Firm Places #1 on Financial Times “Top 10 Game Changers of the Past 10 Years” Ranking

Latham & Watkins has ranked #1 on the Financial Times “Top 10 Game Changers of the Past 10 Years” list for demonstrating how “elite firms can build market-leading practices in competitive jurisdictions from scratch.” 

The “Game Changers” ranking—marking the 10th year the Financial Times and RSG Consulting have been researching innovation in the legal profession—identifies those firms that have “moved themselves forward most as a business and which have been responsible for the most game-changing initiatives for the profession and for clients.” Latham was praised for the development of “practices in New York and London to rival incumbent leaders” as well as the firm’s “growth strategy, commitment to innovation and effectiveness in lateral hiring” that has “seen it ruffle feathers in key markets.” 

Latham also placed in the 2015 Top 10 “Law Firm Innovators” ranking and was recognized in a number of “Legal Expertise” and “Business of Law” categories, including: 

• "Standout" in Finance for “breaking a four-year impasse on the restructuring of Punch Taverns by establishing a powerful negotiating position for the bondholders.” 
• “Standout” in Dispute Resolution for defending the London Metal Exchange against “an unprecedented application for judicial review brought by aluminium producer Rusal.” 
• “Standout” in Competition for advising Groupement des Cartes Bancaires (GCB) against a European Commission ruling that its pricing measures were anti-competitive by object. The firm “successfully argued for the European Court of Justice to annul the Commission’s decision and clarified the use of this ruling.”  
• “Commended” in Finance for acting on the $200m debt restructuring of DTEK, the first time that the governing law of a notes indenture has been changed from New York to English law for the purposes of facilitating a scheme of arrangement. 
• “Commended” in Strategic Resourcing for implementing “a comprehensive approach to project management that provides highly qualified direct support to Latham lawyers around the world.” 
• “Commended” in Growth and Business Development for successfully building “a top buyout practice in Europe.”

The Financial Times 2015 Innovative Lawyers report, which is conducted in conjunction with RSG Consulting, researches nearly 200 law firms, legal service providers and in-house legal teams, interviewing and seeking feedback from 550 clients, lawyers and market experts.