Click here for L&E Profile
Hunton Andrews Kurth is a global law firm with over 900 lawyers handling a range of complex transactional, litigation, and regulatory matters for clients in many industries, including energy, financial services, real estate, retail and consumer products, and technology. With offices across the US and in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, the firm is aligned with clients’ businesses and committed to delivering exceptional service. Our full-service litigation practice is one of the largest in the country, with particular depth in key litigation markets such as Texas, California, New York, Florida, and Virginia and the Mid-Atlantic.
Since its founding more than 100 years ago, Hunton Andrews Kurth has been a business-focused firm, an approach we continue in today’s litigation-focused climate. Our team of more than 400 litigators draw upon decades of experience to handle all aspects of disputes with the goal of achieving successful results whether in a courtroom or the boardroom.
Our skilled litigators focus on strategy from the outset and develop individualized litigation plans that are comprehensive in scope, mindful of each client’s business and legal goals, and aligned with client needs. We aggressively and efficiently represent clients at different phases of their corporate life cycles. Whether advising a start-up in patent litigation or a Fortune 100 company in a bet-the-company class action, we apply the same principles of client-focused representation to achieve the desired result.
Litigation Overview: Hunton Andrews Kurth has a top global litigation team, having litigated and/or arbitrated in all 50 states and many foreign countries. We often serve as national or worldwide coordinating counsel. Our diverse team has the collective knowledge, skill, and experience to help businesses identify and manage risks, respond to existing or threatened litigation, and pursue resolution in any venue. Hunton Andrews Kurth attorneys are admitted to the American College of Trial Lawyers and ranked by publications such as Chambers USA, Legal 500, and Benchmark Litigation, and the firm is named one of the “most feared firms in litigation” by BTI.
We handle litigation matters in the energy, financial services, healthcare, telecommunications, food, hospitality, consumer products, and retail industries, tailoring strategy on a case-by-case basis. Our commercial litigation docket includes class action defense, commercial contract issues, white collar defense, administrative matters, cybersecurity and privacy investigations, and appeals in state and federal courts. We represent corporations and other entities across a broad range of complex matters – from providing advice and counsel about business disputes and torts to civil litigation, trial, and appeal. We are often engaged in “bet-the-company” cases, multidistrict litigation, and coordinated state law proceedings. Our lawyers have the experience to handle cases that involve multiple adversaries in courts across the nation and abroad.
In addition, the firm’s environmental team, with more than 45 environmental attorneys and scientists, many of whom are former DOJ attorneys and senior regulatory agency officials, handles high-profile environmental litigation matters. These include enforcement defense, permit litigation, and challenges to environmental regulatory programs before federal district and appeals courts and the US Supreme Court, addressing issues of nationwide significance.
Updated Aug 2024
Weil is a leader in the marketplace for sophisticated, global legal services. Our pioneering “one-firm” approach, which integrates approximately 1,200 attorneys across three continents and multiple practice areas, allows the Firm to partner with many of the world’s most successful organizations on matters as complex and interconnected as the businesses themselves.
Featuring approximately 350 lawyers in more than a dozen practice areas and areas of specialization, Weil’s global Litigation Department is one of the largest, most diversified, and highly respected in the legal industry. We provide clients with business-oriented solutions to complex, multi-faceted legal challenges, including business disputes, regulatory actions and investigations, financial distress, and other potentially enterprise-changing circumstances.
Our expertise spans a number of substantive areas:
Antitrust: Weil is regularly retained by some of the largest corporations in the world to handle their antitrust litigation matters. Our Antitrust practice advises clients on the interrelationship between antitrust, IP, trade, and unfair competition laws and regulations, and litigates and tries those cutting-edge issues in civil and criminal cases before juries and judges in jurisdictions across the United States. Representative clients include Bridgestone, GrubHub, Hilton Worldwide, Meta Platforms, Panasonic, Paramount Global, Regeneron, Saks Fifth Avenue, Simon & Schuster, and Warner Bros. Discovery.
