Sidley Austin LLP

Sidley Austin LLP is a premier law firm with a practice highly attuned to the ever-changing international landscape. The firm has built a reputation for being an adviser for global business, with over 1,900 lawyers in 20 offices worldwide.

The firm: Sidley’s office in London, its largest in Europe, has served clients in the London market since 1974. The firm gained a significant advantage in 1994 when it began offering English law advice in addition to US legal advice. Having lawyers qualified to practise in both jurisdictions for more than 20 years has enhanced its reputation for assisting global businesses and governments across a variety of industries. The firm’s culture of teamwork and collaboration helps the London office to assist clients across a myriad of legal disciplines and to harness the talents of Sidley’s lawyers worldwide.

English law is frequently chosen as the governing law in cross-border transactions spanning Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and the Americas. The firm’s London office is its hub for co-ordinating such projects. Sidley’s clients in London include the world’s leading financial institutions, funds, FTSE 100 and Fortune 500 companies.

Types of work undertaken
Capital markets: the firm offers both English and US law advice on debt, equity and equity-linked securities transactions, acting for issuers, underwriters and other market participants. The firm’s capabilities extend to hybrid capital transactions, IPOs, restructurings and related liability management transactions.

Competition/antitrust: the firm’s team assists clients with all types of competition matters, including global merger clearances, antitrust investigations by UK and EU authorities, EU state aid cases and litigation before the European and English courts, as well as counselling, compliance and policy projects.

M&A and private equity: the firm advises on all corporate and commercial matters, including M&A (public and private and, in particular, cross-border deals), joint ventures, labour and employment, corporate governance, principal finance and structured investments. The team also fields significant experience advising private equity sponsors across the broad spectrum of private equity transactions, from high-value leveraged buyouts (LBOs) to growth equity investments in emerging market companies.

Corporate reorganisation and bankruptcy: the firm’s capabilities extend to court-supervised proceedings in England and Wales, the US, and Asia as well as out-of-court workouts and complex restructurings throughout the world.

Dispute resolution: the firm’s team acts on high-value multi-jurisdictional commercial disputes. It handles litigation and international arbitration and assists companies with internal and government investigations, regulatory compliance and product liability issues.

Finance: the firm represents clients throughout the creation, management, restructuring and termination of various structured finance, securitisation and derivative transactions. The firm is known for its innovative approach, its cross-border experience and its familiarity with complex finance structures.

Insurance: the firm’s team advises on a wide range of transactional and regulatory insurance and reinsurance matters, including M&A, insurance-linked securities, longevity risk transfer, distribution, insurance business transfers, restructurings and capital raising.

Investment funds: the firm advises on all aspects of the structure and operation of hedge funds, venture capital, private equity and real estate funds and other ‘alternative’ investment products. The firm is also a leader in advising on the regulatory regimes applicable to funds operating in Europe.

Regulatory: the firm’s lawyers advise banks, investment managers, securities firms, insurance companies, payment service providers and their intermediaries on UK and EU financial services regulation.

Privacy and data security: the firm advises clients across all business and industry sectors on UK and EU privacy, data protection, cybersecurity and e-commerce issues.

Tax: the firm’s team advises on the UK and international tax aspects of mergers and acquisitions, restructuring and insolvency, capital markets, banking and structured finance, and international investment funds, as well as the resolution of tax controversies, including tax-related litigation.

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