Latham & Watkins
Client SatisfactionLatham & Watkins’ ECM team excels at handling cross-border work, with a strong and consistent record of advising large corporates as well as major banks such as JP Morgan on global IPOs and secondary placings, reverse takeovers, and demerger transactions. The London team regularly collaborates with the firm’s international partners to guide clients through listings on the LSE, NYSE, and European exchanges, and it is particularly well-regarded for its work with IPO candidates in the tech and renewable energy sectors. Banking clients furthermore benefit from the team’s ability to offer integrated advice on transactional and financial regulatory issues. James Inness regularly advises on London IPOs and co-heads the team with US securities and M&A expert Mark Austin, who joined the firm from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP in June 2023. Further key contacts include Chris Horton, who is well-regarded for his expertise in public M&A and SPAC transactions, and Anna Ngo, who handles a varied caseload of primary and secondary offerings.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
- 'The L&W team have the expertise, experience and capability to complete complex transactions.'
- 'An incredibly strong partner-led team who are market leaders.'
- 'The team at Latham have deep experience in public markets, with this being further expanded with the addition of Mark Austin.'
- 'I have found the partners (notably James Inness) to be engaged with transactions and the associates to have good levels of knowledge, while also not being afraid to take items away where these fall outside their area of expertise.'
Key clients
- Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings plc
- Diversified Energy Company plc
- JP Morgan Chase
- Bavarian Nordic
- RBC Capital Markets
- Morgan Stanley
- Deutsche Bank AG
- CitiGroup
- SNB Capital
- Goldman Sachs
- SolGold Plc
- EuroGroup Laminations
- Abcam plc
- Bank of America Merrill Lynch
- BenevolentAI
- Darktrace
- Jefferies
- Numis
- TI Fluid Systems
- UBS
- YouGov
- 888 Holdings plc
Work highlights
- Advised Diversified Energy Company plc, a premium listed company on the London Stock Exchange, on its direct listing on the New York Stock Exchange.
- Advised JP Morgan and a British multinational universal bank as joint bookrunners in connection with a non-pre-emptive placing of new ordinary shares in the capital of Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings plc.
- Advised SolGold plc, an emerging copper-gold major and exploration company focused on the discovery, definition and development of its copper-gold deposits in Ecuador, on the placing of 180m new ordinary shares in SolGold plc to four investors, including Jiangxi Copper (Hong Kong) Investment Company Limited and two directors, using a JerseyCo cashbox structure.
Lawyers
Hall of Fame
The lawyers at the very top of the profession, widely known and respected by peers and clients for their longstanding involvement in market-leading work.
Leading partners
The strongest partners in their field, leading on market-leading deals and endorsed by peers and clients alike.
Next Generation Partners
Junior partners with significant recognition from clients and peers in the market and key roles on multiple matters.
Practice head
The lawyer(s) leading their teams.
James Inness, Mark Austin