IFLR1000 is delighted to announce the shortlists for the inaugural IFLR1000 United States Awards.
The awards celebrate the most innovative US deals and the best-performing law firms and lawyers across the states in 2019, and recognise where firms and lawyers performed exceptionally locally and nationally. The awards shortlists are the culmination of seven months' research, analysing hundreds of submissions, surveying thousands of referees and interviewing hundreds of lawyers.
Our methodology and criteria can be viewed here.
There will be no physical event for this year’s awards, winners will be announced online on September 16, 2020.
The awards research was conducted in conjunction with our ranking research into all 50 US states and DC. You can view this year's new IFLR1000 United States state rankings here.
All IFLR1000 research (awards and rankings) published in calendar year 2020 can be viewed here.
To discuss how we can help promote your achievements, please contact Chris Edouard: chris.edouard@legalmediagroup.com
If you have questions about the research, please contact Ben Naylor: bnaylor@iflr1000.com
STATE FIRM OF THE YEAR
State Firm of the Year: California
- Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld
- Gibson Dunn & Crutcher
- Morgan Lewis & Bockius
- Simpson Thacher & Bartlett
- Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom
State Firm of the Year: Connecticut
- Day Pitney
- Finn Dixon & Herling
- Holland & Knight
- Robinson Cole
- Wiggin & Dana
State Firm of the Year: Delaware
- Cole Schotz
- Morris Nichols Arsht & Tunnell
- Reed Smith
- Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom
- Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders
State Firm of the Year: District of Columbia
- Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld
- Arnold & Porter
- Gibson Dunn & Crutcher
- Latham & watkins
- McDermott Will & Emery
State Firm of the Year: Florida
- Akerman
- Greenberg Traurig
- Holland & Knight
- McDermott Will & Emery
- White & Case
State Firm of the Year: Georgia
- Alston & Bird
- Greenberg Traurig
- King & Spalding
- Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough
- Squire Patton Boggs
State Firm of the Year: Illinois
- Kirkland & Ellis
- Mayer Brown
- McDermott Will & Emery
- Reed Smith
- Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom
State Firm of the Year: Maryland
- Ballard Spahr
- Cole Schotz
- Duane Morris
- Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough
- Whiteford Taylor & Preston
State Firm of the Year: Massachusetts
- Brown Rudnick
- Foley Hoag
- Morgan Lewis & Bockius
- Murphy & King
- Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom
State Firm of the Year: New Jersey
- Cole Schotz
- Lowenstein Sandler
- Morgan Lewis & Bockius
- Reed Smith
- Sills Cummis & Gross
State Firm of the Year: New York
- Cravath Swaine & Moore
- Davis Polk & Wardwell
- Kirkland & Ellis
- Simpson Thacher & Barlett
- Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom
State Firm of the Year: Oklahoma
- Crowe and Dunlevy
- GableGotwals
- Hall Estill
- Hartzog Conger Cason
- McAfee & Taft
State Firm of the Year: Pennsylvania
- Ballard Spahr
- Duane Morris
- Morgan Lewis & Bockius
- Reed Smith
- Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders
State Firm of the Year: Texas
- Baker Botts
- Bracewell
- King & Spalding
- Kirkland & Ellis
- Vinson & Elkins
DEAL OF THE YEAR
Deal of the Year: Banking and finance
AbbVie $42 billion bridge financing
- Davis Polk & Wardwell
- Kirkland & Ellis
- Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz
Bristol-Myers Squibb $36.5 billion financing
- Kirkland & Ellis
- Mayer Brown
- Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz
Disney $35.7 billion bridge financing
- Cravath Swaine & Moore
- Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson
- Hogan Lovells
- Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom
Ditech Holding Corporation$1.9 billion debtor-in-possession financing
- Alston & Byrd
- Jones Day
- Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom
- Weil Gotshal & Manges
IBM $20 billion bridge financing
- Debevoise & Plimpton
- Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison
- Simpson Thacher & Bartlet
- Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom
Occidental Petroleum Corporation $21.8 billion bridge financing
- Cravath Swaine & Moore
- Weil Gotshal & Manges
Pacific Gas and Electric Company $5.5 billion debtor-in-possession financing
- Cravath Swaine & Moore
- Stroock & Stroock & Lavan
- Weil Gotshal & Manges
Deal of the Year: Capital markets
frontdoor secondary offering and debt-for-equity exchange
- Cravath Swaine & Moore
- Simpson Thacher
Levi Strauss & Co NYSE IPO
- Arnold & Porter
- Cooley
- Sullivan & Cromwell
Mars $5 billion eight-tranche bond issue
- Cravath Swaine & Moore
- Simpson Thacher & Bartlett
Pinterest NYSE IPO
- Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton
- Potter Anderson & Corroon
- Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom
Slack NYSE direct listing
- Goodwin Procter
- Latham & Watkins
Starbucks $2 billion dual-tranche sustainability bond issue
- Mayer Brown
- Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton
Targa Resources $1.5 dual-tranche high-yield bond issue
- Gibson Dunn
Uber Technologies NYSE IPO
- Davis Polk & Wardwell
- Cooley
- Covington & Burling
Deal of the Year: M&A
BB&T acquisition of SunTrust Banks
- Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz
- Sullivan & Cromwell
Bristol-Myers Squibb acquisition of Celgene
- Kirkland & Ellis
- Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz
Disney acquisition of 21st Century Fox
- Cravath Swaine & Moore
- Hogan Lovells
- Simpson Thacher & Bartlett
- Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom
DowDuPont three-way spin-off
- Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton
- Debevoise & Plimpton
- Simpson Thacher & Bartlett
- Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom
- Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz
- Weil Gothshal & Manges
First Data / Fiserv merger
- Kirkland & Ellis
- Latham & Watkins
- Simpson Thacher & Bartlett
- Sullivan & Cromwell
FS / KKR Advisor merger
- Dechert
- Davis Polk & Wardwell
IBM acquisition of Red Hat
- Hogan Lovells
- Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison
- Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom
Occidental acquisition of Anadarko
- Cravath Swaine & Moore
- Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz
- Vinson & Elkins
Deal of the Year: Projects
Clearway Energy 283MW Texas wind farms repowering
- Norton Rose Fulbright
- Winston & Strawn
Empire Wind 816MW offshore wind farm
- Bracewell
Holstein 200MW solar power plant
- Akin Gump
- Hunton Andrews Kurth
- Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders
- Winston & Strawn
Lāwa’i 28MW solar power 100 MWh energy storage facility
- Akin Gump
- Mayer Brown
- Norton Rose Fulbright
Mesquite Star 419MW wind farm
- Norton Rose Fulbright
- Winston & Strawn
Newark Liberty International Airport consolidated rent-a-car PPP
- Ashurst
- Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom
- White & Case
Prospero Solar 379 MW wind farm
- Norton Rose Fulbright
- Winston & Strawn
Vineyard Wind 800MW offshore wind farm
- Norton Rose Fulbright
Deal of the Year: Restructuring and insolvency
Energy Future Holdings restructuring
- Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft
- Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton
- Kirkland & Ellis
- O'Melveny & Myers
- Weil Gotshal & Manges
Exide Technologies restructuring
- Lowenstein Sandler
- Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom
iHeart Media restructuring
- Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld
- Arnold & Porter
- Davis Polk & Wardwell
- Gibson Dunn & Crutcher
- Jackson Walker
- Jones Day
- Kirkland & Ellis
- Munger Tolles & Olson
- Norton Rose Fulbright
- Weil Gotshal & Manges
- White & Case
Jones Energy restructuring
- Baker Botts
- Davis Polk & Wardwell
- Haynes and Boone
- Jackson Walker
- Kirkland & Ellis
- Milbank
- Porter Hedges
Nine West restructuring
- Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld
- Davis Polk & Wardwell & Wardwell
- DLA Piper
- Friedman Kaplan Seiler & Adelman
- Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton
- King & Spalding
