McGuireWoods was recognized as a leading law firm in 14 practice areas in the 2016 edition of The Legal 500 United States, more than doubling the number of practices previously ranked nationwide in the esteemed annual publication, which bills itself as “the most in-depth survey of the United States’ elite legal market.” The rankings highlight the firm’s strengths in several industry sectors and practices, including energy; mergers and acquisitions; banking and finance; product liability, mass torts and class actions; healthcare; white-collar criminal defense; commercial disputes; and technology.
In addition to the practice rankings, The Legal 500 guide recognized 30 of the firm’s lawyers for their work in these areas.
Based on feedback from clients and the work of the firm’s lawyers, McGuireWoods earned rankings in four energy-related practice categories, reflecting the broad transactional and litigation capabilities of its cross-practice energy industry team. The Legal 500 not only singled out the firm’s work handling strategic acquisitions for leading energy companies, it also recognized the firm for its skill and experience guiding clients through energy regulatory proceedings such as rate cases, disputes between regional transmission organizations, and enforcement cases initiated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. In addition, McGuireWoods’ M&A practice earned recognition for its representation of clients in the energy industry and other sectors.
The Legal 500 also ranked the firm for commercial lending, praising its “excellent” practice that serves leading banks and financial services clients. The firm received The Legal 500 honor after ranking first nationally in deal count, and sixth in overall dollar volume, in Thomson Reuters 2015 Loan Pricing Corp.’s U.S. Lender Law Firm League Table for syndicated debt financings.
McGuireWoods earned high marks for white-collar criminal defense based on “an excellent 2015” in which the firm handled high-profile matters in the United States and abroad, including the investigation surrounding Sepp Blatter, the former president of soccer’s international governing body FIFA. In healthcare, the firm was recognized for its “deep experience in regulatory issues and transactions” and for its representation of healthcare providers and investors.
The Legal 500 ranked McGuireWoods in the following nationwide practice areas:
- Commercial lending: advice to lenders
- Energy transactions: conventional power
- Energy transactions: oil and gas
- Energy: litigation
- Energy: regulatory
- General commercial disputes
- Healthcare: service providers
- M&A middle market
- Product liability, mass tort and class action: automotive/transport
- Product liability, mass tort and class action: consumer products
- Product liability, mass tort and class action: toxic tort – defense
- Technology: outsourcing
- Technology: transactions
- White-collar criminal defense
In addition to the practice rankings, the Legal 500 recognized McGuireWoods individual lawyers in the following categories:
Commercial lending: advice to lenders
Bob Cramer, Raj Natarajan and Manley W. Roberts of Charlotte
Energy transactions: conventional power
Joanne Katsantonis and Michael B. Woodard of Richmond; Brian Kelly of Baltimore
Energy transactions: oil and gas
Joanne Katsantonis of Richmond
Energy: litigation
Todd Mullins and Noel Symons of Washington
Energy: Regulatory
Todd Mullins and Noel Symons of Washington; Joseph K. Reid III of Richmond
General commercial disputes
Bryan A. Fratkin of Richmond; David L. Hartsell and Marta Stein of Chicago
Healthcare: service providers
Scott Becker, James B. Riley Jr. and Amber McGraw Walsh of Chicago
M&A middle market
Scott E. Westwood of Pittsburgh
Product liability, mass tort and class action: automotive/transport
Samuel L. Tarry Jr. and J. Tracy Walker IV of Richmond
Product liability, mass tort and class action: consumer products
Terrence M. Bagley, Stephen D. Busch, Diane Flannery and Samuel L. Tarry Jr. of Richmond
Product liability, mass tort and class action: toxic tort – defense
Mark E. Anderson of Raleigh and Stephen D. Busch of Richmond
Technology: outsourcing
Steve Gold and Derek A. Roach of Chicago
Technology: transactions
Steve Gold and Derek A. Roach of Chicago; Rakesh Gopalan of Charlotte
White-collar criminal defense
John D. Adams and Richard Cullen of Richmond; Robert Bittman, Todd Mullins, Todd R. Steggerda and George J. Terwilliger III of Washington
The firm’s U.S. rankings follow its strong showing in the 2016 edition of The Legal 500 Europe, Middle East & Africa, in which McGuireWoods was recognized as a leading law firm in six sectors and areas, its strongest showing to date. The firm earned Tier 1 rankings – the highest possible – for its work representing clients in the manufacturing and retail sectors and it was recognized among the top law firms in the information technology and telecommunications sector and in practice areas including real estate and construction; customs, trade, WTO and anti-dumping law; and commercial, corporate, and mergers and acquisitions law.
The Legal 500 Series recommends law firms and individual lawyers in more than 100 countries based on feedback from 250,000 clients worldwide, interviews with leading private lawyers, and independent research.