New York
Latham & Watkins' New York office, the firm's largest office with approximately 300 lawyers, features a highly regarded, full-service business law practice. The New York office combines highly ranked transactional and litigation practices that both have strong US and international capabilities.
Situated in one of the most sophisticated markets for legal services, the New York office is connected to nearly every investment bank on Wall Street and offers companies access to one of the world's leading financial markets. A cover story in The American Lawyer entitled “New York Giants” highlighted the office's tremendous growth in personnel and in stature over the past 10 years, and noted that the office “serves a client list that reads like a Wall Street directory.”
Practice Areas
Lawyers in the New York office represent a broad array of US and multi-national clients, from Fortune 500 corporations to middle market companies to privately held entities. All five of the firm's departments are represented among our New York attorneys.
The New York Corporate Department's attorneys provide services across several disciplines, including capital markets, mergers and acquisitions, public and private equity offerings, technology transactions, divestitures, restructurings and leveraged finance and recapitalizations. In addition, attorneys within the group represent a wide range of corporate clients as outside corporate counsel. The New York office's Corporate Department also boasts a thriving Latin American practice, with attorneys who have experience in nearly 150 matters throughout Latin America.
Our New York finance attorneys represent financial institutions, borrowers, sponsors and developers in various transactions, including significant leveraged acquisition finance and working capital financings, asset and real estate securitizations, structured finance bank acquisitions, leveraged leasing and restructuring transactions. In addition, the New York Project Finance group works on all aspects involved in the financing and development of large-scale projects throughout the world.
Attorneys in the New York Litigation Department have extensive experience in complex trials, appeals, arbitrations and regulatory matters. The team comprises distinguished members in the field, including a former federal judge and former assistant US Attorneys, members of the group have handled jury trials in state and federal courts around the US and have argued appeals in the Supreme Court of the United States. Our litigation attorneys have tried cases in nearly every circuit, including the Federal Circuit, and in state courts, including all the New York State appellate courts.
The New York Tax Department has a highly sophisticated and diverse practice. We counsel a wide array of businesses and individuals with respect to federal, state, local and international tax and employee benefits issues. Our clients include corporations, limited liability companies, partnerships, REITs, banks, insurance companies, LBO and venture capital firms and financial advisory firms.
Our attorneys in the Environmental, Land & Resources Department specialize in the variety of legal matters arising under federal, state and international environmental law, including the permitting, development and financing of independent power generating projects and other industrial and commercial facilities. Attorneys in this group have experience handling complex environmental issues such as compliance with regulatory requirements, insurance coverage, site remediation and the allocation of environmental liabilities in the context of business transactions. Our environmental attorneys regularly advise businesses, private equity funds, lending institutions, creditors, investors and underwriters on environmental aspects of acquisitions, divestitures, equity and debt offerings, project financing, corporate finance transactions and bankruptcy filings.
Community Ties
The New York office has a long history of pro bono participation and public service. Over the past few years, attorneys, paralegals and staff in the New York office have been involved in a number of pro bono and community service projects, including representing refugees in asylum and human rights matters, fighting housing discrimination, freeing an innocent man from death row, assisting with New York City's 2012 Olympic bid, helping immigrant victims of domestic violence, advising on nonprofit incorporations and refinancings, working with the ACLU in a constitutional challenge to an internet censorship law, providing real estate legal assistance for housing projects, and working with disadvantaged junior high school students at a Morningside Heights public school. Our attorneys have received recent pro bono awards from New York City organizations including Sanctuary for Families and The Legal Aid Society.