At Arnold & Porter, we are client-driven and industry-focused. Our lawyers practice in more than 40 practice areas across the litigation, regulatory and transactional spectrum to help clients with complex needs stay ahead of the global market, anticipate opportunities and address issues that impact the very value of their businesses. Our global reach, experience and deep knowledge allow us to work across geographic, cultural, technological and ideological borders, to offer clients forward-looking, results-oriented solutions that resolve their US, international and cross-border legal needs.
Representing defendants in class action litigation demands a level of strategic skill and legal acumen that is the hallmark of our firm. Our attorneys are known for developing innovative ways to defeat class actions and extricate clients from inappropriate and unfavorable forums. We have defeated efforts to certify classes based on claims of economic injury by purchasers of harmful products, claims that reliance can be presumed in a fraud case, and the use of public nuisance to aggregate claims without the procedural protections of class action rules. Clients turn to us as the "master strategists," frequently calling on our firm to serve as national coordinating counsel or as lead counsel in multidistrict litigations.
Market-leading companies and emerging innovators alike turn to Arnold & Porter to protect and enforce their most important assets—domestic and international IP rights spanning patents, trademarks, copyrights, rights of publicity, trade secrets, and related content. Our well-recognized and respected Intellectual Property team litigates and counsels on all aspects of IP for clients in key, economically vibrant industries where cutting-edge IP protection and brand integrity are critical, including technology, life sciences, medical device, consumer goods, food and beverage, fashion and luxury, and media. Our record across jurisdictions has earned us the reputation as a go-to firm handling complex, high-stakes cases, where the right to make or sell core products may be at risk.
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.
Arnold & Porter's Privacy, Cybersecurity & Data Strategy practice helps clients create risk-mitigated, global, scalable, and flexible privacy and cyber programs and data strategies for innovative data products, services and uses. We assist a wide range of industries in the challenging task of protecting data in line with the ever-growing and overlapping legal regimes. As traditional healthcare, life sciences, financial services, consumer products, and other companies become data companies, we have the insight and experience to help benchmark and prioritize resources, negotiate transactions, and evaluate potential business targets. When an attack happens, we quickly mobilize our investigation and litigation teams, which have successfully defended clients against data breach and privacy plaintiffs as well as the major data protection authorities, to contain the incident and minimize losses.
Focus Areas
Telecommunications, Internet & Media
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.
Focus Areas
Arnold & Porter's Real Estate practice is one of the most recognized and distinguished in the United States, focusing on all aspects of real estate transactions, including joint ventures, acquisitions, dispositions, leasing and other real property transactions, as well as loan originations, loan restructurings and secondary market transactions. Our practice covers all asset types, including office, retail, hospitality, multi-family, industrial and mixed-use properties. Our clients include real estate private equity funds, property owners, institutional and private investors, developers, and commercial and investment banks.
Our group includes approximately 55 lawyers. With a wide breadth of experience and a multifaceted understanding of real estate markets, our team works with clients to evaluate, develop and implement their real estate goals. We represent commercial and investment banks, real estate opportunity funds, investors, developers, REITs, nonprofits and public institutions.
Focus Areas
With a sophisticated understanding of the restructuring landscape, our multidisciplinary Bankruptcy and Restructuring practice provides comprehensive services in all aspects of restructuring and insolvency proceedings from pre-workout phase through litigation, if necessary. Our team of more than 30 insolvency and restructuring practitioners, located in Washington, DC, New York, Chicago, Denver, and Los Angeles, has been at the forefront of some of the largest and most complex multinational restructurings and insolvencies of the recent past.
We have developed longstanding relationships with the industry's key players and regularly represent a whole range of stakeholders, including corporate debtors, investors and asset purchasers, committees, bondholders, secured and unsecured creditors, parties dealing with distressed businesses, officers and directors, and other interested parties in corporate restructurings, bankruptcy proceedings, and related litigation throughout the United States.
Focus Areas
Emerging Companies & Venture Capital
Receiving incisive and business-oriented counsel when and where it matters most is an invaluable asset for emerging businesses and those who invest in them—which is why so many participants in this market segment find it worthwhile to consult Arnold & Porter. Our multidisciplinary Emerging Companies & Venture Capital team works closely with developing companies (from their initial formation through the full life cycle—up to and including an exit transaction, whether through an IPO or a sale of the company), venture capital funds, strategic and corporate investors, family offices, and angel investors to provide a broad range of services and advice in core financial, structural and operational areas. Our deep experience working closely and collaboratively with both operating companies and investors inspires clients to involve us in all aspects of their businesses and to act on our efficiently delivered solutions that are specific to their industry sectors and business strategies.
Capital Markets Transactions
We are a legal adviser of choice for issuers, financial sponsors and underwriters across the globe. We have a deep understanding of the US and multijurisdictional regulations that impact our diverse client base, which includes Fortune 500 corporations, emerging growth companies, private equity firms, financial institutions, and sovereign governments. We pride ourselves on providing the senior-level attention that enables our clients to efficiently and effectively raise capital to achieve their strategic objectives.
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.
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.
Tax
Our Tax team has a long tradition of effectively resolving complex tax and business challenges for corporations and individuals before they incur significant cost. As rapid developments in the world economy transform tax laws, new and complicated legal challenges emerge. Working with each of our clients, we develop customized strategies and implement innovative solutions to deal effectively with these challenges. We manage complex and precedent-setting tax problems and opportunities critical to US and international transactions via diversified legal transactional resources, as well as the planning, litigation and regulatory services necessary to address our clients' short- and long-term tax objectives.
