Directory of In-House Law Departments Top 500 Companies ...

Go-To Law Firms Profiles
Herbert Smith
Main office:
Herbert Smith, Exchange House
Primrose St., London EC2A 2HS
Tel: 00 44 207 374 8000
Fax: 00 44 207 374 0888
Other offices:
Paris
Brussels
Moscow
Hong Kong
Tokyo
Beijing
Shanghai
Singapore
Bangkok
Web: www.herbertsmith.com
Senior Partner: David Gold
US Relationship Partner: Richard Fleck
Number of partners: 200
Number of associates: 600
Total number of attorneys: 1100
Areas of Practice/Names of Practice Area Heads:
Corporate/Michael Walter
Litigation/Sonya Leydecker
Finance/Jason Fox
Antitrust/Competition/Jonathan Scott
IP/Nick Gardner
IT/Christopher Rees
Real Estate/James Barnes
Employment/John Farr
Tax/Heather Gething
Trusts and Charities/John Wood
Firm Overview:
Herbert Smith is a UK-based international law firm with a 1,100-lawyer network
across Europe and Asia. The firm is ranked in the top tier in each of its main
areas of work: transactions, projects and dispute resolution. We advise a wide range
of multinational corporations, financial institutions, governments and other
organizations.
Our international capability is enhanced by our alliance with Gleiss Lutz
and Stibbe, the leading European law firms with whom we have worked on many
major cross-border deals. Herbert Smith and our alliance partners have extensive
148
2006
experience advising US companies and banks – often working alongside their US
counsel – on their activities in Europe and Asia.
Selected Practice Groups:
Corporate
We have one of the leading and largest UK-based international corporate
practices. We act principally for multinational corporations and investment banks.
Our forte is advising on large, complex and innovative transactions, such as crossjurisdictional
joint ventures and mergers, hostile takeovers, the establishment of
dual-headed companies and spin-offs. The practice works closely with the firm’s
front-rank Antitrust teams in London and Brussels.
We combine our transactional expertise with sector experience and have a
number of partners focusing on specific industry sectors such as energy, financial
services, media, communications and life sciences.
Highlights of our work in 2005 include:
Fortune Brands on its acquisition of a number of major spirits and
wines brands from Pernod Ricard, following the acquisition of Allied
Domecq by Pernod Ricard
China Construction Bank on its $8 billion IPO on the Hong Kong
Stock Exchange
Britannic Group on its £1.8 billion merger with Resolution Life Group
Huijin on the sale of a 10% stake in Bank of China worth $3.1 billion to
an RBS-led consortium and the further proposed sale of a 10% stake
worth $3.1 billion to Temasek
The UK’s Department of Trade and Industry on the successful
launch of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority
Dispute Resolution
American Lawyer’s decision in 2004 to give Herbert Smith its first ever
‘Litigation Firm of the Year – UK’ award underlined the global standing of our preeminent
litigation practice.
In 2005 we recruited two leading trial lawyers to form a dedicated advocacy
unit at Herbert Smith. In doing so, we became the UK's first international law firm
to offer clients a 1-stop shop litigation capability.
Our work ranges from general commercial disputes and shareholder and
partnership litigation to fraud-related claims and regulatory investigations. The
practice has specialists in all major industry sectors.
Highlights of our recent work includes:
Cambridge Antibody Technology on the settlement of its commercial
case against Abbott relating to royalty payments on the sale of its
multibillion dollar drug HUMIRA
BSkyB in its legal action against Electronic Data Systems
Telekom Malaysia on the settlement of its $170 million arbitration
with the government of the Republic of China
Finance
We have a leading international debt finance practice which advises international
banks and corporates on major cross-border and domestic deals, often
characterized by their complexity and innovation.
The main types of work on which we advise are bank lending, including
acquisition finance; securitisation, CDOs, derivatives and debt capital markets;
project finance; and corporate recovery and restructuring.
Highlights of our recent work includes:
Citigroup, Deutsche Bank and Lehman Brothers as joint lead
managers on the fourth issue from HBOS's master trust Mound
Financing, which raised £2.26 billion
ABN Amro and ING on the restructuring of $1.4 billion of OAO TNK's
secured debt – the largest debt restructuring in Russia in 2005
ABN Amro, Bank of Scotland and BNP Paribas as joint mandated
lead arrangers of $850 million senior and junior secured credit facilities
for Tullow Oil plc, the UK's largest borrowing base facility to date