Appellate: Weil’s Appeals and Strategic Counseling practice covers all of the Firm’s substantive areas of expertise, including employment, securities, copyright and trademark, patent, tax, bankruptcy, antitrust, civil rights, and administrative and constitutional law, among others. With 33 practitioners located across the United States, including former clerks to U.S. Supreme Court justices, over a dozen former clerks to federal appellate judges, a former Assistant Solicitor General for the State of New York, and a former Assistant to the Solicitor General of the United States, we regularly prosecute and defend appeals before the U.S. Supreme Court, all 13 federal circuit courts, and a range of state intermediate and supreme courts. We are regularly called upon to provide essential support before lower courts and regulatory agencies, as well as to assess whether litigation is advisable. Representative clients include BNSF Railway, Comcast, Elanco, Grubhub, Regeneron, Saks Fifth Avenue, Sanofi, Sears Holdings, Speedcast, Washington State University, and many major technology companies.
Bankruptcy: Weil is well-known as the leading restructuring firm in the world. We not only invented much of what is standard today, but we also have been involved in almost every type of consensual and litigated restructuring transaction in the United States since the 1970s. Weil has served as chief debtors’ counsel in the largest U.S. bankruptcy filings in history and has represented clients in numerous complicated international insolvencies. Our experience extends to exchange offers, debt for equity swaps, pre-packaged and prearranged chapter 11 cases, as well as conventional chapter 11 reorganizations.
General Commercial: Weil is a one-stop firm for commercial litigation matters, and has achieved significant victories in high-profile disputes for BNSF Railway, Burger King, eBay, ExxonMobil, Paramount Global, PepsiCo, Repsol, Sanofi, Serta Simmons, and Warner Bros. Discovery, among others. We specialize in trying high-stakes breach of contract, fraud, tortious interference, unfair competition and other business tort claims, class actions, and litigations arising under RICO, the False Claims Act, and numerous other statutes.
Intellectual Property: Weil offers market-leading capabilities in IP litigation, including complex patent, trade secret, copyright, and trademark disputes, as well as counseling. For decades, Weil’s prestigious IP/Media group has been at the forefront of hot-button industry issues. The group’s work in the area of digital media has been trailblazing, touching on multiple areas of commercial significance including artificial intelligence, e-commerce, digital rights management, and digital content licensing. We are also recognized for our expertise in false advertising, music licensing, television/motion picture and other content distribution, and privacy/data protection issues. Representative clients include A&E Television Networks, AIG, Alibaba, eBay, Getty Images, Meta Platforms, Pandora Media, and SiriusXM. Weil’s Patent Litigation group focuses on high-stakes patent and IP disputes, whether they involve winning a key patent infringement action at trial or on appeal before the Federal Circuit, litigating a complex investigation at the ITC, or trying contested IPR proceedings at the PTAB. Our team includes 39 attorneys, many of whom have technical degrees, allowing us to identify critical issues, understand the technology at the forefront of a case, and become trusted advisors to our clients, which include Altria, BeiGene, Bio Rad, Comcast, HP, Illumina, Johnson & Johnson, , Palo Alto Networks, Regeneron, and Sanofi.
International Arbitration: Leading multinationals involved in important international disputes repeatedly turn to Weil for its business oriented approach, understanding of specific cultural issues, extensive government and trade experience, and recognized skill in handling complex investment and commercial arbitrations before all major arbitral institutions, including the ICC, AAA, LCIA, and ICSID.
Product Liability: Weil’s Product Liability & Mass Tort practice handles nationwide class actions, MDL proceedings, and joint state/federal litigations, among other matters, and has won some of the largest consumer fraud class actions involving alleged product defects in the United States. Our experience extends to a broad range of issues – including product defects, environmental remediation and indemnification, natural disasters, chemical contamination, PFAS (forever chemicals), and crisis management – in sectors that include automotive products, industrial chemicals, medical devices, toys, food and beverage, pharmaceuticals, heavy equipment, and airlines. Notable clients include Alibaba, Dometic, ExxonMobil, Johnson & Johnson, L'Oréal, Nike, PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble, Repsol, and Sanofi.
