We have offices in London and Brussels through which we meet our clients' legal needs in Europe.
We established our London office in 1980. From the start, we embraced ideas that we need not be all things to all people; that we should engage only in the practices in which we can be leaders and can deliver practical solutions to our clients’ challenges; and that we should build upon our leading technology, financial institutions, capital markets and corporate, restructuring, and dispute resolution practices. While a number of our U.S. law firm competitors have established offices in London comprised almost entirely of U.S.-qualified lawyers, we have chosen, for the most part, to grow our London office by adding UK-qualified lawyers who are engaged in providing UK legal advice relating to transactions and matters that originate in the UK or to which English law is otherwise applicable. Like several other London offices of U.S. law firms, we have experienced U.S.-qualified corporate and securities lawyers resident in London as well as lawyers who routinely assist clients with matters within the European Union.
We represent a diverse group of clients that include international and UK corporates, global financial institutions and investment banks, private equity and venture capital firms, and technology-based enterprises of various sizes and maturities.
One of our greatest strengths has always been our competition practice. Our lawyers in Europe regularly deal with antitrust agencies, both at the level of the European Union and at the Member State level. In addition to frequent contacts with the European Commission in Brussels, our lawyers deal regularly with the Member State antitrust agencies.
We frequently counsel companies contemplating mergers, acquisitions, and joint ventures as well as representing them if their transactions are reviewed by the European Commission or Member State antitrust agencies. Lawyers in our Brussels office have assisted clients in obtaining approval of a number of significant mergers and acquisitions in a variety of industries in recent years, including Thomson’s acquisition of Technicolor and ContentGuard, Matsushita's acquisition of Philips' 50% share in a joint venture producing batteries, various acquisitions by Toshiba regarding flat screen TVs, and Hitachi's acquisition of IBM's HDD business.
Lawyers in the firm have successfully represented numerous companies in proceedings before the European Commission in Brussels, as well as in antitrust proceedings initiated by Member State antitrust agencies. For example, its lawyers have recently represented clients in investigations in the telecommunications, IT, banking, food, chemical, and entertainment industries. Together with their colleagues in the U.S., lawyers in the Brussels office have worked on a number of criminal price fixing investigations in the U.S., for example in the chemical and telecommunications sector.
We are recognized as a market leader in assisting global businesses to devise practical and strategic solutions to the challenges posed by international privacy and data protection laws. We advise on all issues relating to privacy and trans-border data transfers around the world. Lawyers in our European offices have extensive experience in advising clients from all sectors on privacy and data protection issues and in consulting and negotiating with the European institutions and national data protection authorities throughout Europe on privacy matters.
In our London and Brussels offices, we have lawyers qualified in the UK, U.S., Belgium, Germany, Lithuania, and Poland. We have the global reach to help clients conduct their business across multiple jurisdictions. Our lawyers in Europe work closely with their colleagues in Asia and the United States. When needed, we call upon an excellent network of European law firms with whom we and our clients work regularly on cross-border transactions. We always work with the best professionals for the project (not just with our best friends, although, over time some become that) in the relevant jurisdiction. Our experience coordinating these projects alongside our local firm collaborators in various jurisdictions ensures that our clients receive seamless advice and the best advice available in the jurisdiction on the subject matter at issue.
Diversity Statistics for London and Brussels