Question 1

Practice Area Definitions: Global

Accepted Answer

Agribusiness

The Agribusiness research encompasses a broad range of legal, financial and transactional support for agricultural projects, representing a wide spectrum of clients. Firms may represent project developers, investors and financial institutions as well as other stakeholders from the private and public sectors and offer expertise in one or multiple key agribusiness markets.

The section covers rural real estate due diligence, acquisitions and leasing, sector-specific M&A, environment law, IP and technology relating to agri-tech products and services.

The section also covers international trade matters including pre-export financing, import and export licences and compliance with international trade regulations. Firms may also cover insurance, contracts, tax, employment, regulations and general corporate advice and private client concerns.

Arbitration (International)

Incorporating both general commercial and investment arbitration matters, firms and individuals featured in this section are expected to evidence the handling of a range of international disputes in front of sole arbitrators and arbitration panels in key arbitral centres around the world including London, Paris, Geneva, Singapore, Hong Kong and New York. Key considerations include the ability to advise on sophisticated commercial arbitration governed by ICC (International Chamber of Commerce), ICSID (International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes) and UNCITRAL (United Nations Commission on International Trade Law) rules.

Another major element the Arbitration (International) rankings is designed to capture is clear expertise in investment arbitration representing corporates, investors, states or state-owned entities under international investment agreements including ISDS (Investor-State Dispute Settlements) and BIT (Bilateral Investment Treaty) cases.

The Most In Demand Arbitrators section ranks those individuals who act as arbitrators on international cases and who are widely recognised as the go-to arbitrators for such cases.

Artificial Intelligence

Our Artificial Intelligence table identifies the leading professional advisers to the global AI market. This category covers those individuals who provide advisory and governance services for the use of AI. These issues include but are not limited to, data privacy, copyright, regulatory compliance, and responsible usage policies. Contentious matters are also included, such as liability disputes and intellectual property infringements.

Asset Finance

This section covers firms and lawyers advising on cross-border finance linked to the purchase or construction of a distinct asset or set of assets (typically ships, aircraft or rolling stock).  Clients may include financial institutions, government agencies, airlines, aircraft leasing companies, rolling stock lessors and ship owners, to name a few.

Business & Human Rights

The Business & Human Rights section recognises firms and lawyers with expertise in representing clients in matters pertaining to human rights within the context of business operations.

The lawyers and firms covered in this section are experts in a range of human rights-related laws and principles (including, but not limited to, the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the UK Modern Slavery Act, the French Duty of Vigilance laws, the Australian Modern Slavery Act, and the Dutch Child Labour Due Diligence Law). They will typically advise large, multinational companies on: human rights due diligence-reporting; constructing compliance programs; grievance mechanisms to pay victims; responding to allegations and litigation claims; and conducting human rights impact assessments in high-risk countries.

The section also includes a claimants table that recognises lawyers and law firms who represent claimants on human rights issues.  

Charities & Nonprofits

The Charities & Nonprofits section covers law firms and lawyers who advise third sector and nonprofit clients on all manner of cross-border and international contentious and non-contentious matters. This incudes governance, corporate, property, employment, partnership, policy and tax issues.

Climate Change

The Climate Change section covers firms and individuals who advise clients on a range of compliance, regulatory, transactional and contentious matters as they relate to climate change.

This section includes work relating to emissions trading, including assisting companies in adhering to carbon regulations. The section also covers legal issues relating to renewable and low carbon projects, which includes assisting with the development and financial issues attached to these ventures. In addition to this, the section covers advice on the risks and investment opportunities concerning climate change in corporate transactions, key issues of which include energy efficiency, supply chain issues, climate change adaptation and mitigation, due diligence and risk assessment.

Commercial Contracts

This section covers practices that assist clients with agreements relating to the establishment and development of commercial activities between non-public sector entities. It primarily looks at cooperation agreements to conduct commercial activities, including ongoing supply, agency, distribution, or manufacturing agreements relating to trading activities and commercial strategies, as well as joint ventures.

Franchising

This section covers law firms and lawyers advising franchisees and franchisors in respect of both cross-border transactional and contentious work, such as setting up franchise agreements and disputes arising from such contracts.  

Gaming & Gambling

This section covers licensing and permitting matters as well as wider issues related to traditional and online gambling activities, including casinos. Mergers and acquisitions, privacy, tax, platform development, anti-money laundering, contract negotiation and governance matters are all also considered within this section.

International Trade/WTO

The International Trade/WTO section covers classic trade cases such as anti-dumping, countervailing duties, export control and other customs/tariff classifications and regulatory work. The practice area also includes issues such as WTO and other treaty-based trade and investment disputes, bilateral and multilateral trade negotiations, and market access issues.

Leading Law Firm Networks

In this section we focus on independent law firm networks. The chief criterion is that the member firms are independent of each other and any controlling entity. For the most part, the network should exist without relying on a central law firm. A strong law firm network positions itself as a cost-effective alternative to an international law firm with many international branches. If effective, the network should help members generate cross-referral work, and that clients benefit from unified solutions when work crosses borders. A network's ranking in this section is contingent on the rankings, and the ranking strength, of its member firms across the various Chambers guides. Aside from an analysis of the data, the research process involves extended interviews with a selected group of network representatives and calls with referees the network provides.

Mediators

This section ranks the world’s leading mediators, all of whom are successful resolvers of a wide range of disputes. We only rank individual mediators in this table, not organisations.  

Outsourcing

This section covers legal aspects of the transfer of business administration and services to external providers. The section includes every variation of this process, including IT outsourcing, business process outsourcing, and legal process outsourcing. Occasionally unsuccessful outsourcing contracts can result in disputes and this type of work is also covered in the section.

Public International Law

Public International Law covers inter-state disputes such as those before the International Court of Justice, the International Tribunal of the Law of the Sea and the International Criminal Court. Firms and individuals recognised in this section will have expertise on a wide range of state-to-state disputes, international humanitarian law as well as sovereign immunity, sanctions and boundary rights.

Investment arbitration is now found solely under the Arbitration (International) practice area.

The Most In Demand Arbitrators section ranks those individuals who act as arbitrators on international cases and who are widely recognised as the go-to arbitrators for such cases.

Shipping

The Shipping Litigation section covers contentious work, including breaches of charter-party disputes, cargo and bills of lading claims, the arrest of vessels and cargoes, marine insurance claims, collision, salvage, and environmental liabilities. Typical clients will include P&I clubs, underwriters, terminal operators, ship owners and operators, charterers and banks.

The Shipping Finance section covers transactional matters such as acquisitions, leasings and financings. Clients can include financial institutions and shipping companies, among others.

Question 2

Practice Area Definitions: Asia-Pacific

Accepted Answer

Below are the legal practice area definitions and regional variations used by Chambers to rank lawyers and law firms in the Asia-Pacific Guide.

Anti-Bribery & Corruption

This practice area covers regulatory and enforcement matters on a Federal and State level, including matters with the ACCC, ASIC, Commissions and other Federal or State agencies (for Australian matters). Corporate investigations may concern operating procedures, due diligence, criminal and civil liability, ethics, and trans-national issues such as sanctions and money laundering. Compliance with both national and foreign laws that impact national and overseas clients would be included.

Arbitration (International)

The chapter features arbitration counsel providing advice on the resolution of disputes by one or more neutral parties, either an arbitrator or an arbitration panel. Many contracts – including those imposed on customers by many financial and healthcare organisations – require mandatory arbitration in the event of a dispute.

Examples of the institutions include HKIAC (Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre), SIAC (Singapore International Arbitration Centre), ICC (International Chamber of Commerce) and ICSID (International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes).

The China and South Korea chapters also include domestic arbitration rankings tables.

Artificial Intelligence

This category covers those individuals who provide advisory and governance services for the use of AI. These issues include but are not limited to, data privacy, copyright, regulatory compliance, and responsible usage policies. Contentious matters are also included, such as liability disputes and intellectual property infringements.

Aviation

Aviation sections may cover finance, regulatory, commercial and litigation matters.

Regulatory and commercial matters considered in this section include representation before national and international aviation regulatory bodies as well as commercial arrangements between airlines and airports, and air charters. UAV regulatory matters may also be considered.

Aviation Finance concentrates on the advice to manufacturers, purchasers and investors (such as hedge and private equity funds) on the sale, leasing and acquisition of portfolios of aircraft.

In the Australia chapter, Aviation Finance is covered in the Banking & Finance: Asset finance and leasing section.

Banking & Finance

A broad-based definition of banking transactions, which include both borrower and lender clients. The following topics are included: acting for either the lender or the borrower on general bank lending, syndicated lending, structured finance, asset finance and leveraged finance.

See also Islamic Finance, Project Finance and Restructuring/Insolvency.

Capital Markets

Chambers guides cover key areas of capital markets either as distinct tables or under the wider umbrella. The areas include Debt & Equity, Derivatives, Securitisation, and Structured finance (CDOs, repackagings, other synthetic products).

Equity Capital Markets includes advice on equity offerings transactions such as: Initial public offerings, follow-on offerings, right offerings, capital increases, ADR / GDR offerings; accelerated bookbuilts, and block trades.

Debt Capital Markets covers legal advice on the following transactions: investment grade debt offerings (standalone bond issues; MTN programs, Commercial Paper programmes); equity-linked offerings (regulatory capital, convertibles and exchangeable offerings); and High Yield debt offerings.

Derivatives includes the regulatory and transactional legal advice regarding derivatives products. These include: Exchange-traded derivatives; OTC derivatives; Securitised derivatives; Interest rate, currency, equity, credit and commodity-linked products. Law firms advise on product development and regulation; market regulation; structuring and documentation of transactions, related tax issues and derivatives litigation.

Securitisation covers the entire range asset classes, including (among others): Commercial loans; derivatives exposure; bonds and corporate debt; project cash flows; trade receivables; credit card and trade receivables; commercial and residential mortgages; life insurance and annuities; auto loans.

Structured finance also encompasses: CDOs (both cash and synthetic); repackagings; and hybrid synthetic and structured note products.

Charities

This section ranks law firms and lawyers who advise third sector clients on all types of contentious and non-contentious matters, ranging from sector-specific advice on constitutional and governance issues or public benefit requirements, to more general advice on corporate, property, employment and tax issues.

This section would cover a broad range of work undertaken for charities and NFPs, ranging from advising on the Charities Act, establishment of entities, compliance, taxation, and financial matters to related disputes.

Climate Change

This table covers compliance, regulatory, transactional and contentious matters as they relate to climate change. It is researched on an Asia-Pacific wide basis, so law firms from across the region are eligible to make a submission. This includes work relating to emissions trading, including assisting companies in adhering to carbon regulations. The section also covers legal issues relating to renewable and low carbon projects, which includes assisting with the development and financial issues attached to these ventures.

Other relevant work includes advising clients on the risks and investment opportunities concerning climate change in corporate transactions, key issues of which include energy efficiency, supply chain issues, climate change adaption and mitigation, due diligence and risk assessment.

Competition / Antitrust

Competition/Antitrust covers the body of laws that prohibits anti-competitive behaviour (monopoly) and unfair business practices. This includes merger and acquisition approval work and public and private enforcement proceedings, including litigation or regulatory investigations into anti-competitive practices such as price-fixing and cartelisation.

Construction

Construction covers contractual advisor work within the construction industry for both the suppliers (e.g. developers, contractors, engineers and architects), and those clients employing these types of companies e.g. corporates or state authorities on their building plans. Our construction sections cover both litigious and non-litigious matters.

Corporate / Commercial

Some chapters feature a Corporate/Commercial section. It covers the broad range of commercial legal work, without subdivision into specialist areas; however, matters relating to a specialist practice area that features elsewhere in the chapter should not be duplicated here.

In the PRC chapter, all regional sections are Corporate/Commercial and a variety of matters may be considered, including but not limited to corporate acquisitions, bond issuances, company listings, FDI, IP, commercial disputes and employment issues. Work considered in the relevant Corporate/Commercial section must be handled out of a corresponding local office in that region.

Corporate Investigations / Anti-Corruption

The Corporate investigation/anti-corruption section ranks firms and individuals advising on the management of, and compliance with, investigations concerning white-collar crime, anti-corruption legislation and international sanctions. The firms and lawyers may also be engaged to conduct investigations and prepare reports for management. The section covers issues faced by clients arising from the increased scrutiny of regulatory bodies into their day-to-day operations.

The firms included here often bring together multi-disciplinary teams to advise on internal investigations, or proceedings brought by external bodies, including public and law enforcement bodies. Investigations may concern operating procedures, criminal and civil liability, ethics, and trans-national issues such as sanctions and money laundering. The teams often provide specialist advice on domestic legislation. Advice given on the US FCPA, UK Bribery Act and other relevant overseas legislation alongside how regulatory bodies operate across the world are also included. Coverage extends to advising on compliance and best practice.

Corporate / M&A

This broad category covers both public company and private equity (including venture capital) matters. The chapter includes company acquisitions, dispositions and related financing arrangements, capitalisations, entity selection and formation, operating and partnership agreements, securities and governance matters.

Also covers those transactions designed to help restructuring within companies and their subsidiaries by change of ownership. Priority is placed on primary representatives, those acting for buyers and sellers, whilst those acting for financial advisers, underwriters and the banks financing such transactions are also considered.

See also: Private Equity

Data Protection

Data Protection covers regulatory advice on data protection and privacy compliance, cases of data security breaches, representation of clients in investigations, enforcement actions or litigation relating to data protection and privacy. Work of an international nature can include advising clients with multinational operations on data security issues relating to cross-border transfers of data, such as in large-scale outsourcing transactions involving a number of countries, and on global or multi-jurisdictional privacy compliance programmes.

Dispute Resolution

Dispute Resolution chapters focus on litigation and alternative dispute resolution proceedings. The work covers the full course of a dispute, such as pre-trial negotiations, documentation and preparation for trial, summary judgment applications, trial, appeals and enforcement proceedings. This section also covers white-collar crime, including government investigations. Expertise in alternative dispute resolution, involving non-court mediation and arbitration, may be ranked in separate tables where the market is sufficiently developed.

Practice areas such as Insurance, Construction, IP and Media may also contain litigators who are experts in their field in markets that are sufficiently specialised.

In some jurisdictions in the region, where the legal profession is not fused, we feature separate ranking tables for barristers and solicitors. In jurisdictions where the legal profession is fused, but there is sufficient distinction between lawyers practising in the style of barristers, and lawyers practising in the style of solicitors, we have sought to make this distinction clear by again having separate ranking tables.

See also: Arbitration (International)

Employment

Covers both contentious and non-contentious employment matters. Includes employment litigation related to sex, race, age discrimination, as well as workforce redundancies and employee transfers and immigration issues. Also includes workplace health and safety matters, HR training and policy writing.

Energy & Natural Resources

Although Chambers is aware of the overlap with Projects and project financing, the energy chapters focus on corporate / commercial and regulatory issues arising from the energy and natural resources sectors. These include the regulatory components of M&A and other transactional work, pure regulatory work related to the application for licenses and compliance and enforcement with regulatory bodies. Chambers guides focuses on key industry sectors including Electricity, Oil & Gas, Renewables and Nuclear matters.

Electricity / Utilities covers advice on the development, financing and permitting of energy projects (such as electric, coal, oil & gas fired plants, nuclear and hydro-electric plants), facilities management; co-generation and restructuring/deregulation arising out of the wholesale and retail markets.

Oil and Gas covers all upstream and downstream work including exploration, infrastructure and pipeline developments and service contracts, royalties, licensing and operation agreements. It also includes corporate issues such as M&A, capital raisings, taxation and regulatory compliance.

Renewables focuses on the financing, development and regulatory issues surrounding wind and wave power generation, solar, biomass and geothermal energy generation. It also includes advice on compliance with clean energy regulations.

Nuclear issues include licensing and operation, commercial transactions, reactor oversight, enforcement and compliance, whistleblower statutes and non-retaliation policy, as well as nuclear waste and fuel procurement.

Natural Resources sections focus on mining and minerals exploration, development and production agreements, including royalty issues, project finance, taxation and other financing arrangements. Engineering, processing and refining contracts, sales structures and environmental issues are also covered.

Environment

The environment chapter features both litigation and advisory/transactional support to clients. This includes general corporate issues, (e.g. due diligence on mergers), the development of brownfield sites, and pollution issues. `Traditional` environment work includes regulatory compliance, litigation and enforcement actions related to air, water, wetlands, waste and endangered species.

We also feature advice to corporate and financial clients on the environmental aspects of M&A, financings, securities offerings and other transactions, which involve due diligence and environmental insurance issues. Emissions trading work may also be included where appropriate.

Financial Services Regulation

This chapter covers both non-contentious and contentious matters arising out of the Financial Services industry and advice on all aspects of internal organisation and governance, transactions and operations. Non-contentious matters include assistance to bank / financial institution clients in complying with the full range of financial services laws and regulations in their daily operations.

This section also encompasses financial institutions business transactions, especially the advice on regulatory issues in mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures of financial services companies and the implementation of holdings in foreign countries.

This section also covers the lobbying work done by the firm for the development of new laws and regulations. In contentious matters, we include advice related to the defence of financial institutions in criminal and civil examinations, inspections, investigations, and formal proceedings by regulators and self-regulatory organisations.

FinTech

Chambers produces a dedicated FinTech professional advisers guide which covers all aspects of FinTech-related legal work.

Gaming & Gambling

Lawyers in this section advise gambling companies and casinos on the full range of regulatory and licensing issues. Sports betting may also be covered.

Healthcare

Healthcare covers a wide range of work, including transactional, advisory, and contentious matters. Transactional work is centred on sale and purchase agreements, joint ventures, investment and divestment and the financings of such deals within the healthcare industry. Law firms advise on antitrust issues and assorted regulatory matters for clients including hospitals, health systems, healthcare startups and insurance companies.

Litigation includes matters such as product liability disputes arising from pharmaceutical and medical devices defects, whistleblower suits, the defence of parties involved in anti-bribery investigations as well as general clinical negligence issues or disputes arising between hospitals and patients.

Advisory and regulatory compliance matters encompassing the licensing of drugs and devices approved by local regulators, sales and marketing practices and other day-to-day issues are also included.

See also: Life Science

High Net Worth Individuals

Chambers produces a dedicated HNW professional advisers guide which covers all aspects of HNW-related legal work.

Infrastructure

Infrastructure sections include lawyers representing the range of stakeholders participating in the proposal, delivery and operation of infrastructure development projects, including ports, airports, roading, rail and light rail.

See also: Construction, Energy & Natural Resources, Project Finance and Projects.

Insurance

Insurance includes both contentious and non-contentious insurance and reinsurance matters. On the contentious side, we feature coverage claims litigation, broker's negligence and both 'facultative' and 'treaty' reinsurance disputes.

There is also an element of professional negligence issues arising from insurance disputes. On the non-contentious side, we include all forms of M&A, capital raisings, demutualisations, licensing and other regulatory issues.

Intellectual Property

Intellectual Property covers disputes related to patent, copyright and trademark infringement. Litigation concerning trade secrets also features. Commercial and transactional issues such as portfolio management, licensing and IP commercialisation are also included.

International Trade / WTO

This section covers classic trade cases such as anti-dumping, countervailing duties, export control and other customs/tariff classifications and regulatory work.

Investment Funds

This section looks at work covering the entire life cycle of a fund. More emphasis is placed on fund formation work, and sponsor-side representation. The capacity to provide regulatory and relevant tax advice is also considered. This section includes open-ended funds, closed-ended funds, hedge funds, real estate funds, infrastructure funds and funds of funds. Registered funds and superannuation funds are also included.

See also Private Equity: Buyouts and Venture Capital Investment and Private Equity.

Islamic Finance

Sharia-compliant financing work such as advising on sukuk, murabaha and tawarruq matters.

Law firm Networks

In this section we focus on independent law firm networks. The chief criterion is that the member firms are independent of each other and any controlling entity. For the most part, the network should exist without relying on a central law firm. A strong law firm network positions itself as a cost-effective alternative to an international law firm with many international branches. If effective, the network should help members generate cross-referral work, and that clients benefit from unified solutions when work crosses borders. A law firm network's ranking in this section, is contingent on the rankings, and the ranking strength, of its member firms across the Asia-Pacific region. Aside from an analysis of the data, the research process involves extended interviews with a selected group of network representatives, and calls with referees the network provides.

Life sciences

Life sciences focuses on the commercialisation of life sciences products (pharmaceuticals, medical devices and biotechnology programs etc). IP issues dominate as large pharmaceuticals seek to obtain innovative, impending blockbuster drugs from biotechs and other pharmaceutical companies. Also includes the licensing and acquisition of new products from other sources (often smaller biotechs to larger suppliers).

This chapter includes advice on drug and device safety, and product liability litigation.

Native Title

The Native Title practice area in Australia encompasses legal work relating to the recognition, negotiation and management of indigenous rights and interests under the Native Title Act 1993. It is divided into two ranking tables: Traditional Owners and Proponents. For Traditional Owners, lawyers advise and represent Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups or communities in asserting their native title rights, assisting with claims, negotiating agreements and establishing management bodies. For Proponents, lawyers advise non-indigenous parties such as government bodies, mining companies and developers on compliance, negotiations and risk management. Both rankings involve drafting indigenous land use agreements, representing clients in Federal Court proceedings and addressing cultural heritage obligations, balancing the interests of all parties involved in native title matters.

Offshore

This table features Offshore law firms with one or more offices in the Asia-Pacific region. The table focuses on work governed under the laws of offshore jurisdictions such as Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands, Bermuda, Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. The section includes a wide range of corporate and finance work, including investment funds. It also covers dispute resolution work.

Private Equity

Private Equity focuses on the transactional aspects of a fund's life cycle. It takes into account LBO, M&A and recapitalisation matters at both the high-end and mid-market level. In chapters without separate coverage for Venture Capital, venture capital investment work is also considered under Private Equity.

For fund formation, structuring, tax, or regulatory work see: Investment Funds

Project Finance

The financing and refinancing of infrastructure and industrial projects using a non-recourse or limited recourse financial structure. Chambers considers work for lenders as well as borrowers in this section.

Projects

Focuses on the development and financing of large projects that arise in the capital intensive infrastructure and energy markets. Clients in this sector include sponsors, lenders, project originators and multilateral agencies and development banks.

In the energy sector, we include advice on the development of refineries, pipelines, LNG and petrochemical terminals, power plants and wind power, waste-to-energy and hydro-wave technology. Infrastructure matters such as toll road and bridge financing; rail and light rail systems; water desalination plants as well as state sponsored programmes (PPP/PFI) such as hospitals, schools, housing and prisons.

In jurisdictions that do not have a separate Project Finance section, the financing of such projects is also included in the Projects section.

See also: Project Finance and Infrastructure

Real Estate

Includes transactional advice related to the acquisition, planning and development, leasing and disposal of real estate assets. Clients typically include large real estate holding companies, investment funds and REITs.

Corporate matters related to real estate include M&A of large real estate holding companies, complex fund and REIT transactions, private equity and public securities. These real estate lawyers are distinct from pure corporate lawyers in that they typically come from a real estate background and have an understanding of the underlying asset and land law required by their real estate for their clients.

Restructuring / Insolvency

The focus is on the legal processes related to distressed businesses, which can either be reorganised or go into liquidation. The section also includes lawyers, who advise on acquisition opportunities that arise out of distressed businesses. Lawyers in this chapter assist clients such as: corporate debtors, investors and asset purchasers; secured and unsecured creditors and creditors` committees, bondholders, insurers; directors of distressed companies and any other interested parties in corporate restructurings and insolvency proceedings.

Restructuring/Insolvency sections cover both transactional and disputes matters.

Shipping

Shipping & maritime litigation involves breach of charter-party disputes, cargo and bills of lading claims, the arrest of vessels and cargoes, marine insurance claims, collision, salvage and environmental liabilities. On the non-contentious side, law firms advise on contractual arrangements for construction, financing and registration of vessels, customs and licensing, and documentation relating to charter-parties and bills of lading. Related matters concerning offshore platforms may also be included.

Sports Law

This section covers those lawyers and law firms who have a demonstrable commitment to the sports sector, and understand the unique pressures and constraints which sports entities operate under. The definition of sports law is often disputed; Chambers sees commercial and regulatory work as its cornerstone, but seeks to highlight those firms which are best able to serve the sports industry as a whole, which requires consideration of work across a wide range of legal disciplines.

Integrity matters, including anti-doping, selection disputes, disciplinary proceedings and controversies arising out of the sports betting industry, are also covered.

This practice area covers lawyers who may specialise in IP, corporate/commercial, or litigation and arbitration, and possibly media/entertainment matters but with a focus on the sports world – they would spend a reasonable percentage of their time (around 25% at least) on sports related matters.

Tax

Tax covers transactional direct and indirect tax advice and tax controversy-related work. Tax on the transactional side covers corporate partnerships structures, tax planning, spin-offs and the tax structuring of corporate acquisitions.

Tax controversy encompasses any contentious tax issue. This includes tax-based litigation and advice relating to tax anti-avoidance enforcement.

This section also takes into account base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) matters, including transfer pricing and other cross-border tax advice.

TMT

Technology focuses on contractual agreements in the technology field, often outsourcing contracts between large corporates and suppliers of IT services.

Telecommunications concentrates on a range of legal issues arising from the heavily regulated areas of telecommunications and broadcasting. Work includes regulatory, transactional and litigation advice relating to telecommunications infrastructure and services.

The media market has many different facets. Chambers guides have attempted to highlight lawyers who have an understanding of the issues related to key sectors such as Advertising, Film & Television; Music and Publishing. This includes contentious and non-contentious matters relating to copyright, distribution rights, broadcasting rights and royalties. It also includes lawyers who handle defamation matters, either in pre-publication advice or in litigation mandates representing claimants and defendants.

Venture Capital

Venture Capital focuses on investments into venture capital targets and acquisitions of early-stage companies. This can include the representation of either the investor or the target company, though the most highly ranked firms will most likely demonstrate the representation of various parties and investors. Venture Capital work can also be included in those chapters with Startups & Emerging Companies tables.

In chapters without separate coverage for Venture Capital, venture capital investment work is also considered under Private Equity.

For fund formation, structuring, tax, or regulatory work see: Investment Funds

White-collar Crime

This practice area covers non-violent wrongdoings such as corruption and financial crimes. Examples include bribery, major fraud and insider trading. Litigation, compliance and government investigations are relevant to this practice area.

Question 3

Practice Area Definitions: Canada

Accepted Answer

Below are the legal practice area definitions and regional variations used by Chambers to rank lawyers and law firms in the Canada Guide.

For the avoidance of doubt, there is no requirement that the practice of a lawyer or law firm department be nationwide in scope in order to be recognised in a section that is designated “Nationwide – Canada”.

Chambers considers a range of different law firms, departments and lawyers for recognition, provided that they demonstrate sufficient strength when practicing in the relevant area. In particularly prominent areas of law (e.g. corporate law, employment, litigation, real estate), we break our coverage down into separate categories for each province due to the multitude of firms and lawyers practicing in the area. All other sections are designated “Nationwide – Canada” and will recognise law firms and lawyers in the table no matter where they are based in Canada.

Aboriginal Law

The Aboriginal Law – Nationwide – Canada section is dedicated to recognising departments and lawyers who primarily advise on matters concerning indigenous peoples. Relevant work for these sections will focus on matters arising out of energy and mining projects, as well as other developments and operations that have a considerable impact upon the rights of indigenous peoples. All commercial, regulatory and contentious work concerning title rights, land use and other relevant issues may be thought of as relevant.

Law firm departments and lawyers that focus on representing Indigenous Peoples are recognised in a separate table, Aboriginal Law - Representation of Indigenous Peoples - Nationwide Canada.

Firms are invited to provide one submission document with up to 20 work highlights and one referee list with up to 30 referees to Aboriginal Law – Nationwide – Canada. Firms may also provide a separate submission document with up to 20 work highlights and one referee list with up to 30 referees to Aboriginal Law - Representation of Indigenous Peoples - Nationwide Canada.

Advertising & Marketing

The Advertising & Marketing - Nationwide - Canada section covers corporate, contractual and regulatory compliance work involving advertising and marketing agencies, brand-holders and other clients in the advertising industry. Firms and lawyers will frequently advise on matters such as marketing strategies, sponsorship agreements, product review and misleading advertising issues, in relation to both physical packaging and labelling, as well as e-commerce and online consumer protection.

Firms are invited to provide one submission document with up to 20 work highlights and one referee list with up to 30 referees for these sections.

Agribusiness

The Agribusiness – Nationwide – Canada section is dedicated to recognising departments and lawyers who primarily advise on matters concerning agricultural projects. Firms are invited to provide one submission document with up to 20 work highlights and one referee list with up to 30 referees that covers all evidence the firm wishes to provide in support of recognition in the Agriculture & Food Products section and/or the Forestry section.

Firms recognised in the Agribusiness: Agriculture & Food Products will be involved in all legal work that stems from the start of the supply chain, principally farming products. Work concerning companies that produce the food and beverage products at the consumer end of the supply chain is more appropriately relevant to our Retail – Nationwide – Canada section. Relevant work includes transactional, regulatory and litigation matters.

The Agribusiness: Forestry section recognises lawyers and departments focusing on a range of legal issues related to the forest industry in Canada. Relevant work includes, but is not limited to, the drafting and negotiation of forestry-specific documentation such as fibre supply agreements and harvesting contracts, commercial and contentious issues surrounding log scaling and stumpage, and M&A transactions concerning forestry assets and business.

Artificial Intelligence

Our Artificial Intelligence table identifies the leading professional advisers to the Canada AI market. This category covers those individuals who provide advisory and governance services for the use of AI. These issues include but are not limited to, data privacy, copyright, regulatory compliance, and responsible usage policies. Contentious matters are also included, such as liability disputes and intellectual property infringements.

Firms are invited to provide one submission document with up to 20 work highlights and one referee list with up to 30 referees for these sections.

Banking & Finance

Firms are invited to provide one submission document with up to 25 work highlights and one referee list with up to 30 referees that covers all evidence the firm wishes to provide in support of recognition in the Banking & Finance section and/or the Banking & Finance: Financial Services Regulation table.

The Banking & Finance - Nationwide – Canada section covers advice provided to borrowers, sponsors and lenders. Chambers Canada considers a broad array of banking work for its purposes, with areas looked at including acquisition finance, syndicated lending, leveraged finance, Islamic finance and refinancing issues.

The Banking & Finance: Financial Services Regulation - Nationwide - Canada section covers both non-contentious and contentious matters arising out of the Financial Services industry and advice on all aspects of internal organisation and governance, transactions and operations. Relevant work includes, but is not limited to:

Assisting bank / financial institution clients in complying with the full range of financial services laws and regulations in their daily operations.
Advising on regulatory issues in mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures of financial services companies and the implementation of holdings in foreign countries.
Defending financial institutions in criminal and civil examinations, inspections, investigations, and formal proceedings by federal and state financial regulators and self-regulatory organisations.

Business & Human Rights Law

The Business & Human Rights Law - Nationwide – Canada section recognises Law firm departments and individual lawyers with a substantial practice assisting both crown corporations and private clients with all matters pertaining to human rights with the context of business operations. Work is generally focused on shaping regulations in the context of national and international obligations and the provision of advice on human rights obligations stemming from commercial arrangements.

Firms are invited to provide one submission document with up to 20 work highlights and one referee list with up to 30 referees for these sections.

Cannabis Law

This section encompasses the full spectrum of work involving companies in the cannabis industry. Ranked firms and lawyers will show strong ties to the sector. Types of work may include, but are not restricted to; M&A and financings; intellectual property for cannabis-based products and medicines; and regulatory compliance and litigation. For the purposes of this section, work concerning other psychedelics is also considered relevant.

Firms are invited to provide one submission document with up to 20 work highlights and one referee list with up to 30 referees for these sections.

Capital Markets

Firm departments are recognised broadly for their Capital Markets expertise in the Capital Markets – Nationwide – Canada table, whereas individual lawyers are ranked in either the Capital Markets: Debt & Equity or Capital Markets: Securitisation table. Firms are invited to submit one submission document with up to 20 work highlights and one referee list with up to 30 referees that covers all Capital Markets tables.

Debt & Equity covers the full range of matters relating to the issuance of investment-grade debt and raising of equity capital. Debt Capital Markets work covers the following transactions: the following transactions: investment grade debt offerings (standalone bond issues; MTN programs, Commercial Paper programmes); equity-linked offerings (regulatory capital, convertibles and exchangeable offerings) and High Yield debt offerings. Equity Capital Markets includes advice on equity offerings transactions such as: Initial public offerings, follow-on offerings, right offerings; capital increases; CDR/GDR offerings; accelerated bookbuilds; block trades.

Securitization covers the entire range asset classes, including (among others): Commercial loans; derivatives exposure; bonds and corporate debt; project cash flows; trade receivables; credit card and trade receivables; commercial and residential mortgages; life insurance and annuities; auto loans; CDOs (both cash and synthetic) and CLOs.

Charities/Non-profits

The Charities – Nationwide – Canada section ranks law firms and lawyers who advise third sector clients on all types of contentious and non-contentious matters, ranging from sector-specific advice on constitutional and governance issues or public benefit requirements, to more general advice on corporate, property, employment and tax issues.

Firms are invited to provide one submission document with up to 20 work highlights and one referee list with up to 30 referees for these sections.

Competition/Antitrust

The Competition/Antitrust – Nationwide – Canada section covers the body of laws that prohibits anti-competitive behaviour (monopoly) and unfair business practices. This includes practices that hurt business, consumers, or both, or that generally violate standards of ethical behaviour. Antitrust litigation and M&A-related competition work, such as merger control, are also covered by this section.

Firms are invited to provide one submission document with up to 25 work highlights and one referee list with up to 30 referees for these sections.

Constitutional Law

This section focuses on the interaction between governmental authority and civil liberties and human rights related to the Constitution and Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Firms are invited to provide one submission document with up to 20 work highlights and one referee list with up to 30 referees for these sections.

