IFLR 1000 Again Names Cadwalader a Leader in Core Transactional Areas of Practice

November 06, 2012

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP, one of the world’s most prominent legal advisors to financial institutions and corporations, was again recognized as a leading law firm in several key practice areas in the 2013 edition of the IFLR 1000, a publication focused exclusively on finance and transactional law firms.

IFLR 1000 ranked Cadwalader among the top firms in the United States in several core areas of the firm’s practice, including Bank Lending; Capital Markets – Structured Finance and Securitization; Capital Markets – Derivatives; Financial Services Regulatory; Mergers and Acquisitions; and Restructuring and Insolvency. The firm was also ranked in EU Competition, Capital Markets - Structured Finance and Securitization and Restructuring and Insolvency in the United Kingdom.

IFLR noted the Mergers & Acquisitions group’s leadership on “a number of major transactions in the latter part of 2011 and 2012” and named Louis Bevilacqua, Geoff Levin, William Mills as leading lawyers as well as earning recognition of Chris Cox’s arrival.

Commending the arrival of Michael Niebruegge, he, along with Christine McMillan and Patrick Quinn were named leading lawyers in Bank Lending. The Restructuring and Insolvency team commended for its “demonstrated resilience and resourcefulness” and John Rapisardi, George Davis and Mark Ellenberg were named leading lawyers.

The Financial Regulatory team received praise for its “considerable expertise with regard to how operations and transactions must be structured in order pass muster with U.S. regulatory and enforcement agencies.” 

In the Capital Markets areas, IFLR touted that “Cadwalader has once again more than earned its tier one status in structured finance and securitization through its representation of blue-chip corporate and investment banking clients, on matters ranging from CLOs and CDOs to asset-backed and mortgage loan securitizations.”

According to a client at one of the nation’s most prominent financial institutions, “in commercial real estate securitization-related products (CMBS), Cadwalader is the undisputed leader.” “Whether it’s a plain vanilla deal with lots of precedent or a creative, unique deal requiring a lot of intellectual input to get it done, I would not feel comfortable going with any other firm than Cadwalader,” the client added.

Individuals singled out for praise included in this area include: Michael Gambro, Lisa Pauquette, Steven Herman, Fred Altschuler, Anna Glick, Patrick Quinn, Stuart Goldstein, Gary Silverstein, Cheryl Barnes, David Burkholder and associates Greg Prindle, Sophie Cuthbertson, Joo Kim, Jeffrey Glick, and Bonnie Neuman with clients heralding that “they are incredibly knowledgeable about the industry that we work in, they are thoughtful when it comes to solutions and they are highly responsive” and further giving the team “extremely high marks.”

In the derivatives space, IFLR highlighted Cadwalader’s representation of ISDA and touted the firm’s “development and implementation of revolutionary products and forward delivery transactions” and “unrivalled fluency with special products and transactions.” Lary Stromfeld, Ivan Loncar, Richard Schetman and Brian Foster were all recognized. Additionally, Michael Gambro, Ivan Loncar, Gary Silverstein and Lary Stromfeld were all named leading lawyers.

The UK edition also recognized Angus Duncan, Nick Shiren, Gregory Petrick and Richard Nevins.

The IFLR 1000’s rankings reflect the opinions of clients and competitors of law firms, which are gathered during an extensive interview process and which include information on deals, clients and leading lawyers.