Securities: Weil’s Securities Litigation practice has handled numerous high-stakes, precedent-setting disputes, including those related to the insolvency or restructuring of major financial institutions, high-profile SEC enforcement proceedings, white-collar securities prosecutions, proxy contests, busted-deal and other M&A litigation, and class action and derivative litigation. The group continues to tackle complex litigation and investigations for clients such as AIG, AMC Entertainment, Brookfield, Digital Currency Group, Elanco, Getty Images, Marathon Digital Holdings, Morgan Stanley, Sanofi, Walgreens, and Warner Bros. Discovery, as well as shareholder suits arising out of large, sophisticated M&A and SPAC transactions.
White Collar Crime: Led by an elite group of highly ranked criminal defense lawyers with extensive government experience, Weil’s White Collar Defense, Regulatory & Investigations practice conducts complex internal investigations and handles an array of criminal, civil, and regulatory investigations and parallel litigation arising out of accounting and securities issues, allegations of insider trading, money laundering, fraud, executive misconduct, and cartelization, and allegations related to U.S. criminal and regulatory laws with international and extra-territorial dimensions, such as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
Updated Aug 2024
Sidley is an elite global law firm. Harnessing 158 years of legal heritage, we provide strong representation on behalf of clients in more than 70 countries. Our lawyers apply a Built to WinSM client service model to their legal strategies, ensuring the best possible outcomes in complex transactional, restructuring, regulatory, and litigation matters. With 21 offices strategically situated in key commercial and financial hubs across the world, our perspective and our reach are truly global. Our 2,300 lawyers, fluent in more than 80 languages, possess the cultural awareness and cross-border legal acumen needed to bring clarity to a dynamic business landscape.
Follow Sidley on Twitter @SidleyLaw.
Appellate: Sidley is widely recognized as one of the premier appellate firms in the country, and as a trailblazer — regularly addressing intricate, precedent-setting issues in federal and state law in the Supreme Court, the federal courts of appeals, as well as state appellate and supreme courts across the nation. Since the inception of the practice in 1985, the team, including more than 20 former Supreme Court clerks, has briefed over 220 cases on the merits and argued more than 150 cases before the Court.
Bankruptcy: Sidley’s global Restructuring group is regularly involved in the largest restructurings throughout the world. The team represents companies facing in-court or out-of-court restructurings, official and ad hoc committees of creditors, agent lenders, and participants in distressed M&A processes. Sidley prides itself on the group’s ability to use innovative, bespoke approaches to obtain the best results in complex situations.
Commercial: Clients repeatedly turn to Sidley’s Commercial Litigation team when their most important disputes must be tried. Sidley’s track record of successes is unparalleled in high-stakes, mission-critical cases against well-regarded opponents, no matter the forum. The team’s full-service litigation capabilities are relied upon by leading global companies with household names.
Competition/Antitrust: As a part of the firm’s global antitrust offering, Sidley has a strong and well-respected litigation practice. Sidley lawyers represent clients in their most complex cases, including matters involving antitrust enforcement, merger clearances, claims of collusion, and other alleged antitrust violations. The team has represented domestic and international corporations, trade associations, government entities, professional societies, and individuals in the full range of civil and criminal trials.
Insurance: Sidley’s Insurance Disputes practice advises on significant insurance litigation nationwide across a variety of areas, including regulatory compliance, insurance class actions, reinsurance disputes, ERISA litigation, general commercial litigation, securities and shareholder litigation, and Supreme Court and appellate courts, among other areas.
Intellectual Property: Sidley boasts one of the most distinguished and highly regarded Intellectual Property litigation practices in the U.S., with approximately 80 lawyers and a deep bench of trial lawyers. Handling matters for innovation-driven clients ranging from global Fortune 500 companies to groundbreaking startups, the team develops winning strategies for high-stakes IP litigation involving patents, trade secret and unfair competition, false advertising, copyright infringement, and trademarks.