Construction

The Construction – Nationwide – Canada section covers legal advice provided to a range of industry clients, including both suppliers, such as developers, contractors, engineers and architects, and purchasers employing these types of companies. Work covered includes non-contentious matters, such as contract negotiations and procurement strategy, and contentious matters, including claims arising from defects, delays and terminated contracts. Firms will advise on all types of developments, from single commercial blocks to multi-building residential developments.

Firms are invited to provide one submission document with up to 20 work highlights and one referee list with up to 30 referees for these sections.

Corporate/Commercial

Corporate sections in Chambers Canada cover an array of corporate transactions, including company acquisitions, dispositions and related financing arrangements, capitalisations, entity selection and formation, operating and partnership agreements, securities and governance matters.

These sections also cover those transactions designed to help restructuring within companies and their subsidiaries by change of ownership. Priority is placed on primary representatives, those acting for buyers and sellers, whilst those acting for financial advisers, underwriters and the banks financing such transactions are also considered.

In Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario and Quebéc, firms submit up to 20 work highlights and 30 referees to the Corporate/Commercial section for that province, in support of recognition for lawyers and departments based in that province. Firms and lawyers will then either be recognised generally for their corporate expertise, or placed into a “Corporate/Commercial: Highly Regarded” or “Corporate/Commercial: The Elite” table, depending on the province (“The Elite” tables indicate that the work is generally above $500 million, whereas work for those in a “Highly regarded” table is generally under $500 million).

Corporate lawyers and departments based in all other provinces (Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Atlantic Canada (New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island), Northern Canada and Arctic (Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Yukon) should include evidence of their practice in a submission to “General Business Law” for the relevant region.

Firms that either evidence particular strength in corporate matters across a number of provinces, or that handle significant work that spans the entire nation, will be considered for a department ranking in the Corporate/M&A – Nationwide – Canada section. Firms may submit a submission document of up to 20 work highlights for this section, but no referees (commentary for the section is sourced from the provincial Corporate sections).

Corporate/Commercial: Shareholder Activism - Ontario

This area covers the representation of shareholders in a wide variety of governance and transactional issues, including M&A, activist campaigns and proxy contests.

Firms are invited to provide one submission document with up to 20 work highlights and one referee list with up to 30 referees for these sections.

Corporate/Commercial: Takeover Defense - Ontario

This area covers advice given in the event of a hostile or unsolicited takeover approach. Please also see our Corporate/Commercial: Shareholder Activism table.

Firms are invited to provide one submission document with up to 20 work highlights and one referee list with up to 30 referees for these sections.

Crime

This section focuses on serious crime, including the illegal drugs trade, assault, sexual offences, terrorism and homicide. It covers work at all levels, from initial police dealings and high street advisory matters all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada.

Firms are invited to provide one submission document with up to 20 work highlights and one referee list with up to 30 referees for these sections.

Dispute Resolution: Arbitration

Firms are invited to submit one submission document with up to 20 work highlights and one referee list with up to 30 referees that covers all individuals they wish to see ranked in the following tables:

Dispute Resolution: Arbitration – recognises lawyers who are adept at resolving disputes on behalf of clients through the forum of arbitration.
Dispute Resolution: Most in Demand Arbitrators – recognises individuals who are highly regarded for their aptitude as an arbitrator or independent expert in arbitration proceedings.

Dispute Resolution: Mediators – recognises individuals who are highly regarded for their aptitude as a mediator.

For the purposes of this section, both domestic and international arbitrations are considered relevant, with the latter including both commercial and investor-state international arbitrations. . Examples of these disputes include ICC, UNCITRAL, SIAC, ICSID and LCIA proceedings. These may be held before either a sole arbitrator or a panel. Chambers does not rank law firms or organisations in these tables.

Dispute Resolution: Class Action (Defence)

Chambers Canada recognises both law firm departments and lawyers demonstrating considerable strength in defending clients in class action disputes. Firms are invited to submit one submission document with up to 20 work highlights and one referee list with up to 30 referees covering all class action defence matters.

Relevant disputes include those at all levels of provincial and federal court, as well as the Supreme Court of Canada. The subject of these disputes will vary considerably, including, but not limited to, product liability, privacy, antitrust, securities, competition, price-fixing, consumer protection and employment issues.

Dispute Resolution: Class Action (Plaintiff)

Chambers Canada recognises both law firm departments and lawyers demonstrating considerable strength in pursuing class action disputes on behalf of a class of plaintiffs. Firms are invited to submit one submission document with up to 20 work highlights and one referee list with up to 30 referees covering all class action plaintiff matters.

Relevant disputes include those at all levels of provincial and federal court, as well as the Supreme Court of Canada. The subject of these disputes will vary considerably, including, but not limited to, product liability, privacy, antitrust, securities, competition, price-fixing, consumer protection and employment issues.

Employment & Labour

Employment & Labour sections in Chambers Canada recognise a broad array of work. Relevant employment work includes litigation related to sex, race, age and national origin discrimination, harassment, wrongful termination and employment-related restrictive covenants. These sections also cover non-contentious matters relating to day-to-day business issues as well as workforce restructuring, and employment issues related to mergers and takeovers. Lawyers also advise on the writing of policy handbooks for major corporates and HR training.

Relevant labour work includes assisting corporate clients with collective bargaining negotiations, strike avoidance and proceedings before courts, arbitration panels and human rights tribunals, as well as both provincial and national labour relations boards. The sections also cover wage and hour class and collective actions, as well as occupational health and safety (OHS) issues.

In Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario and Quebéc, Chambers Canada recognises both law firm departments and individual lawyers with experience representing corporate clients in employment and labour matters. For each province, firms are invited to submit one submission document with up to 20 work highlights and one referee list with up to 30 referees.

Lawyers and departments based in all other provinces (Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Atlantic Canada (New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island), Northern Canada and Arctic (Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Yukon) should include evidence of their employment practice in a submission to “General Business Law” for the relevant region.

Firms that either evidence particular strength in employment matters across a number of provinces, or that handle significant work that spans the entire nation, will be considered for a department ranking in the Employment – Nationwide – Canada section. Firms may submit a submission document of up to 20 work highlights for this section, but no referees (commentary for the section is sourced from the provincial Employment sections).

Employment & Labour: Labour for Unions

In Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario and Quebéc, Chambers Canada recognises both law firm departments and individual lawyers with experience representing unions in their dealings with corporates. For each province, firms are invited to submit one submission document with up to 20 work highlights and one referee list with up to 30 referees.

Relevant work includes collective bargaining negotiations, strike avoidance and proceedings before courts, arbitration panels and human rights tribunals, as well as both provincial and national labour relations boards. The sections also cover wage and hour class and collective actions, as well as occupational health and safety (OHS) issues.

Lawyers and departments based in all other provinces (Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Atlantic Canada (New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island), Northern Canada and Arctic (Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Yukon) should include evidence of their union-focused practice in a submission to “General Business Law” for the relevant region.

Energy & Natural Resources: Mining

The Energy & Natural Resources: Mining – Nationwide – Canada section focuses on legal matters surrounding the exploration, development and production of minerals through mining operations. Lawyers and law firm departments are recognised in this section due to their expertise in a variety of matters in the sector, including M&A transactions, securities issues and project financing.

Lawyers with a focus on operational and commercial matters in the mining sector, including option agreements, disclosure agreements and governance matters, are recognised in a separate Energy & Natural Resources: Mining: Development and Operations table.

Firms are invited to submit one submission document with up to 20 work highlights and one referee list with up to 30 referees to Energy & Natural Resources: Mining – Nationwide – Canada that covers all Mining tables.

Energy: Nuclear

This section concerns all issues pertaining to the nuclear industry, including regulatory, litigation and transactional matters.

Firms are invited to provide one submission document with up to 20 work highlights and one referee list with up to 30 referees for these sections.

Energy: Oil & Gas

The Energy: Oil & Gas – Nationwide – Canada section covers all upstream, midstream and downstream work in the sector. Firms are recognised for their broader strength in all work within the sector, while individual lawyers are either recognised in the Oil & Gas (Transactional) or Oil & Gas (Regulatory) table, according to their expertise. Firms are invited to submit one submission document with up to 20 work highlights and one referee list with up to 30 referees that covers all Oil & Gas tables.

Firms recognised in this area will demonstrate expertise in relation to exploration, infrastructure and pipeline developments, along with service contracts, royalties, licensing and operation agreements. It also includes M&A transactions, capital raisings and regulatory compliance.

Energy: Power

The Energy: Power – Nationwide – Canada section recognises firms and lawyers with expertise in matters relating to both conventional and renewable methods of energy generation, transmission and storage. Firms are recognised for their broader strength in all work within the sector, while individual lawyers are either recognised in the Power (Transactional) or Power (Regulatory) table, according to their expertise. Firms are invited to submit one submission document with up to 20 work highlights and one referee list with up to 30 referees that covers all Power tables.

Firms recognised in this area will demonstrate expertise in relation to the financing and development of energy projects, along with corporate transactions, facilities management, disputes and regulatory issues in the sector. Work on traditional power assets is covered in this section, such as nuclear power stations, gas-fired power stations (including combined cycle gas turbine plants), interconnector structures and battery storage facilities. Renewable and Alternative methods of power generation are also relevant to this section, including, but not limited to, both onshore and offshore windfarms, solar developments, biomass facilities and waste-to-energy plants.

Environment

The Environment – Nationwide – Canada section recognises lawyers and law firm departments that provide both litigation and advisory/transactional support to clients in relation to environmental matters. This includes general corporate issues (e.g., due diligence on mergers), the development of brownfield sites and pollution issues.

Traditional environment work includes regulatory compliance, litigation and enforcement actions related to air, water, wetlands, waste and endangered species. We also recognise firms and lawyers for providing advice to corporate and financial clients on the environmental aspects of M&A, financings, securities offerings and other transactions, which involve due diligence and environmental insurance issues.

Firms are invited to provide one submission document with up to 20 work highlights and one referee list with up to 30 referees for this section.

Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG)

The ESG table focuses on advisory matters to major corporates on environment, social and their own corporate governance responsibilities. Highly ranked firms will be able to act across the whole scope of these activities.

Firms are invited to provide one submission document with up to 20 work highlights and one referee list with up to 30 referees for these sections.

Franchising

The Franchising – Nationwide – Canada section recognises lawyers and law firms acting for franchisees and franchisors and covers both transactional and contentious work. On the non-contentious side, this includes setting up a franchise arrangement, expanding a system and closing down arrangements. Disputes arising from the sector include the disputed closing down of a system and disagreements over contractual obligations.

Gaming & Licensing

The Gaming & Licensing – Nationwide – Canada section recognises lawyers and law firms that specialise in the gaming/gambling area. Firms are invited to provide one submission document with up to 20 work highlights and one referee list with up to 30 referees for these sections.

Relevant work for this section includes licensing and permitting matters as well as wider issues related to traditional and online gambling activities, including casinos. Mergers and acquisitions, privacy, tax, platform development, anti-money laundering, contract negotiation and governance matters are all also considered within this section.

General Business Law

Chambers Canada includes General Business Law as an area available for submission for the following provinces: Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Atlantic Canada (New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island) and Northern Canada and Arctic (Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Yukon).

Work should be included in these sections for the following areas of law: Corporate/Commercial, Employment & Labour, Litigation: General Commercial and Real Estate. Lawyers based in the aforementioned provinces that focus on other areas of law should instead submit to the appropriate Nationwide – Canada section.

Firms are invited to provide one submission document with up to 20 work highlights and one referee list with up to 30 referees for these sections.

Healthcare

The Healthcare – Nationwide – Canada section recognises lawyers and law firm departments with a practice that focuses on assisting clients in the healthcare sector. The rankings for both law firms and lawyers this section are split into two distinct tables, Healthcare: Contentious – Nationwide – Canada and Healthcare: Corporate/Commercial & Regulatory – Nationwide – Canada. Firms wishing to see recognition in either or both of these tables are invited to provide one submission document with up to 20 work highlights and one referee list with up to 30 referees for this section.

Relevant work for the Healthcare: Contentious section is focused on medical malpractice and negligence disputes, including disciplinary and misconduct reviews. Other relevant disputes include those involving breach of contract, data protection, insurance and labour relations issues impacting the sector.

Relevant work for the Healthcare: Corporate/Commercial & Regulatory section includes procurement, commissioning, healthcare technology or financing work. Transactional work is primarily the sale and purchase of some or all of a health system or health insurance company. Competition issues, license issuance and assorted regulatory matters are also considered.

Hospitality

The Hospitality – Nationwide – Canada section recognises law firm departments and lawyers with a noteworthy focus on advising clients involved in the Leisure industry, ranging from hotels, restaurants and bars, to amusement parks and casinos. The key strands of legal advice relate to hotel operation and management agreements and other commercial issues, while real estate, employment and OSHA, franchising arrangements and financing mandates are also considered relevant.

Immigration

The Immigration – Nationwide – Canada section recognises lawyers and law firm departments from across Canada that focus on assisting clients with immigration matters. The section also features an Immigration: Personal section, which recognises lawyers who are adept at representing private individuals on personal immigration and human rights matters. Any firm seeking recognition in either or both tables is invited to provide one submission document with up to 20 work highlights and one referee list with up to 30 referees that’s covers all immigration matters.

Relevant work for the main Immigration table includes all aspects of inbound and outbound immigration, such as work permits and visas, workforce mobility, immigration aspects of M&A transactions, FSW and other legislative and regulatory changes, along with investigations and enforcement defence.

Relevant work for the Immigration: Personal table includes permanent residency applications, family sponsorship, express entry and citizenship matters.

Information Technology

The Information Technology – Nationwide – Canada section focuses on the start-up, development and finance of technology-based businesses. Lawyers and law firms in this section advise start-up or later stage enterprises, venture capital investors, and other financial investors. Relevant work includes private and public capital raisings, joint venture agreements, share listings, corporate governance and M&A. Researchers also consider legal advice given to suppliers and purchasers in relation to significant IT supply and services contracts. Work in this sector may also include outsourcing, patent work, infrastructure projects and product launches, as well as litigation. Law firms are welcome to provide one submission document with up to 20 work highlights and up to 30 referees.

Insurance

The Insurance – Nationwide – Canada section recognises lawyers and law firm departments with a practice that focuses on assisting clients with insurance matters. The rankings for both law firms and lawyers this section are split into two distinct tables, Insurance: Dispute Resolution – Nationwide – Canada and Insurance: Transactional & Regulatory – Nationwide – Canada. Firms wishing to see recognition in either or both of these tables are invited to provide one submission document with up to 20 work highlights and one referee list with up to 30 referees for this section.

Relevant work for the Insurance: Dispute Resolution section includes coverage claims litigation, indemnity claims, broker`s negligence, D&O and E&O cases and both `facultative` and `treaty` reinsurance disputes. There is also an element of professional negligence issues arising from insurance disputes.

Relevant work for the Insurance: Transactional & Regulatory section includes insurance aspects of M&A, capital raisings and demutualisations, as well as regulatory investigations, registration proceedings, compliance and governance matters.

Intellectual Property

Intellectual Property in Chambers Canada covers all strands of intellectual property, including, but not limited to, copyright, trademarks, patents and trade secrets. Chambers Canada recognises both law firm departments and individual lawyers in the Intellectual Property – Nationwide – Canada section, which covers all non-contentious work, and in the Intellectual Property: Litigation - Nationwide – Canada section, which covers all contentious work.

Firms are invited to provide one submission document with up to 25 work highlights and one referee list with up to 30 referees to Intellectual Property – Nationwide - Canada that covers all evidence the firm wishes to provide in support of recognition in the Intellectual Property section and/or the Intellectual Property: Litigation section.

International Trade/WTO

The International Trade/WTO – Nationwide – Canada section covers classic trade cases such as anti-dumping, countervailing duties, export control and other customs/tariff classifications and regulatory work. Lawyers also advise on matters relating to NAFTA, WTO and GATT trade provisions and the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), an areas that overlaps to some extent with the white-collar crime field.

Firms are invited to provide one submission document with up to 20 work highlights and one referee list with up to 30 referees.

Investment Funds

The Investment Funds – Nationwide – Canada section ranks those firms and individuals advising in the world of investment funds. Both law firms and lawyers are recognised in the Investment Funds table, while lawyers specialising in fund formation work are recognised separately in the Investment Funds: Fund Formation – Nationwide – Canada section. Firms are invited to provide one submission document with up to 20 work highlights and one referee list with up to 30 referees that covers all evidence the firm wishes to provide in support of recognition in the Investment Funds section and/or the Investment Funds: Fund Formation table.

Relevant work includes work on behalf of sponsors and institutional investors, including fund formation, fund-raising, investments, reorganisations, asset management regulatory matters and spin-outs. The capacity to provide regulatory and relevant tax advice is also considered. This section includes open-ended funds, closed-end funds, hedge funds, hybrid funds, funds of funds and infrastructure funds as well as ETFs.

Work that relates to REITs should be provided in a separate submission to REITs – Nationwide – Canada.

Life Sciences

The Life Sciences – Nationwide – Canada section broadly focuses on the commercialisation of products across the life sciences sector. Firms are recognised for their broader strength in all work within the sector, while individual lawyers are either recognised in the Life Sciences: Corporate/Commercial or Life Sciences: Regulatory/Compliance table, according to their expertise. Firms are invited to submit one submission document with up to 20 work highlights and one referee list with up to 30 referees to Life Sciences – Nationwide – Canada that covers all Life Sciences tables.

Relevant work for the Life Sciences: Regulatory/Compliance table includes assisting clients with M&A transactions, joint ventures, financings and commercial arrangements.

Relevant work for the Life Sciences: Corporate/Commercial table includes, but is not limited to, assisting with product regulations and licensing, advertising and marketing new products, obtaining regulatory clearance, providing representation in investigations and challenging decisions by the PMPRB.

Litigation: Administrative & Public Law

In British Columbia, Quebéc and Ontario, Chambers Canada recognises law firm departments and lawyers for their expertise in administrative & public law litigation.

Relevant work for Litigation: Administrative & Public Law will primarily focus on public sector disputes. Judicial reviews, public inquiries, constitutional challenges, parliamentary investigations and other public body disputes are considered, as are broader disputes with public sector interest, including some municipal, privacy and extradition matters.

Law firm departments and lawyers in Ontario are invited to submit one submission document with up to 20 work highlights and one referee list with up to 30 referees to Litigation: Administrative & Public Law – Ontario.

Law firm departments and lawyers in Alberta, British Columbia and Quebéc should include evidence of their administrative & public law litigation practice within the permitted allowance of up to 20 work highlights and up to 30 referees uploaded to the Litigation: General Commercial section for that province.

Administrative & public law litigation lawyers and departments based in all other provinces (Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Atlantic Canada (New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island), Northern Canada and Arctic (Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Yukon) should include evidence of their practice in a submission to “General Business Law” for the relevant region.

Litigation: General Commercial

In Alberta, British Columbia, Quebéc and Ontario, Chambers Canada recognises law firm departments and lawyers for their expertise in commercial litigation.

The primary focus of this section is corporate litigation and litigation arising out of commercial arrangements, including shareholder disputes, post-M&A disputes and contractual disputes. Less weight is given to civil litigation types which are covered elsewhere in the Canada Guide, including banking litigation, civil fraud, insurance or restructuring/insolvency.

Likewise, commercial litigation sections ascribe less weight is given to forms of commercial dispute resolution that are covered in other sections in the guide. Class action disputes, mediations and arbitration disputes should instead be included in a submission to the relevant section of the guide.

Law firm departments and lawyers in Alberta, British Columbia, Quebéc and Ontario are invited to submit one submission document with up to 20 work highlights and one referee list with up to 30 referees to the Litigation: General Commercial section for that province.

Commercial litigation lawyers and departments based in all other provinces (Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Atlantic Canada (New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island), Northern Canada and Arctic (Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Yukon) should include evidence of their practice in a submission to “General Business Law” for the relevant region.

Firms that either evidence particular strength in commercial litigation matters across a number of provinces, or that handle significant work that spans the entire nation, will be considered for a department ranking in the Litigation: General Commercial – Nationwide – Canada section. Firms may submit a submission document of up to 20 work highlights for this section, but no referees (commentary for the section is sourced from the provincial Litigation: General Commercial sections).

Litigation: Product Liability

The Litigation: Product Liability – Nationwide – Canada section encompasses legal claims that allow an injured party to recover financial compensation from the manufacturer or seller of a product. This can include faulty brakes, contaminated food and medicine lacking appropriate label warnings. Law firms advise manufacturers, distributors, suppliers, retailers and others who make the product available to the public.

It also covers toxic tort, relating to the exposure to chemicals, pharmaceutical drugs or occupational hazards. Most pharmaceutical claims are mass tort cases, because drugs are consumed by thousands of people. Occupational toxic tort cases occur where industrial and other works have been exposed to toxic chemicals. Most of the law in this area has traditionally arisen from asbestos exposure.

Law firms are invited to submit one submission document with up to 20 work highlights and one referee list with up to 30 referees for the section.

Litigation: Securities

In Alberta, British Columbia, Quebéc and Ontario, Chambers Canada recognises law firm departments and lawyers for their expertise in securities litigation.

Relevant work for the section includes securities class actions shareholder disputes, proceedings before provincial regulatory agencies and investigations, brokerage disputes and contested takeovers, as well as misrepresentation, oppression, breach of trust and insider trading cases.

Law firm departments and lawyers in Ontario are invited to submit one submission document with up to 20 work highlights and one referee list with up to 30 referees to Litigation: Securities – Ontario.

Law firm departments and lawyers in Alberta, British Columbia and Quebéc should include evidence of their securities litigation practice within the permitted allowance of up to 20 work highlights and up to 30 referees uploaded to the Litigation: General Commercial section for that province.

Securities litigation lawyers and departments based in all other provinces (Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Atlantic Canada (New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island), Northern Canada and Arctic (Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Yukon) should include evidence of their practice in a submission to “General Business Law” for the relevant region.

Media & Entertainment

The Media & Entertainment – Nationwide – Canada section recognises law firm departments and lawyers whose practice focuses on advising clients across all strands of media, including Advertising, Film & Television, Music, Publishing and Theatre. Law firms are invited to submit one submission document with up to 20 work highlights and one referee list with up to 30 referees for the section.

Relevant contentious work includes copyright and contractual disputes (either representing studios, producers or talent) trade mark disputes, antitrust issues and matters arising from film finance. Relevant non-contentious side work includes content distribution, development and licensing, production and financing issues and IP portfolio acquisition. Broader corporate and commercial mandates for media clients also have some relevance, as do employment and tax law issues.

Regulatory matters concerning the CRTC are not considered relevant to this section and are instead considered in the Telecommunications & Broadcasting – Nationwide - Canada section.

Pensions & Benefits

The Pensions & Benefits – Nationwide – Canada section recognises lawyers and law firm departments across Canada for their expertise in both contentious and non-contentious pensions matters. Firms are invited to submit one submission document with up to 20 work highlights and one referee list with up to 30 referees for the section.

Recognised firms and lawyers may act for employers, schemes, fund managers, trustees and the State. Relevant non-contentious work includes advice on RCAs, pension liabilities, debt restructuring, scheme mergers and demergers, investment management, funding negotiations and benefits issues arising from M&A. Relevant contentious work includes rectification claims, recoveries in the event of insolvency, determinations of liabilities, judicial review and allegations of wrongdoing.

Privacy & Data Protection

The Privacy & Data Protection – Nationwide – Canada section covers compliance with all aspects of the law surrounding the control of information by both public and private sector bodies. Firms are invited to submit one submission document with up to 20 work highlights and one referee list with up to 30 referees for the section.

Relevant work includes advising on data processing initiatives and privacy impact assessments, drafting data protection agreements, governance reviews and responding to access to information requests under PIPEDA. Contentious matters, including privacy class action disputes and privacy regulator investigations, are also considered.

Private Equity: Buyouts

The Private Equity: Buyouts – Nationwide – Canada section focuses on the transactional aspect of private equity funds work. It takes into account LBO, MBO, going-private transactions, inbound buyouts, M&A, recapitalisation and restructuring-related matters at both the high-end and mid-market level.

Firms are invited to submit one submission document with up to 20 work highlights and one referee list with up to 30 referees for the section.

Projects: PPP & Infrastructure

The Projects: PPP & Infrastructure – Nationwide – Canada section recognises lawyers and law firm departments that focus on the development, financing (limited and non-recourse), refinancing and acquisition/divestitures of large projects that arise from the capital intensive infrastructure and energy markets. Lawyers who focus on advising lenders are recognised separately in a Project Finance table. Firms are invited to submit one submission document with up to 20 work highlights and one referee list with up to 30 referees to Projects: PPP & Infrastructure – Nationwide – Canada that covers both the Projects: PPP & Infrastructure and Project Finance tables.

Clients in this sector include sponsors, lenders, project originators and multilateral agencies and development banks. All forms of energy projects are considered within this section, including refineries, pipelines, LNG and petrochemical terminals, power plants and wind power, waste-to-energy and hydro-wave technology. These sections also recognise infrastructure matters such as toll road and bridge financing, rail and light rail systems, telecommunications infrastructure, water desalination plants, airports and ports, as well as state-sponsored programmes (PPP/PFI) such as hospitals, schools, housing and prisons.

Public Procurement

The Public Procurement – Nationwide – Canada section ranks law firms and lawyers who advise corporations and government bodies on the acquisition of goods or services by governmental entities. Areas covered may include education, healthcare, social housing, transport and infrastructure.

Firms are invited to provide one submission document with up to 20 work highlights and one referee list with up to 30 referees for this section.

Real Estate

Chambers Canada has distinct tables for Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario and Quebéc that recognise both law firm departments and lawyers who focus real estate matters. Firms and lawyers wishing to gain recognition in these tables are invited to provide one submission document with up to 20 work highlights and one referee list with up to 30 referees.

Real estate lawyers and departments based in all other provinces (Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Atlantic Canada (New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island), Northern Canada and Arctic (Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Yukon) should include evidence of their practice in a submission to “General Business Law” for the relevant region.

Relevant real estate work covers corporate matters related to real estate, including M&A of large real estate holding companies, complex fund and REIT transactions, private equity and public securities. These real estate lawyers are distinct from pure corporate lawyers in that they typically come from a real estate background, have an understanding of the underlying asset and do aspects of `dirt law` real estate for their clients.

Real estate finance matters are also included. Lawyers do not need to act exclusively for lenders but should have a healthy lender client base which gives them the volume of work in this field. Some of these lawyers will also handle aspects of complex debt capital markets - such as securitization - but the decision to include them in a real estate table will be based on their understanding of the underlying asset.

Firms and lawyers that either evidence particular strength in real estate matters across a number of provinces, or that handle significant work that spans the entire nation, will be considered for recognition in the Real Estate – Nationwide – Canada section. Firms may submit a submission document of up to 20 work highlights for this section, but no referees (commentary for the section is sourced from the provincial Real Estate sections).

Real Estate: Zoning/Land Use

Chambers Canada has distinct tables for Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario and Quebéc that recognise both law firm departments and lawyers who focus on zoning and land use matters. Firms and lawyers wishing to gain recognition in these tables are invited to provide one submission document with up to 20 work highlights and one referee list with up to 30 referees.

Zoning and land use lawyers and departments based in all other provinces (Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Atlantic Canada (New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island), Northern Canada and Arctic (Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Yukon) should include evidence of their practice in a submission to “General Business Law” for the relevant region.

Relevant work for these sections will focus on advice provided to clients on zoning regulations and municipal restrictions used by some cities to control development within their borders. Both contentious and advisory work in relation to development agreements, site plan approval, subdivisions and expropriation are considered relevant. Easement and eminent domain (or condemnation) is also covered.

REITs

The REITs – Nationwide – Canada section recognises both lawyers and law firms that regularly provide structuring and transactional advice related to specialist real estate investment trusts. Specific work relevant to the section includes IPOs, going private transactions, joint ventures, M&As, REIT formation and investment work, restructurings, REIT tax issues, litigation, 144As that involve REITs, financings, Special Committee representations and UPREIT and DOWNREIT structure implementation.

Firms are invited to provide one submission document with up to 20 work highlights and one referee list with up to 30 referees for this section.

Restructuring/Insolvency

The Restructuring – Nationwide – Canada section covers work on behalf of creditors (including banks, financial investors and steering committees), insolvency  practitioners,  corporate  debtors  and  their officers/directors.  Work examples may include debt restructuring, distressed M&A activity, formal insolvency procedures, contingency planning, debtor advisory work, distressed creditor and equity investment and trading.

Firms are invited to provide one submission document with up to 25 work highlights and one referee list with up to 30 referees for this section.

Retail

The Retail - Nationwide – Canada section is an industry table ranking law firms that have developed a track record in serving the needs of large, national retailers. A retailer sells goods (not services) to consumers online or in person. Please note that any work for brands (drinks, toiletries etc.) should ideally be clearly linked to the sale of those brands to the consumer.

Firms may also advise retailers on their real estate and planning needs, as well as logistics, franchising and technology matters. They may also demonstrate aptitude in assisting with a retailer's employment, tax and regulatory requirements, along with consumer protection issues and disputes.

Firms are invited to provide one submission document with up to 20 work highlights and one referee list with up to 30 referees for this section.

Sports Law

This section covers the lawyers and law firms who have a demonstrable commitment to the sports sector and understand the unique pressures and constraints which sports entities operate under. The definition of sports law is oft disputed; Chambers sees commercial and regulatory work as its cornerstone but seeks to highlight those firms which are best able to serve the sports industry as a whole, which requires consideration of work across a wide range of legal disciplines.

Firms are invited to provide one submission document with up to 20 work highlights and one referee list with up to 30 referees for these sections.

Startups & Emerging Companies

The Startups & Emerging Companies – Nationwide – Canada section covers work on behalf of emerging growth companies, start-ups, individual investors and VC funds. It does not include VC fund formation. Work might include early and late-stage venture financings, venture capital partnerships, regulatory compliance issues, other advisory work, and IPOs. Emerging markets of focus include technology, life sciences and clean technology.

Firms are invited to provide one submission document with up to 20 work highlights and one referee list with up to 30 referees for this section.

Tax

Tax - Nationwide – Canada covers a broad range of matters on both the contentious and non-contentious side. Non-contentious matters include M&A transactions and equity raising issues both domestically and abroad, as well as tax advisory work on behalf of corporate clients. Financing and investment management are other key non-contentious tax issues. On the contentious side, disputes with public authorities in the form of litigation, appeals and tribunals are included. This section also takes into account transfer pricing.

Firms are invited to provide one submission document with up to 25 work highlights and one referee list with up to 30 referees to Tax – Nationwide – Canada, that covers all evidence the firm wishes to provide in support of its non-contentious tax practice. Firms may also provide a separate submission document with up to 20 work highlights and one referee list with up to 30 referees to Tax: Litigation – Nationwide – Canada, that covers all evidence the firm wishes to provide in support of its contentious tax practice.

Referees and work highlights for lawyers specialising in Indirect Tax should be included in either the Tax – Nationwide – Canada or Tax: Litigation – Nationwide – Canada submissions, depending on whether the work is transactional or contentious.

Telecommunications & Broadcasting

The Telecommunications & Broadcasting – Nationwide - Canada section relates to matters concerning telecommunications companies and their activities, and covers contentious and non-contentious work spanning transactional, regulatory and competition matters concerning telecommunications companies.

Clients may include telephone service providers, ISPs, wireless operators, TV and / or radio broadcasters and a range of government and regulatory bodies. Work frequently revolves around interactions with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. Specific examples of relevant work include spectrum auctions, procurement agreements and M&A, as well as contractual disputes, investigations and compliance proceedings.

Firms are invited to provide one submission document with up to 20 work highlights and one referee list with up to 30 referees for this section.

Transportation

Transportation is a broad industry category, which covers a number of discrete specialisms. Firms are invited to provide one submission document with up to 20 work highlights and one referee list with up to 30 referees to Transportation – Nationwide – Canada, that covers all evidence the firm wishes to provide in support of recognition in any of the three specialist areas, as highlighted below:

Transportation: Aviation: Firms are recognised in the Aviation – Nationwide – Canada table for their broad expertise in all matter pertaining to aviation. Individual lawyers will either be recognised in the Transportation: Aviation: Finance or Transportation: Aviation: Regulatory table, according to their expertise.
Finance work concentrates on the advice to manufacturers, purchasers and investors (such as hedge and private equity funds) on the sale, leasing and acquisition of portfolios of aircraft. Regulatory work includes advising on requirements under the Canada Transportation Act and consumer protection issues related to the Air Passenger Protection Regulations, as well as both single plaintiff and class action litigation concerning contract and price fixing claims.

Transportation: Rail & Road: Lawyers and law firm departments are recognised in a single table for their work concerning both railroad and road carriage operations. Relevant rail work includes rail rates litigation, derailment claims, port terminal leasing, access and use agreement negotiations and dealings with Canada Transportation Agency. Road work covers issues of carriage of goods/cargo losses, personal injury matters, bills of lading disputes and cargo security compliance issues.
Transportation: Shipping: Lawyers and law firm departments are recognised in a single table for their work concerning all shipping and maritime issues. Contentious matters concern breach of charter party disputes, cargo and bills of lading claims, the arrest of vessels and cargoes, marine insurance claims, collision, salvage, demurrage and environmental liabilities. On the non-contentious side, law firms advise on contractual arrangements for construction, financing and registration of vessels, customs and licensing, and documentation relating to charter parties and bills of lading.

White-Collar Crime & Government Investigations

The White-Collar Crime & Government Investigations - Nationwide – Canada section covers non-violent wrongdoings such as corruption and financial crimes. Examples include bribery, major fraud and insider trading. Litigation, compliance and government investigations are relevant to this practice area.

Firms are invited to provide one submission document with up to 20 work highlights and one referee list with up to 30 referees for this section.

