The Firm:
McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP (MLA) is an international law firm with more than 575 attorneys and public policy advisors in 13 offices and 11 markets. The firm is uniquely positioned at the intersection of law, business and government, representing clients in the areas of complex litigation, corporate law, energy, environment, family wealth, finance, government contracts, health care, infrastructure, insurance, intellectual property, public policy, real estate, and technology.
Principal Areas of Work:
Corporate: The Corporate department at MLA offers sophisticated guidance to clients seeking advice on a wide variety of corporate and transactional matters, ranging from the financing and structuring of public and private deals, including related tax consideration and planning, to general corporate counseling and governance. Our corporate team works closely with attorneys in other practice areas as needed, utilizing synergies to provide tactical assistance in intricate matters.
Environment, Energy & Product Regulations: MLA established its environmental practice group more than 50 years ago to counsel chemical companies, oil and gas producers, and defense contractors on the first environmental enforcement actions. With our core group of experienced attorneys and scientific specialists providing a full range of services across the U.S. and Europe, we continue our dedication to environmental counseling and litigation practices in air and water quality hazardous waste, contaminated property claims, enforcement, and chemical product regulation, we have vigorously expanded work on the most important environmental issues of our time — climate change alternative energy development, and nanotechnology.
Family Wealth & Exempt Organizations: MLA's family wealth and exempt organizations practice counsel families and individuals in their personal, financial and business dealings, design simple and complex estate plans, solve sophisticated tax problems, and identify and settle issues in estate and trust administration. Our work addresses four general areas of client concerns: estate and tax planning, the responsibilities of fiduciaries in the probate and trust process, dispute resolution in the estate and trust context, and the start-up and operation of nonprofit organizations.
Government Contracts: MLA’s Government Contracts team consists of more than 70 attorneys and professional advisors across five offices. Clients choose MLA for the breadth and depth of its experience, and its long history of achieving client’s objectives even in the most complex and difficult circumstances at a cost recognized as bringing true value. Our experience covers every aspect of Government Contracts, all government agencies and all key industry sectors — aerospace and defense, electronics, communications, IT, technical services, financial, stability operations, construction, transportation, health care, biodefense, and the life science fields. MLA operates at the intersection of business and government while producing solutions using creative and flexible strategies that ensure success
Health Care: The cross-practice health care team focuses on protecting existing client interests and anticipating strategic opportunities. Bringing together attorneys and public policy advisors from the health care regulatory, public policy, government contracts, litigation, employee benefits, tax and corporate practices, MLA’s health care team uses their diverse experience to deliver comprehensive legal and public policy services at the intersection of business and government. Our clients range from providers and managed care organizations to pharmaceutical manufacturers and technology vendors.
Intellectual Property: The highly-regarded Intellectual Property attorneys at MLA skillfully apply their legal knowledge, technical savvy and business acumen to help clients address today's unique challenges and strategically create, manage and benefit from their IP assets. Realizing that the protection of intellectual property is now a global matter, we have developed a deep knowledge and understanding of domestic and international issues. In fact, many of our attorneys have lived and worked internationally—successfully handling intellectual property matters around the world. Additionally, our paralegals are experienced in both domestic and international issues as they work closely with our IP litigators to not only provide support but manage costs as well.
Litigation: The MLA approach to litigation is tailored to the outcome that best suits the client. With offices throughout the U.S., an Brussels, and a broad range of competencies, MLA assembles the right team of litigators for each case. We provide our clients with top notch service, and our professionals are supported by the latest in sophisticated and innovative trial technologies, ensuring MLA is one step ahead. MLA litigators handle a wide-range of matters, from sophisticated business and commercial cases, class actions, and multi-district litigation, to professional liability and dispute matters. Our practice includes many attorneys with particular experience in specialty courts such as bankruptcy, the Court of Federal Claims, and the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, as well as attorneys who have the experience, skills and knowledge to represent clients before the Supreme Court, and federal and state courts across the country. MLA's litigation practice is committed to providing value by offering innovative, timely, and strategic counsel that solve the complex issues facing our clients. We focus on defending insurance companies, including the nation’s largest insurance carriers, and related entities against class actions, unfair competition suits, and lawsuits alleging bad faith or other tort theories arising out of first-party and third-party insurance claims.
Public Policy & Regulatory Affairs: MLA is a nationally recognized leader in the complex field of government affairs, as we provide our clients with a broad range of legal, governmental and political experience. MLA houses a highly acclaimed Public Policy and Regulatory Affairs practice with more than 60 attorneys and professionals, in seven offices in the U.S., and Brussels. Our bipartisan team is composed of professionals who have held public office and served as diplomats, as well as those who have previously served as staff and advisors to U.S. presidents, governors, Members of Congress, and mayors. Ranked as one of the top ten lobbying firms by Legal Times, the MLA Government Affairs team is considered a leader in government advocacy.
Real Estate: MLA’s Real Estate team offers clients a multi-disciplinary experience that spans the spectrum of real estate development, investment and finance. We assist clients with national real estate transactions from ground-up development of retail, commercial and residential projects, to lender representations in large, complex loan closings, restructurings and defaults to intricate, mixed-use development and public-private partnerships. MLA offers a full range of capabilities related to commercial, industrial, and residential real estate transactions, including representation in project lending, REIT financing, subordinated debt and construction loans; capital markets, including conduits, mezzanine, loan servicing, and assumptions; real estate development, including acquisitions and dispositions, construction, subdivisions and common interest development; loan workouts and creditors’ rights; retail, commercial, entertainment, and office leasing; economic development, including tax incentives; and land use and zoning.