Six Latham & Watkins Partners Named Among Law360’s 2012 MVP Honorees

Six Latham & Watkins partners based in five of the firm’s US offices have been named among the winners in Law360’s 2012 MVP awards for their recent accomplishments and work in the environmental, private equity, mergers & acquisitions, insurance, energy and appellate practice areas. The MVP awards honor “attorneys whose achievements in major litigation or transactions have set a new standard for accomplishment in corporate law,” this year.

• Environmental: Mary Rose Alexander, Vice Chair of both global Litigation and Environment, Land and Resources Departments, and partner in the Chicago office, has broad experience in complex commercial litigation, insurance and environmental law. She recently had a major trial victory for Georgia-Pacific LLP in a Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) suit brought in connection with one of the biggest CERCLA cases in the US, and a summary judgment victory for Nalco Company in the BP oil spill multi-district litigation.
• Energy: Michael Darden, global Co-Chair of the Energy - Oil & Gas Industry Group, and partner in the Houston office, focuses on international and US oil and gas ventures (including LNG, deep-water and unconventional resource development projects), international and US infrastructure projects and energy-based financings. Over the last year, he has advised on more than US$10 billion in transactions involving some of the most important players in the energy industry, including those in the forefront of unconventional development.
• Appellate: Gregory Garre, global Chair of the Supreme Court and Appellate Practice Group, and partner in the Washington office, has been one of the most active lawyers before the US Supreme Court in the past few terms. Two of the cases he argued last term produced landmark wins for his clients – in Maples v. Thomas, which secured a win for his death-row client in one of the most closely watched cases in the legal industry in decades, and in United States v. Home Concrete, which dealt a rare defeat for the IRS in a tax case that has been estimated to have a billion dollar impact. He has argued four cases already in the October 2012 term, including on behalf of the University of Texas in Fisher v. University of Texas in defense of its race-conscious admissions plan in one of the most closely watched cases of the term.
• Insurance: Brook Roberts, global Co-chair of the Insurance Coverage Practice and a partner in the San Diego office, focuses primarily on complex insurance coverage and bad faith disputes, involving a wide-range of environmental, property, casualty, investment, professional liability and other matters. He has represented a host of Fortune 500 companies in a variety of complex business litigation matters in federal and state courts and before US and international arbitration panels. During the past year, Brook Roberts won and advanced cases crucial to insurance disputes, particularly policies covering long-tail claims for asbestos, environmental or product liabilities.
• Mergers & Acquisitions: Charles Ruck, corporate partner in the Orange County office, has worked on a variety of high-profile transactions including public company mergers and tender offers, strategic acquisitions and divestitures, hostile takeovers and going private transactions. His work in 2012 was highlighted by the firm’s counsel to Watson Pharmaceuticals in its US$5.7 billion acquisition of Actavis Group, and the representation of Quest Software in its US$2.4 billion acquisition by Dell.
• Private Equity: Paul Sheridan, corporate partner in the Washington, D.C., office, has significant experience in representing companies and private equity firms in corporate and transactional matters, including mergers and acquisitions, private and public offerings, venture capital financings and general company representation. He has particular expertise in representing private equity firms in connection with leveraged buyouts and other investment transactions, with substantial experience in structuring and negotiating cross-border transactions as well as the acquisition and divestiture of corporate divisions.