Question 4

Practice Area Definitions: Latin America

Accepted Answer

Aviation

Aviation includes finance, regulatory and litigation matters. Finance concentrates on the advice to manufacturers, purchasers and investors (such as hedge and private equity funds) on the sale, leasing and acquisition of portfolios of aircraft. Also includes the 2001 UNIDROIT Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment, or Cape Town Convention, which relates to the electronic registration of aircraft interests.

The Aviation Litigation table covers traditional accident defence litigation, including advising aviation insurers on coverage and other issues, as well as product liability claims and general commercial disputes affecting the aviation industry.

Banking & Finance

Banking refers to all types of regulatory banking work. Firms can render regulatory advice to any type of private or public financial institution. Finance refers to all types of financing including (but not limited to) corporate finance including acquisition or leverage finance, asset finance and project finance. Work highlights typically take the form of secured and unsecured bilateral and syndicated loans but may also constitute structured finance deals. General bank lending including interbank lending is relevant to this section as well. Refinancing: The refinancing and restructuring of existing loans and debtor in possession financing is also included. Clear preference is given to lawyers and firms that represent the lender/financial institution.

Please note: All types of transactions using securities instruments, for example IPOs or debt offerings, are very relevant to this section, unless the country in question has a separate capital markets ranking. If a separate capital markets section exists, do not include this type of work in banking & finance as it will not be considered a relevant work highlight.

Banking & Finance (International Counsel)

This section seeks to identify those lawyers advising on the laws of jurisdictions outside of Latin America as they apply to matters arising in Latin America of both a regulatory and transactional nature. All types of financing will be considered relevant to this section except for project finance. The only section in which project finance can be reported is Project Finance, irrespective of the mechanism employed to finance the project in question. This means that corporate and asset finance are perfectly valid work highlights in this section, including acquisition and leverage finance raised through bank loans. This may take the form of secured, unsecured, bilateral, syndicated or interbank lending. The refinancing of existing loans and debtor-in-possession financing will also be considered relevant highlights here. Bank M&A is also considered relevant to this section. The regulatory matters which can be reported here are those concerning advice rendered to clients in Latin America regarding their interaction with banking regulators outside of Latin America.

Bankruptcy/Restructuring

The focus of this section is the representation of insolvent commercial entities, with a view to either restructuring the terms of their debt and continuing to trade, or ceasing operations and liquidating assets to repay their creditors. Lawyers in this section assist clients such as corporate debtors, investors and asset purchasers; secured and unsecured creditors and creditors' committees, bondholders, insurers; directors of distressed companies and any other interested parties in corporate restructurings. Also relevant to this section is any contentious work relating to the disputes between parties involved in bankruptcy proceedings.

The acquisition of the assets of distressed companies will be considered for this section, but is considered secondary to the aforementioned areas of work.

Capital Markets

This section focuses mainly on transactional work involving capital markets instruments such as debt and equity securities, derivatives, securitisation, and structured finance (CDOs, repackagings, and other synthetic products). Lawyers may represent either issuers (both sovereign and corporate) and/or underwriters, as well as placement agents and broker dealers in public and private placements. Unlike in banking & finance, there is no in-built advantage for firms that exclusively or predominantly represent the financial institution. Investment Fund work, such as fund formation and structuring is highly relevant to this section.

Capital Markets (International Counsel)

This section seeks to identify those lawyers advising on the laws of jurisdictions outside of Latin America as they apply to matters arising in Latin America of both a regulatory and transactional nature. Relevant work highlights here include both debt and equity matters, such as derivatives (including CDOs), securitisation and routine debt and equity issuances. Work on the issuer, broker, initial purchaser and underwriter sides will be considered relevant and will be given equal weighting. If any of the aforementioned matters arise in the context of project finance, they may only be reported in Project Finance. The regulatory matters which can be reported here are those concerning advice rendered to clients in Latin America regarding their interaction with securities regulators outside of Latin America.

Competition/Antitrust

Competition/Antitrust covers the body of laws that prohibits anti-competitive behaviour (monopoly) and unfair business practices. This includes practices that hurt business, consumers, or both, or that generally violate standards of ethical behavior. Antitrust litigation and M&A-related competition work are both included in this section.

Competition/Antitrust covers the body of laws prohibiting actions which restrict or limit free competition between economic agents both absolutely (through cartel activity) and relatively (through abuse of dominant position). In particular, the section focuses on merger control (filings before the relevant authorities), anti-competitive behaviour investigations and market studies carried out by authorities into the competitiveness of particular sectors. Litigation against the competent authorities is also considered here, as are civil claims initiated by economic agents seeking damages for anti-competitive behaviour.

Compliance

This section ranks firms and individuals involved in advising management on, and in compliance, with investigations concerning white-collar crime, anti-corruption legislation and international sanctions, often related to the US FCPA or the UK Bribery Act. The firms and lawyers may also be instructed to help design internal compliance programmes for companies, conduct investigations and prepare reports for management.

Consumer Law

This section encompasses both consultancy and litigation work arising from consumer relationships including consumer credits, pricing, general contractual terms and conditions. Also includes the sale and supply of services and products, including product liability issues.

Corporate / M&A

This broad category covers both public company and private equity (including venture capital) matters. The section includes company acquisitions and dispositions, capitalisations, entity selection and formation, operating and partnership agreements, and governance matters. Also covers those transactions designed to help restructuring within companies and their subsidiaries by change of ownership. Priority is placed on primary representatives, those acting for buyers and sellers. Non-transactional corporate advice is perfectly acceptable with the exception of contentious matters i.e. commercial litigation or arbitration which is only considered in the Dispute Resolution section (see below).

Corporate / M&A (International Counsel)

This section seeks to identify those lawyers advising on the laws of jurisdictions outside of Latin America as they apply to matters arising in Latin America. The focus of this section is the sale and acquisition of assets including companies and infrastructure projects. The restructuring of corporate entities is also relevant to this area. Lawyers may be instructed by both privately held and publicly traded companies and may also report work done for private equity funds such as acquiring and selling portfolio companies. Non-transactional corporate advice is acceptable here, however no credit will be given for contentious work. Given the discontinuation of Energy & Natural Resources, please be aware that the sale and acquisition of energy assets (be they companies or energy projects) should be reported exclusively in this section.

Corporate/Commercial

In some jurisdictions you will see Corporate/Commercial section instead of Corporate M&A. Corporate/Commercial will cover everything that is covered in Corporate/M&A. However it is not limited to corporate finance but may include project finance and any other type of banking & finance work. Non-transactional corporate advice is perfectly acceptable with the exception of contentious matters i.e. commercial litigation or arbitration which is only considered in the Dispute Resolution section (see below).

Corporate Crime & Investigations (International Counsel)

This section seeks to identify those lawyers advising on the laws of jurisdictions outside of Latin America as they apply to matters arising in Latin America. It ranks firms and individuals representing clients in investigations into white-collar criminal matters and compliance with anti-corruption legislation and international sanctions. Representing clients in courts outside of Latin American jurisdictions after the completion of the investigation in question will also be relevant to this section.

Dispute Resolution

Chambers' Dispute Resolution encompasses all stages of litigation including pre-trial negotiations, documentation and preparation for trial, summary judgement motions, trial, appeals and enforcement proceedings. There are two main types of litigation: commercial disputes before civil courts, and white-collar crime, including government investigations.

Please note: Litigation related to IP, Labour & Employment, Tax or Competition/Antitrust should not be included in Dispute Resolution submissions when there is a separate IP, Labour & Employment, Tax or Competition/Antitrust section in your jurisdiction.

Dispute Resolution also includes domestic and international arbitration, in other words, the resolution of disputes by one or more neutral parties, either an arbitrator or an arbitration panel. Many contracts - including those imposed on customers by many financial and healthcare organisations - require mandatory arbitration in the event of a dispute. Examples of relevant international institutions include ICC (International Chamber of Commerce and ICSID (International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes) and LCIA (London Court of International Arbitration). Alternative dispute resolution, involving non-court mediation is also covered in this section.

Energy & Natural Resources

Although Chambers is aware of the overlap with Projects and project financing, the energy sections principally focus on regulatory issues arising from the energy sector. These include the regulatory components of M&A and other transactional work, pure regulatory work related to the application for licenses and compliance and enforcement with regulatory bodies. We also consider the buying and selling of energy assets.

Chambers Latin America generally focuses on three key industry sectors Power, Oil & Gas and Mining:

Power: Work covers advice on the development and permitting of energy projects (such as electric, coal, oil & gas fired plants, nuclear and hydro-electric plants), facilities management; co-generation and restructuring/deregulation arising out of the wholesale and retail markets. Please also include any renewable energy work in this section such as project development and regulatory issues surrounding wind and wave power generation, solar, biomass and geothermal energy generation. It also includes advice on compliance with clean energy regulations.

Oil & Gas: Covers all upstream, midstream and downstream work including exploration, infrastructure and pipeline developments and service contracts, royalties, licensing and operation agreements.

Mining: Focuses on all mining related activities including mineral exploration. Relevant work would be development and production agreements, including royalty issues. Engineering, processing and refining contracts, sales structures and environmental issues are also covered.

Please note: Pure project finance work for energy projects is best included in the submission for Projects rather than Energy & Natural Resources.

Environment

The environment section features both litigation and advisory/transactional support to clients. This includes the development of greenfield and brownfield sites, and pollution issues. 'Traditional' environment work includes regulatory compliance, litigation and enforcement actions related to air, water, wetlands, waste and endangered species. We also feature advice to corporate and financial clients on the environmental aspects of M&A, financings, securities offerings and other transactions.

General Business Law

General Business Law encompasses a range of commercial law fields relevant to high-end business users. The core focuses on corporate/commercial law, but in lieu of separate practice areas General Business Law can also cover many areas, including dispute resolution, banking & finance, and sector-specific practice areas.

Insurance

Insurance includes both contentious and non-contentious insurance and reinsurance matters. On the contentious side, we feature coverage claims litigation, broker`s negligence and both 'facultative' and 'treaty' reinsurance disputes. There is also an element of professional negligence issues arising from insurance disputes. On the non-contentious side, we include insurance aspects of M&A, financings, demutualisations and other regulatory issues.

Insurance (International Counsel)

This section seeks to identify those lawyers advising on the laws of jurisdictions outside of Latin America as they apply to matters arising in Latin America. Insurance includes both contentious and non-contentious insurance and reinsurance matters. On the contentious side, we feature coverage claims litigation, broker’s negligence and both 'facultative' and 'treaty' reinsurance disputes. There is also an element of professional negligence issues arising from insurance disputes. On the non-contentious side, we include the insurance aspects of M&A, financings, demutualisations and regulatory issues.

Intellectual Property

Intellectual Property at the higher end covers civil disputes related to patent, copyright and trademark infringement and criminal proceedings related to anti-counterfeiting matters. Litigation concerning trade secrets also features. Account prosecutions, enforcement and opposition actions and related issues such as plant varieties, licensing agreements and IP commercialisation are also covered in this section.

International Arbitration (International Counsel)

This section identifies firms and lawyers representing clients in disputes resolved via both ad hoc and institutional arbitration. The disputes reported here must be closely linked to Latin America and can take the form of commercial and investor-state matters. Examples of relevant arbitral institutions include ICC, ICSID, LCIA and UNCITRAL. The seat of arbitration can be in any location, so long as the dispute involves at least one Latin American party.

International Trade/WTO

This section covers classic trade cases such as anti-dumping, countervailing duties, export control and other customs/tariff classifications and regulatory work. Lawyers also advise on matters relating to NAFTA, CAFTA-DR, WTO and GATT trade provisions.

Please note: International Trade and Customs work is given equal weight in this section.

Labour & Employment

Covers both contentious and non-contentious employment matters relating to day-to-day business issues as well as mergers and takeovers. Employment litigation related to sex, race and age discrimination is considered relevant as are class action suits, and the avoidance of class action certification. This section also covers workforce redundancies and employment issues related to the merger of two companies. Lawyers also advise on the writing of policy handbooks and HR training for major corporates. Law firms can represent companies or individuals.

Life Sciences

This practice area broadly focuses on the commercialisation of products across the life sciences sector, including pharmaceuticals, medical devices, biotechnology programs, life systems, cosmetics, nutraceuticals and food processing.

The section also encompasses organisations and institutions that devote themselves to research, development, technology transfer and commercialisation within the life sciences sphere. Intellectual property issues tend to dominate in this area as pharmaceutical giants seek to obtain innovative blockbuster drugs from biotechs and other sector companies. The section also centres on the licensing and acquisition of new products.

Please note: M&A work for life sciences and pharmaceutical companies is not deemed a relevant work highlight in this section, except for any complementary regulatory advice that is specific to the life sciences industry.

Media & Entertainment

The Media & Entertainment section focuses on work related to advertising, film & television, music, publishing, art, sports and theatre. Legal work in this field encompasses both contentious and non-contentious matters in the specific sectors mentioned above. Contentious matters include copyright and contractual disputes (either representing studios, producers or artists); free-speech litigation; IP and trademark disputes; antitrust and matters arising from financing and structuring said projects. Non-contentious matters include advising clients on the legal and regulatory aspects of these sectors, as well as production, financing and distribution matters; IP; licensing and supplementary rights planning.

Projects

The projects section focuses on the development, financing (limited and non-recourse), refinancing, and acquisition/divestiture of large projects arising from the capital-intensive infrastructure and energy markets. Infrastructure projects include toll road, ports, rail and light rail systems, water desalination plants as well as social infrastructure such as hospitals, schools and prisons. In the energy sector, advice on projects includes refineries, pipelines, LNG and petrochemical terminals, power plants and wind power, waste-to-energy and hydro-wave technology.

Clients in this sector include sponsors, special purpose vehicles, lenders such as banks and multilateral agencies, contractors and operators, and governments.

Project Finance (International Counsel)

This section seeks to identify those lawyers advising on the laws of jurisdictions outside of Latin America as they apply to matters arising in Latin America. The focus here is on the development, financing (limited and non-recourse) and refinancing of large projects that arise from the capital-intensive infrastructure, energy and natural resources (mining and metals) markets. Infrastructure projects include toll road, ports, rail and light rail systems, water desalination plants, hospitals, schools and prisons. In the energy sector, advice on projects includes refineries, pipelines, LNG and petrochemical terminals, power plants and wind power, waste-to-energy and hydro-wave technology. Clients in this sector include sponsors, special purpose vehicles, lenders such as banks and multilateral agencies, contractors, operators and governments.

Please note: Matters pertaining to the financing of any of the projects mentioned here must be reported exclusively in this section, hence the financing of energy projects is appropriate for this section, however the acquisition of an energy project should be reported in Corporate/M&A. All matters pertaining to the development and financing of mining projects should be reported here, however in line with the above approach, the acquisition of mining projects should be reported in Corporate/M&A.

Public Law

Public Law focuses on the relationship between individuals or private entities and central and local government and other public or regulatory bodies, which for the purpose of the Latin America guide covers constitutional and administrative law matters such as, contentious and non-contentious proceedings, judicial reviews, litigation before constitutional courts, advice on the powers and administrative functions of the government.

It also includes matters relating to public procurement, as well as regulatory advice excluding regulatory work related to specific practice areas already considered in a particular jurisdiction: Competition, Energy & Natural Resources, Labour and Employment, Life Sciences, Tax, TMT, Intellectual Property, among others.

Real Estate

This section features a broad range of rural, commercial and residential real estate matters, including developments, investment transactions, M&A and corporate structuring. Purchase, lease, built-to-suit, surface and usufruct agreements, among others contract, are also relevant examples of work. Firms may also support clients with registry matters, including land parcelling and title and deed regularisations.

Real estate also encompasses work relating to financing products such as loans, receivable funds, mortgages and letters of credit. The firms may advise clients on the creation of special purpose entities, real estate investment funds and real estate investment trusts. Additionally, firms can handle sector-related disputes and provide general legal advice to tax matters relating to real estate transactions and companies.

Shipping

This section looks at shipping & maritime litigation involving breaches of charter-party disputes, cargo and bills of lading claims, the arrest of vessels and cargoes, marine insurance claims, collision, salvage and environmental liabilities. On the non-contentious side, law firms advise on contractual arrangements for construction, financing and registration of vessels, customs and licensing, and documentation relating to charter-parties and bills of lading.

Tax

Tax covers a broad range of matters on both the contentious and non-contentious side. Relevant matters include tax advisory work on international taxation, including transfer pricing and double taxation is highly relevant to this area, as is advice on tax structures for corporate transactions. This section also covers tax controversies, including both litigation and audits.

Please note: In Mexico, Tax is divided into two separate sections, namely Tax: Controversy and Tax: Non-contentious.

Technology

The Technology section focuses both on Information Technology and on Privacy and Data Security.

In relation to IT, advising companies on technology regulations and drafting contractual agreements in the technology field, such as technology-transfer agreements and outsourcing contracts between large corporations and suppliers of IT services, are central components of active legal work in this field. Law firms advising investors or start-up enterprises in the IT sector, including those related to strategic agreements, regulatory adequation, corporate governance and IT litigation, are also significant forms of legal work for this section.

In relation to Privacy and Data Security, this relates to corporate compliance with privacy and information-management laws and regulations. Law firms advising on data security breaches and on the ramifications and requirements of data breach notifications also have relevant work in this field. Representing clients in investigations, enforcement actions, administrative procedures or litigation related to said data security breaches are also to be included in this section. International work in Privacy and Data Security can include advising clients with multinational operations on data security issues relating to cross-border transfers of data, such as in large-scale outsourcing transactions involving a number of countries, and on global or multi-jurisdictional privacy compliance programmes.

Please note: M&A and other types of corporate finance work for technology companies should be restricted to the Corporate/M&A submission and not included here.

Telecommunications

This section concentrates on a range of legal issues arising from the heavily regulated areas of telecommunications and broadcasting. Work includes transactional and litigation advice to telecoms companies, wireless operators, TV and/or radio broadcasters and the regulatory issues that such companies face. These issues might be government sponsored-inquires, investigations or compliance proceedings. Other matters include interconnection and resales laws, multimedia agreements and licensing activity.

Please note: General corporate advice to telecoms companies is relevant, however, M&A is better included in the Corporate M&A section rather than Telecommunications or, as in the case of most Latin American jurisdictions, TMT.

TMT

This combined section encompasses all aspects of the Telecommunications, Media and Entertainment, and Technology sections as outlined above.

Venture Capital

This section covers work on behalf of entrepreneurs, founders, start-ups, emerging companies, individual and institutional investors, as well as VC funds and firms. Work might include negotiation of commercial agreements or partnerships, early and late-stage venture financings (including seed capital, Series A, B, C and D funding rounds as well as IPOs), regulatory compliance issues and other advisory work.

Question 5

Practice Area Definitions: UK

Accepted Answer

Below are the legal practice area definitions and regional variations used by Chambers to rank lawyers and law firms in the UK Guide.

Please note that the term “section” refers to a practice area that constitutes a chapter heading in the Chambers UK guide. A “subtable” is a specific table of rankings that exist within a section. Both terms are used throughout these definitions.

Administrative & Public Law   

This section covers judicial review, statutory appeals, disciplinary proceedings and non-contentious advice on the powers and administrative functions of central and local government, and other public and regulatory bodies. It includes matters relating to competitive tendering, public procurement, environmental issues and employment and discrimination law. 

Firms are ranked for their representation of ‘Mainly Commercial’ clients, ‘Mainly Public Sector & Charities’ clients and ‘Traditional Claimant’ clients. The claimant table highlights firms who represent individuals and organisations in public law challenges that are not privately funded. Firms can be listed in more than one of these sections.  

Individuals are recognised either under the main Administrative & Public Law ranking table or the Administrative & Public Law: Traditional Claimant table.  

Related sections: Civil Liberties & Human Rights, Local Government, Parliamentary & Public Affairs  

Agriculture & Rural Affairs 

This section ranks law firms and lawyers that specialise in advising landowners, farmers and other rural businesses on relevant legal issues, including property matters, estate management and niche areas such as equine and bloodstock law.  

Related sections: Private Wealth Law (in the HNW guide), Real Estate, Real Estate Litigation  

Art and Cultural Property 

This section covers a wide range of contentious and non-contentious work where art or other cultural property is the subject matter, and matters relating more generally to the art world. Work for collectors, dealers, auction houses, museums and galleries is included. Chambers also considers work for artists and their estates.  

Asset Finance   

This section covers lawyers who advise on finance linked to the purchase or construction of a distinct asset or set of assets (typically ships, aircraft or rolling stock).   

Firms and individuals are ranked under the three tables: Aviation Finance, Rail Finance and Shipping Finance. Firms can provide a separate submission and referee spreadsheet to each table.  

Aviation Finance: This table focuses on firms and individuals acting for clients such as leasing companies, banks, airlines and other financial institutions. This section covers financing, including ECA’s, EETC’s and government-supported financings. It includes bankruptcy, operating leases, including JOLCOs, as well as financing of commercial aircrafts, corporate jets and helicopters.    

Rail Finance: This table recognises firms and individuals representing clients such as rolling stock lessors, banks and train operating companies. Work in this section spans rolling stock financing deals for ROSCOs, rolling stock franchising, train procurement and leasing structures.   

Shipping Finance: This table ranks firms and individuals acting on behalf of shipyards, owners, operators and financial institutions. The work in this section covers financing structure, including asset sales, structured securitisations, and sale and leasebacks. It also includes operational and technical issues. Areas of expertise include offshore, yacht, cruise and LNG sectors.  

Related sections: Aviation, Banking & Finance, Shipping, Transport   

Aviation  

This section covers a broad range of work carried out by lawyers for clients in aviation and related industries. Specialists in this sector are ranked across the tables below:  

Insurance: Covers all insurance coverage disputes concerning the aviation industry.  

Regulatory: Covers lawyers with specialist expertise concerning the regulation of the aviation industry including proceedings involving the European Commission, UK Civil Aviation Authority, UK Office of Fair Trading and ABTA.   

Dispute Resolution: Covers non-insurance related disputes concerning the activities of aviation sector entities.  

Claimant: Covers lawyers who assist victims and their families in claims arising from both commercial and non-commercial aviation accidents.   

Related sections: Asset Finance, Travel, Commercial and Corporate Litigation, Insurance  

Banking & Finance  

We have updated our finance coverage. In London we now rank firms and individuals in corporate and leveraged finance tables.

Corporate Finance: This section recognises the leading lawyers and law firms who advise on corporate or investment grade lending. Firms are ranked based on whether they work with borrower or lender clients, and whether their work is big-ticket or mid-market. The deal values that fall into those categories will depend on the state of the market in a given year but as a guide, deals above £500 million will usually be considered Big-Ticket.

Leveraged Finance: This section recognises the leading lawyers and law firms who advise on leveraged or sub-investment grade lending. Firms are ranked based on whether they work with financial sponsors/borrower or lender clients, and whether their work is big-ticket or mid-market. The deal values that fall into those categories will depend on the state of the market in a given year but as a guide, deals above £500 million will usually be considered Big-Ticket.

Please note, leveraged transactions involving corporate borrowers should be submitted here and not for corporate finance.

Asset-based Lending: This section includes the leading firms and lawyers who advise on asset-based lending. Firms may represent lenders and/or borrowers, in addition to related third parties, such as collateral agents, guarantors, or equity sponsors. Assets typically secured against a loan include accounts receivables, inventory, equipment, or real estate.

Fund Finance: Here we rank law firms that represent both fund borrowers and lenders on fund finance transactions. Ranked firms will typically advise on subscription, asset-based, NAV-based and hybrid facilities, among other areas.

Banking & Finance – outside of London: We continue to rank firms outside of London for their general banking & finance expertise.

Banking Litigation 

This section principally focuses on litigation related to commercial banking activities. Types of matters include claims for the mis-selling of financial products, professional negligence, breaches of warranty, civil fraud and matters arising out of bank failures and state bailouts. All work should be on behalf of banks and other financial institutions, not individuals. For example, the defence of negligence claims against individual bank employees or financial advisers should be submitted to Professional Negligence.  

Our UK-wide section includes a 'Mainly Claimant' table, which highlights those firms that focus primarily on bringing claims against banks on behalf of individuals and companies. For both this and the main table you will still submit under the main heading of Banking Litigation.  

Regulatory investigations and enforcement in the banking sector may be included here however please note we have a separate Financial Services section for this as well. Work regarding sanctions can either be submitted to Financial Services or to the Sanctions table, please do not include it here.  

Related sections: Financial Crime, Financial Services, Fraud: Civil, Professional Negligence, Sanctions  

Capital Markets 

This section covers advice on the raising of funds on the capital markets. Our coverage is subdivided due to the UK market's high degree of specialisation. Firms can provide a submission for each of the following:  

Capital Markets: Equity: In these sections we recognise teams that assist clients in the raising of equity capital. Advice on Main Market IPOs is highly rated but we also consider rights issues, private placements or IPOs on foreign exchanges. Firms may also advise on SPAC IPOs (Advice on acquisitions should be included on a Corp/M&A submission). Clients include corporate issuers and investment banks.   

We now consider advice on AIM listings in this table and work of that type should be included here. We won’t consider work relating to listed funds as this is covered elsewhere.  

Capital Markets: Debt: In this section we recognise teams that assists clients with matters relating to the issuance of investment-grade debt. Common types of work include stand alone corporate and sovereign bond issuances, debt programmes, green bonds, liability management and equity linked bonds. Work for underwriting banks and corporate and sovereign issuers is favoured, however we also accept work for trustees. Work relating to high yield bonds should be submitted to that practice area and won’t be considered here.  

 
Capital Markets: High Yield Bonds: This section covers advice on a full range of issues relating to non-investment grade bonds. Firms can act for sponsors, issuers or investment banks. Work can include stand alone issuances, sustainability-linked or green issuances, or issuances in the context of wider financings.  

Work relating to investment grade issuances won’t be considered here.  

  
Capital Markets: Structured Products: Encompasses wide range of deal types including repackagings, synthetic securitisations and risk transfer.  
 
Capital Markets: Derivatives: Includes regulatory and transactional legal advice regarding derivatives products such as: exchange-traded derivatives, OTC derivatives, securitised derivatives, interest rate, currency, equity, credit and commodity-linked products. Law firms advise on product development and regulation, structuring and documentation of transactions, related tax issues and derivatives litigation. Work involving derivatives related to physical commodities isn’t considered here.  

   
Capital Markets: Securitisation: Covers the entire range of asset classes, including residential and commercial mortgages, consumer loans, auto-loans and receivables. We also consider whole business securitisations and covered bonds.

Capital Markets: CLOs: A CLO submission can contain any work for clients such as issuers and underwriters on CLO transactions.   

Related sections: Banking & Finance, Commodities, Energy & Natural Resources, Investment Funds, Private Equity, Tax  

Charities 

This section ranks law firms and lawyers who advise third sector clients on all types of contentious and non-contentious matters, ranging from sector-specific advice on constitutional and governance issues or public benefit requirements, to more general advice on corporate, property, employment and tax issues. 

The separate Legacy Disputes table recognises those who represent charities in disputes surrounding legacies left in a will. Please note, we do not accept work on behalf of individuals challenging legacies as this is covered in Private Wealth Disputes, a section in our High Net Worth guide.  

Civil Liberties & Human Rights  

This section covers issues relating to the Human Rights Act 1998 and the European Convention on Human Rights. It includes a Prison Law table, which highlights firms that specialise in prisoners' rights. The section also includes an International Human Rights table that recognises lawyers and law firms who represent claimants on human rights issues.  

Related sections: Administrative & Public Law, Immigration, Police Law  

Clinical Negligence 

This section covers claims for negligent acts committed by professionals working in the healthcare or pharmaceutical sectors. These cases usually arise from allegations that the defendant(s) did not follow accepted industry practices, leading to injury or death to the patient or claimant. 

Firms that represent defendants, including insurers, employers and medical professionals, are ranked on a UK-wide basis in our Mainly Defendant table. Firms that act for individuals, or groups of individuals, bringing claims are ranked on a regional basis in our Mainly Claimant tables. 

For claims related to faulty medical device or pharmaceutical products, please see the Product Liability and Life Sciences sections. 

Related sections: Court of Protection, Insurance, Life Sciences, Personal Injury, Professional Discipline.  

Commercial and Corporate Litigation 

This section ranks firms and lawyers advising businesses, high net worth individuals and other non-public sector entities on contractual litigation and other disputes related to commercial agreements. It also covers corporate litigation, including post-M&A disputes, corporate control issues, joint venture disputes and shareholder disputes. This section focuses on courtroom litigation, rather than alternative dispute resolution methods like mediation and arbitration.  

Contentious work that is well-catered for by other sections of the UK Solicitors guide should not be submitted here. This includes regulatory investigations or enforcement actions, such as those matters covered in the Competition Law, Financial Services, Health & Safety or Professional Discipline sections. It also does not cover public law work, such as those matters covered in the Administrative & Public Law, Civil Liberties & Human Rights, Local Government or Public Procurement sections.  

Criminal investigations and prosecutions should not be submitted, nor should private client work including contentious probate cases. In essence, all matters should have at their core a civil dispute over a commercial agreement or a corporate transaction/relationship.  

Other areas given less weight here include civil fraud, banking litigation, real estate litigation, contentious insolvency and tax disputes. International arbitration is covered extensively elsewhere and should also not be submitted.  

This is a London only section. For similar work in other parts of the UK, please submit to our regional Litigation sections.  

Related sections: Banking Litigation, Fraud: Civil, Group Litigation: Claimant, International Arbitration, Litigation  

Commercial Contracts 

This section covers practices that assist clients with agreements relating to the establishment and development of commercial activities between non-public sector entities. It primarily looks at co-operation agreements to carry out commercial activities, including ongoing supply, agency, distribution or manufacturing agreements relating to trading activities and commercial strategies, as well as joint ventures. Such agreements can be either domestic or cross-border in nature.  

Please note that IT services and IT-driven outsourcing contracts are considered separately under Information Technology & Outsourcing. However, outsourcing arrangements that are not IT-driven, such as legal services, property and maintenance, and other business process contracting arrangements are considered here. Supply and service agreements involving public sector bodies are considered separately in Public Procurement.  

Related Sections: Franchising, Hotels & Leisure, Information Technology & Outsourcing, Public Procurement  

Commodities  

This section covers the regulation and trade of commodities, and any related litigation. It does not typically include investing in a company that will eventually produce a commodity (eg investing in a coal mine) unless a clear link to commodities trading can be demonstrated. It is split into three tables: 

Derivatives & Energy Trading: This covers advice on commodities derivatives transactions and regulations, including trading relating to energy units such as electricity, gas, coal and oil.  

Trade Finance: This covers prepayment financing, receivables, structured commodity finance and export credit financing.  

Physicals: This covers disputes concerning the direct trade in commodities and related matters. Practitioners advise on a range of both 'soft' and 'hard' commodities, from cash crops to coal, metals, oil and gas. Typical clients include commodities trading houses, export credit agencies, financial institutions, freighters and insurers. 

We accept submissions to each of these three sections.

Related sections: Capital Markets, Energy & Natural Resources, Insurance, Shipping   

Competition 

This section encompasses contentious and non-contentious matters arising under EU, domestic and international competition law, including cartels, abuse of a dominant market position, state aid and merger control. In London there are separate ranking tables for Competition Litigation and for Private Enforcement: Claimant. 

Please note that criminal cartel defence is considered under Financial Crime and public procurement work is considered under Public Procurement.  

Related sections: Corporate/M&A, Financial Crime, Group Litigation: Claimant, Public Procurement  

Construction  

Our construction sections cover legal advice provided to a range of industry clients, including both suppliers, such as developers, contractors, engineers and architects, and purchasers employing these types of companies.   

Firms are welcome to showcase both non-contentious and contentious matters. Non-contentious work can include contract negotiations and procurement strategy. Contentious matters we look for include claims arising from defects, such as cladding and fire safety disputes, delays and terminated contracts. We also consider development work here. We’re looking for firms and individuals who advise on the construction aspects of these developments, which can include single commercial blocks, as well as multi-building residential developments.  

Real Estate work, including land acquisition, option agreements and the sale of developments should be submitted to Real Estate. Planning work, including planning applications for the developments, should be submitted to Planning.  

Alongside our regional construction tables, we also recognise firms and lawyers in London in four separate ranking tables, focusing on contentious, non-contentious, international arbitration and professional negligence work within the construction space.

We accept submissions to the Contentious, Non-contentious and Professional Negligence sub-sections. Firms and lawyers wishing to be considered for our dedicated International Arbitration sub-section should include this work on the Contentious submission.

Related sections: Environment, International Arbitration, Planning, Projects, Real Estate, Professional Negligence

Consumer Finance 

The Consumer Finance section recognises firms and lawyers who advise clients that provide credit for personal or household use. Often, this will involve advice on regulatory or compliance issues relating to credit cards, business loans, personal loans, overdrafts, mortgages, point of sale financing, motor financing, hire purchase, buy now pay later products and peer to peer lending. It can also include transactional or disputes work involving consumer finance clients. Typical clients include banks, fintech companies, leasing companies, motor finance providers and mortgage providers.  

Related sections: Banking Litigation, Financial Services, Retail  

Corporate Crime and Investigations 

This section was formerly called Financial Crime: Corporates. Please see the practice area definition under Financial Crime below. 

Corporate/M&A 

This section covers both public and private company transactions. Typically, the most prestigious work here will involve advising the buyer or seller on an acquisition. Advising either of the main parties on a merger is considered strong work. Throughout, the size and complexity of the deal will be relevant. Advising parties that are not the buyer or a seller on a deal (eg advising the financial adviser) can be relevant, but generally not as desirable as advising the key parties. Advising a lender on a transaction is generally not considered here, and should instead be included on a Banking & Finance submission. 

Other forms of corporate work considered here include share acquisitions, dispositions, capitalisations, entity selection and formation, operating and partnership agreements, and governance matters. Takeover defence work is also welcome here.

