/12 US News: Best Lawyers “Best Law Firms” survey, repeating its performance in the inaugural 2010 survey

• One of just three firms to have been in the top 10 of the BTI Client Service rankings every year since the inception of those rankings in 2001

• Consistently ranks among the top global capital markets firms in the Thomson Reuters league tables

• Recognised in six categories of the Law360 Practice Groups of 2011 award series: Appellate, Bankruptcy, Class Action, Employment, Environmental and International Trade

• Named USA Law Firm of the Year and Global Trade & Customs Law Firm of the Year at the 2012 Who’s Who Legal Awards

• Named as one of the top 25 national corporate law firms in Corporate Board Member magazine’s 2011 survey of corporate directors and general counsel

• Named Competition/Regulatory Team of the Year at the 2011 The Lawyer Awards

• Named “Best North American Law Firm” in the 2011 Hedgeweek Awards

• Named as one of the top five firms in the ‘Life Sciences Super Leagues 2011” by PLC Which lawyer?

• Named by International Financial Law Review as “Most Innovative US Law Firm 2010” in its Asia Awards

• Named the US Law Firm of the Year at the ILO Client Choice Awards 2010

Main Areas of Practice

Accountants/Professional Service

Firms Liability

Antitrust/Competition

Appellate

Communications Regulatory

Complex Commercial Litigation

Corporate Governance & Compliance

Corporate Reorganisation & Bankruptcy

Emerging Companies & Venture Capital

Employee Benefits

Energy

Environmental

ERISA Litigation

Executive Compensation

Financial Institutions Regulatory

Financial Services/Consumer Class Actions

Food, Drug & Medical Device

Compliance & Enforcement

Food, Drug & Medical Device Regulatory

Global Finance

Government Strategies

Health Care

Insurance

Insurance/Reinsurance Disputes

Intellectual Property Litigation

International Arbitration

(Commercial & Treaty)

International Trade

Investment Funds, Advisers & Derivatives

Labour, Employment & Immigration

Life Sciences

M&A and D&O Litigation

M&A & Private Equity

Privacy, Data Security & Information Law

Products Liability

Project Finance & Infrastructure

Public Finance

Real Estate

SEC Enforcement

Securities

Securities & Futures Regulatory

Securities Litigation

Tax

Tax Controversy

Technology Transactions

Transportation

Trusts, Estates & Not-for-Profits

White-Collar