IFLR 1000
The Guide to the World's Leading Financial Law Firms

Cleary is consistently named as a clear leader in EU competition, with a handful of its partners regularly mentioned by the market, above all Antoine Winckler. "Winckler is an outstanding EU competition lawyer, spot on," says a peer.

Nick Levy and Robbert Snelders also get regular nods of approval. "Snelders certainly has a very good reputation," says a peer, while Levy comes top for merger work. Maurits Dolmans, who recently moved to London, Romano Subiotto and Francisco Enrique González-Díaz also have strong reputations.

"It is a very, very good firm, they have some excellent individuals - it is a clear market leader; a very strong practice overall," says a peer. But for quality you have to pay a premium: "I would say that Cleary is the best in Europe in this practice area but they are extremely expensive, so we use them on a need to basis... it can be the difference between using a bus and a sports car," says one client.

In recent matters, the firm advised Abbott on its €4.5 billion acquisition of Solvay's pharmaceuticals business, BNP Paribas on the merger control and state aid aspects of its 74.9% acquisition of the failed bank Fortis and ExxonMobil on its $41 billion acquisition of XTO Energy. At the time of writing, one topical competition mandate was González-Díaz's role advising News Corp on its acquisition bid for BskyB. Elsewhere the firm was advising Nyse Euronext on its merger with Deutsche Börse.

Cleary also got a string of mandates in cartel investigations in the pharmaceutical, LCD panels, refrigerator, power cable and polyurethane foam markets. In one, Mario Sirgusa helped Dow Chemical contest a €65 million fine by the Commission while Winckler defended Lafarge against a €250 million fine.

US firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton possesses a market-leading capital markets practice in Moscow, in line with its perceived specialism in this area worldwide. Traditionally a touch stronger in equity than debt, the firm has closed the gap considerably this year with a number of large deals in that area.

On one highlight deal, for the firm as well as the market, a team led by David Sabel and David Gottlieb advised the Russian government with regard to its Eurobond issue. This announced the federation's initial return to the market in April 2010, when it placed Eurobonds worth around $5.5 billion, and also included the R40 billion (€1 billion) offering with a 7.85% coupon due 2018. The deal is unique for two reasons, as it is the first Rouble Eurobond issued by the Russian Federation and also because it represents one of the most sizeable local currency Eurobond offering. It closed in March 2011 for an overall value of $43 billion.

The team found itself working on a few of these Eurobond issues this year, including one for Sovcomflot that completed in October 2010. Sovcomflot is the largest shipping company in Russia and is state-owned, to the extent of being listed on the government's strategic enterprises list. The 5.735% notes worth $800 million were issued by SCF Capital, with London-based Simon Ovenden assisting leading lawyer Murat Akuyev in Moscow.

The firm was also pioneering in other areas, acting on the first issuance of Renminbi bonds, that is, securities denominated in the Chinese currency, carried out by a Russian borrower outside China. On this the same team that acted on the Sovcomflot deal advised JSC VTB Bank, and this transaction closed in December 2010 for a value of €108 million.

Cleary also managed to get hold of one of the very few big IPOs this year, acting for Mail.ru Group, a Russian firm that operates social networks and which owns 2.4% of Facebook as well as stakes in Groupon and vKontakte, the latter being a Russian social networking site. Murat Akuyev was involved here too alongside fellow leading lawyer Daniel Braverman, advising on the IPO and LSE listing for the company, a deal valued at $1 billion that closed in November 2010.

Although the team operates on an international basis, going between Moscow and London and making use of the firm's network, it retains an experienced and dedicated team in Moscow. This team was further augmented by the promotion of Yulia Solomakhina to partner, after working for Cleary since 2002. Ms Solomakhina took up her new position as of January 2011.

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton is widely acknowledged globally as a top firm for capital markets work, but its banking practice in Russia is relatively active. "Cleary make an appearance here as they get steady work thrown off from their capital markets franchise. They act for the Russian government too," comments a partner.

Led by Scott Senecal in Russia, with backing from the London office, the firm's biggest deal over the last twelve months came as Senecal advised Tatneft as the borrower of a pre-export financing, opposite Unicredit as facility agent and WestLB as the documentation agent. Completing in June 2010, the deal was worth $2 billion.

"Cleary is good, but are much better in capital markets," comments one competitor, giving voice to a general opinion in the market. However, after strengthening its corporate capability over the past couple of years the firm is starting to see some results, with a handful of rival partners hinting that the firm could soon be moving into the top tier.

This new status is reflected in the firm's deal list for the year, with a pair of multi-billion dollar deals deal representative of the calibre of work this team can act on. The team on the ground in Moscow is led by leading lawyer Scott Senecal and Murat Akuyev, who does corporate work primarily but who is also adept on the markets side too.

It was Akuyev who led the team on the team's undoubted highlight this year, advising Weather Investments on its merger with VimpelCom, the second largest telecommunications company in Russia, which is listed on the NYSE. The deal entailed the raising of a lot of debt as well as the standard merger procedure and as such work is still ongoing. On completion the merger will create the world's fifth-largest telecommunications concern with the transaction representing an overall value of $6.5 billion.

The firm also tapped into the energy sector, with a team led by Paris-based Moscow partner Russell Pollack acting for Gazprom, the largest company in Russia and, globally, the largest producer of natural gas. He and his team were counsel on its sale of interests in other Russian gas companies and related concerns, including the sale of its 51% stake in Severenergia and the sale of $250 million of shareholder loans to Yamal Development. The total value for the sizeable transaction came to $1.85 billion, and it completed in November 2010.

Murat Akuyev, so active in M&A and markets work, further aggrandises his multi-practitioner credentials by being the go-to man at Cleary for R&I work in Russia too. As befits an international firm however, the practice is very much supported by its international network and in particular Daniel Braverman, Glen Scarcliffe, Simon Ovenden and Raj Panasar in London and Russell Pollack in Paris.

The firm is also keen to branch out, being active on all sides of deals in acting for creditors, investors and debtors alike as well as government work too.

The team's standout mandate is an ongoing case with UC Rusal, the foremost aluminium company in the world who have been engaged in a lot of debt restructuring and refinancing work this year. The team was led by Glen Scarcliffe, and with a total value of $16.8 billion the deal represents the largest restructuring of company with operations centred in Russia and Eastern Europe ever. The transaction is expected to go on for some time too.