Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP

Mergers & Acquisitions

Deals that move quickly, confidently and confidentially are more likely to be consummated, which is why so many buyers and sellers rely on Arnold & Porter for representation. Our Mergers & Acquisitions team provides market-term awareness, industry-specific know-how and creative problem-solving to effectively and efficiently execute complex domestic, cross-border and international M&A and other business combination and joint venture transactions. Our clients trust us with public and private acquisitions, unsolicited bids and proxy contests, spin-offs, carve-outs, joint ventures, going-private transactions, and special committee representations. Working with lawyers from our other renowned practices, we provide a full-service solution to deliver on our clients' transaction objectives.

European Competition

Our experienced team of European competition attorneys is based in Brussels and London. We advise clients from around the world on EU and national competition laws and cross-border regulatory matters. We draw on our diverse nationalities, our long experience in practice, and on prior careers in the European Commission, the Court of Justice, and academia to provide a high-quality and practical approach.

We have experience in many industry sectors and particular focus in life-sciences (pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, and medical devices), fast-moving consumer goods (food and tobacco), telecommunications (mobile and internet services), financial services (especially payment services), chemicals (including agro-chemicals and seeds), energy (particularly electricity generation, and oil and gas exploration/transport), maritime and multi-modal transport, and IP and New Economy issues.

We have been trusted by repeat clients to represent them in some of the most complex mergers and acquisitions, including several Phase II investigations by the European Commission and multi-jurisdictional investigations, and to find creative remedies to challenging competition concerns.

We also handle some of the most prominent cartel and abuse of dominance cases, from internal investigations to securing immunity, from dawn raids to successful defenses in enforcement proceedings. We also have valuable experience in handling appeals and interventions in the EU courts in Luxembourg.

Investment Management

Our Investment Management practitioners are located in our New York; San Francisco; Washington, DC; Chicago; Los Angeles; and London offices.

Private Funds. We represent established and emerging investment management clients, including US registered investment advisers and commodity trading advisors, banks, UK and other AIFMs, and other sponsors and managers of alternative investment funds. Types of investment products that our clients sponsor or manage include US domestic, EU and offshore hedge funds, private equity funds, venture capital funds, real estate funds, distressed debt funds, impact investment funds, funds of funds, commodity pools, common trust funds and collective investment funds.

Advisory Firms and Family Offices. We also represent wealth advisory firms and family offices on a broad range of regulatory and transactional matters, including mergers and acquisitions of registered investment advisers.

Institutional Investors. We advise institutional investors, including sovereign wealth funds, pension plans, government plans and endowments, on the legal aspects of their private equity, real estate, and alternative investment fund and special account investments and co-investments.

Regulatory Matters. We help our clients manage regulatory issues and respond to rapidly evolving legal environments in the world's major financial markets. This includes coordination with colleagues in our firm's Financial Services and Broker-Dealer practices, who provide a full range of services to banks, trust companies, broker-dealers and other financial intermediaries.

Futures, Swaps and Other Derivatives. Other related practices involve the representation of futures commission merchants, swap dealers, and end users of swaps and other derivatives with respect to a broad range of regulatory and transactional matters. We also advise exchanges and clearing houses.

Management Entity Formation and Related Legal Matters. We help structure investment management and advisory firms and advise them in the structuring and day-to-day operation of their businesses. This work includes drafting the agreements among the owners of the firms, and the terms of any seed investment. Our employment and benefits team assists with carried interest and other management and portfolio company compensation arrangements. In addition, we have a well-established private client practice that provides a comprehensive array of tax, trusts and estates, and personal wealth management services to high net worth individuals and their families, including portfolio managers and partners of alternative investment advisers.

Financial Services

Reputation is a treasured asset for financial services organizations—which is why the industry's global institutions, mid-sized and community banks and broker-dealers, and specialty firms bank (and even nonbank) on Arnold & Porter to burnish their businesses. Our widely recognized Financial Services Regulatory team combines renowned regulatory, litigation and transactional capabilities with pragmatic problem-solving and results-driven determination to optimize our clients' options. We develop innovative structures and novel solutions to regulatory issues that allow clients to optimize their business strategy. To date, these efforts have led to favorable changes to agency rules and novel legal interpretations that have enabled our clients to offer new products and services, structure operations and expand the scope of their operations in an efficient manner, consistent with their business objectives.

We provide well-informed, creative advice to help clients navigate the ever-changing landscape of labor and employment laws and achieve their business objectives without incurring liability, including in connection with business transactions or when dealing with labor unions. We recognize that the most valuable advice we can provide is often that which prevents problems before they arise.

Should litigation arise, our combination of litigation experience and substantive expertise makes us uniquely qualified to handle all types of employment cases, from the typical single-plaintiff case to the complex, "bet the company" class action lawsuit. We have litigated extensively before federal and state courts, arbitrators and administrative agencies, including the National Labor Relations Board. We also routinely review and develop employee policies, contracts, separation agreements, and other employment-related documents.

Multinationals and high-growth innovators turn to our European Intellectual Property team to assess and counsel on challenging IP issues, effectively manage disputes, coordinate high-stakes litigation and provide well-executed transactional support. Based in our London office, our capabilities span the full spectrum of IP rights, including patents, trademarks, copyright, design rights and trade secrets. We represent clients in groundbreaking and dynamic industries, including life sciences, digital health, genomics, media, electronics, IT services, agritech, foodtech, chemicals, automotive, and manufacturing. Our clients seek out—and stick with—our team because we live up to our reputation for working persistently and passionately to obtain the most beneficial and effective outcomes.

Arnold & Porter's Telecommunications, Internet & Media team practices where law, technology and the marketplace are unsettled. Since the firm's founding by Paul Porter, a former Federal Communications Commission chairman, our team has provided strategic counsel and found creative ways to help our clients achieve their goals. In addition to guiding companies through some of the largest mergers in the industry, our attorneys advise both terrestrial wireless and satellite carriers in novel spectrum transactions, counsel clients on obtaining favorable regulatory treatment for new technologies, provide regulatory advice to lenders and investors, and advise media clients on First Amendment and regulatory issues. We bring the benefits of a seasoned telecommunications team with the coordinated resources of a global firm.