US Based Law 360 Announce Their Top 20 Global Law Firms

While the economic crisis forced brutal cutbacks for most firms, Law360’s Global 20 firms continued to expand into nearly every corner of the world, opening offices in Asia, Africa, South America, Europe and the Middle East, as well as at home. Its top three firms have at least 70 percent of their attorneys stationed outside of the firm’s home country, and together boast 120 international offices in more than 40 countries.

To arrive at the Global 20, Law360 ranked each firm in five categories: the number of countries where the firm has offices, the number of offices outside the firm’s home country, the percentage of attorneys working outside the firm’s home country, the breadth of the firm’s international work, and the size and complexity of the firm’s cross-border work.

While each firm’s path toward becoming a global powerhouse was undoubtedly unique, the firms that made the list had one thing in common: a wide range of sophisticated cross-border work ? from international trade and antitrust to structured finance and intellectual property work.
Law360’s Global 20 firms are at the forefront of developing cross-discipline, multi-jurisdictional practices to help clients deal with aggressive efforts by enforcement agencies worldwide to probe alleged Foreign Corrupt Practices Act breaches by multinational clients, bringing to bear expertise in areas that include competition and securities law.

These powerhouses are also called upon to handle groundbreaking global transactions of incredible complexity that demand the expertise of lawyers from dozens of offices across multiple practice areas, from advising Deutsche Borse AG in its merger with NYSE Euronext to create the world’s largest exchange for stocks and derivatives, to China-based Zhejiang Geely’s acquisition of Swedish automaker Volvo Car Corp. ? the largest international deal by a privately held Chinese company to date.

The firms are also international leaders in defending government agencies in international arbitration proceedings, including representing the Turkish Ministry of Transportation over the termination of one of the largest transportation infrastructure projects in the world, and stepping up to the plate for companies in high-stakes trade disputes, such as the Chinese tire feud with the U.S.