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Thursday 9 February 2012 - Grosvenor House Hotel, Park Lane, London

US law firm of the year

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This award highlights the US firm that has made the greatest progress over the past year in advancing its strategy, improving financial performance and winning instructions. Please note that a large international presence is not a prerequisite for consideration for this award, although the judges will be looking for strong evidence of success in those foreign markets where the firm has offices.

Previous Winners:

A year of highlights for this international US practice

Even by its high standards Cleary acted on an outstanding run of deals in 2010. An impressive deal sheet included acting for Nortel Networks on its US Chapter 11, counsel to the Russian Federation in three separate Hague arbitrations and acting for Deutsche Bank in its capital increase with gross proceeds of €10.2bn. The mandates were a typical blend of the complex, big-ticket international deals on which Cleary thrives.

Despite the impressive workload, it was arguably several of Cleary’s strategic moves that drew the most attention from the market. It unveiled plans to launch a Hong Kong law practice in 2011 to complement its US offering in the Asian financial centre, and also announced a proposed outpost in São Paulo. In London, Cleary also sealed the major hire of finance litigator Jonathan Kelly from Simmons & Simmons.

HIGHLY COMMENDED

Bingham McCutchen
James Roome; Jay Zimmerman

Bingham has made the most of its counter-cyclical strengths throughout 2010. The firm added an office in Germany, while revenues continued to grow worldwide. In London, both revenues and profits were up again in 2010 and the success of the last two years looks set to continue.

K&L Gates
Peter Kalis; Martin Lane

K&L Gates continued its inexorable march across the globe in 2010, shrugging off the prevailing economic conditions. In the course of the year the firm opened offices in Moscow, Warsaw and Tokyo. With nearly 2,000 lawyers across 36 offices, the firm has broken into the $1bn revenue club, becoming the 17th largest global firm.

Kirkland & Ellis
Jeffrey Hammes; James Learner

Kirkland squeezed into the top ten of global law firms by revenue in 2010, posting a 6% increase in its top line to just over $1.42bn. The firm won a stream of impressive global restructuring mandates, including Japan Airlines, European Directories and Reader’s Digest. Meanwhile its London private equity team continued to flourish, boosting its offering this year by landing Gavin Gordon and David Arnold from Ashurst.

Latham & watkins
Nick Cline; Bob Dell

At the start of 2010, Latham & Watkins stunned the market with an audacious 13-partner raid on White
& Case in London and the Middle East. Over the course of the year, the firm also added outposts in Beijing and Houston, confirming its position among the Global Elite.

PAUL, WEISS, RIFKIND, WHARTON & GARRISON
Brad Karp

Paul Weiss is one of a small band of firms that dominates almost every major piece of litigation in
the US. In 2010 it successfully defended Citigroup against a $7bn claim from Terra Firma for fraud. Other notable highlights included a significant win for Pfizer over an HRT drug and Bank of America in its negotiations with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

QUINN EMANUEL URQUHART & Sullivan
Richard East; Sue Prevezer; John Quinn

In its second full year, the London office of Quinn announced revenues of £7.6m. Lateral appointments have grown the office considerably over the year and the firm’s international expansion has continued with a new office in Germany.