Some tables will have a monetary value attached to them, such as £100-800 million. In those tables the bulk of the best work demonstrated by these firms will fall into that range, but it is not necessary for all of it to. Some examples of work that falls below the range, yet are still complicated or interesting, are accepted. It is also expected that some firms ranked in a lower range will have a small number of outlying deals in the higher range. The research team will place each firm in the table that is most appropriate for it. 

Related sections: Capital Markets, Investment Funds, Private Equity, Partnership, Tax  

Court of Protection 

This section covers proceedings brought in the Court of Protection concerning individuals who are considered to have lost the capacity to make their own decisions according to the Mental Capacity Act.

Work may relate to either the management of an individual's property and financial affairs, or to consideration of their health and welfare, via those with Lasting Power of Attorney, Enduring Power of Attorney, or an individual appointed by the Court as a deputy. 

Firms can submit separately for Property and Affairs and for Health and Welfare. We rank separately any firms and lawyers that specialise in handling Health and Welfare proceedings on behalf of public sector clients, such as NHS Trusts and local authorities.

Related sections: Clinical Negligence, Healthcare, Personal Injury  

Crime  

This section focuses exclusively on the representation of individuals (not businesses) in general and serious crime cases. Representative matters include charges related to violent and sexual assault, the illegal drugs trade, homicide and terrorism as well as work concerning organised crime activity, such as people trafficking and modern slavery cases. You may also include appellate cases and matters relating to alleged miscarriages of justice.  

We will consider work at all levels, from initial police dealings and high street advisory matters all the way to the Supreme Court and the European Court of Human Rights. Matters may be privately funded or undertaken on a legal aid basis. 

Please note that charges of fraud, money laundering and bribery brought against individual defendants are all considered in the Financial Crime: Individuals section. Similarly, claims made concerning the conduct of serving police officers should be submitted to Police Law. We also have separate coverage for Extradition and Protest Law. All matters submitted here should also relate solely to the defence of individuals facing criminal charges – associated issues concerning civil liberties and human rights should be submitted to that section, where we also have a sub-table covering prison law.  

Related sections: Civil Liberties & Human Rights, Defamation/Reputation Management, Extradition, Financial Crime, Police Law, Protest Law  

Data Protection & Information Law  

This section covers all aspects of law surrounding the control of information by both public and private sector bodies. Many firms acting in this area advise clients on the development of binding corporate rules (BCRs) and other issues relating to international data transfers, consent compliance and contract support.  

Other areas of work include advising on responding to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, drafting privacy policies and guidance on evolving EU regulation in this area. Another significant type of work involves the defence of clients facing potential fines for data protection breaches and related investigations.  

Related sections: Information Technology, Financial Services, Media & Entertainment: Advertising & Marketing  

Defamation/Reputation Management 

This section ranks law firms and lawyers who handle defamation proceedings (i.e. libel and slander) on behalf of claimants and defendants, as well as advising media and corporate clients on risk management. Reputation management involves advising individuals and corporations on the legal aspects of protecting and regulating their reputation.  

Under the rubric of reputation management we consider: work concerning data privacy, the publication of allegedly inaccurate data, and the so-called ‘right to be forgotten’ in online searches and business intelligence databases. Also, injunctions to remove client data from international websites to prevent harassment, taking down imposter social media sites and data audits to guard against media intrusion.  

Related sections: Media & Entertainment, Data Protection & Information Law  

DEI Champions

This is a spotlight table for individuals. Submissions are not accepted but peer nominations can be provided either via survey or via email (please email Al Marsh). The table is for lawyers who have dedicated their career to making the world a fairer place and by representing clients in an altruistic manner. Pro bono work is a large element of this, but paid-for work that demonstrates a strong focus on a particular area is accepted too. Just some examples of the kinds of work we have recognised in the past include: helping LGBTQI+ families; helping the victims of domestic violence; helping those subjected to unfair deportation (eg Windrush); promoting the cause of black women in maternity units.

Please note that work relating to internal schemes in law firms is not included. For example, a scheme that helps give young people work experience in your firm. Lawyers who are put forward for this kind of activity will not be considered.

Dispute Resolution Specialist Firms

This section exclusively recognises firms specialising in dispute resolution and covers the full range of disputes. This includes (but is not limited to) commercial litigation, banking litigation, fraud and international arbitration. It seeks to highlight firms of varying sizes with broad-based yet specialised expertise in this field. We accept group litigation matters here, although please note that work for claimants should be submitted under our Group Litigation: Claimant table instead. Full service firms cannot be ranked in this section. 

Education 

This section is divided into Education: Individuals and Education: Institutions. In the UK-wide section, Education: Institutions is further split down into Schools and Higher & Further Education.   
 

Education: Individuals: Covers lawyers and law firms who act on behalf of pupils and their parents in matters such as special educational needs (SEN), admissions and exclusions, disability discrimination claims, judicial review cases, disputes with private schools, and transport to school issues. The firms ranked here may undertake either privately or publicly funded work.   
 

Education: Institutions (Schools): Covers lawyers and law firms who work on behalf of schools. This is a wide-ranging table covering the full range of school-related law, including pupil-related litigation and child protection issues, debt recovery, governance matters, school reorganisations, employment law, exclusions, policy and procedure reviews, and the establishment of academies.   
 

Education: Institutions (Higher & Further Education): Covers lawyers and law firms who work on behalf of universities, colleges and other higher education providers. The work can include constitutional and governance issues, employment matters, joint ventures between institutions, IP, student-related issues and litigation, data protection, governance, and charity law.   

Related sections: Local Government, Mental Health: Patients, Public Procurement  

Employee Share Schemes & Incentives  

Lawyers are ranked in this table for their expertise on employee benefits and share incentive plans. Work includes the creation, operation and governance of plans. We also recognise firms for their advice on the benefits and share plans aspects of corporate transactions. Firms that provide advice on Employee Ownership are recognised in a separate table.  

Related sections: Employment, Pensions, Tax  

Employment  

This section has a broad scope and firms can submit a wide range of workplace related matters, both contentious and non-contentious.  

In terms of disputes, work can include Employment Tribunal claims relating to discrimination, unfair dismissal, equal pay or employee status. It can also include litigation before the higher courts relating to team moves or restrictive covenant. Firms are also recognised for their advisory work on matters such as TUPE, redundancies, gig-economy matters, senior executive issues and policy and HR training. We also recognise firms for their employment work in the context of corporate transactions, however this work is viewed less favourably.  

Outside of London, firms can include work for both employers and employees/workers.  

In London, firms are ranked in separate tables covering work for Employers, Employees & Trade Unions, and Senior Executives. The Senior Executive table covers advice for all-types of employed senior professionals (including those working in the financial services industry, senior doctors and head teachers). The Employee & Trade Union table is focused on work for more junior employees, as well as actions brought by employees in conjunction with Trade Unions.  

In London we have specific tables that recognise firms and individuals for their expertise acting for third sector employers and healthcare providers (both NHS and private), as well as for their employer-side industrial relations work. We also have a table that recognises the expertise of firms and lawyers who excel at advising employers in connection with High Court Litigation. 

Partnership-related issues are not considered here as these are covered in a separate table.  

Related sections: Employee Share Schemes & Incentives; Pensions, Partnership  

Energy & Natural Resources 

This section focuses on a range of work arising from the energy sector, including project finance and development, corporate/ commercial, and advising on regulatory issues. Within this broad area, we rank firms and lawyers across multiple sub-sections.
Firms and lawyers based in England and Wales have the option of providing two submissions and spreadsheets of client referees (comprised of 20 work highlights and 20 referees) to Energy & Natural Resources: Oil & Gas and Energy & Natural Resources: Power, Renewables & Alternative Energy.  

Firms can showcase disputes work across both submissions. Any water-related work must be displayed on the Energy & Natural Resources: Power, Renewables & Alternative Energy submission.  

From the above submissions, we rank firms and lawyers across the following sub-sections:  
    
Oil & Gas: This sub-section covers all upstream, midstream and downstream work including exploration, infrastructure and pipeline developments, and service contracts, royalties, licensing and operation agreements. It also includes M&A transactions, capital raisings and regulatory compliance.   
  
Power, Renewables & Alternative Energy: This sub-section recognises firms and lawyers with expertise in relation to the financing and development of power, renewable and alternative energy projects, as well as those handling corporate transactions and regulatory issues in the sector. This section recognises firms and lawyers with expertise in relation to a range of power assets, including nuclear power stations, interconnector structures and battery storage facilities.
  
Water: This sub-section covers a variety of work relating to the water industry, including regulation, pricing and aspects of competition law.   
  

Disputes: This sub-section covers all disputes (including litigation and international arbitration) in the energy & natural resources sector.   
    
Alongside our UK-wide tables, we also have two Scottish tables, Energy & Natural Resources: Oil & Gas and Energy & Natural Resources: Renewables & Alternative Energy, as well as a general Energy & Natural Resources – Northern Ireland section.
    
Mining: We also accept a separate submission and referee list for the UK-wide - Energy & Natural Resources: Mining section. Lawyers and firms are recognised for their expertise in either domestic or international work. The section focuses on legal matters surrounding the exploration, development and production of minerals through mining operations. The negotiation of royalty, streaming and supply agreements are relevant, as are M&A transactions, development financing, restructuring initiatives and regulatory issues.   

Related sections: Commodities, Environment, International Arbitration, Projects  

Environment & Climate Change 

This section features environmental litigation, as well as advisory and transactional support for clients. 'Traditional' environment work includes regulatory compliance, litigation and enforcement actions related to air, water, wetlands, waste and endangered species. We also include advice to corporate and financial clients on the environmental aspects of M&A, financings, securities offerings and other transactions that involve due diligence and environmental insurance issues.   

This section also covers a range of regulatory, transactional and litigation work in a specific climate change context. Regulatory work such as compliance program design and implementation, as well as operational and project-related compliance advice is a central aspect of work in this area. This area also covers representation of clients in proceedings before domestic and foreign government panels, agencies and regulatory bodies, including handling rulemaking challenges. Climate change-related government relations and policy advice work is also covered here. Climate change litigation and carbon markets transactions are also important in this practice area.  

There is also a UK-wide Environment: Claimant section which ranks firms and individuals.   

Firms can provide separate submissions and referee spreadsheets to Environment & Climate Change and Environment: Claimant.

Please note that outside of London, we accept submissions to a single Planning & Environment section. There, we accept work related to both areas, including contentious and non-contentious matters. Work can include, for example, advice on planning applications or regulatory compliance matters as well as representing clients in disputes arising from planning- and environment-related issues.

Related sections: Group Litigation: Claimant, Health & Safety, Planning, Real Estate  

Extradition 

This section ranks firms and lawyers on a UK-wide basis for their expertise in extradition law and procedure, as well as matters concerning European Arrest Warrants and Interpol Red Notices.   

Related sections: Civil Liberties & Human Rights, Crime, Financial Crime  

Family/Matrimonial and Family/Children Law

These sections deal with issues surrounding the inception and breakdown of personal relationships. This includes the creation of nuptial, civil partnership and cohabitation agreements relating to financial and property assets, the resolution of divorces or separations involving financial and property disputes, and the handling of matters relating to child arrangements, maintenance and welfare.  

Rankings and submissions are slightly different if your firm is in London or in another part of the UK. We also have two tables to which you can submit regardless of where you are based.

Please note that while submissions to London Matrimonial Finance are made to the HNW guide, all other submissions are made to the UK Guide as usual.

London

Family/Matrimonial Finance: In London, this table ranks firms for both HNW and UHNW finance matters and associated child arrangements. The research for this table is carried out by our HNW team and your submission and referees should be uploaded to the HNW guide. Please ensure that all work submitted is within a family/matrimonial context and does not include more general wealth management matters: these may be submitted in their own right elsewhere in the HNW guide.  

There is also a separate table recognising individual practitioners who specialise in acting as mediators in family disputes.  You may submit to this separately through the HNW guide.

Family/Children Law: This table covers private law matters where the primary concern is the placement, maintenance and welfare of child dependents. Representative work includes disputes over contact and residence arrangements, leave to remove cases and applications for emergency injunctions such as non-molestation and prohibited steps orders. It also encompasses private law work relating to fertility treatments, surrogacy arrangements and adoption.

All other regions

In our regional tables outside London, all work concerning family and matrimonial matters may be submitted together under the heading Family/Matrimonial. This includes matrimonial finance and private and public children law cases. As in London, we have regional spotlight tables recognising lawyers who act as mediators; however, it is not possible to submit to these sections directly. All information regarding a lawyer’s mediation practice should be contained within your Family/Matrimonial submission.

You also have the option to submit separately for our two UK-wide tables concerning children law (please see below).

UK-wide

International Abduction, Adoption and Surrogacy: This table (formerly known as Cross-border Disputes) ranks firms and lawyers who advise on cross-border disputes concerning the international abduction of children to both Hague and non-Hague jurisdictions. It also recognises work pertaining to international adoption and surrogacy agreements. Please note that it does not cover all international work related to children – only those types listed above. Any more general work related to international child arrangements may be submitted to Children Law (in London) or Family/Matrimonial (in all other regions).

Public Law Matters: This table covers public care proceedings related to claims of child abuse, neglect or other welfare issues, as well as public law matters related to adoption, surrogacy or assisted reproduction.

Related sections: Court of Protection, Education, Family/Matrimonial, Private Wealth (in the HNW guide)

Financial Crime 

These sections encompass a broad range of financial crime offences, including (but not limited to) fraud, bribery and money laundering. Such matters should exclusively refer to criminal investigations and proceedings, any civil fraud matters will continue to be considered under the separate Fraud: Civil section. 

The practice area’s key focus is on financial crime allegations however we consider a broad spectrum of other kinds of regulatory and business crime, including modern slavery offences, corporate manslaughter and environmental crime. 

In London, coverage is subdivided as follows, with separate submissions for each:  

Corporate Crime & Investigations: This section ranks firms and individuals advising corporate clients on a wide range of criminal proceedings, investigations and related compliance matters.  

Financial Crime: Individuals: This section encompasses the representation of individuals charged with a broad range of financial and corporate criminal offences. 

Private prosecutions: This section ranks practices and lawyers that specialise in bringing private prosecutions relating to financial and corporate crimes.  

Submissions to The Regions and Scotland may include any/all of the above.  

Related sections: Banking Litigation, Crime, Financial Services, Fraud: Civil, Sanctions  

Financial Services  

This section covers contentious and non-contentious regulatory matters related to the financial services industry. 

On the contentious side, it encompasses Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)/ Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) investigations, selling practices, market misconduct, misuse of confidential information and complaints handling regarding retail products. In this area, firms are recognised for their advice to both corporate clients and individuals. Although there is obvious cross-over, submissions in this area should focus on the regulatory, rather than criminal, elements of work. 

Non-contentious regulatory matters may include the implications of and interactions between UK, EU and US regulations, and compliance advice. Areas covered include ESG related regulation and the Consumer Duty. Researchers will consider work on behalf of asset managers, banks, insurers, funds and alternative capital providers or any organisation governed by the FCA and/or PRA. 

The Payments Law table of the Financial Services section recognises those firms which advise on the procedures, regulation and technology required behind every purchase or cash withdrawal, drawing elements from practices such as financial services regulatory, consumer credit, IT and data protection and privacy.

Related sections: Banking & Finance, Banking Litigation, Financial Crime, Sanctions  

Franchising 

This section ranks law firms and lawyers advising franchisees and franchisors in respect of both transactional and contentious work, such as setting up franchise agreements and disputes arising from such contracts.  

Related sections: Commercial Contracts, Hotels & Leisure, Retail

Fraud: Civil   

This section ranks lawyers and firms advising on civil litigation and investigations concerning alleged fraud, along with asset tracing, recovery and injunctive relief including freezing orders. Clients may include companies, banks, trusts and high net worth individuals. We do not consider any criminal fraud work as this is instead covered by our Financial Crime section.  

Related sections: Banking Litigation, Commercial and Corporate Litigation, Financial Crime  

Gaming 

This table is for firms and departments that firms that specialise in gaming/gambling, which includes licensing matters as well as wider issues related to traditional and online gambling activities, including casinos.  

Related sections: Licensing  

Group Litigation: Claimant 

This section ranks firms and lawyers that have notable experience representing large claimant groups in litigation. We will accept matters brought via group litigation orders, representative actions and collective actions before the Competition Appeal Tribunal. Work may include claims related to consumer protection issues, financial mis-selling, data breaches and environmental or product liability, among others. The table is solely for firms representing claimant groups, we will not accept defence work to the section.  

Related sections: Commercial and Corporate Litigation, Competition, Environment, Litigation, Product Liability  

Health & Safety 

This section ranks firms and lawyers that advise corporations, executives and regulatory bodies on contentious and non-contentious health and safety matters, including regulatory and criminal investigations, public inquests, compliance and workplace training. It encompasses general health and safety at work, food safety, fire safety and issues affecting specific industries, including waste, utilities, nuclear and rail.  

Related sections: Insurance, Personal Injury  

Healthcare 

This section covers a wide range of concerns faced by clients in the healthcare sector, including NHS Trusts, private healthcare companies, GP surgeries, pharmacies, medical institutions and elderly and social care providers. Our coverage is split between firms that represent private sector clients and those that represent public and third sector clients: you may submit separately for each.

Coverage of individual practitioners is then also divided between three tables: 

Corporate/Commercial: Includes general governance work, M&A, restructuring, procurement and commercial contracts.  

Contentious: Includes treatment disputes as well as Human Rights Act claims arising out of systemic negligence. It does not include clinical negligence or historic abuse claims. 

Regulatory: Includes all manner of regulatory matters, such as NICE and Cancer Drugs Fund issues. 

Please note that we have separate rankings for Mental Health and that we also rank firms and lawyers separately for their expertise in medical partnerships. 

Related sections: Clinical Negligence, Life Sciences, Local Government, Mental Health, Partnership, Public Procurement   

Hotels & Leisure 

This section is industry specific, covering the full range of legal services carried out for clients involved in the hotels and leisure industry, including hotels, restaurants, bars and casinos. The areas of legal advice that this section covers include real estate, hotel management agreements and branding. Please note that licensing work should not be included here, as there are separate Gaming and Licensing sections.

Related Sections: Franchising, Real Estate, Retail

Immigration  

Chambers UK covers Business, Personal and Human Rights, Asylum and Detention related Immigration work. The UK guide does not consider work for high-net-worth individuals or family offices - work for those clients should be submitted to our High Net Worth guide.  

Business: Law firms featured in this section provide advice on all aspects of inbound and outbound immigration, such as work permits and visas, workforce mobility and other legislative and regulatory changes. Clients for this section will typically be companies and their sponsored staff, but may also include charities, education institutes and individual senior employees.   

Human Rights, Asylum & Deportation: This section covers both privately funded matters, as well as work funded by Legal Aid. It is focused on immigration issues that have human rights, asylum or deportation at their heart.   

Personal: This section covers privately funded personal immigration work. Clients will tend to be families, overstayers and people who’ve been refused indefinite leave to remain.  

Related sections: Administrative & Public Law, Civil Liberties & Human Rights  

Information Technology & Outsourcing 

This is primarily an industry-specific section focusing on firms and individuals advising technology-based businesses. Researchers consider legal advice given to suppliers and purchasers in relation to significant IT supply and services contracts. Work in this sector may include outsourcing and IT-driven business transformation projects, infrastructure projects and product launches, as well as litigation. We also consider early-stage investment, M&A, and share listings concerning emerging tech companies.  

Outsourcing arrangements that are not IT-driven, such as legal services, property and maintenance, and other business process contracting arrangements are now considered separately under the Commercial Contracts table.  

This definition also applies to UK regional Information Technology sections as well, although all of these except those for London and Scotland continue to be known as Information Technology: Name of region (East Anglia, Midlands etc.).  

Related sections: Commercial Contracts, Data Protection, Public Procurement, Telecommunications  

Infrastructure 

The Infrastructure UK-wide section ranks those firms and lawyers who advise on transactions relating primarily to assets that have already been completed and are operational. Infrastructure assets can include (but are not limited to) airports, ports, transmission lines, pipelines and (resources) storage. Secondary market transactions, where operational infrastructure is the underlying asset, form a crucial aspect of the work recognised, while equally, contract variation, asset management and other legal issues that arise over the course of the operation of an asset are also relevant.  
The Infrastructure PFI/PPP section is a separate sub-section which recognises those undertaking the aforementioned work primarily in the context of operation PFI/PPP assets. As well as assets structured on a PFI/PPP basis, other non-traditional models such as Regulated Asset Base (RAB), Mutual Investment Model (MIM), Local Improvement Finance Trust (LIFT) and Direct Procurement for Consumers (DPC) are relevant for this section. Submissions for this sub-section should be included in the Infrastructure UK-wide section and any work highlight relating to any project structured on a PFI/PPP (or similar) basis should be clearly labelled as relating to this type of asset.   
Any work relating to the financing and development of projects for assets which are not yet operational should be included in a submission to Projects – UK-wide.  

Related sections: Projects  

Inquests

The Inquests table recognises lawyers who have deep expertise in representing clients in high-profile and contentious inquests. These inquests typically arise in the context of mental health, police contact and domestic terrorism but are by no means limited to these areas. Lawyers ranked here represent bereaved families, organisations and individual staff members.  

Related sections: Administrative & Public Law, Civil Liberties & Human Rights, Police Law  

Insurance  

This is a UK-wide section ranking firms for both contentious and non-contentious work in the insurance sector. Firms may submit separately to each of the tables listed below.

Contentious Claims & Reinsurance: This table covers contentious matters handled on behalf of the insurance industry, including claims defence, coverage disputes, brokers' negligence claims and reinsurance disputes.

Mainly Policyholder: For firms handling similar work to the above on behalf of policyholders. It is possible for firms to be ranked in both this table and in Contentious Claims. 

Volume Claims: This spotlight table features firms (not individuals) that provide regular representation to insurance companies and other organisations on high-volume claims. This includes personal injury as well as employers', public and motor liability, among others.

Non-contentious: Representative work here includes M&A transactions, business transfers, capital raisings and demutualisations, as well as alternative risk transfers, reinsurance transactions and insurance-linked securities. We also consider regulatory work, such as advice on the Solvency II directive.

Firms in Scotland are ranked separately for Insurance. All work listed above may be included on a submission to the Scotland section.

Related sections: Aviation, Clinical Negligence, Financial Services, Health & Safety, Personal Injury, Product Liability, Professional Negligence, Shipping   

Intellectual Property 

This section covers disputes related to patent, copyright, design, database rights and trademark infringement, litigation concerning trade secrets and related issues such as licensing, IP commercialisation and audits. A separate Patent & Trade Mark Attorneys ranking also features in this section, concerned with mark registration, registry proceedings, patent and trade mark searches and specialist IP advice to innovator companies and IP lawyers.  

Related sections: Information Technology, Life Sciences, Media & Entertainment  

International Arbitration 

International Arbitration is a UK-wide section that recognises firms and individuals with expertise in international arbitration, a private and binding form of dispute resolution determined by an arbitrator or panel of arbitrators. Individuals are ranked in a single table and we also have separate rankings for those who sit as arbitrators. Our firm rankings are split between Commercial and Investor-State:  

Commercial Arbitration: This table focuses on firms representing clients in commercial disputes between companies who have international contracts or agreements, usually as a result of contractual breaches or terminations. Both institutional and ad hoc arbitrations will be considered.  

(Please note that commercial and corporate litigation is covered in its own submission. Any corporate litigation work, such as joint venture and shareholder disputes that are settled though the courts will not be considered here.) 

Investor-State Arbitration: This table focuses on firms representing clients in investment arbitrations, i.e. disputes arising between a sovereign state and an investor. This includes claims brought under bilateral or multilateral investment treaties, as well as those arising out of contractual agreements between an investing party and a sovereign state. ICSID, ad hoc and institutional arbitrations are all considered. This table ranks firms which primarily represent investors, those which primarily represent states, and those which represent a mixture of the two.   

Arbitrators: This table features highly regarded non-barrister or non-practising barrister arbitrators based in the UK. A list of London-based barristers who are respected arbitrators also features in the UK Bar guide.   

This table does not invite separate submissions, but examples of an individual's work as an arbitrator can be included on either/both of the submissions for Commercial Arbitration and Investor-State Arbitration.     

Submissions will only be accepted under the Commercial Arbitration and/or Investor-State Arbitration subcategories. It is not possible to upload a general International Arbitration submission.   

Related sections: Commercial and Corporate Litigation, Litigation, Mediators, Public International Law 

Investment Funds  

This section recognises firms and individuals for their investment funds expertise. Firms can provide work relating to the entire life cycle of a fund, from formation to close, although fund formation work is especially highly rated. A firm can upload separate submissions for each of the following areas: Private Equity, Real Estate, Hedge Funds, Secondaries, Investor Representation, Open-ended Funds and Closed-ended Listed Funds.  

Chambers also has tables that recognise expertise in Credit Funds and Venture Capital Funds. Those seeking recognition in these areas should include their work highlights on their submission for Investment Funds: Private Equity. 

Work relating to private equity buyouts or real estate transactions is not considered here and should be included on a submission for either of those sections. Similarly, regulatory or compliance advice should be submitted to Financial Services: Non-contentious Regulatory.   

Related sections: Capital Markets, Financial Services: Non-contentious Regulatory, Private Equity, Real Estate  

Licensing 

This section ranks firms and lawyers advising on both contentious and non-contentious work related to licensing, including new licence applications, variations to existing licences and any related disputes or reviews. We also have a dedicated UK-wide Gaming table for those firms that specialise in this area, which includes licensing matters as well as wider issues related to traditional and online gambling activities.  

Related sections: Gaming  

Life Sciences 

This section focuses on the commercialisation of life sciences products (pharmaceuticals, medical devices and biotechnology programmes etc) as well as the regulation of these products and the defence of product liability challenges. Patent litigation concerning life sciences products and technologies is also covered.  

Related sections: Intellectual Property  

Litigation 

In all regions outside of London, this section ranks firms and lawyers advising on civil litigation, primarily on behalf of businesses, financial institutions and other organisations. It also considers work on behalf of private individuals, albeit still within a business context: disputes concerning private wealth or probate should be submitted separately to the HNW guide. 

The core focus of this section is contractual litigation and litigation arising out of corporate and commercial arrangements, including shareholder, joint venture, post-M&A and boardroom disputes. Banking litigation and civil fraud disputes may also be included.   

Other litigation types will be given less weight if they are covered on a regional basis in their own right: this includes sections such as professional negligence, real estate litigation, construction and IP. Other kinds of work not considered as part of the section include criminal litigation, inquests, public inquiries, tribunals, regulatory investigations and related enforcement actions.  

This section focuses on courtroom litigation, rather than ADR methods such as mediation and arbitration. In particular, International Arbitration is covered extensively elsewhere and so should not be included on a submission to Litigation. 

This applies to regional sections only. Firms in London should refer instead to the definition for Commercial and Corporate Litigation.  

Related sections: Banking Litigation, Commercial and Corporate Litigation, Fraud: Civil, Group Litigation: Claimant, International Arbitration, Mediators, Private Wealth Disputes (in the HNW guide)  

Local Government 

This section ranks lawyers and law firms who advise local authorities in connection with local government issues, including planning, environment, education, community care, highways, housing, health, compulsory purchase, public procurement, freedom of information, rating, licensing and elections.  

Related sections: Administrative & Public Law, Parliamentary & Public Affairs, Planning, Projects, Public Procurement  

Media & Entertainment 

This section caters to clients in the media industry in respect of contentious and non-contentious matters. We rank firms by specialist expertise in tables for Film & Television; Advertising & Marketing; Music & Talent; Theatre & Live Events; Publishing; and Games, Interactive Entertainment and Social Media. Individuals are ranked relative to one another by specialism.  

Non-contentious work as covered by this section may include production, financing and distribution arrangements, as well as IP, licensing and supplementary rights planning.  

Types of disputes in this area are many and may include copyright and contractual litigation (e.g. on behalf of studios, producers, publishing houses or talent), matters arising from film finance, comparative advertising and ASA disputes.  

A note on Games, Interactive Entertainment and Social Media:

On the games side, work in this area can be commercial and contentious matters concerning videogame platforms and titles.

Social media and interactive entertainment work of particular interest to this section is commercial, corporate and IP, and regulatory (e.g. advice on the UK Online Safety Act). Please note that traditional music licensor - licensee music copyright transactions involving social media platforms usually counts towards the Music & Talent category, unless issues concerning end-user modification of copyrighted content are central to the transaction.

Likewise, talent work concerning influencers and vloggers is covered in the expanded Music & Talent category.

Please note that defamation actions are not considered in our publishing rankings; please submit such matters to the Defamation/Reputation Management section. The Publishing rankings do however consider matters concerning pre-publication clearance, reporting restrictions and press regulation.  

Related sections: Defamation/Reputation Management

Mediators 

This section ranks the UK's leading mediators, all of whom are successful resolvers of a wide range of disputes. We only rank individual mediators in this table, not organisations.  

For submissions to this section, we advise using the Bar submission template – there is a separate sole practitioner template for mediators submitting on an individual basis.  

Please note that we have separate spotlight tables for family mediators in London and all other UK regions. 

Related sections: Commercial and Corporate Litigation, Litigation  

Mental Health 

We rank firms and individuals in two sections, one for providers and one for patients. 

Providers: This section covers the provision of advice to mental health service providers, including both NHS and private care organisations. We also accept work for other non-patient stakeholders, such as national bodies or investors. Work considered here includes regulatory compliance, investigations, tribunals and judicial reviews. We also accept inquests and health and safety work, though please note that we do also have dedicated rankings elsewhere for both.  

Patients: This section covers the provision of advice to mental health patients on issues such as deprivation of liberty and mental capacity. It covers advice that pertains to legislation such as the Mental Health Act and the Mental Capacity Act. Matters that are brought before the Court of Protection may also be included, though this is also an area that we provide separate rankings for. 

Please note that this practice area does not include clinical negligence or historic abuse claims.  

Related sections: Clinical Negligence, Court of Protection, Healthcare 

Offshore  

We rank individuals based on the Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey across a range of different areas including Corporate, Investment Funds, Property and Employment. Firms/individuals are recognised for their advice on the Isle of Man/Jersey/Guernsey aspects of transactions, as well as for their advice on local matters.  

We also recognise London-based lawyers who have specific expertise on matters relating to Bermuda, BVI and Cayman Islands. Lawyers in these tables are ranked for their expertise in a range of disciplines.  

Related sections: Capital Markets, Corporate/M&A, Investment Funds, Real Estate, Restructuring & Insolvency

Parliamentary & Public Affairs 

This section has three tables: Electoral Law, Parliamentary Agency and Public Affairs.  

Electoral Law includes advice on local and parliamentary elections, rules relating to the conduct of Members of Parliament and the legislative reform of electoral law. 

Parliamentary Agency ranks lawyers and law firms who advise on political process and the drafting or opposing of Private Bills.  

Public Affairs covers those involved in campaigning and lobbying, and media relations.  

Related sections: Local Government, Planning, Public Procurement  

Partnership 

This section ranks firms advising primarily professional services clients - such as architects, surveyors, accountants and lawyers - on both contentious and non-contentious work.  

Representative non-contentious matters include M&A transactions, LLP conversions and the creation of partnership vehicles for corporate or investment purposes. It also includes advice on establishing overseas offices, the drafting of partnership agreements and regulatory matters. Contentious work includes disputes regarding partner exits and team moves, remuneration and retirement issues and investigations into discrimination and harassment.  

We also feature a separate table for those specialising in the representation of medical partnerships, including GP, dental and veterinary surgeries.  

Work submitted to this section should relate specifically to partnership law. For instance, employment law matters more generally are not to be included if they do not relate specifically to partners within a firm. Similarly, medical matters should relate to the creation and operation of medical partnerships themselves; more general work in the healthcare sphere should not be submitted.  

Related sections: Corporate/M&A, Employment, Healthcare, Investment Funds, Professional Discipline, Professional Negligence  

Pensions 

This section ranks lawyers who provide non-contentious advice on pensions issues for employers, schemes, fund managers, trustees and the state. Issues looked at are varied, but may include pension liabilities, debt restructuring, scheme mergers and demergers, investment management, risk transfer and funding negotiations.

Related sections: Employee Share Schemes & Incentives, Professional Negligence, Pensions Litigation  

Pensions Litigation 

This section ranks law firms and lawyers who advise on a wide range of contentious issues concerning pensions, including rectification claims, recoveries in the event of insolvency, determinations of liabilities, judicial review and allegations of wrongdoing.  

Related sections: Professional Negligence, Pensions  

 Personal Injury 

This section covers the full scope of litigation arising from injuries sustained outside of a clinical context. This includes litigation arising from workplace accidents, motor accidents and abuse claims. We have a separate table for industrial disease claims. 

Firms that represent insurers and other defendants are ranked in our Mainly Defendant category, which covers firms separately in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland alongside a UK-wide table. Firms that act for individuals, or groups of individuals, bringing claims are ranked on a regional basis in our Mainly Claimant tables. 

Certain niche areas of international work are also covered by this section, such as injuries and abuse resulting from wars and corporate negligence, although purely travel-related injuries are covered in a separate section within the Travel section of the guide entitled International Personal Injury.  

Related sections: Clinical Negligence, Court of Protection, Insurance, Travel  

Planning  

This section covers the area of law relating to the processes of planning applications for the development, construction or change of use of a building or buildings; compulsory purchase orders (CPO); and s106 agreements.   

The work in this section can be contentious – for example, judicial reviews, inquiries and appeals; and non-contentious – for example, planning and CPO strategies relating to development projects and urban regeneration schemes.

Please note that outside of London, we accept submissions to a single Planning & Environment section. There, we accept work related to both areas, including contentious and non-contentious matters. Work can include, for example, advice on planning applications or regulatory compliance matters as well as representing clients in disputes arising from planning- and environment-related issues.

