Profile
Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner (BCLP) is an international, fully integrated, 1,275-lawyer AmLaw100 law firm with offices in 31 locations across North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
Built from the start to be ‘one firm’ with high connectivity and client facing culture, the new firm is known for its relationship-driven and collaborative spirit. It also capitalises on the heritage of both legacy firms’ reputation for industry-shaping innovation. Now structured around a series of enhanced and global capabilities, the firm offers clients one of the most active M&A, real estate, financial services, litigation and corporate risk practices in the world.
BCLP’s expertise covers all aspects of commercial law; antitrust and competition; construction, engineering and procurement; corporate finance; dispute resolution; employment; pensions and incentives; finance; intellectual property; private client; real estate and infrastructure; regulatory and compliance; restructuring and insolvency; and tax.
BCLP’s client base includes publicly held multinational corporations, large and mid-sized privately held companies, emerging companies, not-for-profit organisations, government entities and individuals. 35% of Fortune 500 companies rely on the firm to protect their interests and support their critical business needs and 30 of the world’s top 50 banks have relied on BCLP. The cumulative deal value of real estate projects the firm has advised on in the last two years exceeds $75bn.
BCLP has been named the “World’s Most Innovative Law Firm” multiple times by leading legal publications and institutions on both sides of the Atlantic because we continually strive to deliver top-quality legal services in a novel manner. Collaboratively, BCLP’s in-house technologists, process engineers, legal operations specialists, data analysts, and lawyers, drive efficiency by embedding technology, process improvement, and right-sourced labour into every aspect of the legal services we provide to our clients.
BCLP was named a winner in Law.com’s 2023 International Legal Innovation Awards in the category of Knowledge Management Innovation. The firm was recognized for BCLP Discover, a smart search platform which provides lawyers with access to all matter documents and data over the last10 years, tagged knowledge documents, closing binders, U.S. court filings. Discover brings together a number of core systems in one place, making it easier to find and share legal resources, precedent material and expertise across BCLP, and connects document and matter information in new ways.
As the legal market continues to evolve, and client needs change with it, BCLP continues to invest in equipping our lawyers the innovation skills and behaviours needed to provide peerless client service. This includes dedicated trainee and associate secondment programmes; training in innovation skills including service design, process improvement, change management, and innovation strategy; and more. Additionally, BCLP invests significantly in trialling and adopting innovative new commercial LegalTech that materially improves the quality and cost effectiveness of our legal service delivery, including (in 2022 alone) Orbital Witness, StructureFlow, LitiGate, and Legatics, along with a pipeline of several others under evaluation.
Diversity and inclusivity: BCLP brings diversity and inclusivity into every aspect of its work and culture, fostering an environment where everybody feels valued, motivated and able to be themselves. In 2021 the firm appointed Daisy Reeves as its inaugural Global I&D Client Relationship Partner across its 30 international offices. This role is a first-of-its-kind in the legal industry – BCLP is the only firm that has a dedicated partner working pro-bono with clients to develop and collaborate around diversity efforts.
For the 15th consecutive year, BCLP earned a score of 100% on the Human Rights Campaign Foundation Corporate reflecting their best practice approach to diversity and policies for LGBT lawyers. This year, BCLP was recognised with the McDonald’s EMPOWER award for the firm’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. BCLP’s former UK Office Managing Partner, Segun Osuntokun, was named ‘Inspirational Leader of the Year’ at UK Ethnicity Awards 2021 and UK’s Black Powerlist 2021.
Principal areas of work
Corporate
- Employee benefits and executive compensation
- Funds and investment management
- International trade
- M&A and corporate finance
- Finance
- Outsourcing and business services
- Private equity
- Public policy and government affairs
- Securities and corporate governance
- Tax advice and controversy
- Technology and commercial
Finance
- Banking
- Financial regulation
- Fintech
- Restructuring and insolvency
- Structured finance
- Transport and asset finance
Litigation and corporate risk
- Antitrust and competition
- Class actions
- Commercial disputes
- Construction disputes
- Cyber security and data protection
- Employment and labour
- Financial regulation
- Intellectual property
- International arbitration
- Investigations and white-collar
- Product liability
Real estate
- Commercial construction and engineering
- Commercial real estate
- Leasing and corporate services
- Planning and environment
- Real estate private equity and investments
- Real estate finance
- Real estate tax
- Real estate development
- Real estate and construction disputes
- Real estate structuring and insolvency
- Real estate funds
UK offices: London, Manchester, Southampton
US offices: Atlanta, Boulder, Charlotte, Chicago, Colorado Springs, Dallas, Denver, Irvine, Jefferson City, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Phoenix, San Francisco, St. Louis, Seattle, and Washington.
Europe offices: Berlin, Brussels, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Paris
Asia offices: Hong Kong, Singapore
Middle East offices: Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Tel Aviv
Contacts:
Co-Chairs: Steve Baumer
Managing Partner, London: Jinal Shah
Antitrust & Competition: Andrew Hockley
Asset Finance: Russell Clifford
Aviation: Jamie Wiseman-Clarke
Banking & Capital Markets: Emma Howdle-Fuller
Betting & Gaming: Jeremy Bark
Commercial Construction: Gareth Stringer
Commercial Contracts: Richard Shaw
Contentious Construction: Shy Jackson
Data Privacy and Security: Kate Brimsted, Geraldine Scali
Defamation and Reputation Management: Graham Shear
Employment & Labour: Adam Lambert
Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation: David Dennison
Energy & Infrastructure: Adam Dann, Mark Richards, James Clarke
Financial Services: Polly James
Food, Health & Safety Law: Jeremy Bark
Fraud: Segun Osuntokun
Hotels, Hospitality and Leisure: Laura Wild
Insurance/Reinsurance: Jonathan Sacher, Anthony Lennox
Insurance Corporate Regulatory: Adam Bogdanor, Geraldine Quirk
Intellectual Property: Marcus Pearl
International Arbitration: George Burn
Investment Funds: Kieran Saunders
Licensing: Jeremy Bark
M&A and Corporate Finance: Benjamin Lee
Outsourcing: Marcus Pearl
Projects: PFI/PPP: Mark Richards
Planning: Tim Hellier
Private Equity: Simon Beddow
Real Estate: Chris de Pury, Samant Narula
Real Estate Disputes: Akhil Markanday
Real Estate Finance: Naveen Vijh
Retail and Consumer Products: Carol Osborne
Restructuring and Insolvency: Colin Ashford, Richard Obank, Mark Trottier
IT and Telecoms: Marcus Pearl
Sport: Graham Shear
Tax Corporate, International, Contentious: Elizabeth Bradley, Kate Ison
Technology & Commercial: Richard Shaw, Marcus Pearl
Transport: Russell Clifford
VAT: Alan Sinyor
Water: Aidan Thomson, Andrew Hockley
Offices
This content is provided by Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP. Learn more about our methodology
Web: www.bclplaw.com
Tel: (020) 3400 1000
Fax: (020) 3400 1111
London
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