International Arbitration: Sidley’s Global Arbitration, Trade and Advocacy practice exemplifies a superior depth of knowledge of the law, regulatory challenges, and culture of the jurisdictions in which the team practices. Operating from the U.S., Europe, and Asia, the team works as a tightly integrated team of practitioners with different cultural and legal backgrounds and broad language capabilities.
Labor and Employment: Sidley is at the forefront of representing employers in major high-profile class and collective action litigation against many of the biggest and most aggressive plaintiffs’ firms in the country. The team is known for winning bet-the-company cases and deftly handling high-value discrimination, harassment, and retaliation claims, executive disputes, whistle-blower claims, restrictive covenant and trade secret litigation, and investigations involving matters of the utmost importance to companies.
Product Liability and Recall: Sidley’s Product Liability and Mass Torts practice has played key roles in many of the most significant product liability litigations. The team has decades of experience handling claims associated with products, the facilities that manufacture them, and the companies that sell them. We defend clients in state and federal courts and are typically lead counsel in multidistrict litigations and state coordinated proceedings.
Securities: Sidley’s Securities and Shareholder Litigation team stands out for the strength of its work, winning complex securities matters at the trial level and on appeal across a variety of sectors. The team’s deep bench and extensive experience allows Sidley to represent a wide range of clients. This includes major corporations and private companies, boards of directors and board committees, senior executives, financial advisers, investment banks, and auditors.
White Collar Crime: Sidley lawyers have handled investigations in more than 130 countries, collaborating seamlessly across borders and practice groups to offer a cohesive approach to white collar crime and corporate investigations matters. The firm can mobilize teams quickly to swiftly deploy the critical legal support needed to manage sensitive, high-profile investigations and litigation.
Updated Sep 2024
Founded in 1920, Akerman is recognized as one of the country’s premier law firms, with more than 700 lawyers in 25 offices throughout the United States..
Commercial Litigation: Akerman offers a leading trial team that includes litigators across the United States. We represent a diverse range of clients across numerous sectors, with particular strength in the financial services, private equity, insurance, real estate, construction, health and life sciences, and energy sectors. Akerman lawyers regularly appear before judges and arbitrators in class actions, securities, white-collar, fraud and recovery, product liability, intellectual property, employment, bankruptcy, and general business matters.
Appellate: With a bench that includes many former appellate and trial court judges, Akerman’s appellate practice is a national powerhouse with demonstrated success in handling appeals related to complex commercial litigation. Akerman's appellate team frequently assist trial lawyers during all phases of litigation, preserving errors for appeal, drafting motions and responses, and providing strategic advice on the best approach for seeking relief on appeal. They handle numerous matters before appellate courts nationwide in various commercial cases and class actions. We also have experience in administrative appeals involving high profile issues before state agencies. Additionally, Akerman's appellate lawyers represent industry associations as amicus curiae in appellate proceedings when our clients are not a party to an appeal but have a substantial interest in the outcome.
International Litigation & Arbitration: Akerman has a long record of accomplishment in resolving complex multijurisdictional disputes. Our team represents multinational, foreign, and domestic corporations and individuals before U.S. federal and state courts, as well as in arbitration proceedings before a wide range of international arbitral bodies in multiple jurisdictions. Akerman litigators help clients successfully address conflicts in a broad range of sectors, including general commercial disputes, power and energy, construction and engineering, and banking and finance, among many others. Our highly responsive, multilingual team works in tandem with experienced local counsel to provide seamless resolution to disputes throughout Latin America, as well as in Europe, Asia Pacific, Africa, and the Middle East.
Employment Litigation: Akerman’s national, multidisciplinary team helps clients navigate claims brought before state and federal agencies and boards as well as trial and appellate courts throughout the United States. Our lawyers regularly defend employers in all types of employment litigation, including complex class-action discrimination cases and collective action wage and hour matters. We also represent employers in connection with administrative charges and audits, and have successfully negotiated and supervised numerous settlements with the U.S. Department of Labor.
Updated Sep 2024