Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP

Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP is widely recognised as one of the preeminent law firms in the world. Each of the firm’s practices is highly regarded and its lawyers are recognised for their commitment to the representation of their clients’ interests in the US and throughout the world. Cravath was founded in 1819 and maintains offices in New York, London and Washington, D.C.

Main Areas of Practice:

Corporate:

Cravath’s work with many of the world’s most significant companies has enabled it to develop a broad-based corporate practice. Clients repeatedly choose Cravath for their largest and most complex matters. The firm’s corporate lawyers advise companies in a diverse range of M&A transactions, including mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, spin-offs and joint ventures, as well as hostile takeovers and the defence of companies and boards of directors against shareholder activists. Cravath’s global private equity practice advises private equity firms and their portfolio companies on all aspects of private equity investing. The firm serves as a trusted advisor and sophisticated business partner to participants across the global investment management and funds ecosystem. Cravath has a preeminent capital markets practice, representing issuers and investment banks in all types of US and non-US offerings. The firm’s commercial banking lawyers regularly represent major financial institutions and borrowers on acquisition financings and lending transactions ranging from routine working capital facilities to multicurrency, multijurisdictional and highly structured financings. Cravath provides corporate governance advice to clients facing difficult choices and evaluates complex and often unprecedented transactions under the most demanding circumstances. Cravath’s bank regulatory practice counsels banks and other financial institutions in connection with domestic and cross-border transactional, regulatory, supervisory, enforcement and governance matters. The firm’s restructuring practice addresses a wide range of financial distress situations involving debtor and creditor side engagements, distressed M&A (in court and out of court), debtor‑in‑possession (DIP) and exit financing. Cravath’s corporate IP lawyers advise clients in connection with issues relating to patents, trademarks, copyrights, data, trade secrets, privacy and information security. The firm’s highly regarded environmental lawyers work with the firm’s clients on environmental issues across a broad range of business transactions, and on matters associated with ESG, sustainability concerns and climate change.

Tax:

Cravath’s elite tax department designs tax‑efficient structures for an array of complex U.S. and non‑U.S. matters involving mergers, spin-offs and corporate separations, private equity, investment management and funds, and early-stage companies and venture capital funds.

Executive Compensation & Benefits:

Cravath’s ECB department brings experience and judgment to its clients’ employee benefits and compensation matters, which are often central concerns in corporate transactions. The firm’s ECB lawyers advise companies, boards of directors, compensation committees and members of senior management in a variety of compensation and benefit arrangements as well as legal compliance concerns.

Litigation:

Clients turn to Cravath to handle their most significant and sensitive disputes and investigations across a broad range of practice areas and industries. The firm’s litigators are routinely called upon to represent clients in trials and appeals in federal and state courts, in domestic and international arbitrations, before administrative agencies and regulatory authorities and in many other types of proceedings, including internal and government investigations and enforcement actions. The firm has extensive experience in such diverse areas of the law as antitrust, bankruptcy, corporate governance, employment, general commercial, IP, investigations and regulatory enforcement, M&A and securities. Companies, boards and board committees regularly rely on the firm to handle contested transactions and guide them through the intricacies of shareholder litigation and investigations, as well as complying with applicable laws and regulations. In addition to handling antitrust litigation, the firm advises on business conduct or potential investments to ensure compliance with antitrust laws and represents clients in securing regulatory approvals. With respect to IP, the firm handles critical litigation involving patents, trade secrets, copyright and trademarks in industries as wide-ranging as technology, pharmaceuticals and financial services. Cravath also frequently advises clients on national and worldwide IP strategy and the identification of IP assets that can be used effectively for offensive or defensive purposes. In the area of securities litigation, the firm is widely recognised for handling complex and often precedent-setting cases on behalf of issuers, financial institutions and audit firms. Its white collar team of seasoned litigators and corporate advisory lawyers brings extensive experience from the government and private sectors to a wide variety of investigations, disputes and corporate matters.

Trusts & Estates:

The firm’s trusts and estates lawyers have served as legal counsel, advisors and trustees to several generations of families who built many of the world’s most important businesses. The firm’s lawyers work closely with US and non-US private clients to realize their estate planning and philanthropic goals by advising them on the creation and administration of trusts, estates and charitable foundations.

International Work:

Each of Cravath’s practice areas has a strong international focus, and more than one-third of its clients are based outside the United States. The firm’s lawyers work on a diverse range of matters and regularly advise on a variety of capital markets, M&A, general corporate, commercial banking and SEC compliance matters. Cravath lawyers often work closely with leading law firms in Europe and elsewhere, providing advice on complex transactions that require extensive knowledge of and experience in the laws of multiple jurisdictions. The firm represents clients in litigation in US courts and in arbitrations and investigations conducted throughout the world.

London:

Clients rely on Cravath’s London office for our unparalleled reputation for excellence in legal services and the depth of our U.S. bench, which is one of the largest in London. Our London‑based lawyers include UK-qualified attorneys who advise clients across Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia on both the bank and bond aspects of European and cross‑border financings. Our diversified corporate practice encompasses the full spectrum of U.S. and cross‑border bank and bond financings; mergers and acquisitions; regulatory and SEC compliance matters; restructurings; investigations; and general corporate matters.

Our capital markets practice is distinctive for its balanced representation of both corporate issuers and investment banks in connection with high‑yield and investment grade bond offerings, IPOs and other equity offerings, both on an SEC‑registered basis as well as pursuant to Rule 144A and RegulationS. We also represent financial institutions and alternative lenders, corporate borrowers and private equity sponsors in a wide range of bank and credit transactions, including leveraged and investment grade bridge and acquisition financings, direct lending transactions and distressed financings. Our work with large multinational and international companies, many of whom have retained us from their inception, has enabled us to develop a uniquely broad-based practice.

Our London office regularly handles the type of complex, novel and high-profile transactions that form the core of Cravath’s specialty and strength. We have led many of the largest high‑yield bond financings in Europe and the first buyouts in France and Italy financed primarily with high-yield bonds in addition to introducing “pay-in-kind” (PIK) instruments in Europe and advising on the first out-of-court restructuring of high‑yield bonds issued by a European company. Cravath’s London lawyers have also advised on many significant recent acquisition financings and cross‑border deals, creating new global leaders and transforming industries. We are also among a select group of legal advisors internationally, leading IPOs of companies based in Belgium, France, Germany, India, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, among others.

Many of our London-based attorneys have multiple language fluencies to better assist international clients and foreign counsel in our global practice. In addition, we work closely with the leading law firms in other jurisdictions, enhancing ourglobal reachto address our clients’ needs wherever they may arise.