Sidley Austin LLP > Washington DC, United States > Firm Profile

Sidley Austin LLP > The Legal 500 Rankings

M&A/corporate and commercial > Shareholder activism Tier 1

Clients appreciate the ‘extremely nuanced‘ advice from the team at Sidley Austin LLP, which handles the gamut of shareholder activism matters for board members. One client dubs leadership duo Kai Liekefett and Derek Zaba ‘two of the best lawyers in America‘, lauded for ‘their ability to see around all dangerous corners and guide corporate strategy to the most successful outcome‘. Liekefett is based in New York and focuses exclusively on shareholder activism and takeover defense. In two decades of practice, he has worked in the UK, Germany, Hong Kong, and Japan, and is one of the most prolific advisors on proxy contests, including a high percentage of the market’s late-stage contests. Zaba, who is based at the Palo Alto office, also fully dedicates his practice to shareholder activism and has quickly established himself as one of the go-to lawyers in the field. Beth Berg (Chicago) is a senior figure with broad corporate law expertise, younger partners Leonard Wood (Houston) and Jessica Wood (New York) are also active in the shareholder activism space, and the New York office was further bolstered in January 2024 by the promotion to partner of Reuben Zaramian, who focuses on shareholder activism and corporate governance.

Dispute resolution > Appellate: courts of appeals / Appellate: supreme courts (states and federal)

Dispute resolution > Product liability, mass tort and class action - defense: consumer products (including tobacco) Tier 3

Environment > Environment: transactional Tier 3

Finance > Structured finance: securitization Tier 3

Media, technology and telecoms > Cyber law (including data privacy and data protection) Tier 3

The privacy and cybersecurity team at Sidley Austin LLP leverages its data breach incident response experience to offer proactive breach counseling, compliance advice and support in government investigations. The Washington DC-based team is co-headed by David Lashway and Alan Charles Raul; Lashway is noted for his cybersecurity expertise, including crisis management, misinformation and trade secret theft, while Raul advises a range of tech, telecom, software and financial clients experiencing major cyber and privacy incidents, bolstered by his experience in government work. Colleen Theresa Brown is a go-to for litigation and regulatory defense, alongside assessing the privacy and cyber risk in data-heavy acquisitions. John Woods is recommended for cyber resilience advice and data governance matters. Sean Royall departed the team in August 2023.

Finance > Capital markets: equity offerings

Latin America: International firms > International arbitration Tier 4

Sidley Austin LLP has maintained its solid presence in the market. It has a good mix of investor-state and commercial arbitration engagements, with the emphasis now on representing investors and private businesses, as opposed to states. The practice is noted for energy sector cases, including in Mexico and Peru, and increasingly represents investment funds in contentious Latin America matters. The team has a number of Spanish speakers including native Spanish speaker Simon Navarro; and Martin Jackson, a commercial litigator by background who has developed into an important figure in the international arbitration practice. Splitting his time between New York and Singapore, Tai-Heng Cheng is co-head of the international arbitration group and provides further senior firepower in Latin America cases. Named individuals are based in New York unless stated otherwise. Jennifer Haworth McCandless and former managing associate María Carolina Durán have left the firm.