Related sections: Environment, Local Government, Real Estate  

Planning & Environment

For all regions excluding London, we accept submissions to a single Planning & Environment section. Here, we accept contentious and non-contentious work relating to planning as well as environmental matters. The submission need not cover both areas equally, though a mix of planning and environment work is welcome. Work can include, for example, advice on planning applications or regulatory compliance matters as well as representing clients in disputes arising from planning- and environment-related issues.

For more information on the nature of work that should be included, please refer to the separate definitions under Planning and Environment and Climate Change.

There is a separate Environment: Claimant section which any claimant-side environment work should be submitted to.

POCA Work & Asset Forfeiture 

This section ranks firms and individuals who advise on all aspects of the Proceeds of Crime Act, from restraint and receivership to confiscation. The section concerns recovery in both the criminal and civil courts. 

Related sections: Crime, Financial Crime, Fraud: Civil 

Police Law  

This section is split into Mainly Claimant and Mainly Defendant sections. Mainly Claimant covers actions and judicial review proceedings against the police, the IPCC and coroners, including issues relating to unlawful arrest, false imprisonment, malicious prosecution, treatment in custody and inquests. Mainly Defendant focuses on lawyers and law firms who defend police forces against matters of the type listed above.  

Related sections: Administrative & Public Law, Civil Liberties & Human Rights, Crime  

Private Equity  

Buyouts includes firms and lawyers that advise private equity investors on the purchase or disposal of their investments. Advice to companies being acquired or disposed of by investors is considered, but the most highly ranked firms will be able to demonstrate client rosters that include multiple private equity investors. Beyond this, secondary transactions and advice to management teams are considered.  

Firms included in £500 million and above may not exclusively advise on deals in this range, but they will have plenty of experience on the largest deals and be comfortable advising at these values. It is expected that many firms will provide a submission containing a mix of transaction sizes: the research team will decide which table is the most appropriate for your firm. 

Please note that firms may advise on the occasional large deal yet still be included in the Up to £500 million table. Firms that advise management teams on large deals may also be placed in this table. 

Venture Capital Investment covers advice on investments into venture capital targets. This can include the representation of either the investor or the target company, though the most highly ranked firms will most likely demonstrate the representation of multiple investors. 

Related sections: Capital Markets, Corporate/M&A, Investment Funds  

Product Liability  

This section encompasses legal claims in which an injured party or parties seek to recover financial compensation from the manufacturer or seller of a faulty product. Examples include faulty appliances, emissions defeat devices, contaminated food and unsafe consumer products.  

Firms and individuals who represent those bringing a claim are ranked in the Mainly Claimant table. We consider claims brought on behalf of individuals as well as those brought via group litigation.  

Those who represent defendants are ranked in the Mainly Defendant tables. These firms advise manufacturers, distributors, suppliers, retailers and others who make the product available to the public. Please note that this section does not consider the defence of claims concerning pharmaceuticals and medical devices: this is covered separately in the Life Sciences section which has its own product liability rankings. 

We also have a table called Product Liability: Food that encompasses advice given by firms with regard to product safety in the food industry. Work considered may include regulatory compliance, product recalls and litigation concerning issues such as food poisoning outbreaks or incorrect allergen labelling. Firms may represent food manufacturers and ingredient suppliers as well as distribution companies and food retailers. 

Related sections: Insurance, Life Sciences, Personal Injury  

Professional Discipline 

This section ranks firms and lawyers who advise individuals, corporations or professional bodies in relation to professional regulatory matters, including fitness-to-practice investigations, disciplinary proceedings and the development of codes of practice. Matters most frequently concern medical, legal and financial professionals, however work concerning any individual regulated by a professional body may qualify.  

Related sections: Education, Employment, Healthcare, Partnership, Professional Negligence  

Professional Negligence  

This section covers firms and lawyers that specialise in disputes arising over loss suffered as a result of negligent advice given by professionals. A wide range of professionals are covered, including architects, surveyors, financial advisers, insurance brokers and solicitors or barristers.  

We don’t accept work involving medical professionals as these are covered in our Clinical Negligence tables. Representation of construction professionals in London can be found in our Construction: Professional Negligence table too.

Related sections: Clinical Negligence, Construction, Insurance, Professional Discipline  

Projects  

The Projects UK-wide section ranks those firms and lawyers who advise on the financing and development of large projects that arise from the capital-intensive infrastructure and energy markets. Projects covered include, but are not limited to, transmission lines, pipelines, resources storage, telecommunications infrastructure, airports, ports and bridges, as well as various assets including hospitals, schools, housing, roads and rail developments.

Although our coverage of Projects is split into two sections: Projects: Mainly Domestic and Projects: Mainly International, we accept a single submission to the overall projects section.

Please note that any work related to an asset that is operational, such as contract variation and management related to an existing and operational piece of infrastructure, should be included in a submission to Infrastructure: UK-wide.

Related sections: Banking & Finance, Construction, Energy & Natural Resources, Infrastructure

Protest Law 

This section covers cases involving the right to protest. Cases considered under this practice area include criminal cases involving protestors who are facing prosecution or sentence, as well as civil matters such as injunctions to prevent occupations, judicial reviews of state actions to prevent protest, or civil claims for protesters who have been wrongly treated by state bodies.  

Related sections: Administrative & Public Law, Civil Liberties & Human Rights, Crime  

Public International Law 

This section covers state-to-state disputes such as those governed by the law of nations and the law of the sea, as well as by international agreements and conventions. It includes matters traditionally held to constitute the core of public international law practices, such as land and maritime boundary disputes, sovereign immunity, state succession and claims to statehood. Investment arbitrations are also covered in this section (as well as in International Arbitration: Investor-State Arbitration) but should not make up the majority of any submissions in this area. Matters relating to Business and Human Rights issues are covered in the International Human Rights section.  

Related sections: International Arbitration, International Human Rights, Sanctions  

Public Inquiries

The Public Inquiries table focuses on lawyers who act for a range of clients in connection with statutory inquiries. Clients of these lawyers include inquiry chairs, government witnesses and other core participants. At present, this table predominantly focuses on statutory inquiries, as opposed to independent reviews and non-statutory inquiries.  

Related sections: Administrative & Public Law, Civil Liberties & Human Rights, Police Law  

Public Procurement 

This section ranks law firms and lawyers who advise corporations and government bodies on the acquisition of goods or services by governmental entities. Challenges to tenders awarded by procuring authorities are also treated here. Areas covered may include education, healthcare, social housing, transport and infrastructure.   

Related sections: Education, Healthcare, Information Technology, Projects, Transport 

Real Estate 

This section covers all aspects of non-contentious real estate work relating to both commercial and residential property, including investment transactions, development, corporate structuring, acquisitions, portfolio management, and landlord and tenant matters. We consider work done on behalf of institutional landlords, property companies, developers and commercial tenants, as well as private landlords and tenants.  

In London, firms are subdivided into three tables by average transaction value as follows: £150 million and above, £50-150 million, £10-50 million.  

We also subdivide certain regional sections into two tables for firms handling work up to £10 million and those where work is more commonly £10 million and above. In all cases, you will still upload your submission via the main Real Estate heading, it is not possible to provide a separate submission for any of the subdivisions.   

Please note that we do not accept real estate finance work within this practice area: such work should instead be submitted to the Real Estate Finance section, or you may also include it on submissions to Banking & Finance sections in regions excluding London. Similarly, contentious property work should be submitted to the one of our Real Estate Litigation sections. Submissions also should not contain matters that exclusively concern planning law or construction.  

Related sections: Agriculture & Rural Affairs, Construction, Environment, Hotels & Leisure, Planning, Real Estate Finance, Real Estate Litigation, Social Housing  

Real Estate Finance 

This section covers advice on the spectrum of debt products, structured products and CMBS, loan origination, restructuring and refinancing transactions, loan portfolio sales and purchases. Researchers look at work on behalf of banks, private equity funds and other non-bank lenders, as well as investors.  

Related sections: Banking & Finance, Capital Markets, Real Estate  

Real Estate Litigation 

These sections rank firms and lawyers advising on contentious property issues for landlords, landowners and tenants. The section covers development disputes, including those regarding rights of way, boundary lines, rights to light and party walls, as well as contentious landlord and tenant work such as rent reviews, lease terminations and dilapidations claims. We primarily consider work concerning commercial real estate assets, however development disputes affecting residential property can also be included.  

Disputes regarding planning law or construction should not be submitted here, but to the appropriate Planning or Construction section.  

Related sections: Construction, Environment, Litigation, Planning, Real Estate, Social Housing  

Restructuring/Insolvency  

This section covers work on behalf of creditors, debtors, bondholders and insolvency practitioners.  Work examples may include debt restructuring, formal insolvency procedures, contingency planning, debtor advisory work and insolvency disputes.

In London we also have a Restructuring/Insolvency disputes table in which we rank firms that advise on contentious matters. 

In additional to corporate work, we also recognise those firms and individuals that advise on personal insolvency in a standalone ranking table.  

Related sections: Banking & Finance, Capital Markets.  

Retail 

This is an industry-focused section that ranks law firms that have developed a track record in serving the needs of large, national retailers. A retailer sells goods (not services) to consumers online or in person. Please note that any work for brands (drinks, toiletries etc) should be clearly linked to the sale of those brands to the consumer. Advice on IP to a consumer brand that is not a retailer is not considered here, neither is M&A in the retail sector.

Firms may also advise retailers on their real estate and planning needs, as well as logistics, franchising and technology matters. They may also demonstrate aptitude in assisting with a retailer's employment, tax and regulatory requirements, along with consumer protection issues and disputes. Please note that we do not rank individuals in this table.  

Related sections: Commercial Contracts, Franchising, Hotels & Leisure, Real Estate  

Sanctions 

This section recognises the expertise of law firms and lawyers who represent clients in litigation challenging international sanctions designations imposed by the UK, EU and UN – both for individuals and corporates. It also covers advisory work related to corporates on the impact of sanctions imposed on countries. Matters involving breaches of sanctions will be considered here as opposed to the Financial Crime section.  

Please note: advising financial institutions on compliance with international sanctions may also be included under the Financial Services section.   

Related sections: Commercial and Corporate Litigation, Financial Crime, Financial Services, Fraud: Civil   

Shareholder Activism: Activist Representation

This section is for the representation of shareholder activists. It considers corporate work on behalf of activist investors, such as M&A, proxy contests and other kinds of campaign. Please note that the representation of companies under threat from activists is not considered here.

Related sections: Corporate/M&A

Shipping 

This section covers both contentious and non-contentious work. The contentious side involves breaches of charter-party disputes, cargo and bills of lading claims, the arrest of vessels and cargoes, marine insurance claims, collision, salvage and environmental liabilities. On the non-contentious side, law firms advise on contractual arrangements for construction, registration of vessels, customs and licensing, and documentation relating to charter-parties and bills of lading.   

Related sections: Construction, Insurance  

Social Housing 

This section encompasses work relating to the development, provision or occupation of social housing. Representative matters include corporate work, such as governance and joint ventures (including housing stock transfers), antisocial behaviour matters, construction or redevelopment financing, property issues and defending social housing tenants against legal proceedings brought by the providers.  

We have a separate table that focuses exclusively on the financing of social housing developments and another for those firms that solely represent social housing tenants.  

Related sections: Construction, Local Government, Projects, Public Procurement, Real Estate, Real Estate Finance, Real Estate Litigation  

Sport 

This section ranks the firms and lawyers that demonstrate standout expertise in the sport sector. Regulatory work for sport organisations and governing bodies is highly rated, as is commercial work, when it is related to the sport in question. Work for non-sports clients who are active in the sector may be considered, but will be given less weight.  

Advice to sport professionals that does not pertain to sport is not considered. For example, family law or reputation management issues for sports clients should not be included.  

Chambers recognises firms that specialise in horse racing and equestrian law in a specialist table.  

Related sections: Commercial Contracts, Intellectual Property, Media & Entertainment  

Tax 

This section covers a broad range of work relating to the tax efficient structuring of business operations, assets or transactions. Among other areas, we recognise teams for their tax advisory work as well as for their advice in relation to M&A and financing transactions, fund structuring and real estate related tax issues. In London, we rank individuals for their general tax expertise, as well those who specialise in Investment Funds, Real Estate and VAT. 

We don’t consider disputes work in this section. Disputes work should be included on a Contentious Tax submission.  

Related sections: Corporate/M&A, Capital Markets, Employee Share Schemes & Incentives, Investment Funds, Tax: Contentious, Tax: Contentious: Fraud  

Tax: Contentious  

We cover tax disputes in this table and recognise firms defending clients in actions brought by HMRC relating to VAT, PAYE and NI contributions, among other areas of taxation.  

Tax: Contentious: Fraud  

In this section we recognise those firms that defend clients accused of committing tax fraud.  

Telecommunications 

This section relates to matters concerning telecommunications companies and their activities, and covers contentious and non-contentious work spanning transactional, regulatory and competition matters concerning telecommunications companies.  

Clients may include telephone service providers, ISPs, wireless operators, TV and/or radio broadcasters and a range of government and regulatory bodies. Examples of work include spectrum auctions, procurement agreements and M&A, as well as contractual disputes, investigations and compliance proceedings.  

Mobile telephony patent litigation is not covered in this section; work highlights of this kind should be submitted under Intellectual Property.  

Related sections: Corporate / M&A; Outsourcing; Intellectual Property; Information Technology  

Transport  

This section is subdivided into Logistics, Rail and Road sections.

Logistics: Covers all work relating to disputes and issues arising from the commercial transportation of goods, including multi-modal transportation.  

Road (Regulatory): Covers advice relating to the actions of regulatory bodies, including public inquiries, operator licensing, compliance and due diligence.

Rail which is further divided into three subsections:

Rolling Stock relates to advice on all transactions concerning the procurement, leasing and maintenance of rolling stock.

Projects & Infrastructure includes all work relating to the development and maintenance of rail infrastructure, including routes, stations and depots. This covers financing, commercial contracts, joint ventures, PFI / PPP, construction and real estate.

Planning & Authorisation covers advice on planning and parliamentary procedures concerning new routes, stations and depots, including related environmental impact assessments and consultations.  

Related sections: Asset Finance, Local Government, Planning, Projects, Infrastructure

Travel 

This section is focused on a range of legal issues affecting the travel industry. Rankings for both firms and lawyers are split into three separate tables.  
  
Travel: International Personal Injury (Claimant) focuses on firms and lawyers that specialise in representing individuals pursuing overseas accident claims, including those involving catastrophic injury, severe illness, fatality cases and terrorist attacks. We will also consider international cases of clinical negligence.
  
Travel: International Personal Injury (Defendant) focuses on firms and lawyers involved in defending insurers, travel companies and tour operators against the kinds of claims listed above.  
  
Travel: Regulatory & Commercial recognises firms and individuals providing advice on a range of sector-specific matters. Work covered includes advice to tour operators, travel agencies and other key businesses operating in the travel sector on various regulatory matters, with a particular focus on the Package Travel Regulations and ATOL Regulations. We also take into account legal advice involving a broad array of commercial operational matters for such businesses.  

Please note that you are able to provide a separate submission for Travel: Regulatory and Commercial and another for International Personal Injury. We ask that you do not include any personal injury work on a submission to Regulatory and Commercial and vice versa.

Question 6

Practice Area Definitions: USA

Accepted Answer

Below are the legal practice area definitions and regional variations used by Chambers to rank lawyers and law firms in the USA Guide.

Accountant and Auditor Liability

This section encompasses advice to and representation of accounting firms, auditors and their individual practitioners, as well as other related professional services firms. It covers the full gamut of regulatory advisory work to those clients and representation in the context of regulatory inquiries and enforcement action by the PCAOB, SEC and other agencies. It concerns both domestic and cross-border matters and work for clients within and outside the US. Disputes are also covered in the section, including commercial and securities litigation, arbitrations and class actions. Issues include malpractice or fraud allegations, claims in connection with bankruptcies or securities violations of corporate clients, quality control matters, answer sharing and auditor independence.

Advertising

The Advertising: Transactional & Regulatory section covers corporate and other transactional work involving advertising and marketing agencies, and other clients in the advertising industry, as well as contractual and regulatory compliance work related to marketing campaigns, such as sponsorship, licensing and branding deals. This section also covers regulatory proceedings, but please note that we have newly created an Advertising: NAD Proceedings section which covers lawyers and firms who specialise in representing brands before the National Advertising Division. The Advertising: Litigation section covers disputes work related to the advertising industry. The core work covered by this section is Lanham Act disputes and consumer class actions involving false advertising. NAD proceedings are not on their own included in the Advertising: Litigation section. NAD proceedings will also be considered in the Advertising: Litigation section if part of a broader contentious practice.

Antitrust

Antitrust covers the body of laws that prohibits anti-competitive behaviour (monopoly) and unfair business practices - this includes practices that hurt business, consumers, or both, and that generally violate standards of ethical behavior. Antitrust litigation and M&A-related competition work is included in the Chambers guides.

Appellate Law

This chapter covers the preparation, drafting and delivery of briefs before the appellate courts (state supreme courts, circuit courts and the US Supreme Court). Also includes interlocutory appeals and writs. Chambers USA features a Nationwide table of law firms who field teams of appellate lawyers. It also ranks appellate lawyers in each state where there is a prominent appellate bar.

Artificial Intelligence

Our Artificial Intelligence table identifies the leading professional advisers to the US AI market. This category covers those individuals who provide advisory and governance services for the use of AI. These issues include but are not limited to, data privacy, copyright, regulatory compliance, and responsible usage policies. Contentious matters are also included, such as liability disputes and intellectual property infringements.

Banking & Finance

This section covers lending transactions and recognizes those working on behalf of lenders and borrowers. Both banks and alternative lenders, such as credit funds, are recognized as lenders. Transactions may include acquisition financings, refinancings and general lending. All structures and methods of credit facility are relevant to this chapter.

In states where Project Finance is not recognized separately, such work may be submitted to that state's Banking & Finance section. While the financing of property transactions may be relevant as part of a broad practice, firms or lawyers with a financing practice which revolves entirely around this should submit to the relevant Real Estate section. Where a specific Real Estate: Finance section exists covering the same geographical area, property work should not be included in Banking & Finance submissions.

Bankruptcy/Restructuring

The focus is on corporate bankruptcy and restructuring and the legal processes related to distressed businesses, which can either be reorganized or go into liquidation.

Also, especially in the current economic environment, the chapter includes lawyers who advise on acquisition opportunities that arise out of distressed businesses. Lawyers in this chapter assist clients such as corporate debtors, investors and asset purchasers, secured and unsecured creditors and creditors` committees, bondholders, insurers, directors of distressed companies and any other interested parties in corporate restructurings and bankruptcy proceedings.

In addition to transactional work, bankruptcy also covers any related litigation, such as disputes between such parties in connection with distressed companies and Chapter 11 and Chapter 7 processes.

Cannabis Law

This section encompasses the full spectrum of work involving companies in the cannabis industry. Ranked firms and lawyers will show strong ties to the sector. Types of work may include, but are not restricted to; M&A and financings; intellectual property for cannabis-based products and medicines; and regulatory compliance and litigation, on either a state-wide or federal basis.

Capital Markets

Chambers guides cover key areas of capital markets either as distinct tables or under the wider umbrella. The areas include: Debt & Equity; Derivatives; Securitization; Structured finance (repackagings, other synthetic products).

Equity Capital Markets includes advice on equity offerings transactions such as: Initial public offerings, follow-on offerings, right offerings; capital increases; ADR/GDR offerings; accelerated bookbuilds; block trades.

Debt Capital Markets covers legal advice on the following transactions: investment grade debt offerings (standalone bond issues; MTN programs, Commercial Paper programmes); equity-linked offerings (regulatory capital, convertibles and exchangeable offerings) and High Yield debt offerings.

Derivatives includes the regulatory and transactional legal advice regarding derivatives products. These include: Exchange-traded derivatives; OTC derivatives; Securitized derivatives; Interest rate, currency, equity, credit and commodity-linked products. Law firms advise on product development and regulation; market regulation; structuring and documentation of transactions, related tax issues and derivatives litigation.

Securitization covers the entire range asset classes, including (among others): Commercial loans; derivatives exposure; bonds and corporate debt; project cash flows; trade receivables; credit card and trade receivables; commercial and residential mortgages; life insurance and annuities; auto loans; CDOs (both cash and synthetic) and CLOs.

Structured products also encompasses repackagings; and hybrid synthetic and structured note products

Climate Change

This practice area covers a range of regulatory, transactional and litigation work in a specific climate change context. Regulatory work such as compliance program design and implementation, as well as operational and project-related compliance advice is a central aspect of work in this area. This area also covers representation of clients in proceedings before domestic and foreign government panels, agencies and regulatory bodies, including handling rulemaking challenges. Climate change-related government relations and policy advice work is also covered here. Climate change litigation and carbon markets transactions are also important in this practice area.

Communications

This area focuses on regulatory compliance, administrative proceedings and other litigation arising from the communications sector.

Construction

Construction covers contractual advisor work within the construction industry for both the suppliers (e.g., developers, contractors, engineers and architects), and those clients employing these types of companies (e.g., corporates or state authorities) on their building plans. Our construction sections cover both litigious and non-litigious matters.

Corporate Crime & Investigations

While Chambers recognizes that there is some crossover with this nationwide section and state Litigation: White-Collar Crime sections, there are some key differences. This area focuses just on institutional representations rather than individual and considers both civil and criminal investigations. It highlights practices demonstrating strength in internal and external investigations, including those taking place across a range of regulated industries such as healthcare.

Corporate Governance

The Corporate Governance table covers specialist, standalone corporate governance experts providing advisory and compliance counsel to corporate clients and corporate boards, including on corporate policies and bylaws, corporate social responsibility and on governance issues arising in transactional, litigation and employee benefits matters.

Attorneys defending shareholder class and derivative litigation and merger litigation matters should instead submit for state Litigation: Securities sections, Nationwide Securities Litigation, or the Delaware Chancery table.

Corporate/M&A

This chapter includes company acquisitions, dispositions and related financing arrangements, mergers, joint ventures capitalizations, entity selection and formation, operating and partnership agreements and governance matters.

Also covers those transactions designed to help restructuring within companies and their subsidiaries by change of ownership. Priority is placed on primary representatives, those acting for buyers and sellers, whilst those acting for financial advisors, underwriters and the banks financing such transactions are also considered.

Crisis Management

This table consists of leading private practice lawyers who play a key role in mobilising firm resources and managing multidisciplinary teams to advise corporate and individual clients following catastrophic events, regulatory actions, compliance failures and broader corporate crises. This research will aim to highlight lawyers who are considered a first choice to quarterback a corporate response to a crisis, without necessarily fronting the client’s criminal defence legal team.

Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation

This section covers the full range of matters involving employee benefits and compensation plans including advising on the design and implementation thereof, as well as related taxation issues. It also includes advice on executive compensation agreements and benefits matters pertaining to corporate transactions. Moreover, it includes contentious matters pertaining to the implementation of benefit plans. Please also see ERISA litigation for disputes brought under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974.

Energy

Although Chambers is aware of the overlap with Projects and project financing, the energy chapters focus on corporate / commercial, regulatory and capital markets issues arising from the energy sector. These include the regulatory components of M&A and other transactional work, pure regulatory work related to the application for licenses and compliance and enforcement with regulatory bodies. Our Energy section is divided into the following subsections:

Energy: Electricity (Finance)

This practice area covers capital markets-related financing in the electricity space. The type of work considered here includes electricity bond structuring, private equity financing in the electricity space and utility rate securitizations. Clients in this area are exclusively electric utilities and the financing parties on the other side. We also consider capital markets-derived financings in support of power portfolio transactions and electricity M&A relevant here. This practice area does not include project financing structures, which are covered in the separate relevant Projects sections.

Energy: Electricity (Regulatory & Litigation)

This section covers all regulatory work and associated regulatory litigation concerning the power sector, including compliance work, and FERC and other government investigation and enforcement actions as well as related appellate proceedings.

Energy: Electricity (Transactional)

This section covers M&A, A&D, joint ventures strategic alliances and corporate financing work as well as wholesale and retail energy trading and market transactions in the traditional power and renewable energy sectors. Clients typically include generation and transmission owners, utilities, yield cos and energy majors. While this category accepts the A&D of functioning power assets, the A&D of power or renewable energy development projects falls under the Projects: Power & Renewables - Transactional practice area.

Energy: Nuclear (Regulatory & Litigation)

This practice area concerns all regulatory and litigation issues pertaining to the nuclear industry with particular focus on proceedings before the NRC. Work includes licensing and operation, reactor oversight, enforcement and compliance, whistleblower statutes and non-retaliation policy, as well as nuclear waste and fuel procurement issues.

Energy: Oil & Gas (Regulatory & Litigation)

This practice area covers regulatory work in the oil & gas industry at a federal level as well as regulatory litigation. Work can include regulatory compliance advice, approval proceedings, and regulatory litigation before FERC and the DOE as well as any related appellate work including pipeline emission matters and rate disputes. Clients typically include pipeline and LNG facility operators but also include any company interacting with the regulated side of the oil & gas industry.

Energy: Oil & Gas (Transactional)

This subsection covers oil & gas industry-specific transactions as well as large corporate transactions for oil & gas industry clients. Types of work typically include M&A between large oil majors, joint venture agreements, service contacts and A&D including portfolio transactions. Clients include oil & gas majors, producers, pipeline companies, services operators and petrochemical companies. This subsection also includes LNG-specific transactions.

Energy: PHMSA Specialists

This table recognizes practitioners with a particular focus on representing clients in front of the US Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). Work considered here may concern investigations, enforcement actions, compliance and due dilligence.

Energy & Natural Resources – State Level

As with the Nationwide chapter, state-level Energy sections cover the corporate, commercial, and regulatory issues arising from the energy sector. This includes the regulatory components of M&A and other transactional work as well as pure regulatory work related to the application for licenses and compliance. Contentious matters are also considered here, including enforcement actions, government investigations and rate disputes. These chapters focus on state-level representation, federal-level work is mostly considered in the nationwide chapter.

Energy Transition

This practice area recognizes firms assisting companies with energy transition, i.e., the move away from traditional reliance on oil and gas and a move towards “clean” and renewable energy. This may include the reshaping of asset portfolios and energy consumption across both the operational and supply chain sides. The work covered in this section includes the financing of low-carbon and de-carbonization projects, capital markets work and associated regulatory/compliance advice. This section does not consider associated environmental work as this is covered in our Climate Change chapter.

Environment

The environment chapter features both litigation and advisory/transactional support to clients. This includes general corporate issues, (e.g., due diligence on mergers), the development of brownfield sites, and pollution issues.

Traditional environment work includes regulatory compliance, litigation and enforcement actions related to air, water, wetlands, waste and endangered species.

We also feature advice to corporate and financial clients on the environmental aspects of M&A, financings, securities offerings and other transactions, which involve due diligence and environmental insurance issues.

ERISA Litigation

The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) is the federal statutory framework that governs the administration of employee benefit plans and the rights of the beneficiaries under the plan. The interpretation and enforcement of the Act is handled by the US Department of Labor and the Internal Revenue Service.

False Claims Act

This section includes the full spectrum of litigation, investigation and disclosure work as it relates to the False Claims Act, covering both intervened and non-intervened qui tam actions. Clients will include government contractors, pharmaceutical companies, medical device manufacturers and healthcare systems.

Financial Services Regulation

Banking Compliance

This section covers regulatory compliance work and advisory matters on behalf of banks, bank holding companies and other systemically important financial institutions. Areas include Dodd Frank compliance, including Volcker, resolution planning, enhanced prudential standards and anti-money laundering. Also covered are other regulatory frameworks such as Basel III. The section also covers engagement with the rulemaking process, including comment letters, lobbying, etc.

Banking Enforcement & Investigations

This section covers the handling of regulatory investigations and enforcement actions on behalf of banks, bank holding companies and other systemically important financial institutions. Actions may originate from all parts of the US regulatory apparatus. This includes, but is not limited to, actions brought by the Federal Reserve, SEC, OCC, CFPB and OFAC, and may also include matters with a parallel DOJ investigation. Internal investigations into banking operations and regulatory procedures are also covered here.

[*Note: Broker-dealer enforcement matters are NOT included in this section.]

Broker Dealer (Compliance & Enforcement)

This section covers the full range of regulatory matters specific to the broker dealer industry. Firms are ranked according to their ability to handle both compliance and enforcement matters; individual attorneys may be ranked either for their compliance work, or for their enforcement work, or both. Compliance covers areas such as Dodd Frank and Volcker compliance for broker dealers, including SEC compliance for traders and investment banks. It also covers matters under SROs such as FINRA. Enforcement covers investigations and enforcement actions brought by the full range of regulatory bodies overseeing the broker dealer industry, as well as internal investigations.

Consumer Finance

In all Consumer Finance sections, a significant focus on consumer lending and its regulation should be demonstrated. Relevant clients include both dedicated consumer finance providers and the consumer finance arms of larger financial institutions; work which revolves solely around banking-focused regulations such as Volcker and Dodd Frank is not considered relevant here.

Compliance covers all aspects of compliance with CFPB and state regulations regarding consumer lending, including matters pertaining to mortgage lending, credit cards, autofinance and other forms of consumer credit.

Enforcement and Investigations covers enforcement actions and investigations by regulatory bodies, such as the CFPB and the FTC’s Consumer Protection Bureau, into consumer lending.

Litigation covers the defense of class actions or significant single plaintiff suits on behalf of mortgage lenders and servicers, credit card issuers and other providers of consumer credit. Issues often featured include fair lending cases, False Claims Act litigation and cases concerning unfair and deceptive practices.

Financial Institutions M&A

The Financial Institutions M&A table covers all M&A (including proprietary deals, joint ventures, IPOs, etc) involving financial institutions. This can include M&A involving banks, credit card companies, insurance companies and other types of financial institution. Lawyers and firms who are ranked in this section are assessed both in terms of their deal making strength and in terms of their handling of the regulatory aspects of such transactions.

Food & Beverage

This chapter focuses on legal advice surrounding FDA matters, concerning all food, including dietary supplements as well as meat and poultry, which the USDA scrutinizes. Issues relating to the FTC also feature, such as consumer protection and advertising and point of sale concerns.

Regulatory concerns such as health claims, IP issues are key areas in this sector, and the chapter also features commercial issues such as taxation, franchise arrangements and antitrust. Legal issues surrounding so-called functional foods (also known as nutraceuticals), foods marketed as having specific health benefits or effects and blurring the lines between foods and medicines are also covered.

The chapter also covers significant litigation and legislation in the beverage alcohol sector, relating to the ability of wineries and other vendors to make interstate sales of wine to both consumers and retail customers.

Franchising

This section includes those acting for Franchisees and Franchisors and covers both transactional and contentious work. On the non-contentious side, this includes setting up a franchise arrangement, expanding a system and closing-down arrangements. Disputes arising from the sector such as disputed closing down of a system or contractual obligations.

Government

This chapter has three main components: Government Contracts, Government Relations and Political Law.The

Government Contracts section refers to supply contract arrangements (with, for example, Army, Navy, Airforce, Department of Homeland Security) and bid protests before the agency forum, General Accountability Office (GAO) or Court of Federal Claims (CFC). Litigation arising from the sector includes costs disputes, matters relating to the False Claims Act and other contractual disputes (such as late completion and overrun costs). Other non-contentious issues include services contracting, scheduling issues and organisational conflicts of interest.

The Government Contracts: M&A section covers the buying, selling and merging of companies who hold contracts with the US Government. Lawyers recognized in this space have a demonstratable understanding of the particularly unique regulatory complexities inherent in this space.

The primary focus of Government Relations is legislative lobbying conducted by qualified lawyers for a range of corporate and nonprofit clients, including hospitals and universities. This is usually either regarding a specific proposal for legislation (e.g., Asbestos reform) or ongoing appropriations work. This work crosses industries from defence to education.

Political Law features advice on the organisation and financing of election campaigns (McCain-Feingold Act) as well as advice to corporations and independent advocacy groups on their election activities. Contentious matters include challenging decisions by election authorities such as the Federal Election Commission.

Healthcare

Healthcare covers a wide range of work, including transactional, advisory and contentious matters. Transactional work is primarily the sale and purchase, of some or all of a health system or health insurance company. Law firms advise on antitrust issues and assorted regulatory matters for clients such as hospitals, health systems and insurance companies.

Litigation includes matters like qui tam (whistleblower) suits and the defence of parties involved in federal investigations. Advisory and regulatory compliance matters include Medicare Part D, the subsidizing of drugs through the federally-run Medicare program. Also covers Stark Law, which governs referrals of physicians accepting Medicare and Medicaid funds, and the False Claims Act.

This chapter also features advice on pharmaceutical and medical products regulatory issues covering the drugs and devices approved by the FDA. Please also see Product Liability for litigation arising from pharmaceutical and medical devices defects. The regulation of these areas also features in our Life Sciences chapter.

Hedge Funds

This section covers hedge fund formation and launches, spinouts, strategic acquisitions, distressed debt investments and restructurings.

Higher Education

Higher Education Law is a specialist industry-focused section recognizing firms and attorneys handling a variety of legal work on behalf of higher education providers. Chambers recognizes a broad range of work in the area including litigation and investigations as well as regulatory and transactional matters in a higher education context. Clients may include public, private and private not-for-profit universities.

Immigration

The immigration section predominantly focuses on corporate matters in the area, including compliance and auditing work. Firms will advise clients on issues such as immigration programs, visa petitions, mobility strategies, immigration aspects of M&A, as well as in investigations and enforcement defense.

Impact Investing

Beyond ensuring existing investments meet ESG compliance requirements, impact investors actively seek to achieve mission-based objectives or strive to generate a financial return alongside a social or environmental benefit from the start of an investment cycle.

This practice area covers the structuring and documenting of impact investment transactions across a range of different assets through various investment strategies. The type of work that features in this area typically includes: venture capital, private equity, corporate securities, M&A, commercial lending, fund formation and early-stage company representation. The firms and attorneys highlighted in this section are exclusively those with capabilities in the impact-investment related aspects of transactions. The ranked firms and individuals in this area may represent philanthropies, fund managers, social enterprises, foundations and high net worth individuals.

