Taft

Chairman and Managing Partner: Robert J. Hicks

Number of lawyers: 1,000

Firm Overview:

Established in 1885, Taft is a nationally recognized law firm with over 1,000 attorneys and offices in Chicago, Illinois; Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, and Delaware, Ohio; Denver and Colorado Springs, Colorado; Detroit and Southfield, Michigan; Minneapolis, Minnesota.; Indianapolis, Indiana; Covington, Kentucky; Phoenix, Arizona; and Washington, D.C.

Taft attorneys serve individuals and businesses worldwide in both mature and emerging industries.

Main Areas of Practice:

Business:

Represents national and multi-national public and private companies, as well as financial sponsors, financial institutions, governmental entities, and non-profit entities, in connection with domestic and cross-border transactions, governance, securities and regulatory matters, and their day-to-day legal needs.

Bankruptcy and Restructuring:

Represents debtors, lenders, committees, suppliers, real estate owners and developers, equipment lessors, receivers, trustees, buyers and sellers, and other parties in connection with a wide assortment of transactions and litigation.

Lending and Finance:

Represents borrowers, as well as non-traditional lenders, on needs, including both senior and mezzanine acquisition finance, asset-based lending, working capital and equipment finance, real estate finance, and public finance.

Domestic Relations:

Represents clients in all aspects of family law matters, including divorce, dissolution of marriage, custody, and premarital agreements.

Energy:

Provides full-service representation to a broad range of energy providers, public utilities, transmission-only utilities, independent power producers, developers, regional entities, and other energy-sector participants.

Environmental:

Provides litigation, counseling, and dispute resolution services for clients related to local, state, regional, and federal environmental laws, as well as emerging issues.

Gaming:

Offers comprehensive legal services to a wide range of clients involved in all aspects of the gaming industry throughout North America and worldwide.

Government Contracts:

Represents Fortune 100, entrepreneurial, privately-held, non-profit, and governmental clients in all aspects of the procurement process, including contract formation, performance and administration, payment, and dispute resolution.

Health Care and Life Sciences:

Advises individual and institutional health care providers, research institutions, and pharmaceutical, medical device, and biotech clients in multiple areas of law.

Higher Education:

Represents education institutions in many of the substantive areas that impact the industry, including administrative and corporate matters, regulatory compliance, intellectual property, employment and labor/faculty and student issues, charitable planning, foundations and asset management, student housing, real estate, land use, construction, and academic medical centers.

Intellectual Property:

Counsels and assists clients with patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, intellectual property, and pharmaceutical and life sciences litigation, including Hatch-Waxman litigation, biosimilars, computer software, and internet-related issues.

Employment and Labor Relations:

Represents clients in a wide range of legal services, including labor management relations, employment litigation, benefit plans and ERISA compliance, workplace safety and health, immigration and citizenship, and workers’ compensation.

Litigation:

Represents clients in all phases of litigation in federal and state courts, before regulatory agencies and arbitration panels, and in alternative dispute resolution in a full range of matters, including antitrust, appellate, bankruptcy, construction, ERISA, education, estates, trusts and fiduciary, FCPA and international anti-corruption, First Amendment and media law, government contracts, insurance, patent, pharmaceutical and life sciences, product liability and personal injury, securities, sports, and corporate compliance and white collar criminal defense.

Mergers and Acquisitions:

Represents strategic and financial buyers, as well as sellers, in domestic and cross-border acquisitions and divestitures and related acquisition financing transactions. Guides clients on tax, securities, antitrust, employment, labor, environmental, intellectual property, and other aspects of negotiated acquisitions.

Private Client:

Counsels owners of closely-held businesses in establishing organizational structures to satisfy current and long-term needs and to plan for the smooth and tax-effective transfer of the business to the next generation.

Private Equity:

Represents private equity funds and other sponsors in connection with fund formation and capital raising and negotiating and completing portfolio company exits. Represents portfolio companies with respect to their general legal needs and limited partners in evaluating and completing fund investments. Also works with lenders, including mezzanine funds, in their investments and represents management teams of companies undergoing change of control transactions in their equity rollover and compensation matters.

Real Estate:

Represents clients in all facets of real estate, including acquisition and development, leasing, financing, construction and management agreements, land use issues, tax disputes and appeals, litigation, arbitration and mediation, and environmental concerns.

Tax:

Represents public corporations, financial institutions, domestic joint ventures, new business ventures, nonprofit and tax-exempt organizations, and individuals in tax matters such as business transactions, employee benefits and executive compensation, international taxation, mergers and acquisitions, state and local tax, and tax controversy and litigation.

Venture Capital:

Represents venture fund clients through the entire venture capital growth cycle, from fund formation, new money investments, follow-on and secondary financings, and refinancings to IPOs and strategic and exit transactions, supporting its clients as they pursue portfolio company investments.

International Work:

Represents a number of U.S. companies with operations and activities abroad and foreign enterprises that do business in the U.S.