The corporate practice at A&O Shearman offers a ‘high quality’ and ’seamless service’ to clients across a range of sectors including financial services, retail, life sciences, gaming, engineering and information management. The practice has a strong international footprint and this has been further strengthened with the opening of a new office in Boston. The team regularly assists listed corporates in an array of matters including acquisitions, joint ventures, divestments, restructurings, risk management, carve outs and asset sales. Team head Dominic Morris specialises in domestic and international M&A, equity offerings, privatisations, public takeover bids and joint ventures for outbound US corporates. Richard Browne regularly handles public takeover bids, auctions and other purchases for clients. Public takeover expert Seth Jones, previously seconded to the Takeover Panel, has acted in market leading public M&A transactions. Entrusted by UK plcs and North American clients to assist with public and private M&A and equity capital markets in the financial services and infrastructure space is Richard Evans. ‘Go-to’ lawyer in the life sciences sector, Matthew Appleton, energy and natural resources specialist John Geraghty and financial institutions focused Duncan Bellamy , whose recent engagements include advising the Royal Bank of Canada on the acquisition of HSBC Bank Canada, are also recommended. Corporate finance expert Claire Coppel and Alex Tilley handle a range of corporate transactions and advise on corporate governance matters. Annabelle Croker and the very experienced David Broadley and Jeremy Parr are other key lawyers. Harsh Pais joined the London team in August 2022 to head the India Corporate practice, bringing energy, technology and financial services expertise and experience from working in the New York and Indian M&A markets. Following the merger with Shearman & Sterling, the team now includes Paul Strecker, who is qualified to practice in England & Wales, New York, California and Hong Kong, as well as Nick Withers and Maegen Morrison.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
‘Seamless service with consistent high-quality across multiple jurisdictions, while maintaining a close relationship. One of the few teams in the market who really listen to clients' needs and adapt.’
‘Matthew Appleton is the go-to person in pharma asset deals. He is extremely people oriented which helps to progress negotiations. He "reads the room" like no one else.’
Key clients
- Marks & Spencer plc
- Man Group plc
- OpenText Inc
- Imperial Brands plc
- Sage plc
- Pennon plc
- TP ICAP plc
- Reckitt plc
- Exponent
- Brookfield
Work highlights
- Advised RBC on its acquisition of 100% of the common shares of HSBC Canada for an all-cash purchase price of USD13.5bn.
- Advised OpenText, the Canada-based software company providing enterprise software, on its recommended £5bn cash offer to acquire the share capital of Micro Focus International plc.
- Advised Repsol on the sale of 25% of its upstream business to U.S. institutional investor EIG. The transaction has a value of $4.8bn and covers more than ten jurisdictions globally.
Lawyers
Hall of Fame
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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.
Dominic Morris