Latham & Watkins is one of the largest US firms in London and is considered one of the market leaders in areas such as leveraged finance and in particular high yield debt. 

Focusses / specialisms   

Key areas of work for the firm include banking, project finance, M&A, private equity, debt capital markets, high-yield capital markets, structured finance and securitisation and restructuring and insolvency. 

Industry sector strengths are in distressed investments, insurance-related assets, music and publishing royalties, student loans, pharmacy and health care receivables, solar assets, and marketplace receivables. 

Key clients 

Key clients for the firm include Ardian, CVC, Permina, Platinum Equity, Blackstone, Stenn Assets UK, Credit Suissa, Bank of America, J.P. Morgan, Goldman Sachs and Public Power Corporation. 

Deal highlights: 32nd edition (2022/2023) 

Beauparc €700 million financing 

CD&R’s £7 billion acquisition of Wm Morrison supermarkets 

CVC Partners' €1.5 billion acquisition 

McLaren Group $1.36 billion financing 

Rolls Royce $1.9 billion financing 

Softbank Vision fund $4 billion fund financing 

Client Feedback: 32nd edition (2021/2022)   

Bank lending: Sponsor side 

"Sam Hamilton at Latham & Watkins has been our go to person for our financings for many years. Fergus O'Domhnaill is also a key person in our team at Latham. We are incredibly happy with Latham’s services in general and Sam’s and Fergus' services in particular. In my opinion, Latham is by far the best firm in London on sponsor side financings and Sam and Fergus play a central role in that. Extremely knowledgeable and experienced, always up to date on the latest developments in the market and makes sure to build in the latest technology in the debt documents. Sam is able to combine his impressive technical skills with an excellent commercial mindset to deliver state of the art products that are tailored for our business needs. He is also a very strong negotiator and able to ensure that we get the best possible terms in every deal. He truly is a leveraged finance star and the best sponsor-side financing lawyer I have worked with. Fergus O'Domhnaill is up and coming and is very diligent, dedicated and always walks the extra mile, combined with excellent technical skills and the ability to focus on what's commercially important." 

Banking and finance 

"Exceptional knowledge of their subject matter, leading on negotiations to get the optimum deal structure and customer service that is best in class." 

Capital markets: High yield 

"Absolute experts; responsive; practical; gets to understand the business well." 

"Client service, subject matter expertise, commercialism and pragmatism are all gold standard." 

Leveraged finance 

"Fantastic service, second to none legal and market expertise and balanced commercial advice." 

"Second to none expertise. Commercial. Responsive. Up to date market knowledge. Balanced practice (sponsor and bank). Good client focus and assistance." 

"Very experienced, consistently good and very balanced commercial and legal judgments and advice, good insights, consistently high quality team." 

"Very experienced; consistently good and very balanced commercial and legal judgments and advice; good insights; consistently high-quality team." 

"The most professional law firm in the street, very knowledgeable and always very helpful. " 

"Very professional, dedicated, knowledgeable, producing top-quality work. I am fully confident in their ability to deliver a package with not a single issue/typo and this is worth a lot." 

Brett Cassidy  

"Excellent lawyer, very reactive, excellent advice." 

Jennifer Engelhardt 

"Smart; responsive; practical." 

Stephen Kensell 

"Stephen's experience, calm demeanour and client focus engender great trust. Excellent." 

"Extremely knowledgeable, client focused and pragmatic. He cannot be beaten for experience and solid advice." 

"Strong client coverage, very strong and balanced legal and commercial judgements, a very good adviser, enormous experience. " 

"Strong client coverage, very strong and balanced legal and commercial judgements, a very good adviser, enormous experience. " 

Jay Sadanandan 

"Always helpful, finding solutions and delivering. Great partner to have with you. " 

Jocelyn Seitzman 

"Have worked with Jocelyn for around five years. Her client service, subject matter expertise, commercialism and pragmatism are to be admired. I have nothing but positive feedback from my substantial experience of working with her." 

"Exceptional knowledge of subject matter, excellent customer service - a can-do attitude with innovate solutions to resolve issues."