Latham & Watkins

Latham & Watkins is a leading international law firm with renowned practices across a wide spectrum of transactional, litigation, corporate and regulatory areas.

The firm: Latham boasts an award-winning London office recognised for its handling of complex cross-border matters for corporates, investment banks, private equity houses and governments in the UK and throughout the world.

Types of work undertaken
Banking and leveraged finance: Latham has a leading finance practice known in the market for its unique ability to be able to transition seamlessly between all forms of senior and subordinated loan, bond, ‘bank and bond’ and hybrid capital structures. The group regularly advises arrangers, lenders, sponsors and/or other borrowers on all types of leveraged and acquisition finance whether the governing law is English, New York, French, German, Italian, Russian or Spanish.

Capital markets: Latham is one of the world’s most active capital markets firms, with vast experience representing underwriters and issuers in debt and equity financing transactions, and is recognised as a market leader in high-yield debt work. Latham’s lawyers handle rights offerings, IPOs, eurobond financings, senior note offerings, high-yield, senior secured debt, and other global equity and debt-related issues.

Derivatives: Latham’s practice is both transactional and advisory. The group acts for both financial institutions and non-financial corporate clients with respect to the full range of over-the-counter (OTC) and exchange-traded derivative products.

Dispute resolution: the London practice boasts market-leading experts who specialise in complex cross-border litigation, arbitration, public international law, intellectual property and white-collar disputes.

EU and competition: Latham’s premier competition law team operates at both EU and member state levels. In London, Latham has an extensive merger control and antitrust investigations and counselling practice. Latham is one of the few firms with a market-leading criminal cartel defence and civil antitrust litigation experience.

M&A and private equity: a market-leading practice that specialises in advising leading corporates, private equity sponsors, funds and investment banks on complex cross-border transactions.

Project finance: consistently ranked among the world’s top global projects firms, Latham’s lawyers have represented sponsors, lenders (including ECAs, IFIs, conventional and Islamic debt providers) and governments in more than 1,000 projects over the last 20 years.

Restructuring and insolvency: the top-ranking practice represents debtors and creditors on workouts, restructurings and insolvencies. Latham is one of the few firms to combine leading finance capabilities with a knowledge of the high-yield bond and private placement markets, with comprehensive cross-border restructuring expertise.

Structured finance: a diverse practice representing financial institutions and issuers on complex and ground-breaking structured finance transactions across a wide spectrum of asset types, with specialist advice on Basel II and the new Basel III framework.

Tax: Latham offers integrated, multi-jurisdictional tax capabilities, developing practical solutions to complex international tax problems, including advising on cross-border M&A, private equity and securities offerings, planning for multinationals and international tax controversies.

Technology and outsourcing: recognised for the strength of its legal and commercial expertise in expert IT outsourcings, the team counsels leading clients in relation to the acquisition, development, protection, exploitation, licensing and sale of technology.

Environmental: the practice provides advice to clients on the environmental aspects of corporate transactions, contaminated land and regulatory issues, product-related issues, environmental risk and climate change.

Investment funds: the practice advises sponsors and investors on the structuring, marketing and operation of investment funds across a variety of strategies (including buyout, growth, credit, infrastructure and real estate) and jurisdictions.

Other offices: Abu Dhabi, Barcelona, Beijing, Boston, Brussels, Century City, Chicago, Doha, Dubai, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hong Kong, Houston, Los Angeles, Madrid, Milan, Moscow, Munich, New York, Orange County, Paris, Riyadh, Rome, San Diego, San Francisco, Shanghai, Silicon Valley, Singapore, Tokyo, Washington DC