This practice area does not include ESG work which is covered in Chambers Specialist Guides.

Insurance

Insurance includes both contentious and non-contentious insurance and reinsurance matters. On the contentious side, we feature coverage claims litigation, broker`s negligence and both 'facultative' and 'treaty' reinsurance disputes. There is also an element of professional negligence issues arising from insurance disputes.

On the non-contentious side, we include all forms of M&A, capital raisings, demutualisations and other regulatory issues.

Intellectual Property

Intellectual Property covers disputes related to patent, copyright and trademark infringement. Litigation concerning trade secrets also features. We also cover related non-contentious issues such as licensing and IP commercialization (US patent prosecution).

A number of key markets are divided into specialized subsections, with distinct rankings for Patent and Trademark, Copyright & Trade Secrets work.

Our Patent coverage encompasses all aspects of patent work, including infringement disputes and other litigation, related appellate proceedings, and non-contentious patent work such as prosecution and portfolio commercialization.

The Trademark, Copyright & Trade Secrets tables focus on work including prosecution and portfolio management, anticounterfeiting, complex infringement disputes and appellate proceedings before bodies such as the TTAB. Trade Secrets matters are also included in this section.

Related sections include International Trade: Intellectual Property (Section 337), which covers International Trade Commission proceedings involving intellectual property rights, and Nationwide Life Sciences, which includes IP-specific rankings for firms with significant expertise in areas including medical devices and pharmaceuticals.

Trade Secrets is a standalone submission that focuses on disputes concerning the misappropriation of trade secrets, covering both the prosecution and defense of trade secrets litigation at trial and appellate level. The section also features related counseling on compliance with trade secret laws and implementing preventative measures.

International Arbitration

Chambers USA recognizes firms and individuals for their practice as both counsel and arbitrators in our International Arbitration section. Individuals are ranked in the International Arbitration: Counsel and International Arbitration: Arbitrators tables, depending on whether we are recognising them for their work serving as counsel or sitting as arbitrators. They may be included in both tables, if appropriate. Firms are ranked for their overall International Arbitration offering in either International Arbitration: Elite or International Arbitration: Highly Regarded. Chambers USA International Arbitration also includes a subtable highlighting those firms and individuals particularly noted for their arbitral enforcement expertise. This is designed to complement the core rankings. There is no Public International Law coverage in the Chambers USA guide, and so investment treaty arbitration mandates are included within Nationwide International Arbitration.

Our core International Arbitration rankings recognise firms and individuals for their handling of both commercial and investor-state international arbitrations. These include disputes seated across the globe and held under a wide range of institutional rules, as well as ad-hoc proceedings. Examples of these disputes include ICC, UNCITRAL, SIAC, ICSID and LCIA proceedings. These may be held before either a sole arbitrator or a panel. Chambers USA does not recognise domestic arbitrations; these would instead usually appear in state commercial litigation tables. Chambers USA also includes separate coverage of insurance and international trade disputes, and so would not prioritise this work within International Arbitration.

International Trade

The Customs section covers a range of issues including customs planning, compliance and enforcement. Typical highlights will include customs valuations, voluntary disclosures and representation before the CPB. Common clients will include domestic importers.

The Export Controls and Economic Sanctions area of research revolves around trade controls affecting multinational clients, many of whom operate in the financial, oil and gas, defense and technology sectors. Matters that we take into consideration include compliance programs in connection to US trade controls and economic sanctions restrictions, export licensing issues, internal investigations and enforcement issues. Work highlights often relate to key regulations such as EAR and ITAR, in addition to OFAC-related matters.

Trade Policy and Trade Remedy includes issues such as WTO and other treaty-based trade and investment disputes, bilateral and multilateral trade negotiations, and market access issues. Clients will include large corporations and national governments. In terms of trade remedies, we primarily focus on cases before bodies such as the ITC, DOC and Court of Appeals. This includes antidumping and countervailing duty cases, and we welcome both petitioner and respondent-led highlights. Common clients include domestic and international manufacturers, industry associations and national governments.

CFIUS is a niche area that focuses on national security as it relates to transactions and investments. Typical highlights include obtaining CFIUS approval on behalf of foreign companies buying and investing into the US. We also consider FOCI mitigation work and SSA’s.

Investment Funds

The Nationwide sections which make up Chambers’ investment funds coverage are listed below, with some differences in the categorisation on a state-wide level.

In California, all venture capital work, including both transactions and fund formation, is covered by the Venture Capital section.

In Massachusetts, formation of both venture capital and other private equity funds, for both sponsors and investors, qualifies for Private Equity: Fund Formation. Hedge and registered funds, including related regulatory compliance, are covered in Hedge & Mutual Funds.

Investment Funds: Venture Capital Fund Formation

The nationwide section covers venture capital fund formation work for sponsors; it does not cover investments made by funds (see Startups & Emerging Companies) or Limited Partners (see Investor Representation).

Investment Funds: Private Equity: Fund Formation

The entirety of private equity sponsor-side fund formation work, with the exception of venture capital funds, is covered in this section. Funds covered include, but are not limited to; buyout, secondaries, hybrid and debt funds. The formation of sector-focused funds, such as those investing in real estate and infrastructure, is also covered here.

Investment Funds: Investor Representation

All work for Limited Partners, including institutional investors and secondaries funds, is covered here. Typical examples of work involve contributing capital to funds in their formation and the acquisition and sale of secondary interests.

Investment Funds: Regulatory & Compliance

This section covers regulatory and compliance work for non-registered funds, including SEC and CFTC matters.

Please note: Regulatory compliance issues under the 1940 Act related to registered funds are covered in the Investment Funds: Registered Funds section.

Investment Funds: Hedge Funds

This section covers hedge fund formation and launches, spinouts, strategic acquisitions, distressed debt investments and restructurings. SEC and other regulatory compliance is not covered here, but rather in Investment Funds: Regulatory & Compliance.

Investment Funds: Registered Funds

This section covers a broad range of registered funds, including mutual funds. It encompasses fund formation and transactional work, as well as regulatory compliance issues under the 1940 Act. Work for business development companies and both open and closed-ended and exchange traded funds (ETFs) is also covered.

Impact Investing

Beyond ensuring existing investments meet ESG compliance requirements, impact investors actively seek to achieve mission-based objectives or strive to generate a financial return alongside a social or environmental benefit from the start of an investment cycle.

This practice area covers the structuring and documenting of impact investment transactions across a range of different assets through various investment strategies. The type of work that features in this area typically includes: venture capital, private equity, corporate securities, M&A, commercial lending, fund formation and early-stage company representation. The firms and attorneys highlighted in this section are exclusively those with capabilities in the impact-investment related aspects of transactions. The ranked firms and individuals in this area may represent philanthropies, fund managers, social enterprises, foundations and high net worth individuals.

This practice area does not include ESG work which is covered in Chambers Specialist Guides.

Labor & Employment

In Chambers USA, Labor - as distinct from employment – refers to the representation of corporates in their dealings with labor unions, including collective bargaining negotiations, strike avoidance and NLRB (National Labor Relations Board) proceedings. The section also covers wage and hour class and collective actions, as well as OSHA (Occupational health and safety act) and other workplace safety issues, which are also recognised in the Nationwide Occupational Safety and Health section.

Employment covers litigation related to sex, race, age and national origin discrimination, harassment, wrongful termination and employment-related restrictive covenants. This section also covers non-contentious matters relating to day-to-day business issues as well as workforce restructuring, and employment issues related to mergers and takeovers. Lawyers also advise on the writing of policy handbooks for major corporates and HR training.

Law Firm Defense

This practice focuses on the defense of US and international law firms in high stakes civil litigation, focusing particularly on malpractice claims. Additional areas of relevant work may include bankruptcy and fraud claims.

Leisure & Hospitality

This is an industry section covering all strands of legal services carried out for clients involved in the Leisure industry, ranging from hotels and amusement parks to casinos. The key strands of legal advice related to real estate, employment and OSHA, corporate/commercial matters and financing.

Life sciences

Life sciences focuses on the commercialisation of life sciences products (pharmaceuticals, medical devices and biotechnology programs etc). IP issues dominate as large pharmaceuticals seek to obtain innovative, impending blockbuster drugs from biotechs and other pharmaceutical companies. Also includes the licensing and acquisition of new products from other sources (often smaller biotechs to larger suppliers).

This chapter includes advice on FDA issues and the increased focus on drug and device safety, which also appears in Healthcare. Litigation centring on claims of product liability can be seen in the Nationwide Products Liability chapter of Chambers USA.

Litigation

The Chambers USA litigation chapters focus on commercial proceedings before state and federal court, circuit courts and US Supreme Court. The work covers the full course of a dispute such as pre-trial negotiations, documentation and preparation for trial, summary judgement motions, trial, appeals and enforcement proceedings. Chambers USA focuses on two main types of litigation: commercial disputes before civil courts and white-collar crime, including government investigations. Alternative dispute resolution, involving non-court mediation is also featured. Many commercial contracts contain arbitration clauses, which are handled by commercial litigators. Chambers USA has also identified those firms which field arbitration specialists. Please refer to the Nationwide: International Arbitration table for further information. In the USA, the Bar is sufficiently specialised for Chambers USA to identify litigators by the sector in which they practice. Areas such as Insurance, Construction, Environment, IP and Media all contain litigators who are experts in their field.

Litigation: White-Collar Crime & Government Investigations

Our White-Collar Crime & Government Investigations research will cover both individual representations and company representations. Work typically undertaken in this section will include external and internal investigations, enforcement proceedings, white-collar criminal trials and appeals. Attorneys will generally represent individuals or companies involved in matters investigated by bodies such as the DOJ, US Attorneys' Offices, state AGs and Congress committees. These investigations and enforcement proceedings may involve a range of issues, including insider trading, healthcare fraud, antitrust issues, corruption allegations and FCPA breaches.

We also have a standalone FCPA section, as well as a Corporate Crime section - FCPA work should be prioritized in the FCPA rather than the state White-Collar tables, and Corporate Crime focuses on institutional representations (excluding individual-only mandates). There are also sections like, False Claims Act, Healthcare and Antitrust that will cover some of the work that comes up in White-Collar.

Litigation: General Commercial

Our definition of general commercial litigation will always take into consideration the other practice areas that we cover in a given state. It is therefore a fairly broad interpretation of commercial litigation, perhaps more easily defined by what is not included within it. If, for example, we are looking at a state where we have coverage of IP, antitrust and bankruptcy litigation in standalone tables, we would not expect too much of this work to be included in a commercial litigation table and would be looking more for business disputes such as breach of contract claims. The work should be civil and should involve disputes between business entities.

Litigation: Securities

If we have states with separate securities litigation rankings for firms, you should be able to see on the research schedule that you can submit to these separately. If we have smaller states with just a commercial litigation table, you can include securities litigation in the commercial litigation submission. For the full definition, please refer to Securities: Litigation.

Litigation: Medical Malpractice Defense

This section covers the representation of medical professionals facing claims of medical malpractice. Lawyers ranked in this section may act for doctors, physicians and nurse practitioners, as well as hospitals and other healthcare providers. Clients may also include insurers, delivery systems and long-term care facilities. This section covers all stages of litigation, including trials, administrative proceedings and appeals on both a state and federal level.

Media & Entertainment

This section covers all aspects of work related to the broader media and entertainment sector, encompassing film & television, music, publishing, theatre and art as well as social and other digital media.

Within these sectors, we spotlight those firms and lawyers who concentrate on either contentious or non-contentious matters. Litigation includes intellectual property, contractual and antitrust disputes as well as First Amendment litigation (which encompasses defamation and access disputes on behalf of news organisation, journalists and other publishers). On the non-contentious side, Chambers recognises lawyers who advise on all aspects of the creation and distribution of content, including production, financing and distribution concerns.

Mining & Metals

This is an industry focused table recognizing firms and individuals with a strong practice in this space. Work covered in this practice area includes exploration, development and production agreements as well as transactions pertaining to royalties, sales structures and taxation. Engineering, processing and refining contract work is also included in this subsection. We also consider the financing of new projects and the refinancing of existing projects located either in the USA or internationally.

Native American Law

Firms operating in this area represent tribes or private companies or state governments in their dealings with tribes. Gaming law and regulatory work and casino development have traditionally been key areas of this market. There is also a growing emphasis on land, energy, water rights and environmental matters.

Natural Resources

The Natural Resources sections focus on mining and minerals exploration, development and production agreements, including royalty issues, project finance, taxation and other financing arrangements. Engineering, processing and refining contracts, sales structures and environmental issues are also covered.

Occupational Health and Safety

The Occupational Safety and Health sections covers the full gamut of work involving health and safety in the workplace, including assisting employers with federal and state-level regulatory compliance and proceedings such as OSHA and MSHA inspections and audits. This section also recognises firms and lawyers representing plaintiffs and employers in litigation pertaining to workplace injuries and workers’ compensation.

Offshore Energy

This section covers transactional and contentious work in a specific offshore energy context. This includes oil rigs, terminal facilities, renewable energy infrastructure and maritime offshore services. Clients may include energy companies and financial institutions. We do not consider environmental permitting or other environmental regulatory work in this chapter.

Oil & Gas Litigation

This practice area covers contentious matters, principally in the up-stream oil and gas industry, particularly pertaining to issues arising in shale plays across the USA. Work covered in this section includes subsurface and surface rights disputes; lease interpretations and litigation concerning traditional and novel lease forms; nuisance claims; royalty class actions; contentious work concerning the rule of capture; and further disputes stemming from horizontal drilling and other industry developments. Regulatory litigation is covered in Nationwide: Energy: Oil & Gas (Regulatory & Litigation) and Texas: Energy: State Regulatory & Litigation (Oil & Gas) while large scale commercial litigation affecting energy companies and energy industry participants is covered in Texas Litigation: General Commercial and other state litigation sections.

Outsourcing

Outsourcing covers legal aspects of the transfer of business administration and services to external providers, both domestically and internationally. The section includes every variation of this process, including IT outsourcing, business process outsourcing, and legal process outsourcing. Occasionally unsuccessful outsourcing contracts can result in disputes and this type of work is also covered in the section.

Private Credit

This practice (also known as Private Debt) focuses on the representation of non-bank investors, particularly private equity and other investment firms, acting as lenders in private credit transactions. Please note, debtor-side work should be included in the relevant Banking & Finance submission.

Privacy & Data Security

The US Privacy and Data Security section covers compliance with a vast array of US federal and state privacy and information management laws. At the federal level, such laws are predominantly sector-specific and include the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Services Modernization Act, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing (CAN-SPAM) Act and the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).

At the state level, a particularly notable area is advice on data security breaches and on the ramifications and requirements of various state data breach notification laws. Such data security breaches can also attract the attention of various state Attorneys General and federal bodies such as the FTC, which can lead to firms being required to represent clients in investigations, enforcement actions or litigation.

Work of an international nature can include advising clients with multinational operations on data security issues relating to cross-border transfers of data, such as in large-scale outsourcing transactions involving several countries, and on global or multi-jurisdictional privacy compliance programmes.

The AdTech subsection covers a wide spectrum of matters in the AdTech space, including regulatory and compliance issues, notably those related to the California Consumer Privacy Act, and litigation. The clients relevant to this section include burgeoning AdTech organizations, as well as companies stemming from a range of sectors, such as retail and media.

Private Equity: Buyouts

This section focuses on the transactional aspect of private equity funds work. It takes into account LBOs, M&A, recapitalization and restructuring-related matters at both the high-end and mid-market level.

Private Equity: Fund Formation

This section covers the formation of private equity funds, ranging from LBOs, secondaries and infrastructure funds, to hybrid funds, mezzanine and distressed debt. Particular attention is paid to the sponsor side, because this incorporates the actual structuring of the fund.

Private Equity: Secondaries

This practice area focuses on the handling of both GP-led and LP-led transactions in the private equity secondary market, particularly the buying and selling of existing interests in private equity funds.

Products Liability

This chapter encompasses legal claims that allow an injured party to recover financial compensation from the manufacturer or seller of a product. This can include faulty brakes, contaminated food and medicine lacking appropriate label warnings.

Law firms advise manufacturers, distributors, suppliers, retailers and others who make the product available to the public. It also covers toxic tort, relating to the exposure to chemicals, pharmaceutical drugs or occupational hazards. Most pharmaceutical claims are mass tort cases because drugs are consumed by thousands of people. Occupational toxic tort cases occur where industrial and other workers have been exposed to toxic chemicals.

Most of the law in this area has traditionally arisen from asbestos exposure.

The chapter also recognizes firms who represent plaintiffs in products liability litigation.

Products Liability: Regulatory

This section concerns primarily non-litigated matters encompassing all manner of regulatory and compliance advisory work. It covers work relating to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, including negotiating or challenging potential product recalls, as well as regulatory advice provided in the context of broader litigation, transactional matters, pre-product launch risk assessments and compliance with labelling/warning requirements. Pharmaceutical, medical device and other healthcare-specific work should be submitted to Life Sciences: Regulatory/Compliance or Healthcare sections.

Food & Beverages: Regulatory & Litigation is the section to submit work concerning that sector and the FDA.

Projects

Projects: Power, Projects: Oil & Gas and Projects: Mining & Metals are firm only tables. Individual lawyers who practice across these three areas are recognized in the overall projects table. This section may include projects practitioners with broad-based projects expertise who are also ranked in Projects: LNG, Projects: PPP, Projects: Renewables & Alternative Energy or Projects: Agency Financing. Please see the sub-section definitions below for the type of work covered by practitioners ranked in this section.

Projects: Agency Financing

Firms and attorneys highlighted in this section are exclusively those with significant capabilities in the agency financing space. This practice area covers energy and infrastructure project financings with involvement from US based and international agency lenders, including development finance institutions (DFIs), export credit agencies (ECAs) and multilateral agencies (MLAs).

Projects: PPP

This practice area covers Public Private Partnership (PPP/P3/PFI) financing structures for infrastructure projects, principally in the transportation sector such as bridges, roads and airports as well as social and service infrastructure projects including military housing, hospitals and parking garages when financed as a PPP. This section also includes the growing area of sale and purchase of PPP contracts. We do not consider PPP work outside of the Projects context in this section.

Projects: Oil & Gas

This practice area includes all Oil and Gas project financing and development work in the Upstream, Midstream and Downstream sectors. We also consider DrillCo structures applicable here. Typical projects include petrochemical facilities, pipelines and shale gas extraction assets. LNG-specific projects are considered separately in Projects: LNG.

Projects: Power

This practice area covers traditional power generation projects; coal, gas and combination fired power plants; electricity transmission projects and energy storage solutions. This practice area does not include renewables work. Only project financing work is considered in this category.

Projects: Power & Renewables: Transactional

This practice area covers transactional work pertaining to traditional power and renewable energy projects. Specific matters highlighted here include the acquisition and divestiture of existing projects and stakes in project companies as well as project portfolio transactions. This practice area does not include project financing structures or development work, which are covered in the relevant Projects: Power and Projects: Renewables & Alternative Energy subsections. PPP projects work is covered separately in Projects: PPP and all other transactional matters in the Energy Industry are covered in Energy: Electricity (Transactional) and Energy: Oil & Gas (Transactional).

Projects: Renewables & Alternative Energy

This practice area covers renewable energy projects including solar, wind, hydro-electric, biomass and other sources of power generation. Projects covered typically range from utility scale solar and wind facilities to community level generation. This section is focused on generation asset projects also includes related transmission and energy storage projects. We also recognize expertise in renewable project-specific tax credit financing. This practice area does not include A&D transactions, which are covered in the separate Project: Power & Renewable - Transactional subsection.

Projects: Mining & Metals

This table focuses on mining and metals projects including the financing of new projects and the refinancing of existing projects. This table recognizes US-based mining project expertise in international jurisdictions.

Projects: LNG

This practice area includes all LNG-specific project financing and development work for new LNG facilities as well as expansion of existing LNG facilities. Typical projects include USA-based LNG export terminals, LNG pipelines and other midstream assets and FSRUs. We also recognize work concerning international LNG facilities.

Psychedelics Law

Psychedelics law is a burgeoning area following the decriminalization of psilocybin in some states. This practice area focuses on individuals with experience in this evolving space, as well as those with a dedicated practice. The attorneys ranked in this area typically provide counsel on regulatory compliance with psychedelics policies and legislation. Broader issues are also covered in the section including disputes, intellectual property and real estate related issues. Firm clients may range from pharmaceutical companies to medical practitioners, start-ups and psychedelic-assisted therapists.

Public Finance

The practice area covers the financing of transport and social infrastructure through the use of public funding, not including through PPP/P3/PFI structures which is considered specifically in our Projects: PPP chapter. Firms may represent the public entity or the relevant financial counterparty.

Real Estate

This section covers corporate matters related to real estate, including M&A of large real estate holding companies, complex fund and REIT transactions, private equity and public securities. These real estate lawyers are distinct from pure corporate lawyers in that they typically come from a real estate background, have an understanding of the underlying asset and do aspects of `dirt law` real estate for their clients.

In the USA, zoning and land use specialists often form an identifiable category. They perform an important role in major developments, advising on zoning regulations and municipal restrictions used by some cities to control development within their borders. Easement and eminent domain (or condemnation) is also covered.

Real estate finance matters are also included. Lawyers do not need to act exclusively for lenders but should have a healthy lender client base which gives them the volume of work in this field. Some of these lawyers will also handle aspects of complex debt capital markets - such as securitization - but the decision to include them in a real estate table will be based on their understanding of the underlying asset.

The structuring and transactional advice provided to REITs (real estate investment trusts) impacts on our real estate tables. For attorneys who practice exclusively in the field of REITs, please also consider the Chambers USA Nationwide REITs table. However, Chambers real estate chapters will always cover this part of the market.

Registered Funds

This section covers a broad range of registered funds, including mutual funds. It encompasses fund formation and transactional work, as well as regulatory compliance issues under the 1940 Act. Work for open and closed-ended and exchange traded funds (ETFs) is also covered.

REITs

This chapter features structuring and transactional advice related to specialist real estate investment trusts. The work involved includes: IPOs, going private transactions, joint ventures, M&A, REIT formation and investment work, restructurings, REIT tax issues, litigation, 144As that involve REITs, financings, Special Committee representations and UPREIT and DOWNREIT structure implementation.

The REITs: Maryland Counsel table is targeted at the counsel who specialise on REITs formed under specific Maryland law.

Retail

Retail is an industry table covering law firms which have developed a track record in serving the needs of large national retailers. Naturally, real estate, planning and land use matters will feature prominently, but the firm must also advise on franchise, IP, trademark and e-commerce matters.

Furthermore, firms should ideally demonstrate aptitude in employment matters and be able to respond to the majority of tax, advertising and regulatory and consumer protection issues, as well as disputes both nationally and internationally.

Securities Litigation

Securities Litigation includes: insider trading; shareholder disputes; contested M&A bids; reorganisations and restructurings; corporate governance disputes; director, officer, issuer and investment dealer disclosure and; liability matters and other non-compliance matters.

Corporate governance disputes arise where it is alleged that management has breached the rights and responsibilities agreed with shareholders.

Securities Regulation

Securities Regulation covers advisory and enforcement matters, internal audits and investigations before the SEC. These include SEC investigations into accounting irregularities, mortgage and credit market matters, short selling, auction rate securities and matters related to financial fraud. Clients include accounting firms, corporates, investment funds and broker-dealers.

SPACs

Focuses on the legal advice required for taking a Special Purpose Acquisition Company public. Firms often act for issuers and underwriters, as well as other interested parties, in this alternative to a traditional IPO and assist in taking these shell companies public, ensuring that the SPAC is able to complete this equity capital markets transaction while securing enough capital to target a separate company for acquisition. Also includes de-SPACs, often known as a back-door M&A, where a blank-check company and the target complete the purpose of the SPAC so that it is no longer an empty shell but a functioning company, in essence, elevating the target to a public and functioning company with the advantages of the financing and structure of the initial SPAC. Practitioners frequently act for the SPAC or the target in the transaction. Lawyers often stem from the capital markets and M&A sectors but will be specialists in this particular product.

Space Law

This practice area covers a range of transactional, regulatory and contentious work pertaining to the space industry. Distinct from our existing coverage of telecoms satellites, this new area broadly includes emerging work relating to space exploration, safety and infrastructure as well as sustainability of the space environment. We will also consider new areas relating to the commercialization of the space sector, such as matters connected to robotics, space mining and microgravity manufacturing.

Matters highlighted here may include M&A, financing and restructuring, launch agreements/licensing, government procurement, regulatory & international trade compliance and intellectual property concerns as well as insurance and risk management advice. Along with space companies, typical clients may include blue-chip corporations, investors, government entities and financial services institutions.

Sports Law

This section covers the lawyers and law firms who have a demonstrable commitment to the sports sector, and understand the unique pressures and constraints which sports entities operate under. The definition of sports law is oft disputed; Chambers sees commercial and regulatory work as its cornerstone, but seeks to highlight those firms which are best able to serve the sports industry as a whole, which requires consideration of work across a wide range of legal disciplines.

Startups & Emerging Companies

Nationwide Startups & Emerging Companies covers work on behalf of emerging growth companies, startups, individual investors and VC funds. It does not include VC fund formation (See Investment Funds: Venture Capital Fund Formation). Work might include early and late-stage venture financings, venture capital partnerships, regulatory compliance issues, other advisory work, and IPOs. Emerging markets of focus include technology, life sciences and clean energy.

Tax

Tax covers transactional and controversy-related work (the latter area is reviewed at a national level). Tax on the transactional side covers corporate partnerships structures, tax planning, spin-offs and negotiating tax-free acquisitions.

Tax controversy encompasses any contentious tax issue, predominantly at the federal court stage. This includes tax-based litigation, IRS examinations (usually concerning federal income tax issues) and tax shelter investigations. This section also takes into account transfer pricing.

Technology

Technology focuses on contractual agreements in the technology field and includes transactional matters such as M&A and financing. Law firms often work with clients such as investors or startup enterprises on a range of business issues including employment law, strategic alliances and joint ventures, stock exchange listings, mergers, acquisitions and corporate governance issues. E-commerce arrangements, licensing agreements, strategic alliances and blockchain/cryptocurrency-related work will also be considered, in addition to cybersecurity matters. IP mandates are also included in this section, although shouldn’t represent the majority of the submission as we include separate IP categories in most states. Along with technology companies, typical clients will also include blue-chip corporations from all industries, investors, financial services institutions and fintech companies.

Telecommunications

The telecommunications section concentrates on a range of legal issues arising from the heavily regulated areas of telecommunications and broadcasting.

Work includes transactional and litigation advice to telecoms companies, wireless operators, TV and/or radio broadcasters and the regulatory issues that such companies face. These issues might be government-sponsored inquires, investigations or compliance proceedings. Other matters include interconnection and resales laws, multimedia agreements and licensing activity.

Transportation

Aviation: Finance

Aviation Finance is focused on recognizing those firms and attorneys handling the financing structures in the Aviation space and JOL, and other structures for the financing of those assets represent the main type of work in this space. Ranked firms and attorneys may represent airlines, lessors and financing parties.

Aviation: Litigation

This area covers traditional accident defense litigation, including advising aviation insurers on coverage and other issues, as well as product liability claims, wrongful death disputes, putative class actions and general commercial disputes affecting the aviation industry. Clients will include manufacturers, domestic and international carriers, helicopter companies and insurers.

Aviation: Transactional

This table highlights those firms most active in the corporate transactional space for aviation sector clients. Ranked firms handle M&A, private equity, funds and venture capital matters in the aviation space as well as bankruptcy and restructuring and aircraft components is recognized in Aviation: Finance.

Aviation: Regulatory

This table spans representation before the Department of Transportation (DOT), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the Surface Transportation Board (STB) and other federal administrative agencies. Key issues include the reauthorization of air traffic control systems and their funding, issues of congestion, global alliances, market entry, licensing matters, UAS-related matters, regulatory proceedings and regulatory elements of transactions. Firms will represent clients such as manufacturers, commercial and cargo carriers, airports, financial institutions and trade associations.

Rail

This section includes advice to both railroads and the shippers. Key issues include rail rates litigation, fuel supply/surcharges, access rights, M&A, contract litigation, regulatory issues and proceedings before the Surface Transportation Board.

Transportation: Road (Automotive)

This practice area covers a range of transactional and contentious work pertaining to the automotive industry. Matters highlighted here often include vehicle and product safety, franchising, environmental and labor and employment issues in the automotive sector. This section also covers autonomous vehicle issues and other matters at the intersection of technology and automotive work. Clients typically include automotive parts and vehicle manufacturers, transportation companies, technology companies and industry associations.

Transportation: Road (Carriage/Logistics)

Firms and attorneys highlighted in this area are those offering significant capabilities in transactional, regulatory and contentious issues affecting road carriage and logistics operations. Work typically includes the acting for trucking companies, logistics providers, customer groups and industry associations in regulatory compliance; government investigations and enforcement actions; major accident litigation; freight-related contracts and disputes; and other logistics and transportation agreements

Shipping/Maritime: Finance

This tables focuses on transactional matters such as acquisitions, financings, leasings, restructurings, IPOs, private placements and joint venture agreements. Clients will include underwriters, ship owners and operators, banks, private equity funds, lenders, borrowers and institutional investors.

Shipping/Maritime: Litigation

These tables concentrate on shipping disputes often arising from casualty events, cargo damage, contracts, environmental events and federal investigations. The section also includes charter party disputes, bankruptcy-related litigation, salvage claims, liability defense, indemnity claims and shipping arbitrations. Typical clients will include P&I clubs, underwriters, terminal operators, ship owners and operators, charterers and banks.

Shipping/Maritime: Regulatory

Work pertaining to this area includes, but is not limited to, Jones Act compliance, antitrust matters, regulatory issues arising from M&A, environmental compliance, international treaties, cybersecurity-related work, sanctions concerns and trade compliance. Firms will often advise ship owners and operators, cargo interests, insurers, ports, trade associations and terminal operators.

Water Law

The Water Law practice area covers water rights work including acquisition, permitting and contentious matters, as well as other work pertaining to access to water and water supply. Please note that work involving the Clean Water Act, wetlands or other environmental work should continue to be provided in the relevant Environment submission.

Question 7

Practice area definitions: Brazil

Accepted Answer

CONTENTIOUS

Bankruptcy/Restructuring

The focus of this section is the representation of insolvent commercial entities, with a view to either restructuring the terms of their debt whilst continuing to trade, or ceasing operations and liquidating assets to repay their creditors. Lawyers in this chapter assist clients such as corporate debtors, investors and asset purchasers; secured and unsecured creditors and creditors' committees, bondholders, insurers; directors of distressed companies and any other interested parties in corporate restructurings. Also relevant to this section is any contentious work relating to the disputes between parties involved in bankruptcy proceedings.

Please note: The acquisition of the assets of distressed companies will be considered for this section, but is considered secondary to the aforementioned areas of work. 

Competition/Antitrust

Competition/Antitrust covers the body of laws that prohibits anti-competitive behaviour (monopoly) and unfair business practices. This includes practices that hurt businesses, consumers, or both, or that generally violate standards of ethical behaviour. Antitrust litigation and M&A-related competition matters are both included in this section. 

This practice also covers the legislation prohibiting actions which restrict or limit free competition between economic agents both absolutely (through cartel activity) and relatively (through abuse of dominant position).  

In particular, the section focuses on merger control (filings before the relevant authorities), anti-competitive behaviour investigations and market studies carried out by authorities into the competitiveness of particular sectors. Litigation against the competent authorities is also considered here, as are civil claims initiated by economic agents seeking damages for anti-competitive behaviour. 

Compliance

This section ranks firms and individuals advising clients on compliance with legislation and investigations concerning white-collar crime, anti-corruption and international sanctions. The firms and lawyers may also be instructed to help design internal compliance programmes for companies, conduct independent investigations and prepare reports for management. Firms and partners advising high level clients in highly publicised, sensitive matters may gain an edge. 

Consumer Law

This chapter encompasses both consultancy and litigation work arising from consumer relationships including consumer credits, pricing, general contractual terms and conditions. Also includes the sale and supply of services and products, including product liability issues. The section also looks at disputes before the relevant public authorities, such as the Consumer Protection Agency, PROCON. 

Dispute Resolution: Arbitration

The Dispute Resolution Arbitration section features the Brazilian firms and lawyers that advise clients on domestic and international arbitrations, in other words, the resolution of disputes by one or more neutral parties, either an arbitrator or an arbitration panel. Many contracts – including those imposed on customers by many financial and healthcare organisations – require mandatory arbitration in the event of a dispute. Examples of relevant international institutions include the ICC (International Chamber of Commerce, LCIA (London Court of International Arbitration), CAMARB (Câmara de Mediação e Arbitragem Empresarial – Brasil) and CCBC (Câmara de Comércio Brasil Canadá). Alternative dispute resolution, involving non-court mediation is also covered in this section. 

Most in Demand Arbitrators

This section features individuals that specialise in acting as arbitrators and are highly sought after for this work.

Dispute Resolution: Litigation 

Chambers' Dispute Resolution encompasses all stages of litigation including pre-trial negotiations, documentation and preparation for trial, summary judgement motions, trial, appeals and enforcement proceedings. 

Please note: Litigation related to Competition/Antitrust, IP, Labour & Employment, Real Estate, Social Security, Tax or any other areas of practice that have specific ranking tables in the Contentious guide should not be included in Dispute Resolution: Litigation submissions. 

Dispute Resolution: Litigation Mid-market

The Dispute Resolution: Mid-Market subsection shall rank firms and partners that predominantly represent mid-market level clients and present an average matter-value of up to BRL 190 million. Firms must also demonstrate that their practice is not limited to one state only, in which case they should submit to the Regions Guide. Finally, firms with more than 3 departments ranked in other sections across Chambers Brazil Guides (except for Regions guide) shall not be eligible, as this would demonstrate evidence against a mid-market focused practice.

