Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP

Firm Details:

Chairmen: Thomas M Cerabino, Matthew A Feldman

Total number of lawyers: Approximately 1,200

Languages: English, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Spanish

Firm Overview:

Willkie provides leading-edge legal solutions on complex, business critical issues spanning markets and industries. From relatively modest beginnings in 1888 in New York with four lawyers, we now have a coast-to-coast U.S. presence and offices in major business centers throughout Europe. Willkie has continuously attracted some of the best legal minds in the world by fostering a collegial culture; cultivating an inclusive and diverse workplace; and seeking to inspire all employees to serve as stewards for each other, our clients and the broader community.

We deliver innovative, pragmatic and sophisticated legal services across approximately 40 practice areas through our international network of the best local market talent in 13 offices worldwide. In addition to the areas of corporate/M&A; private equity; business reorganisation and restructuring; complex litigation; compliance, investigations and enforcement; antitrust and competition; asset management; and insurance, the firm’s approximately 1,200 attorneys collaborate to provide multidisciplinary advice across the areas of accounting litigation and enforcement; arbitration; capital markets; class action litigation; communications and media; corporate governance; crisis management; digital works; employment; energy; entertainment, sports and media; environment, health and safety; environmental, social and governance (ESG); ERISA litigation; executive compensation and employee benefits; finance; global trade and investment; intellectual property; IP, technology and commercial transactions; M&A litigation; media and first amendment; privacy, cybersecurity and data strategy; private clients; project finance; real estate; securities litigation and enforcement; strategic motions and appeals; structured finance and derivatives; tax; white-collar defense; and a wide range of industries.

Main Areas of Practice:

Corporate/M&A:

Working in close cooperation across offices in the US and Europe, Willkie attorneys provide advice on significant domestic M&A matters as well as complex cross-border transactions. The team represents buyers, sellers, special committees of boards, debt and equity investors and financial advisors in matters ranging from contested takeovers and management buyouts to strategic alliances, leveraged recaps and acquisitions from reorganisation proceedings. Advising both public and private companies in a broad range of industries, the team finds solutions to meet client objectives and helps clients early on in the process to identify and assess risks in a transaction. The group also regularly advises clients on relevant regulatory and judicial developments in areas such as antitrust, tax, ERISA, corporate governance and securities laws as they affect the M&A environment.

Private Equity:

Willkie represents more than 300 US and international private equity sponsors as well as portfolio companies, management teams, issuers, debt providers and financial advisors. Willkie’s 360° private equity platform provides ‘lifecycle’ legal counsel to clients: from pre-IPO consideration, planning and launch to other activities including follow-on offerings, M&A and investments. Willkie is committed to building strong relationships with clients, with many retaining the firm’s services beyond the first engagement and through their growth cycle. Willkie is one of the few major law firms to offer deep transactional, fund formation and regulatory compliance experience, combined with sector-specific knowledge and a commercial approach.

Business Reorganisation & Restructuring:

Willkie’s business reorganisation and restructuring department is an international practice with experience in all aspects of business and financial restructurings and insolvency matters. Integrated US and European restructuring professionals offer the hands-on, results-driven experience that today’s distressed situations demand. Our professionals are held in high regard for their responsiveness and proven experience in complex multilateral cross-border restructurings (both in and out of court). Willkie represents a broad spectrum of clients in the US, UK, France, Germany and other key European jurisdictions.

Complex Litigation:

Willkie litigators have won several precedent-setting victories across a wide spectrum of legal issues in courts around the US and abroad involving all substantive areas, including securities, M&A litigation, contract, intellectual property, antitrust, trade secrets, ERISA, False Claims Act, employment, RICO, and malpractice, among others. Willkie’s litigators are known for their creativity and practical approach in handling complex matters, tactical acumen, team focus, and for their deep appreciation of clients’ business needs. Willkie's is a sophisticated and diverse national and international practice representing major corporations, financial services companies, accounting firms, insurance and reinsurance companies and brokers, and individuals such as corporate officers and directors and accountants. Our record underscores Willkie’s trial-ready strengths and demonstrates not only the outstanding advocacy of our litigators but also their ability to strategically achieve their clients’ objectives. Willkie has a distinctive ability to distil complex and contested issues in a compelling way, dissect opponents’ arguments, establish credibility, and execute at trial.

Compliance, Investigations & Enforcement:

Willkie’s diverse international practice is synonymous with high-profile investigations, complex enforcement actions and high-stakes white collar cases. Our highly experienced team works on many of the largest and closely watched matters across the US, UK and Continental Europe. We represent market-leading companies, institutions and their executives across a wide range of business areas and industries in all aspects of compliance, investigations and enforcement.

Antitrust & Competition:

Willkie has a long-standing history of handling high-profile antitrust litigation, mergers and investigations. The team has represented a global client base in national and international merger filings, US and European investigations of all forms of anticompetitive activity, class action and private litigation, and business ventures in multiple jurisdictions. The team includes partners and associates in the US, UK and EU and is known for its collaboration and seamless cross-border work on behalf of clients with international and national needs across a wide spectrum of industries.

Asset Management:

Willkie’s preeminent Asset Management Department leverages comprehensive subject matter experience and capabilities across all asset classes to advise virtually all types of participants in the asset management industry, including privately owned sponsors and investment managers, publicly-traded asset management firms, broker-dealers, insurance companies, wealth management platforms, and banks, among others. With more than 110 attorneys across seven offices in the United States and Europe, Willkie’s Asset Management team advises on the full spectrum of investment management matters, including fund formations, investments, restructurings, fund financings, asset management M&A, secondaries transactions, liquidity and capital solutions, fund adoptions, and operational, compliance and regulatory issues.

* Studio Legale Delfino e Associati, operating in Italy, is affiliated with Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP.