Latham Named Most Innovative Law Firm in North America

Latham & Watkins has been named the Most Innovative Law Firm in North America in the annual Financial Times Innovative Lawyers North America awards, which honor law firms and lawyers at the cutting edge of the legal industry. The firm also won the award for Innovation in Pro Bono and was honored for accomplishments in several practice areas and business of law initiatives. In addition, partners Stelios Saffos, Keith Halverstam, and Roman Martinez received individual recognitions.

The FT report noted, “Latham & Watkins’ ability both to spot market opportunities for expanding legal practices and to deploy AI and proprietorial data exemplifies how a law firm can establish a position in the new AI economy.”

Latham was also named Most Innovative Law Firm in North America in 2023, winning the recognition in two of the past three years.

The firm’s individual recognitions include:

• Stelios Saffos, Global Chair of Latham’s Capital Markets and Public Company Representation Practices and Global Chair of the Hybrid Capital Practice, was recognized as an Innovative Practitioner for pioneering exponential growth in hybrid capital and private debt markets, as well as helping to build Latham’s dominant, fully integrated Private Capital Practice around the globe. The FT reported, “Saffos has helped rewrite the rules on how private capital fuels major acquisitions…(and) his expertise in increasingly complex corporate structures at all levels has steered the firm into the vanguard of direct-lending and preferred-equity work.”
• Keith Halverstam, Global Vice Chair of the firm’s Corporate Department and Global Chair of the Public Company & Board Representation Practice, was honored as a law firm Intrapreneur for marshalling resources within the firm to integrate generative artificial intelligence into Latham’s public company platform, including through Latham’s proprietary 8-K Trigger Analysis Tool, which assesses if and when listed companies must disclose information on corporate events to the SEC. The FT highlighted that the firm advises more than 1,000 public companies and acts as primary counsel to 400.
• Roman Martinez, Global Chair of the Supreme Court & Appellate Practice, was commended for leading a pro bono team that secured a landmark Supreme Court ruling in A.J.T. v. Osseo Area Schools. The FT noted, “The firm represented Ava Tharpe at the US Supreme Court, successfully challenging long-standing appeal court rulings that required children with disabilities to meet a uniquely high standard when seeking relief for discrimination related to education.”

Firm recognitions include:

• Winner in the Innovations in Pro Bono for the US Supreme Court victory in A.J.T. v. Osseo Area Schools.
• Standout in the Innovations in Unlocking Capital category, for a multidisciplinary Latham team led by partners Nadia Sager, Lewis Kneib, and Julian Kleindorfer, which represented Lineage, Inc., the world’s largest global temperature-controlled warehouse REIT, in its US$4.4 billion IPO, the largest IPO of 2024 and the largest REIT IPO in history.
• Highly Commended in the Innovative Lawyers in Disputes and Litigation category, honoring a case team led by Litigation & Trial partners Alli Stillman and Sy Damle that successfully defended Spotify in a novel federal lawsuit involving the interpretation of a regulation that governs every music streaming company in the US.
• Highly Commended in the Innovation in Digital Tools category, for the firm’s proprietary 8-K Trigger Analysis Tool.
• Commended in the Innovations in Unlocking Capital category, for work by a Capital Markets team led by Greg Rodgers, Global Vice Chair of the Corporate Department, and partners Brittany Ruiz, Arash Aminian Baghai, and Bora Bozkurt, who represented Strategy ₿, the world’s first and largest Bitcoin treasury company, in a groundbreaking US$1 billion IPO of Series A perpetual Stride Preferred Stock, and facilitating more than US$30 billion in novel preferred stock IPOs since February, which exemplifies the firm’s trailblazing work in the emerging market of bitcoin treasuries.