Please note: Litigation related to Labour & Employment and Tax should not be included in submissions. 

Intellectual Property: Patents

The patents section covers civil disputes related to patent infringement and criminal proceedings related to anti-counterfeiting matters. Account prosecutions, enforcement and opposition actions and related issues such as licensing agreements and IP commercialisation are also covered in this section.

Intellectual Property: Trademark, Copyright & Trade Secrets

This section covers civil disputes related to copyright and trademark infringement and criminal proceedings related to anti-counterfeiting matters. Litigation concerning trade secrets also features. Account prosecutions, enforcement and opposition actions and related issues such as licensing agreements and IP commercialisation are also covered in this section.

International Trade/WTO

This section covers classic trade cases such as anti-dumping, countervailing duties, export control and other customs / tariff classifications and regulatory work. Lawyers also advise clients on matters before international trade bodies and forums, such as MERCOSUR, WTO and GATT trade provisions. 

Please note: International Trade and Customs work is given equal weight in this section.

Labour & Employment

This section covers all employment‑related disputes and litigation. This includes class actions and conflicts involving unions or collective labour matters. It also encompasses court proceedings and claims arising from discrimination based on sex, race, age, or national origin, as well as cases involving harassment and wrongful termination. Disputes concerning employment‑related restrictive covenants, such as non‑compete or non‑solicitation obligations, also fall within the scope of the section. Arbitrations between employers and employees are also considered.

Labour & Employment: Mid-market

The Mid-Market subsection of the Labour & Employment ranking will consider firms and partners that predominantly represent mid-market level clients and present an average matter-value of up to BRL 8 million. Both contentious and advisory matters may be included in the submissions. Firms must also demonstrate that their practice is not limited to one state only, in which case they should submit to the Regions Guide. Finally, firms with more than 3 departments ranked in other sections across Chambers Brazil Guides (except for Regions guide) shall not be eligible, as this would demonstrate evidence against a mid-market focused practice.

Real Estate: Litigation

This section focuses on law firms and lawyers who handle contentious matters related to real estate properties and possessions for landowners, landlords, developers, tenants and occupants.

It covers disputes related to real estate developments, including litigation over real estate purchase and sale agreements, property acquisition rights and adverse possession, ownership, eminent domain, easements, rights of way, boundary disputes and confrontations, divisions and disposals of common property, lighting rights, retaining wall issues and construction defects. In addition, it covers landlord-tenant disputes, such as rent reviews, renewals, lease terminations, and claims for property damage.

Please note: Disputes regarding urban law should not be submitted here, but to the Urban Law: Planning, Zoning and Land Use section within the Industries & Sectors guide.

Social Security

Relevant work might include disputes before administrative and judicial spheres, regarding payroll contributions and variable remuneration, such as profit-sharing plans (PLR), long-term incentive plans and fixed and discretionary bonuses. 

It also encompasses consulting work, such as planning for social security contributions, as well as the structuring, implementation and impact evaluation of variable remuneration policies. This practice area includes debates around specific legislation on the subject, for instance employment contracting models, fringe benefits and international social security agreements concerning expatriate personnel. 

Please note: This practice area does not include matters related to private pension plans. 

Tax: Litigation

This section covers a broad range of contentious tax related matters on both administrative and judicial spheres. Relevant matters include controversies related to tax fraud or tax evasion, administrative disputes related to the enforceability of penalties or the applicability of fines and tax authority audits. 

Tax Litigation: Mid-market

The Tax Litigation: Mid-Market ranking will look at the firms and partners that predominantly represent mid-market level clients and show an average matter-value of up to BRL 100 million. Firms must also demonstrate that their practice is not limited to one state only, in which case they should submit to the Regions Guide. Finally, firms with more than 3 departments ranked in other sections across Chambers Brazil Guides (except for Regions guide) shall not be eligible, as this would demonstrate evidence against a mid-market focused practice.

White-Collar Crime

This section covers investigations, administrative and in-court criminal proceedings and that have to do with corruption and financial crimes mainly. Matters include tax offences, money laundering, fraud, professional negligence, bribery, corruption, environmental crimes, among others. WCC covers work on behalf of corporate clients as well as private clients. 

INDUSTRIES & SECTORS

Agribusiness

In this practice area we analyse firms that represent agricultural companies in a broad, but not an all-inclusive range of legal services. The key work for this chapter includes sector-specific M&A and disputes, acquisitions and leasing of agricultural assets, as well as the negotiation and drafting of production and distribution agreements. 

Financing work involving capital instruments such as agricultural receivable certificates, credit notes, warranties and rural product notes is also covered, but greater weight is given to firms representing the issuer/agribusiness company rather than the underwriter/financial institution. 

Firms may also provide due diligence and general legal support in industry-specific issues relating to tax, insurance, regulatory and corporate law. However, please note that advice provided to agribusiness companies relating to real estate, labour & employment, competition/antitrust and IP is not considered relevant for this section. 

Agribusiness: Timberland Investment

This ranking table features lawyers who advise clients on all matters relating to investments in timber-producing land. The subsection focused on acquisitions and leasing of forestry assets, as well as the negotiation and drafting of production and distribution agreements. Work involving capital market instruments such as receivable certificates, credit notes, warranties and forestry product notes, as well as carbon credits is also covered, but greater weight is given to firms representing the issuer/timber company rather than the underwriter/financial institution. Financing of reforestation and forestry management projects are also relevant for this section. 

Aviation

Aviation includes finance, regulatory and litigation matters.

Aviation Finance concentrates on the advice to manufacturers, purchasers and inventors (such a hedge and private equity funds) on the sale, leasing and acquisition of portfolios of aircraft. Also includes the 2001 UNIDROIT Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment, or Cape Town Convention, which relates to the electronic registration of aircraft interests.

Aviation Litigation covers traditional accident defence litigation, including advising aviation insurers on coverage and other issues, as well as product liability claims and general commercial disputes affecting the aviation industry.

Aviation Regulatory covers lawyers with specialist expertise in the regulation of the aviation industry, including proceedings and interfaces with the National Civil Aviation Agency of Brazil (ANAC), the National Civil Aviation Secretariat (SAC), the Ministry of Ports and Airports (MPA), and other relevant authorities, including regulatory elements of transactions and public-private contracts.

Data Protection

This section relates to corporate compliance with privacy and information-management laws, namely the General Data Protection Law (LGPD) and other regulations. Law firms advising on data security breaches and on the ramifications and requirements of data breach notifications also have relevant work in this field. Representing clients in investigations, enforcement actions, administrative procedures or litigation related to said data security breaches are also to be included in this section. International work in Privacy and Data Security can include advising clients with multinational operations on issues relating to cross-border transfers of data, such as in large-scale outsourcing transactions involving several countries, and on global or multi-jurisdictional privacy compliance programmes.

Education

This section looks at corporate, finance, regulatory and litigation matters within the education market. In the corporate and finance fields the research will consider investments, mergers and acquisitions and other transactions in the sector. Regulatory matters will include all advice given with regards to existing regulations and potential regulatory and legislative developments, including disputes before the Ministry of Education (MEC) and other public authorities. Litigious matters will encompass all disputes related to education, such as pupil-related litigation, debt recovery, governance matters, employment law and exclusions.

Energy & Natural Resources

Although Chambers is aware of the overlap with projects and project financing, the energy chapters principally focus on regulatory issues arising from the sector. These include the regulatory components of M&A and other transactional work, pure regulatory work related to the application for licenses and compliance and enforcement with regulatory bodies. We also consider the buying and selling of energy assets. This section is divided into Mining, Oil & Gas and Power: 

Mining: Focuses on all mining related activities including mineral exploration. Relevant work would be development and production agreements, including royalty issues. Engineering, processing and refining contracts, sales structures, real estate and environmental issues are also covered. 

Oil & Gas: Covers all upstream, midstream and downstream work including exploration, infrastructure and pipeline developments and service contracts, royalties, licensing and operation agreements. 

Power: Work covers advice on the development and permitting of energy projects (such as electric, coal, oil & gas fired plants, nuclear and hydro-electric plants), facilities management; co-generation and restructuring/deregulation arising out of the wholesale and retail markets. Please also include any renewable energy work in this section such as project development and regulatory issues surrounding wind and wave power generation, solar, biomass and geothermal energy generation. It also includes advice on compliance with clean energy regulations.

Electoral Law

This section covers legal services related to Brazil’s electoral system, including advice on campaign finance regulations, political party registration, coalition formation, electoral advertising, and voting rights. It also encompasses representation in election-related disputes before Brazil’s Electoral Judiciary, particularly the Supreme Electoral Court (TSE) and Regional Electoral Courts (TREs). Lawyers may assist political parties, candidates, elected officials, and advocacy organisations with compliance, litigation, and administrative proceedings involving campaign conduct, eligibility challenges, and candidate registration. Matters may include constitutional matters and legal strategies tied to democratic governance and political representation in Brazil.

Environment

The environment chapter features both litigation and advisory/transactional support to clients. This includes the development of greenfield and brownfield sites, and pollution issues. 'Traditional' environment work includes regulatory compliance, litigation and enforcement actions related to air, water, wetlands, waste and endangered species. We also feature advice to corporate and financial clients on the environmental aspects of M&A, financings, securities offerings and other transactions.

Fashion Law

This section is concerned with commercial and contentious matters in the context of the fashion industry. The research will look at activity in fields of intellectual property, social and environmental responsibility and general commercial law. IP issues include the registration of patents, trademarks and copyrights before national and international authorities, such as the INPI, as well as administrative and judicial disputes concerning those registrations. Social and environmental responsibility encompass compliance with human rights, labour, environmental and sustainability standards and obligations as well as litigation related to these issues. Finally, commercial matters will consider corporate and commercial contracts of fashion companies as well as forthcoming disputes. 

Gambling & Betting 

This section ranks firms and lawyers specialised in advising clients within the Gambling and Betting industry in Brazil. It considers a wide range of regulatory, licensing, compliance and other law enforcement issues related to both online and traditional gambling activities, including lotteries and casinos, as well as other forms of fixed-odd bets, such as sports betting. The ranking also looks at the transactional side of the sector, including M&A, banking, financing, tax and other corporate matters. Finally, the section also covers strategic contentious matters such as tax, regulatory, commercial and strategic consumer disputes.

Please note: This table does not include matters related to eSports, which are covered by the Sports Law ranking, as well as other entertainment matters covered by the Media and Entertainment ranking. 

Healthcare: Regulatory

This area focuses on work provided for health insurance companies and private healthcare companies, in accordance with ANS – Agência Nacional de Saúde Suplementar regulations. Firms can assist healthcare insurance companies with the creation and registration of new policies, purchase and sale of insurance portfolios, mergers and financing. Law firms can also help healthcare providers (hospitals, clinics and laboratories) obtain accreditations to provide healthcare services and work within insurance plans, as well as advise those providers on the regulatory approvals needed for corporate transactions in this industry.  

This section also encompasses administrative and judicial contentious work relating to plan coverage, insurance claims, quality of the services provided by both healthcare and insurance companies to consumers, pricing of insurance premiums and medical procedures, among other regulatory-related subjects. 

Please note: Work related to research and commercialisation of drugs and medical devices should be presented to Life Sciences, as all the cases involving ANVISA regulations. Cases related to claims made by an injured party seeking financial compensation for damages caused by drugs or medical devices should be presented to Consumer Law.

Insurance

This area includes both contentious and non-contentious insurance and reinsurance matters. On the contentious side, we feature coverage claims litigation, broker`s negligence and both 'facultative' and 'treaty' reinsurance disputes. There is also an element of professional negligence issues arising from insurance disputes. On the non-contentious side, we include insurance aspects of M&A, financings, demutualisations and other regulatory issues.

Life Sciences

This practice area broadly focuses on the commercialisation of products across the life sciences sector, including pharmaceuticals, medical devices, biotechnology programs, life systems, cosmetics, nutraceuticals and food processing. 

The section also encompasses organisations and institutions that devote themselves to the research, development, technology transfer and commercialisation within the life sciences sphere. Intellectual property issues tend to dominate in this area as pharmaceutical giants seek to obtain innovative blockbuster drugs from biotechs and other sector companies. The section also centres on the licensing and acquisition of new products. 

Please note: M&A work for life sciences and pharmaceutical companies is not deemed a relevant work highlight in this section, except for any complementary regulatory advice that is specific to the life sciences industry. 

Media & Entertainment

The Media & Entertainment section focuses on work related to advertising, film & television, music, publishing, art and theatre. Legal work in this field encompasses both contentious and non-contentious matters in the specific sectors mentioned above. Contentious matters include copyright and contractual disputes (either representing studios, producers or artists); free-speech litigation; IP and trademark disputes; antitrust and matters arising from financing and structuring said projects. Non-contentious matters include advising clients on the legal and regulatory aspects of these sectors, as well as production, financing and distribution matters; IP; licensing and supplementary rights planning. 

Please note: Brazil has a specific "Sports Law" section for individuals which should include all the aforementioned work which relates specifically to Sports. 

Private Pensions

This section ranks lawyers and departments who provide advice on private pensions issues for employers, schemes, fund managers, trustees and the state, including litigation. Matters considered may include pension liabilities, debt restructuring, scheme mergers and demergers, investment management and funding negotiations, among others.

Please note: Matters related to public pensions and social security should not be included here, as they are considered in the Social Security section of the Contentious Guide.

Public Law

Public Law focuses on the relationship between individuals or private entities and central and local government and other public or regulatory bodies, which for the purpose of the Brazil guide covers constitutional and administrative law matters such as, contentious and non-contentious proceedings, judicial reviews, litigation before constitutional courts, advice on the powers and administrative functions of the government.  

It also includes matters relating to public procurement, privatizations, concessions and other types of public/private partnerships (PPPs), as well as regulatory advice excluding regulatory work related to specific practice areas already considered in a particular jurisdiction: Competition, Energy & Natural Resources, Labour and Employment, Life Sciences, Tax, Telecommunications, Intellectual Property, among others.

Shipping

This section looks at shipping & maritime litigation involving breaches of charter-party disputes, cargo and bills of lading claims, the arrest of vessels and cargoes, marine insurance claims, collision, salvage and environmental liabilities. On the non-contentious side, law firms advise on contractual arrangements for construction, financing and registration of vessels, customs and licensing, and documentation relating to charter-parties and bills of lading. The section also looks at regulatory advice and litigation before regulatory bodies such as ANTAQ. 

Sports Law

This section ranks those who have a demonstrable commitment to the sports sector, primarily focusing on commercial, regulatory and contentious matters within the field. Clients in this sector include athletes, federations, sports associations and clubs, managers and governing bodies, as well as broadcasters, sponsors and agencies. This section includes, but is not limited to, media rights, arbitration, transfers and contract issues, disciplinary actions, anti-doping, governance and regulatory issues. The section also contemplates matters relating to e-sports.

Please note: Matters related to sport betting should be submitted to the Gambling and Betting table.

Technology

The Technology section focuses on Information Technology. Advising companies on technology regulations and drafting contractual agreements in the technology field, such as technology-transfer agreements and outsourcing contracts between large corporations and suppliers of IT services, are central components of active legal work in this field. Law firms advising investors or start-up enterprises in the IT sector, including those related to strategic agreements, regulatory adequation, corporate governance and IT litigation, are also significant forms of legal work for this section. 

Please note: Data Protection and Privacy matters (LGPD) are not relevant in this section, as they should be included in the specific Data Protection ranking.

Telecommunications

This section concentrates on a range of legal issues arising from the heavily regulated areas of telecommunications and broadcasting. Work includes transactional and litigation advice to telecoms companies, wireless operators, TV and/or radio broadcasters and the regulatory issues that such companies face. These issues might be government sponsored-inquires, investigations or compliance proceedings. Other matters include interconnection and resales laws, multimedia agreements and licensing activity.

Third Sector

This section covers firms and lawyers specialised in assisting Third Sector organisations. Clients may include civil society organisations, charities, educational institutions, foundations, institutes, philanthropical entities, associations, religious institutions, among others. Work covered includes all types of legal advice for positive impact or institutional matters, comprising advise on tax, corporate, employment, property, and regulatory issues. It will also consider sector-specific advice on constitutional and governance issues, public benefit requirement, advocacy, as well as all contentious and non-contentious legal support aimed at achieving social impact, including public interest litigation.

Urban Law: Planning, Zoning and Land Use

This section focuses on the complex structure of land development regulations, municipal restrictions, and urban planning policies. Services encompass both contentious and non-contentious matters. These include assisting with planning applications, obtaining permits and licenses for land use and development, advising on zoning regulations and ensuring compliance with land use laws governing construction, redevelopment, and changes in property use.

Lawyers also engage in litigation, mediation and representation in urban land-use conflicts – such as disputes involving planning and zoning issues, community development, areas of social interest, or expropriation and easement cases – as well as dealing with property regularisation in urban areas.

In addition, legal work in this field typically includes advising public and private stakeholders on the implementation of urban policies, land use strategies, and sustainable development initiatives.

REGIONS

These sections are focused on specific regions of Brazil. Matters must be from the specific region’s jurisdiction or have an impact in that region. Firms must also have an established office with registered partners within said region. The regional sections are the following:

Brasília: Dispute Resolution; Labour & Employment; Tax
Campinas & Surroundings: General Business Law
Minas Gerais: Corporate/Commercial; Dispute Resolution; Labour & Employment; Real Estate; Tax
North: General Business Law
North East: Consumer Law; Corporate/Commercial; Dispute Resolution; Infrastructure; Labour & Employment; Real Estate; Tax
Paraná: Corporate/Commercial; Dispute Resolution; Labour & Employment; Tax
Rio de Janeiro: Corporate/Commercial; Dispute Resolution; Labour & Employment; Real Estate; Tax
Rio Grande so Sul: Corporate/Commercial; Corporate Crime & Investigations; Dispute Resolution; Labour & Employment; Real Estate; Tax
Santa Catarina: General Business Law
Centre-West: General Business Law

Consumer Law

This ranking encompasses both consultancy and litigation work arising from consumer relationships including consumer credits, pricing, general contractual terms and conditions. Also includes the sale and supply of services and products, including product liability issues. The section also looks at disputes before the relevant public authorities, such as the Consumer Protection Agency, PROCON, as well as regional authorities. 

Corporate/Commercial

Corporate/Commercial will cover everything that is covered in Corporate/M&A. However, it is not limited to corporate finance but may include project finance and any other type of banking & finance work. Non-transactional corporate advice is perfectly acceptable except for contentious matters i.e. commercial litigation or arbitration which is only considered in the Dispute Resolution section (see below).

Corporate Crime & Investigations

This section covers law firms and practitioners who advise and represent corporations and individuals in criminal proceedings and investigations. The focus is on corporate and white-collar offences, including tax violations, money laundering, fraud, professional negligence, bribery, corruption, and environmental crimes, among others. It also recognizes practices with strong capabilities in internal and external investigations and general compliance with crime-prevention legislation.

Dispute Resolution

Chambers' Dispute Resolution encompasses all stages of litigation including pre-trial negotiations, documentation and preparation for trial, summary judgement motions, trial, appeals and enforcement proceedings. There are two main types of litigation: commercial disputes before civil courts, and white-collar crime, including government investigations.

Dispute Resolution also includes domestic and international arbitration, in other words, the resolution of disputes by one or more neutral parties, either an arbitrator or an arbitration panel. Many contracts - including those imposed on customers by many financial and healthcare organisations - require mandatory arbitration in the event of a dispute. Alternative dispute resolution, involving non-court mediation is also covered in this section.

Please note: Litigation related to Tax should not be included in Dispute Resolution submissions as there is a separate Tax section.

General Business Law

General Business Law encompasses a range of commercial law fields relevant to high-end business users. The core focuses on corporate/commercial law, but in lieu of separate practice areas General Business Law can also cover many areas, including dispute resolution, banking & finance, and sector-specific practice areas.

Infrastructure

This section focuses on firms and lawyers who advise on transactions relating primarily to infrastructure assets that have already been completed and are operational in the respective Region. Infrastructure assets can include (but are not limited to) airports, ports, transmission lines, pipelines and (resources) storage. Secondary market transactions, where operational infrastructure is the underlying asset, form a crucial aspect of the work recognised, while equally, contract variation, asset management and other legal issues that arise over the course of the operation of an asset are also relevant.

Labour & Employment 

Labour & Employment covers contentious and advisory matters relating to day-to-day business issues as well as workforce restructuring, and employment issues related to mergers and takeovers. Class Actions and Union-related matters are also considered. This section also covers litigation related to sex, race, age and national origin discrimination, harassment, wrongful termination and employment-related restrictive covenants. Advice on the writing of policy handbooks for major corporates and HR training also falls within this section's scope.

Real Estate

This chapter features a broad range of rural, commercial and residential real estate matters, including developments, investment transactions, M&A and corporate structuring. Purchase, lease, built-to-suit, surface and usufruct agreements, among other contracts, are also relevant examples of work. Firms may also support clients with registry matters, including land parcelling and title and deed regularisations.

Real estate also encompasses work relating to financing products such as loans, receivable funds, mortgages and letters of credit. The firms may advise clients on the creation of special purpose entities, real estate investment funds and real estate investment trusts. Additionally, firms can handle sector-related disputes and provide general legal advice to tax matters relating to real estate transactions and companies. 

Tax

Tax covers a broad range of matters on both the contentious and non-contentious side. Relevant matters include tax advisory work on international taxation, including transfer pricing and double taxation is highly relevant to this area, as is advice on tax structures for corporate transactions. This section also covers tax controversies, including both litigation and audits.

TRANSACTIONAL

Banking & Finance

Banking refers to all types of regulatory banking work. Firms can render regulatory advice to any type of private or public financial institution. Finance refers to all types of financing including (but not limited to) corporate finance including acquisition or leverage finance, and asset finance. Work highlights typically take the form of secured and unsecured bilateral and syndicated loans but may also constitute structured finance deals. General bank lending, including interbank lending, is relevant to this section as well. The refinancing and restructuring of existing loans and debtor in possession financing is also included. Clear preference is given to lawyers and firms that represent the lender/financial institution.  
 
Please note: All types of transactions using securities instruments, for example IPOs or debt offerings, are not relevant to this section, as they should go in the separate capital markets ranking.  

Banking and Finance: Regulatory 

Includes work on regulatory matters in the financial services, including the implementation of new directives and national legislation, regulatory aspects of fintech and other general regulatory advice. 

Capital Markets: Debt

Debt Capital Markets involves advice on the issuing of debt securities on a stock exchange, including standalone bond issues, convertible and exchangeable bond offerings and high yield bonds, among others.

Please note: Investment Fund work is not relevant to this section as there is a separate Investment Funds section. 

Capital Markets: Equity

Equity Capital Markets includes advice on IPOs, share buybacks, follow-on offerings, right offerings, capital increases, accelerated bookbuilds and block trades, among others.

Please note: Investment Fund work is not relevant to this section as there is a dedicated Investment Funds section. 

Corporate/M&A

This broad category covers both public company and private equity (including venture capital) matters. The chapter includes company acquisitions and dispositions, capitalisations, entity selection and formation, operating and partnership agreements, and governance matters. Also covers those transactions designed to help restructuring within companies and their subsidiaries by change of ownership. Priority is placed on primary representatives, those acting for buyers and sellers. Non-transactional corporate advice is perfectly acceptable except for contentious matters i.e. commercial litigation or arbitration which is only considered in the Dispute Resolution section. 

Corporate/M&A: Mid-market

The Mid-Market subsection of the Corporate/M&A ranking will consider firms and partners that predominantly represent mid-market level clients and present an average matter-value of up to BRL 100 million. Firms must also demonstrate that their practice is not limited to one state only, in which case they should submit to the Regions Guide. Finally, firms with more than 3 departments ranked in other sections across Chambers Brazil Guides (except for Regions guide) shall not be eligible, as this would demonstrate evidence against a mid-market focused practice.

Crisis Management

This table consists of leading firms who play a key role in mobilising firm resources and managing multidisciplinary teams to advise corporate and individual clients following catastrophic events, regulatory actions, criminal investigations, compliance failures and broader corporate crises. This research aims to highlight those who are considered a first choice to command a corporate response to a crisis. 

Environmental, Social and Governance

The ESG section consists of the leading firms and lawyers who advise clients on their responsibilities and obligations with respect to the environment, society and their own corporate governance. Prominent areas of activity within this section include carbon neutrality and climate change litigation, sustainable finance, supply chain analysis and responses to socio-cultural developments such as allegations of sexual abuse and of discrimination on the basis of race, gender or sexual orientation. The section will consider the ability to act across the whole scope of these activities, including analysing existing policies and structures for potential risk exposures, and responding to ESG crises affecting clients.

The research will also be looking at the ESG measures adopted internally by each law firm and highly ranked firms should demonstrate strong policies on all three fronts.

Investment Funds

This section ranks those firms and individuals advising all types of investment funds. It covers work on behalf of sponsors and institutional investors, including fund formation, fund raising, asset management regulatory matters, hybrid funds and fund-of-funds. 

Labour & Employment: Non-contentious

The non‑contentious Labour & Employment section relates to advisory work and day‑to‑day support for employers. This includes routine HR and workforce guidance, as well as advice on workforce restructuring and reorganisations. Matters connected to employment issues arising from mergers, acquisitions, and takeovers are also part of this category. The preparation and revision of employee handbooks, policies, and internal procedures, alongside HR training and compliance guidance for major corporates, round out the non‑contentious remit.

Project Development

The Projects chapter focuses on the development of large projects that arise from the capital-intensive infrastructure and energy and natural resources markets. Infrastructure projects include, but are not limited to, toll roads, ports, airports, rail and light rail systems, water treatment plants, sewage systems as well as social infrastructure such as hospitals, schools and prisons. In the energy and natural resources sectors, advice on projects includes refineries, pipelines, LNG and petrochemical terminals, power plants and transmissions, and others. Clients in this sector include special purpose vehicles, contractors and operators, and governments. 

Please note: Public/private partnerships, concessions and privatisations may also be considered in this section as long as the work is related to the structuring and development of projects. Work related to the bidding procedures and related administrative matters shall not be considered here, only in the Public Law section. 

Project Finance

This section focuses on the financial aspects of projects, looking at financing, refinancing, acquisition and divestitures of large projects that arise from the capital-intensive infrastructure and energy and natural resources markets.  Clients may include governments, sponsors and lenders such as banks and multilateral agencies.

Real Estate

This chapter features a broad range of rural, commercial and residential real estate matters, including developments, investment transactions, M&A and corporate structuring. Purchase, lease, built-to-suit, surface and usufruct agreements, among other contracts, are also relevant examples of work. Firms may also support clients with registry matters, including land parcelling and title and deed regularisations.

Real Estate also encompasses work relating to financing products such as loans, receivable funds, mortgages and letters of credit. The firms may advise clients on the creation of special purpose entities, real estate investment funds and real estate investment trusts. Please note: Sector related disputes should not be included here but in the Real Estate: Litigation section of the Contentious Guide. Matters related to urban law should also not be submitted here, but to the Urban Law: Planning, Zoning and Land Use section within the Industries & Sectors guide.

Real Estate Finance

This subsection covers individuals who provide legal advice on structuring of debt instruments, securitised products, loan origination, refinancing, and restructuring transactions related to residential, commercial, hospitality, among other real estate assets. The ranking gives extra weight to practitioners who support a diverse client base, including banks, private equity funds, non-bank lenders, developers, and high-net-worth individuals, through the negotiation and documentation of complex capital structures and secured lending arrangements.

Tax: Non-contentious

This section covers a broad range of work relating to the tax efficient structuring of business operations, assets or transactions. Among other areas, we recognise teams for their tax advisory work as well as for their advice in relation to M&A and financing transactions, fund structuring and real estate related tax issues. It also looks at tax advisory work on international taxation, including transfer pricing and double taxation.

Venture Capital

This section covers work on behalf of entrepreneurs, founders, start-ups, emerging companies, individual and institutional investors, as well as VC funds and firms. Work might include negotiation of commercial agreements or partnerships, early and late-stage venture financings (including seed capital, Series A, B, C and D funding rounds as well as IPOs), regulatory compliance issues and other advisory work. 

TRANSACTIONAL – INTERNATIONAL FIRMS

Banking and Finance (International Firms)

This section seeks to identify lawyers and firms that advise on the laws of jurisdictions outside of Brazil, as they apply to matters of both a regulatory and transactional nature arising in Brazil. All types of financing will be considered except for project finance which has a specific Project Finance section. This means that corporate and asset finance are perfectly valid work highlights in this section, including acquisition and leverage finance raised through bank loans. This may take the form of secured, unsecured, bilateral, syndicated or interbank lending. The refinancing of existing loans and debtor-in-possession financing will also be considered relevant highlights here. Bank M&A is also considered relevant to this section. The regulatory matters which can be reported here are those concerning advice rendered to clients in Brazil regarding their interaction with banking regulators outside of the country.

Capital Markets (International Firms)

This section seeks to identify lawyers and firms that advise on the laws of jurisdictions outside of Brazil, as they apply to matters of both a regulatory and transactional nature arising in Brazil. Relevant work highlights here include both debt and equity matters, such as derivatives (including CDOs), securitisation and routine debt and equity issuances. Work on the issuer, broker, initial purchaser and underwriter sides will be considered relevant and will be given equal weighting. If any of the aforementioned matters arise in the context of project finance, they may only be reported in Project Finance. The regulatory matters which can be reported here are those concerning advice rendered to clients in Brazil regarding their interaction with securities regulators outside of Brazil.

Corporate/M&A (International Firms)

This section seeks to identify lawyers and firms that advise on the laws of jurisdictions outside of Brazil, as they apply to matters of both a regulatory and transactional nature arising in Brazil. The focus of this section is the sale and acquisition of assets including companies and infrastructure projects. The restructuring of corporate entities is also relevant to this area. Lawyers may be instructed by both privately held and publicly traded companies and may also report work done for private equity funds such as acquiring and selling portfolio companies.

Please note: Arbitrations arising from corporate disputes should not be submitted here, but to the International Arbitration section.

Corporate Crime and Investigations (International Firms)

This section seeks to identify lawyers and firms that advise on the laws of jurisdictions outside of Brazil, as they apply to matters of both a regulatory and transactional nature arising in Brazil. It ranks firms and individuals representing clients in investigations into white-collar criminal matters and compliance with anti-corruption legislation and international sanctions. Representing clients in courts outside of Brazil after the completion of the investigation in question will also be relevant to this section.

International Arbitration

This section identifies firms and lawyers representing clients in disputes resolved via both ad hoc and institutional arbitration. The disputes reported here must be closely linked to Brazil and can take the form of commercial and investor-state matters. Examples of relevant arbitral institutions include ICC, LCIA and UNCITRAL. The seat of arbitration can be in any location, so long as the dispute involves at least one Brazilian party.

Project Finance (International Firms)

This section seeks to identify those lawyers advising on the laws of jurisdictions outside of Brazil as they apply to matters arising in Brazil. The focus here is on the development, financing (limited and non-recourse) and refinancing of large projects that arise from the capital-intensive infrastructure, energy and natural resources markets. Infrastructure projects include toll road, ports, rail and light rail systems, water desalination plants, hospitals and schools. In the energy sector, advice on projects includes refineries, pipelines, LNG and petrochemical terminals, power plants and wind power, waste-to-energy and hydro-wave technology. Clients in this sector include sponsors, special purpose vehicles, lenders such as banks and multilateral agencies, contractors, operators and governments.

Question 8

Practice Area Definitions: Greater China Region

Accepted Answer

Below are the legal practice area definitions and regional variations used by Chambers to rank lawyers and law firms in the Greater China Region Guide.

Administrative & Public Law

The section covers judicial reviews, statutory appeals, inquiries, disciplinary proceedings and non-contentious advice on the powers and administrative functions of government and other public and regulatory bodies. The section covers matters in relation to competitive tendering, public procurement, environmental issues, human rights, employment and discrimination law. This table is for Hong Kong barristers only.

Aviation: Finance

The section may cover finance, regulatory and commercial matters. This area concentrates on advice to manufacturers, airlines, purchasers and investors (such as hedge and private equity funds, and financial leasing companies) on the sale, leasing and acquisition of portfolios of aircraft, helicopters, and engines.

Banking & Finance

A broad-based definition of banking transactions, which includes both borrower and lender clients. The following topics are included: acting for either the lender or the borrower on general bank lending, syndicated lending, structured finance, trade finance, project finance, asset finance (aviation finance not covered here if there is a separate aviation table in the same chapter) and leveraged finance.

See also Restructuring / Insolvency for distressed assets financings and investment.

Capital Markets

Chambers guides cover key areas of capital markets either as distinct tables or under a wider umbrella. The areas include debt & equity, derivatives, securitisation, and structured finance (CDOs, repackagings, other synthetic products).

Capital Markets: Debt covers legal advice on the following transactions: investment-grade debt offerings, standalone bond issuances, notes issuances, equity-linked offerings (regulatory capital, convertibles and exchangeable offerings), and high-yield debt offerings.

Capital Markets: Equity includes advice on equity offerings such as: initial public offerings, follow-on offerings, right offerings, capital increases, ADR / GDR offerings, accelerated bookbuilds, and block trades.

Derivatives includes regulatory and transactional legal advice regarding derivatives products. These include exchange-traded derivatives, OTC derivatives, securitised derivatives, and products with interest rates, currencies, equities, credit, or commodities as the underlying asset. Law firms advise on product development and regulation, market regulation, structuring and documentation of transactions, related tax issues, and derivatives litigation.

Securitisation covers the entire range of asset classes, including commercial loans, derivatives exposure, bonds, project cash flows, trade receivables, credit card and trade receivables, commercial and residential mortgages, life insurance and annuities, and auto loans.

(See both Derivatives and Securitisation definition above combined for Capital Markets: Securitisation & Derivatives table.)

