- Managing Partner: Mark Leddy
- Number of partners worldwide: 198
- Number of other lawyers worldwide: 1200
- INTERNATIONAL OFFICES: The firm also has offices in New York, Washington DC, Hong Kong, Beijing, Buenos Aires, Sa~o Paulo, Abu Dhabi and Seoul.
Firm Overview:
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP is a distinguished international law firm widely recognised for its expertise in M&A, corporate, banking and finance, capital markets, tax, regulatory, antitrust and litigation. Founded in 1946, the firm is organised and operates as an integrated worldwide partnership. Clients include corporations, banks and other financial institutions engaged in domestic and international business, as well as sovereign governments and international organisations, individuals, private equity firms, trusts and non-profit institutions. The firm has substantial experience in the investment banking, telecommunications,pharmaceuticals, energy, automotive, industrial, e-commerce and media sectors.
Main Areas of Practice:
Mergers & Acquisitions:
Cleary Gottlieb stands as a recognised leader in mergers and acquisitions, with global experience that heightens its ability to handle cross-border transactions seamlessly. The firm is expert in representing public and private corporate acquirers and targets, private equity and leveraged buyout firms, institutional and private investors, and banks and financial advisors in negotiated and contested transactions, including mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, hostile takeovers, asset and/or stock sales and purchases, tender offers, leveraged buyouts, minority investments, corporate restructurings, and proxy contests.
Capital Markets & Finance:
Cleary Gottlieb is a world leader in US and international capital markets and finance. The firm represents issuers and all the major investment banks in all types of complex financing transactions, including international equity offerings and listings; equity-linked and debt offerings; leveraged and acquisition financings, including high yield bond offerings, mezzanine facilities and senior secured facilities; structured financings; project financings; and securitisations. The firm is also active in restructuring existing financings of corporate and sovereign clients worldwide, and advises companies on the impact of EU directives intended to create an integrated European capital market.
Competition/Antitrust:
With leading competition/antitrust lawyers practicing in most of the firm’s offices, the breadth and depth of Cleary Gottlieb’s competition/antitrust practice is unmatched. Given the growing cooperation among regulators in Europe and the United States, competition/antitrust lawyers from the firm’s different offices work closely together to meet the needs of companies with global interests. The firm advises on all aspects of EU and major European national competition laws, including merger control, market dominance and restrictive practices, and its lawyers appear regularly before the European Commission and other national competition authorities.
Litigation/Arbitration:
Cleary Gottlieb has a dynamic domestic and international litigation and arbitration practice, representing clients in matters ranging from major commercial cases to sensitive internal investigations. From the outset of each matter, litigators help to establish a litigation strategy, seek to develop creative solutions, and advise on the best course of action to assist clients in achieving their legal and business goals. While the objective is often dispute avoidance, the firm works with clients to determine when they should utilise proactive strategies – litigation, arbitration or mediation – and advises themon the risks and likelihood of success with each course of action.
Tax:
Cleary Gottlieb’s Tax Practice enjoys a worldwide reputation for tax planning; providing domestic and cross-border solutions related to public and private mergers and acquisitions, corporate reorganisations, joint ventures, and business sales; designing innovative financial products and global financial business structures; resolving difficult tax controversies; and offering state-of-the-art analyses of legislative developments. The group includes internationally recognised experts in Belgian, UK, French, German, Italian and US tax law.
Intellectual Property:
The firm-wide Intellectual Property Practice advises clients worldwide on all aspects of IP matters, including the protection and exploitation of patents, trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets and design and database rights. Working alongside the firm’s complementary expertise in corporate, tax, competition/antitrust, restructuring, arbitration and litigation matters, IP lawyers anticipate and meet the challenges of protecting and exploiting these intellectual property rights.
International Work:
Cleary Gottlieb’s long history in Europe began with the firm advising Jean Monnet, the chief architect of the European Community, on the implementation of the Marshall Plan and the development of the Treaties of the European Communities. In 1949,Cleary Gottlieb opened an office in Paris, the first step in the development of its international capability. At about the same time, the firm made the decision to recruit and train local European lawyers who had received a portion of their legal training in the United States. The decision to make these lawyers a part of the firm as equal partners gave Cleary Gottlieb a unique dimension in terms of its international presence. Today, the European Practice comprises aproximately 500 lawyers,many of who are dualqualified and admitted to practice in leading European jurisdictions and in the US.
Recent matters include advising:
• The Hellenic Republic (Greece) in the largestever bond exchange and the largest-ever sovereign debt restructuring
• Rosneft in its $55 billion acquisition of Russia’s third-largest oil company TNK-BP, a joint venture between BP and the Alfa Access Renova Consortium
• Dexia in the proposed E5.5 billion recapitalisation of Dexia SA by the Belgian and French states
• The Central Bank of Russia and Sberbank of Russia in connection with the $5.2 billion secondary public offering of Sberbank shares
• Western Digital in securing EU antitrust clearance for its $4.8 billion acquisition of Hitachi’s hard disk drive business
• Lafarge in its 50:50 UK joint venture with Anglo American
• The Republic of Iraq in successfully defending its sovereign immunity in the UK Supreme Court