Weil – Weil was named the best law firm in the Finance: Bank Lending and M&A: Corporate and Commercial: Large Deals ($1 Billion+) categories at the Legal 500 US 2015 awards. Weil was the only firm to win in more than one practice category. The awards follow the recently released 2015 edition of Legal 500 United States, which also highlighted Weil’s strengths in finance, M&A and many other practices.
Weil’s Banking & Finance practice was distinguished for its “very well-established reputation for both borrower and lender work.” The Legal 500 United States noted the strong team handling sponsor-led financings and, in particular, singled out the Firm’s representation of American Securities on its $855 million financing for its acquisition of Emerald Performance Materials. On the lender side, the publication highlighted the Firm’s work in “several major cross-border deals,” including JPMorgan Chase’s €7.6 billion financing to D.E Master Blenders for its coffee joint venture with Mondelēz International, Barclays and Goldman Sachs’ $7.2 billion bridge facility to Exelon Corporation to finance its acquisition of Pepco Holdings, and Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan’s $8.5 billion bridge facility to Tyson Foods to finance its acquisition of The Hillshire Brands Company.
Seven Weil partners are recommended in the Finance: Bank Lending category: Morgan Bale, Daniel Dokos,Allison Liff, Courtney Marcus, Damian Ridealgh, Douglas Urquhart and Andrew Yoon.
Weil’s Mergers and Acquisitions practice was recognized as “a prolific M&A practice on both coasts.” The publication highlighted Weil’s position as a “genuine market leader” in high value technology M&A and as a “frontrunner in hostile takeovers and shareholder activism.” The Legal 500 United States also noted Weil’s prowess in a number of key sectors and geographies, including a “flourishing M&A practice in Silicon Valley” and a “fast-growing” energy practice in Texas. Weil’s work on high profile deals over the past year was also acknowledged including its representation of Kinder Morgan on its $76 billion acquisition of all the outstanding equity securities of direct and indirect subsidiaries, DIRECTV on its $67.1 billion pending sale to AT&T, Facebook’s $16 billion acquisition of WhatsApp and Oracle’s $5.3 billion acquisition of MICROS Systems.
Corporate Department Chairman Mike Aiello is ranked as a “Leading” lawyer and eight Weil partners are recommended in the M&A: Corporate and Commercial: Large Deals ($1 Billion+) category: Howard Chatzinoff, Jackie Cohen, Fred Green, Keith Flaum, Matthew Gilroy, Michael Lubowitz, Ted Waksman andGavin Westerman.
Additionally, Weil was recognized as a leading law firm in 41 categories and Weil’s lawyers received 157 mentions in the 2015 directory, with a total of 20 lawyers receiving a “Leading” lawyer recommendation.