Structured finance also encompasses: CDOs (both cash and synthetic), repackagings, and hybrid synthetic and structured note products.

Competition/Antitrust

Competition/Antitrust covers the body of laws that prohibits anti-competitive behaviour (monopoly) and unfair business practices. This includes merger and acquisition approval work as well as public and private enforcement proceedings, including litigation or regulatory investigations into anti-competitive practices such as price-fixing and cartelisation.

Construction

Construction covers contractual advisor work within the construction industry for both the suppliers (e.g. developers, contractors, sub-contractors, engineers and architects), and those clients employing these types of companies e.g. corporates or state authorities on their building plans. Our construction sections cover both litigious and non-litigious matters.

Corporate / Commercial

Corporate/Commercial research focuses on China’s provincial markets and therefore is categorised by China’s province/municipality, as specified in the section name, i.e. Corporate/Commercial: Guangdong.

The category covers a broad range of commercial legal advisory and work, without subdivision into specialist areas; however, matters relating to a specialist practice area that features elsewhere in the chapter should not be duplicated here.

A range of matters may be considered in this section, including but not limited to corporate acquisitions, bond issuances, company listings, FDI, IP, commercial disputes and employment issues. Work considered in the relevant Corporate/Commercial section must be handled out of a corresponding local office/ground force in that region.

Some provincial tables have been divided into Contentious and Non-contentious two sub-tables which covers adversarial and litigious matters, and transactions/regulatory issues respectively.

Corporate Investigations / Anti-Corruption

The Corporate investigation/anti-corruption section ranks firms and individuals advising on the management of, and compliance with, investigations concerning white-collar crime, anti-corruption legislation and international sanctions. The firms and lawyers may also be engaged to conduct investigations and prepare reports for management. The section covers issues faced by clients arising from the increased scrutiny of regulatory bodies into their day-to-day operations.

The firms included here often bring together multi-disciplinary teams to advise on internal investigations, or proceedings brought by external bodies, including public and law enforcement bodies. Investigations may concern operating procedures, criminal and civil liability, ethics, and trans-national issues such as sanctions and money laundering. The teams often provide specialist advice on domestic legislation, as well as overseas legislation, if applicable. Coverage extends to advising on compliance and best practice.

Corporate / M&A

This broad category covers both public company and private equity (including venture capital) matters. The chapter includes company acquisitions, dispositions and related financing arrangements, capitalisations, entity selection and formation, operating and partnership agreements, securities and governance matters.

Also covers those transactions designed to help restructuring within companies and their subsidiaries by change of ownership. Priority is placed on primary representatives, those acting for buyers and sellers, whilst those acting for financial advisers, underwriters and the banks financing such transactions are also considered.

See also: Private Equity

Clinical Negligence

Clinical Negligence centres on allegations of negligent acts committed by professionals within healthcare or pharmaceutical sectors. These cases usually arise from accusations that the defendants did not follow accepted industry practices, leading to injury or death to the patient or claimant. Relevant proceedings and investigations are covered in this section.

Includes those who represent the defendants or their employers, including doctors, physicians and nurse practitioners, as well as hospitals and other healthcare providers, and those who bring claims on behalf of individuals seeking compensation for their injuries.

Disputes Resolution

Dispute Resolution tables focus on litigation and alternative dispute resolution proceedings(ADR). The work covers the full course of a dispute, such as pre-trial negotiations, documentation and preparation for trial, summary judgment applications, trial, appeals and enforcement proceedings. This section also covers white-collar crime, including government investigations. Expertise in alternative dispute resolution, involving non-court mediation and arbitration, may be ranked in separate tables where the market is sufficiently developed.

Practice areas such as Insurance, Construction, IP and Media may also contain litigators who are experts in their field in markets that are sufficiently specialised.

In some jurisdictions in the region, where the legal profession is not fused, we feature separate ranking tables for barristers and solicitors. In jurisdictions where the legal profession is fused, but there is sufficient distinction between lawyers practising in the style of barristers, and lawyers practising in the style of solicitors, we have sought to make this distinction clear by again having separate ranking tables.

See Hong Kong barristers’ and sets’ rankings in Hong Kong Bar tables.

Dispute Resolution: Litigation

Where Litigation is specified in the table name, such table only considers the practice of litigation but not other ADR.

Dispute Resolution: Arbitration

The section features arbitration counsel providing advice on the resolution of disputes by one or more neutral parties, either an arbitrator or an arbitration panel. Many contracts – including those imposed on customers by many financial and healthcare organisations – require mandatory arbitration in the event of a dispute.

Examples of the institutions include HKIAC (Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre), SIAC (Singapore International Arbitration Centre), ICC (International Chamber of Commerce) and CIETAC (China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission).

The GCR China (International Firms) and China (PRC Firms) chapters usually cover arbitration rankings table under Dispute Resolution: Arbitration.

Employment

Employment covers both contentious and non-contentious employment matters relating to day to day business issues as well as those arising from transactions. Includes employment litigation related to sex, race, age discrimination, as well as workforce redundancies and employee transfers and immigration issues. Also includes workplace health and safety matters, HR training and policy writing.

Energy & Natural Resources

Although Chambers is aware of the overlap with Projects and project financing, the energy chapters focus on corporate / commercial and regulatory issues arising from the energy and natural resources sectors. These include the regulatory components of M&A and other transactional work, pure regulatory work related to the application for licenses and compliance and enforcement with regulatory bodies. Chambers guides focuses on key industry sectors including Electricity, Oil & Gas, Renewables and Nuclear matters.

Electricity / Utilities covers advice on the development, financing and permitting of energy projects (such as electric, coal, oil & gas fired plants, nuclear and hydro-electric plants), facilities management; co-generation and restructuring/deregulation arising out of the wholesale and retail markets.

Oil and Gas covers all upstream and downstream work including exploration, infrastructure and pipeline developments and service contracts, royalties, licensing and operation agreements. It also includes corporate issues such as M&A, capital raisings, taxation and regulatory compliance.

Renewables focuses on the financing, development and regulatory issues surrounding wind and wave power generation, solar, biomass and geothermal energy generation. It also includes advice on compliance with clean energy regulations.

Nuclear issues include licensing and operation, commercial transactions, reactor oversight, enforcement and compliance, whistleblower statutes and non-retaliation policy, as well as nuclear waste and fuel procurement.

Natural Resources/Mining sections focus on mining and minerals exploration, development and production agreements, including royalty issues, project finance, taxation and other financing arrangements. Engineering, processing and refining contracts, sales structures and environmental issues are also covered.

Environment

The environment chapter features both litigation and advisory/transactional support to clients. This includes general corporate issues, (e.g. due diligence on mergers), the development of brownfield sites, and pollution issues. `Traditional` environment work includes regulatory compliance, litigation and enforcement actions related to air, water, wetlands, waste and endangered species.

We also feature advice to corporate and financial clients on the environmental aspects of M&A, financings, securities offerings and other transactions, which involve due diligence and environmental insurance issues. Emissions trading, ESG and climate change work may also be included where appropriate.

Family/Matrimonial

These sections deal with issues surrounding the inception and breakdown of personal relationships. This includes the creation of nuptial, civil partnership and cohabitation agreements relating to financial and property assets, the resolution of divorces or separations involving financial and property disputes, and the handling of matters relating to child arrangements, maintenance and welfare.   

See also: Family/Matrimonial: The Bar, and Trusts, Probate & Succession: The Bar, China for related barristers working in this area.

Financial Services Regulation

This chapter covers both non-contentious regulatory and contentious regulatory matters arising out of the Financial Services industry and advice on all aspects of internal organisation and governance, transactions and operations. Non-contentious regulatory matters include assistance to bank / financial institution clients in complying with the full range of financial services laws and regulations in their daily operations.

This section also encompasses financial institutions business transactions, especially the advice on regulatory issues in mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures of financial services companies and the implementation of holdings in foreign countries.

This section also covers the lobbying work done by the firm for the development of new laws and regulations. In contentious matters, we include advice related to the defence of financial institutions in criminal and civil examinations, inspections, investigations, and formal proceedings by regulators and self-regulatory organisations.

General Business Law

This section is broadly defined to cover all corporate and commercial activity that takes place within jurisdictions which are too small to justify more specialised tables.

Healthcare

Healthcare covers a wide range of work, including transactional, advisory, and contentious matters. Transactional work is centred on sale and purchase agreements, licensing, joint ventures, investment and divestment and the financings of such deals within the healthcare industry. Law firms advise on antitrust issues and assorted regulatory matters for clients including hospitals, health systems, healthcare startups and insurance companies.

Litigation includes matters such as product liability disputes arising from pharmaceutical and medical devices defects, whistleblower suits, the defence of parties involved in anti-bribery investigations as well as general clinical negligence issues or disputes arising between hospitals and patients.

Advisory and regulatory compliance matters encompassing the licensing of drugs and devices approved by local regulators, sales and marketing practices and other day-to-day issues are also included.

See also: Life Science

High Net Worth Individuals

Chambers produces a dedicated HNW professional advisers guide which covers all aspects of HNW-related legal work. As far as GCR research is concerned, it is considered in Private Client/Wealth Management table which covers all aspects of HNW-related legal work such as estate planning, identity planning, succession, taxation, and prenuptial issues and related disputes.

See also: Private Client/Wealth Management.

Infrastructure

Infrastructure sections include lawyers representing the range of stakeholders participating in the proposal, delivery and operation of infrastructure development projects, including ports, airports, dams, power stations, roading, rail and light rail.

See also: Construction, Energy & Natural Resources, Project Finance and Projects.

Insurance

Insurance includes both contentious and non-contentious insurance and reinsurance matters. On the contentious side, we feature coverage claims litigation, broker's negligence and both 'facultative' and 'treaty' reinsurance disputes.

This can also cover professional negligence issues arising from insurance disputes. On the non-contentious side, we include all forms of M&A, capital raisings, demutualisation, licensing and other regulatory issues.

Intellectual Property

Intellectual Property covers disputes related to patent, copyright, and trademark infringement. Litigation concerning trade secrets also features. Commercial and transactional issues such as portfolio management, IP due diligence in M&A, licensing and IP commercialisation are also included. IP registration and prosecution are also key parts of this table.

International Trade / WTO

This section covers classic trade cases such as anti-dumping, countervailing duties, export control and other customs/tariff classifications and regulatory work. We welcome both petitioner and respondent-led work highlights for trade remedy matters. Issues such as WTO and other treaty-based trade and investment disputes, bilateral and multilateral trade negotiations may also be included.

Customs matters may include customs planning, compliance, investigations and enforcement. The export controls and economic sanctions area of research focuses on trade controls, such as compliance programmes, economic sanctions restrictions as well as relevant enforcement issues.

Investment Funds

This section looks at work covering the entire life cycle of a fund. More emphasis is placed on fund-formation work and sponsor-side representation. The capacity to provide regulatory and relevant tax advice is also considered. This section includes open-ended funds, closed-ended funds, hedge funds, real estate funds, infrastructure funds, and funds of funds. Registered funds and superannuation funds are also included.

See also Private Equity: Buyouts and Venture Capital Investment, and Private Equity of the same jurisdiction.

Life sciences

Life sciences focuses on the commercialisation of life sciences products (pharmaceuticals, medical devices and biotechnology programs etc). IP issues dominate as large pharmaceuticals seek to obtain innovative, impending blockbuster drugs from biotechs and other pharmaceutical companies. Patent litigation concerning life sciences products and technologies may also be included. Also covers the licensing and acquisition of new products from other sources (often smaller biotechs to larger suppliers).

This chapter includes advice on drug and device safety, and product liability litigation.

Most in Demand Arbitrators

This section features highly regarded individuals, and ranks those who act as arbitrators in Hong Kong-seated and Mainland China-seated cases and who are widely recognised as the go-to arbitrators for such cases. Examples of an individual’s work as an arbitrator in Hong Kong-seated HKIAC (Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre) and Hong Kong-seated ICC (International Chamber of Commerce) can be included in Most in Demand Arbitrators: Hong Kong-seated and International Arbitrations section. Similarly the Most in Demand Arbitrators: Mainland China-seated arbitrations covers an individual’s work as an arbitrator in Mainland China-seated arbitration commissions. Submissions will be accepted under Most in Demand Arbitrators: Hong Kong-seated and International Arbitrations and Most in Demand Arbitrators: Mainland China-seated Arbitrations categories.

Private Equity

This section focuses on the transactional aspect of private equity funds work from angel investing and venture capital work to mid and late-stage financing through to pre-IPO financing. It takes into account LBO, M&A and recapitalisation matters at both the high-end and mid-market level.

In the China (International Firms) chapter this section this work is covered in the Private Equity: Buyouts and Venture Capital Investments section.

See also: Investment Funds

Projects

Focuses on the development and financing of large projects that arise in the capital intensive infrastructure and energy markets. Clients in this sector include sponsors, lenders, project originators and multilateral agencies and development banks.

In the energy sector, we include advice on the development of refineries, pipelines, LNG and petrochemical terminals, power plants and wind power, waste-to-energy and hydro-wave technology. Infrastructure matters such as toll road and bridge financing; rail and light rail systems; water desalination plants as well as state sponsored programmes (PPP/PFI) such as hospitals, schools, housing and prisons.

The financing of such projects is also included in the Projects section.

See also:  Infrastructure

Real Estate

Includes transactional advice related to the acquisition, planning and development, leasing and disposal of real estate assets. Clients typically include large real estate holding companies, investment funds and REITs.

Corporate matters related to real estate include M&A of large real estate holding companies, complex fund and REIT transactions, private equity and public securities. These real estate lawyers are distinct from pure corporate lawyers in that they typically come from a real estate background and have an understanding of the underlying asset and land law required by their real estate for their clients. This section also covers real estate disputes.

Restructuring / Insolvency

The focus is on the legal processes related to distressed businesses, which can either be reorganised or go into liquidation. The section also includes lawyers, who advise on acquisition opportunities that arise out of distressed businesses. Lawyers in this chapter assist clients such as: corporate debtors, investors and asset purchasers; secured and unsecured creditors and creditors` committees, bondholders, insurers; directors of distressed companies and any other interested parties in corporate restructurings and insolvency proceedings.

Restructuring/Insolvency sections cover both transactional and disputes matters.

Securities: Litigation

This new area includes: insider trading; securities fraud & related administrative litigation/ investors’ actions; intermediaries’ liability issues; contested M&A bids; corporate governance disputes; disclosure and related disputes; liability matters & other non-compliance. The table covers commercial, civil and criminal liabilities arising out of the above issues.

Shipping

Shipping & maritime litigation involves breach of charter-party disputes, cargo and bills of lading claims, the arrest of vessels and cargoes, marine insurance claims, collision, salvage and environmental liabilities. On the non-contentious side, law firms advise on contractual arrangements for construction, financing and registration of vessels, customs and licensing, and documentation relating to charter-parties and bills of lading. Related matters concerning offshore platforms may also be included.

Tax

Tax covers transactional direct and indirect tax advice and tax controversy-related work. Tax on the transactional side covers corporate partnerships structures, tax planning, spin-offs and the tax structuring of corporate acquisitions.

Tax controversy encompasses any contentious tax issue. This includes tax-based litigation and advice relating to tax anti-avoidance enforcement.

This section also takes into account base erosion and profit shifting matters, including transfer pricing and other cross-border tax advice.

TMT

Technology focuses on contractual agreements in the technology field, often outsourcing contracts between corporations and suppliers of IT services.

Telecommunications concentrates on a range of legal issues arising from the heavily regulated areas of telecommunications and broadcasting. Work includes regulatory, transactional and litigation advice relating to telecommunications infrastructure and services.

The media market has many different facets. Chambers guides have attempted to highlight lawyers who have an understanding of the issues related to key sectors such as advertising, film & television, music, and publishing. This includes contentious and non-contentious matters relating to copyright, distribution rights, broadcasting rights, and royalties. It also includes lawyers who handle defamation matters, either in pre-publication advice or in litigation mandates representing claimants and defendants.

Trusts, Probate & Succession

This section ranks barristers who advocate on a wide range of contentious issues concerning trusts, probate cases and succession. This table is for Hong Kong barristers only.

White-collar Crime

This practice area covers non-violent wrongdoings such as corruption and financial crimes. Examples include bribery, major fraud and insider trading. Litigation, compliance and government investigations are relevant to this practice area. This table is for Hong Kong barristers only.

Question 9

Practice Area Definitions: Germany

Accepted Answer

Arbitration

This practice area identifies law firms and lawyers advising and representing clients in the resolution of disputes resolved via an arbitrator or arbitration panel in both ad hoc and institutional arbitrations. There are separate individual lawyer rankings for the top arbitration counsels (Arbitration) and arbitrators (Arbitrators) in Germany, and law firms can provide us with a submission for each of these tables.

Artificial Intelligence

This practice area highlights law firms and lawyers in Germany with experience across a variety of topics relating to AI, including its governance, competition and transactions in the field. Other relevant work here includes advising clients including technology companies, AI developers and start-ups on the AI regulatory landscape and on their development of AI policies.

Banking & Finance

This practice area spans a variety of topics relating to banking transactions, including both borrower and lender clients. It encompasses acquisition finance (transactions involving arranging finance for acquisitions acting for lenders or borrowers), general bank lending (including syndicated lending, structured finance, leveraged finance and NPLs) and refinancings. The refinancing and restructuring of existing loans and debtor in possession financing is also included here.

Banking & Finance: Regulatory

This subsection of Banking & Finance includes work on regulatory matters in the financial services, such as the implementation of new directives and national legislation, regulatory aspects of fintech and other general regulatory advice.

Capital Markets: Debt

This subsection of Capital Markets involves advice on the issuing of debt securities on a stock exchange, including stand-alone bond issues, MTN programmes, convertible and exchangeable bond offerings and high yield bonds.

Capital Markets: Derivatives

This subsection of Capital Markets focuses on regulatory and transactional legal advice regarding derivatives products. This includes exchange-traded derivatives, OTC derivatives, securitised derivatives and interest rate derivatives.

Capital Markets: Equity

This subsection of Capital Markets involves advice on IPOs, share buybacks, follow-on offerings, right offerings, capital increases, accelerated bookbuilds and block trades.

Capital Markets: Structured Finance

This subsection of Capital Markets focuses on structured finance encompassing CDOs (both cash and synthetic), repackagings and hybrid, synthetic and structured note products.

Commercial Contracts

This practice area focuses on law firms and lawyers assisting their clients with agreements relating to the establishment and development of commercial activities between non-public sector entities. It primarily looks at cooperation agreements for the carrying out of commercial activities, including ongoing supply, agency, distribution, franchising or manufacturing agreements relating to trading activities and commercial strategies. Such agreements can be either domestic or cross-border in nature.

Competition/European Law

This practice area encompasses contentious and non-contentious matters arising under EU, German and international competition law, including cartels, abuse of a dominant market position and merger control. Antitrust and state aid are also considered here. Please note that Chambers’ Global Guide has an Expertise Based Abroad ranking for Competition in Germany, which displays lawyers based outside Germany that are active before the Bundeskartellamt. Law firms do not need to submit for this particular subsection.

Competition/European Law: Litigation

This subsection of Competition/European Law ranks lawyers that specialise in competition litigation. Law firms may upload separate work highlights for this subsection but cannot provide a separate referee list.

Compliance

This practice area encompasses design and implementation of corporate compliance programmes, anti-corruption legislation, international sanctions, crime prevention and data protection compliance. Compliance programmes and investigations that relate to other specific practice areas in the Germany Guide (such as Competition/European Law) should be kept to those sections.

Corporate/M&A

This practice area covers both public company and private equity matters. It includes company acquisitions, dispositions and capitalisations, entity selection and formation, operating and partnership agreements and securities and governance matters. It also covers transactions designed to help restructuring within companies and their subsidiaries by change of ownership. Priority is placed on primary representatives – law firms and lawyers acting for buyers and sellers. The Germany Guide has two subsections within Corporate/M&A, with these being High-End Capability and Mid-Market. High-End Capability typically relates to matters valued at EUR500 million and above, while Mid-Market refers to matters valued below EUR500 million. Law firms can only be ranked in one or other subsection, not both, and as such can only submit to one subsection.

Employment

This practice area covers both contentious and non-contentious employment matters relating to day-to-day business issues as well as mergers and takeovers. It includes employment litigation related to sex, race and age discrimination and issues of employee immigration and transfers. Working hours and pensions are also considered here.

Energy

This practice area spans work from the renewables, oil and gas and other natural resources industries from across the energy sector. Advice on the development of refineries, pipelines, LNG and petrochemical terminals, power plants and wind power, waste-to-energy and hydro-wave technology are all considered here. This section also includes contentious energy-related cases and the construction and development of energy infrastructure such as wind farms.

Energy: Regulatory

This subsection of Energy focuses on the regulatory aspects of energy law. It includes regulatory advice on permitting and licensing as well as representation in contentious regulatory cases.

Energy: Transactional

This subsection of Energy focuses on the transactional aspects of energy law, particularly transactions involving energy plants or energy projects.  Work submitted here should demonstrate a strong focus on the energy sector.

Healthcare

This practice area relates to the providers of healthcare, such as hospitals, care homes and other medical institutions, as well as work relating to medical devices and technology. Work can include transactions involving medial institutions, procurement, regulatory advice, operational licensing and contracts. Health insurance mandates are also relevant here. This section prioritises law firms and lawyers that demonstrate an in-depth knowledge of the healthcare sector and are sought after specifically for their industry expertise.

Insurance

This practice area includes both contentious and non-contentious insurance and reinsurance matters. Coverage claims litigation, broker’s negligence and both ‘facultative’ and ‘treaty’ reinsurance disputes are covered on the contentious side. There is also an element of professional negligence issues arising from insurance disputes. All regulatory issues are considered on the non-contentious side.

Intellectual Property

There are four Intellectual Property tables in the Germany Guide, as outlined below. Law firms can provide us with a submission to each one of these, but are only allowed to submit a total of 30 referees across the four subsections.

Intellectual Property: Patent Attorneys: Contentious

This subsection of Intellectual Property ranks the top teams of patent attorneys in Germany. It includes contentious matters such as patent and opposition filing and infringement and nullity proceedings, law firms and lawyers representing their clients in EPO and German Federal Patent Court oppositions, invalidity and nullity proceedings. Patent portfolio management is also considered here.

Intellectual Property: Patent Litigation

This subsection of Intellectual Property concerns patent-related lawsuits. Relevant work here includes law firms and lawyers acting as plaintiffs and defendants in patent enforcement, infringement and nullity proceedings. Standard-essential patent litigation matters and FRAND licensing advice are also relevant here.

Intellectual Property: Patent Prosecution

This subsection of Intellectual Property refers to law firms and lawyers filing patent applications for their clients and working on getting their patents off the ground.

Intellectual Property: Trade Mark & Unfair Competition

This subsection of Intellectual Property refers to law firms and lawyers representing their clients in trade mark enforcement, opposition and infringement proceedings and managing their trade mark portfolios. The filing of unfair competition claims is also relevant here.

International Trade

This practice area covers classic trade cases such as anti-dumping, countervailing duties, export control and other customs/tariff classifications and regulatory work. It also includes issues such as WTO and other treaty-based trade and investment disputes, bilateral and multilateral trade negotiations and market access issues.

Investment Funds

This practice area ranks law firms and lawyers advising in the world of investment funds. It covers work on behalf of sponsors and institutional investors, including fund formation, fund raising, investments, asset management regulatory matters, hybrid funds, fund-of-funds and spinouts. Unlike in some other jurisdictions, work relating to fund formation and structuring should be submitted to Investment Funds for the Germany Guide, rather than to Private Equity. Please note that Investment Funds does not include transactional work, disputes or the acquisition of assets (which should be submitted to Corporate/M&A, Dispute Resolution and Real Estate respectively instead).

Life Sciences

This practice area ranks law firms and lawyers with in-depth knowledge of the life sciences sector, and relates especially closely to pharma, biotech and medical devices companies. Work should include transactions, regulatory, product liability, the procurement of life sciences products, contracts and clinical trials and approval work. Please note that Intellectual Property in the Germany Guide has three subsections dedicated to patent work, and so Life Sciences should focus far less heavily on this subject.

Litigation

This practice area concerns commercial disputes and spans their entire course from pre-trial negotiations, preparation for trial and trial to appeals and enforcement proceedings. Please note that arbitration mandates and white-collar crime cases should not be submitted to Litigation but rather to Arbitration and White-Collar Crime respectively.

Private Equity

This practice area covers law firms and lawyers providing transactional advice for private equity clients, such as direct investments into private companies, buyouts of public companies (MBO, MBI, BIMBO), secondary transactions, take-privates, PIPEs and pre-IPO investments. It also takes into account LBO, M&A and recapitalisation matters. Private Equity in the Germany Guide has three subsections: High End, Mid Cap and Venture Capital. High End covers transactions above EUR300 million in value, while Mid Cap covers transactions below EUR300 million.

Private Equity: Venture Capital

This subsection of Private Equity encompasses venture capital investments and transactions and work on behalf of venture capital firms.

Projects

This practice area focuses on the development, financing (limited and non-recourse) and refinancing and acquisition / divestitures of large projects arising from the capital-intensive infrastructure and energy markets. Clients in this sector include sponsors, lenders, project originators and multilateral agencies and development banks. This section also features infrastructure matters such as toll road and bridge financing, rail and light rail systems and water desalination plants as well as state sponsored programmes (PPP / PFI) such as hospitals, schools, housing and prisons.

Projects: Construction

This subsection of Projects covers contractual adviser work within the construction industry for suppliers, such as developers, contractors, engineers and architects, and clients, such as corporates and state authorities, on their building plans. It covers both litigious and non-litigious matters.

Public Law

This practice area involves law firms and lawyers advising authorities and companies from regulated industries on constitutional, administrative, subsidy and state aid issues, as well as advising private clients on concessions.

Public Law: Planning and Environment

This subsection of Public Law focuses on work in this field specific to planning and environment issues. This includes zoning, planning permission and related environmental considerations. Please note that work relating to the construction of energy plants should be submitted to Energy. Work put forward here must have Public Law aspects to it.

Public Law: Public Procurement/PPP

This subsection of Public Law ranks law firms and lawyers who advise corporations and government bodies on the acquisition of goods or services by governmental entities. Areas covered include education, healthcare, social housing, transport and infrastructure.

Real Estate

This practice area ranks the top law firms and lawyers in Germany focusing on real estate law. It considers transactions involving significant real estate assets and portfolios such as office buildings, residential developments and retail units. Regulatory advice is also considered here. Please note however that within the Germany Guide construction and development work should be submitted to Projects: Construction, and not to Real Estate.

Real Estate: Finance

This subsection of Real Estate involves the financing of the purchase of real estate assets and the financing of the construction of buildings. Law firms and lawyers do not need to act exclusively for lenders but should have a healthy lender client base which gives them a significant volume of work in this field. Some firms and lawyers also handle aspects of complex debt capital markets such as securitisation, but the decision to rank them in Real Estate will depend on their understanding of the underlying asset.

Restructuring & Insolvency

This practice area ranks law firms and lawyers advising on cases of insolvency, bankruptcy and the restructuring of distressed assets. Restructuring work should be limited to situations of financial distress and work aimed at avoiding liquidation or insolvency. This can include administration, receivership, distressed M&A and pre-pack sales. Please note that within the Germany Guide general corporate restructuring should be submitted to Corporate/M&A and the restructuring of financial arrangements or instruments to Banking & Finance.

Restructuring & Insolvency: Administration

This subsection of Restructuring & Insolvency focuses on law firms and lawyers acting as administrators for insolvent companies.  It also includes work by court-appointed bankruptcy trustees.

TMT: Data Protection

This subsection of TMT covers regulatory advice on data protection and privacy compliance, cases of data security breaches, representation of clients in investigations and enforcement actions or litigation relating to data protection and privacy. Work of an international nature can include advising clients with multinational operations on data security issues relating to cross-border transfers of data, such as in large-scale outsourcing transactions involving several countries, and on global or multi-jurisdictional privacy compliance programmes.

TMT: Information Technology

This subsection of TMT includes outsourcing between corporates and suppliers of IT services, IT procurement and regulatory matters in the sector. It also considers M&A activity in the sector but places priority on law firms and lawyers that demonstrate a specialised knowledge in the requirements of the sector.

TMT: Media

This subsection of TMT includes contentious and non-contentious advertising and marketing matters as well as activity relating to film and television, music, publishing and theatre industries, such as their production, financing and distribution aspects.

TMT: Telecommunications

This subsection of TMT includes transactional and litigation advice to telecoms companies and wireless operators and the regulatory issues that such companies face. Other matters include interconnection and resales laws, multimedia agreements and licensing activity.

Tax

This practice area focuses on corporate tax. Relevant work here includes the taxation of transactions, disputes and regulatory matters such as double tax treaties, transfer pricing, VAT, customs duties and the taxation of employee benefits. Any tax work for private clients should be submitted to Chambers’ High Net Worth Individuals Guide.

Tax: Consultants

This subsection of Tax ranks lawyers who are not qualified in Germany (i.e. not a member of the Bar) but are tax advisers.

Transportation: Rail & Aviation Asset Finance

This subsection of Transportation focuses on law firms and lawyers acting for clients such as leasing companies, banks, airlines and other financial institutions. It covers financing, including ECAs, EETCs and government-supported financings, and includes bankruptcy, operating leases including JOLCOs and the financing of commercial aircrafts, corporate jets and helicopters.

Transportation: Shipping

This subsection of Transportation covers both wet and dry shipping cases. Wet shipping refers to incidents and issues arising while at sea, including accidents, collisions, salvage and environmental liabilities. Dry shipping refers to matters arising while not at sea, such as contractual arrangements for construction, financing and registration of vessels, customs and licensing and documentation relating to charter-parties and bills of lading. It also includes contentious matters such as ownership rights, contractual breaches, insurance and reinsurance, ship arrests and the commissioning/decommissioning of vessels. For a law firm or lawyer to achieve a ranking in this section, they must be seen to have core shipping expertise and be considered by clients as a go-to for specific shipping knowledge.

Transportation: Shipping: Finance

This subsection of Transportation focuses on all finance mandates specific to the shipping sector, such as financing agreements for building or acquiring vessels, refinancing of debt related to the industry, transfer of loan portfolios relating to the industry, creation of mortgages and sale and leaseback transactions.

White Collar Crime

White Collar Crime covers in-court criminal proceedings mainly relating to corruption and financial crimes. Matters include tax offences, money laundering, fraud, professional negligence, bribery, corruption and environmental crime. White Collar Crime covers work on behalf of corporate clients as well as private clients. There are two subsections within this practice area, Corporate Advisory and Defence Counsel, and law firms are welcome to submit to both.

Question 10

Practice Area Definitions: FinTech

Accepted Answer

FinTech Legal

This category covers the full range of legal services in the FinTech industry. These specialists act for FinTech businesses and financial institutions on regulatory, transactional and contentious matters relating to five verticals: Blockchain & Cryptocurrencies, Data Protection & Cyber Security, Corporate, Securities & Financing, Payments & Lending and Crypto-Asset Disputes. In some jurisdictions (e.g. UK and USA), these verticals are sub-categories featuring experts in each specialism.

FinTech Legal: Blockchain & Cryptocurrencies

This sub-category covers the creation and trading of digital assets (e.g. NFTs, stablecoins); the design and creation of digital asset derivative products and ETFs; the creation, structuring and implementation of DLT platforms; the tokenisation of real world assets and the issuance of tokenised products; the creation, expansion and collapse of cryptocurrency exchange platforms; as well as digital assets trading and custody license application to financial regulators. Transactional matters relating to blockchain and crypto assets such as financings, mergers & acquisitions, and fund formations are covered in the Corporate, Securities and Financing sub-category, where available. Disputes and government investigations relating to digital assets are covered in the Crypto-Asset Disputes category, where available.

FinTech Legal: Data Protection & Cyber Security

Lawyers in this sub-category advise FinTech companies and financial institutions on FinTech-related privacy and data protection compliance (e.g. GDPR), financial privacy, consumer protection, data breaches, ransomware attacks and other significant data, privacy and cyber security incidents, as well as class action lawsuits arising from these incidents. Contentious matters relating to stolen digital assets are covered in the Crypto-Asset Disputes category, where available.

FinTech Legal: Corporate, Securities & Financing

FinTech corporate lawyers guide FinTech startups, established FinTech businesses, PE and VC investors and financial services clients through strategic partnerships, joint ventures, mergers & acquisitions, funding rounds, securitisation, debt financings, and IPOs.

FinTech Legal: Payments & Lending

This sub-category covers the creation and implementation of digital payments systems, including payments-as-a-service offerings; payment services license applications (e.g. Money Transmission License in the US and the Payment Institution Authorisation in the UK/EU); the creation of digital loyalty and rewards programmes; the launch and operation of lending products such as credit cards and buy-now-pay-later services; the implementation and review of internal AML and KYC frameworks. Transactional matters relating to payments and lending providers such as financing, mergers & acquisitions, and fund formation are covered under the Corporate, Securities and Financing sub-category, where available.

Crypto-Asset Disputes

This category covers contentious work involving digital assets (e.g. cryptocurrencies and NFTs) and crypto companies, including government inquiries, investigations and enforcement actions, class action lawsuits, white-collar criminal defence, asset recovery in relation to crypto frauds and stolen crypto-assets, commercial litigation and insolvency litigation arising from the collapse of crypto companies. Regulatory advisory work in relation to blockchain and crypto business is covered under the Blockchain & Cryptocurrencies sub-category, where available.

Consulting

This category features management and strategy consultants who advise FinTechs, financial institutions and FinTech investors on digital transformation, business and innovation strategies, financial regulations, compliance, risk management and cybersecurity matters. Law firms are not eligible to participate in this category.

FinTech PR & Communications

This category features communications experts working with FinTech and financial services clients on brand strategy, media training, crisis communications, marketing campaigns, strategic messaging and public relations. Law firms are not eligible to participate in this category.

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