JD Journal » Barclays Capital

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe Adds Pair of Expert Financial Services Regulatory Attorneys in London Office

rebneely — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 08:00:43 +0000

The law firm of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP announced in recent days that Sam Millar and Tony Katz, both financial services regulatory experts, joined the firm as partners in its London office.

Millar and Katz both join from Liquid Capital Group; Millar served as General Counsel and Katz served as Group Head of Compliance.

Anne O’Neill, head of Orrick’s London office was quoted as saying in a press release at the firm’s website: “Financial institutions comprise more than one-third of Orrick’s practice globally and this addition responds to our clients’ increasing demand for seamless global regulatory and dispute resolution advice.”

Orrick has successfully litigated many of the defining issues arising out of the financial crises on behalf of clients such as Barclays Capital, Credit Suisse, Bank of America and Morgan Stanley, and has market-leading financial institutions practices in a variety of areas including capital markets, project finance, and structured finance.

Both Millar and Katz have significant experience advising leading financial institutions and funds and FTSE listed companies in contentious and non-contentious matters, including regulatory investigations and commercial litigation.

For four years, Katz served at the Financial Services Authority as a Manager in the Retail Policy and Conduct Risk Division. At Liquid Capital Group, the global options market making firm and a long-time Orrick client in London, Millar and Katz guided the firm’s expansion and restructuring in London, Paris, Frankfurt, Stockholm, Hong Kong, Chicago and New York. The pair’s non-contentious work includes supervisory inquiries, assisting and managing relationships with exchanges and regulators, compliance systems, strategic advice and reviews, internal investigations, and financial services related agreements and employment advice.

Millar started his legal career with Ashurst and Jones Day; this included a secondment to Goldman Sachs International. He studied law at Cambridge University, and has an LLM from the University of Illinois as a Fulbright Commission Travel Scholar. He also served as a Judicial Assistant at the Court of Appeal of England and Wales.

Katz began his career in South Africa at Edward Nathan Sonnenberg. He then practiced in London with Slaughter and May for six years before serving with the FSA. He received a BBusSc, with honors, and an LLB from the University of Cape Town.

A leading global law firm with offices spanning the United States, Europe and Asia, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP has over 1,200 lawyers across 23 offices and 8 countries, and offers practices of the highest quality, including a mix of transactional, litigation and regulatory expertise.

Chambers & Partners ranks Orrick’s lawyers and its practices among the world’s finest. The 2011 Chambers Global profiles Orrick’s strengths across 37 practice areas and 11 markets, and names 60 Orrick lawyers as leading practitioners worldwide. Law 360 recently recognized Orrick among its “Global 20,” a list of the most successful firms as measured by US and international expansion and results achieved for clients. In addition, The Financial Times includes Orrick on its list of the most innovative U.S.-origin law firms, recognizing the firm’s finance and litigation work.

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP Adds Five Partners to NY Acquisition Finance Practice

rebneely — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 10:33:03 +0000

In recent days, the law firm of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP announced that five bank finance and high yield partners have joined its existing New York acquisition finance practice.

The partners include Ronan M. Wicks and Patrick J. Flanagan, formerly partners at Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP in New York, Bruce Czachor, formerly a partner at Shearman & Sterling LLP in New York, Julian S.H. Chung, formerly a partner at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP in New York, and Jason D. White, head of the leveraged and high grade finance and credit restructuring practices in the Americas for the legal department of Barclays Capital.

The partners have joined Orrick’s acquisition finance practice group; Ronan Wicks will serve as global co-head.

Wicks, Flanagan, Czachor, Chung and White regularly represent a cross section of major investment banks in sophisticated financing and restructuring transactions involving financial sponsors, leveraged corporates and investment grade companies. Clients have included Barclays Capital, Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley, Citibank, and Bank of America.

Orrick’s client base of financial institutions accounts for over one-third of the firm’s total revenues. With the addition of these partners, the firm has added significant acquisition finance capability to its leading financial institution practices in the areas of project finance, infrastructure finance, structured finance, public finance, capital markets, tax, and litigation.

Ralph Baxter, Chairman and CEO of Orrick was quoted as saying in a press release at the firm’s website: “We are delighted to assemble this team of leading practitioners in the area of acquisition finance. This move adds another strong dimension to our representation of major investment banks and financial institutions, both in New York and globally.”

Ralph Baxter has held the position of Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP since 1990. Under his leadership, the firm has become known as an innovator, and has expanded, diversified and extended its geographic reach, as well as launched a variety of transformative initiatives, including the firm’s new talent and pricing models.

Recognized as one of America’s “100 Most Influential Lawyers” by The National Law Journal, Baxter speaks frequently on business leadership and the evolution of the legal profession. He is the founder of the Law Firm Leaders Forum, one of the most significant gatherings of law firm leaders annually examining critical issues facing the legal profession.

Chambers & Partners ranks Orrick’s lawyers and its practices among the world’s finest. The 2011 Chambers Global profiles Orrick’s strengths across 37 practice areas and 11 markets, and names 60 Orrick lawyers as leading practitioners worldwide. Law 360 recently named Orrick among its “Global 20,” a list of the most successful firms as measured by US and international expansion and results achieved for clients. As well, The Financial Times includes Orrick on its list of the most innovative U.S.-origin law firms, recognizing the firm’s finance and litigation work.

Cleary Gottlieb Clearly Did Well in 2008

Erik Even — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 20:45:23 +0000

New York-based international law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton saw both revenue and profits per partner rise in 2008.

Gross revenue rose 8% to $965 million, and profits per partner increased about 12% to $2.4 million.

But revenue per lawyer was basically flat, down less than 1%.

Nearly half the firm’s lawyers are overseas, helping to cushion the blow from the dramatic slowdown in the United States

Cleary advised the SEC and Federal Reserve Bank of New York during the collapse of Lehman Brothers. It then advised Barclays in its acquisition of Lehman Brothers’ North American investment banking and capital markets businesses.

The firm employs over 900 lawyers globally.

Deal Volume Plummets in 2008, Will Fall Further in ’09

Erik Even — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 23:25:18 +0000

Thomson Reuters reports that global deal volume dropped by a full one-third in 2008, and is expected to fall further next year.

Total deal volume dropped about 32% to $2.89 trillion, the lowest annual number since 2005. Q4 numbers were even worse, with M&A volume dropping 44% globally over the last three months compared to 2007; US deal volume plummeted 55% in the same period.

The more than 1,100 agreed-upon deals that collapsed in 2008 represent a record. These include BHP Billiton’s attempted takeover of mining rival Rio Tinto, and the failed private equity buyout of Bell Canada.

Private equity-sponsored deals fell by 72% percent to a five-year low.

Hostile takeovers represented the only bright spot, something experts say is typical in down periods when companies that are still strong look to feast on the weak.

The highlight in this category, of course, was InBev’s $52 billion takeover of Anheuser-Busch, a deal that helped JPMorgan Chase clinch the number one rank among financial advisors in European deals.

Paul Parker of global M&A at Barclays Capital told Reuters he expects deal volume to drop another 30 percent next year, to about $2 trillion.