- Kirkland & Ellis
- Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel
- Quinn Emanuel Urquart & Sullivan
- Seward & Kissel
- Sidley Austin
- Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz
- White & Case
Sears restructuring
- Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld
- Davis Polk & Wardwell & Wardwell
- Paul Weiss
- Weil Gotshal & Manges
Sungard restructuring
- Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld
- Ballard Spahr
- Buchalter
- Carter Ledyard & Milburn
- Jones Day
- Kirkland & Ellis
- McElroy Deutsch Mulvaney & Carpenter
- Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison
Think Finance restructuring
- Armstrong Teasdale
- Cole Schotz
- Haynes and Boone
- Hunton Andrews Kurth
- Katten Muchin Rosenman
- Kirkland & Ellis
- Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz
LAWYER OF THE YEAR
Lawyer of the Year: Banking and finance
- Douglas Horowitz – Cahill Gordon & Reindel
- Michael Goldman – Cravath Swaine & Moore
- George Zobitz – Cravath Swaine & Moore
- Melissa Hutson – Kirkland & Ellis
- Patrick Ryan – Simpson Thacher & Bartlett
- Stephanie Teicher – Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom
- Doug Urquhart – Weil Gotshal & Manges
- Morgan Bale – Weil Gotshal & Manges
Lawyer of the Year: Capital markets
- David Peinsipp – Cooley
- William Fogg – Cravath Swaine & Moore
- Michael Kaplan – Davis Polk & Wardwell & Wardwell
- Doug Rayburn – Gibson Dunn & Crutcher
- Rick Kline – Goodwin Procter
- Eddie Best – Mayer Brown
- Arthur Robinson – Simpson Thacher & Bartlett
- Gregg Noel – Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom
Lawyer of the Year: M&A
- Kimberly Petillo-Décossard – Cahill Gordon & Reindel
- James Lebowitz – Dechert
- Eric Siegel – Dechert
- Jonathan Davis – Kirkland & Ellis
- Edward Lee – Kirkland & Ellis
- Scott Barshay – Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison
- Kathryn King Sudol – Simpson Thacher & Bartlett
- Howard Ellin – Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom
- Daniel Neff – Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz
- Joshua Cammaker – Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz
Lawyer of the Year: Projects
- Andrew Fraiser – Ashurst
- Kevin Ewing – Bracewell
- Robert Goldberg – Mayer Brown
- Elizabeth Dubeck – O'Melveny & Myers
- Rob Eberhardt – Norton Rose Fulbright
- Benjamin Koenigsberg – Norton Rose Fulbright
- Lance Brasher – Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom
- Dolly Mirchandani – White & Case
Lawyer of the Year: Restructuring and insolvency
- Dennis Dunne – Milbank
- Robert Klyman – Gibson Dunn & Crutcher
- Michael Rupe – King & Spalding
- James Sprayregen – Kirkland & Ellis
- Louis Strubeck – Norton Rose Fulbright
- Nancy Mitchell – O'Melveny & Myers
- Van Durrer II – Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom
- Ray Schrock – Weil Gotshal & Manges
TEAM OF THE YEAR
Team of the Year: Banking and finance
- Cahill Gordon & Reindel
- Cravath Swaine & Moore
- Davis Polk & Wardwell
- Kirkland & Ellis
- Simpson Thacher & Bartlett
- Latham & Watkins
- Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom
- Weil Gotshal & Manges
Team of the Year: Capital markets
- Cahill Gordon & Reindel
- Cooley
- Cravath Swaine & Moore
- Davis Polk & Wardwell
- Latham & Watkins
- Mayer Brown
- Simpson Thacher & Bartlett
- Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom
Team of the Year: M&A
- Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton
- Cravath Swaine & Moore
- Dechert
- Kirkland & Ellis
- Simpson Thacher & Bartlett
- Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom
- Sullivan & Cromwell
- Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz
Team of the Year: Projects
- Akin Gump
- Ashurst
- Bracewell
- Mayer Brown
- Norton Rose Fulbright
- O'Melveny & Myers
- Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom
- Winston & Strawn
Team of the Year: Restructuring and insolvency
- Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton
- Davis Polk & Wardwell
- King & Spalding
- Kirkland & Ellis
- Latham & Watkins
- Milbank
- Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom
- Weil Gotshal & Manges