Best Law Firms in the United States for Litigation - Mergers and Acquisitions

Barton LLP, a law firm with offices in New York, California, Tennessee, and Virginia is comprised of an elite team of former partners of “Big Law” who have joined together to create a progressive law firm. To us, legal services are business services, and our attorneys and staff are business-people serving business clients to advance their business goals.

Our mission is to provide our sophisticated corporate, financial services, investment fund and entrepreneurial clients with the highest quality legal services delivered in an effective and efficient manner. We accomplish this because we are an organization that does not follow the traditional multi-layered and leveraged law firm model. We believe that a better product, value and client experience is achieved by providing our clients with highly skilled senior attorneys who work directly on their matters with appropriate support from a strong, but lean team of associate attorneys and staff.

We are committed to developing long-term relationships by partnering with our clients so that we thoroughly understand their organizations, objectives and long-term goals. We offer in-house training programs to our clients and take a proactive approach to reviewing clients’ business practices, contracts and relationships to avoid or reduce the incidents of litigation and risk whenever possible.

Our firm structure and experience allows us to offer a wide array of alternative fee arrangements. We understand that hourly billing is frequently not in our client’s best interest, nor does it necessarily represent the value of our services. Our clients provide their goods and services in a competitive marketplace, and yet they rarely, if ever, use an hourly based pricing model. We know that clients have to manage their resources and create efficiencies to stay within budget – and they want lawyers who are able to do the same.

Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd, P.A. brings innovative, effective, and practical solutions to the complex problems clients face in today’s interwoven and evolving arenas of law, commerce, technology, insurance, education, healthcare, government, and public relations.

Excellent, efficient legal service requires an in-depth knowledge of our clients’ businesses and the challenges they face in today’s increasingly competitive marketplace. With attorneys experienced in a full range of practice areas, Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd attorneys work as a member of our clients’ team, providing advice and counsel for a broad range of matters, including general operations, regulatory compliance, corporate organization and governance, mergers and acquisitions, securities, taxation, employment, and litigation.

Admissions include state and federal courts in South Carolina, North Carolina, District of Columbia, Georgia, Florida, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas,  including the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and the United States Supreme Court. Backed by more than a century of commitment to the businesses it serves, the firm provides clients with the highest level of advice, counsel, and representation covering a diverse array of matters in regional, national, and international settings.

Distinguished in the legal community, firm attorneys have held leadership positions within state and national organizations such as past presidents of the South Carolina Bar, the South Carolina Bar Foundation, and the South Carolina Defense Trial Attorneys Association; including serving as board members of the American College of Bond Counsel and past president of the National Association of Bond Lawyers (NABL).

Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd, P.A. has more than 110 attorneys and offices located in Charleston, Columbia, Florence, and Greenville, South Carolina, and Raleigh, North Carolina.

Jones Walker (joneswalker.com) is among the largest 120 law firms in the United States. With offices in Alabama, Arizona, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, New York, and Texas, we serve local, regional, national, and international business interests. The firm provides legal services to major multinational, public, and private companies and individuals doing business in the United States and abroad.

Since 2012, The BTI Consulting Group has named Jones Walker to its Client Service A-Team, which identifies the top client service firms in the nation. The firm has previously been named to both the A-Team and BTI's Client Service 30, a list of top 30 firms in the country for dedication to client service. Clients have recognized Jones Walker for consistent excellence in areas such as client focus, anticipating the client's needs, and understanding the client's business. Corporate Counsel magazine has named the firm a "Go-To Law Firm® of the World's Leading Companies" and a "Go-To Law Firm® of Leading Financial Services Companies," selections based on American Lawyer Media (ALM) national surveys of the General Counsel of Fortune 500® companies and leading financial services companies.

Founded in 2002, Robbins LLP is a nationally recognized shareholder rights law firm dedicated to the prosecution of shareholder derivative and class action lawsuits.  We are committed to the principle that the directors and managers of publicly traded corporations must be held accountable to the owners of the enterprise – the shareholders.  A leader in corporate governance reform, Robbins LLP has worked with individual and institutional shareholders to improve board oversight, legal compliance, transparency, and responsiveness at more than 400 Fortune 1000 companies.  The firm has also helped secure several of the largest monetary recoveries in the history of shareholder derivative litigation and has helped clients to realize more than $1 billion in value for themselves and the companies in which they have invested.

In addition to serving shareholders, Robbins LLP also represents consumers in consumer class actions, individuals and corporations in antitrust litigation, and whistleblowers.  

At Taft, we work as one team, driven and committed to helping you succeed. Our attorneys understand that innovative, value-creating solutions help our clients reach their goals. Our collaborative approach, advanced technological resources, and depth of services can transform what you expect from your legal team.

With more than 1,100 attorneys, Taft has offices in Chicago, Illinois; Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, and Delaware, Ohio; Aspen, Denver, and Colorado Springs, Colorado; Detroit and Southfield, Michigan; Minneapolis, Minnesota.; Indianapolis, Indiana; Covington, Kentucky; Phoenix, Arizona; Stuart and West Palm Beach, Florida; and Washington, D.C.

Taft attorneys serve individuals and businesses worldwide in both mature and emerging industries.

The firm practices across a wide range of industries in virtually every area of law, including:

• Business
• Bankruptcy and Restructuring
• Employment and Labor Relations
• Energy
• Environmental
  
• Health Care
• Intellectual Property
  
• Lending and Finance
• Litigation
• Private Client
• Real Estate
• Tax

Since 1885, Taft has maintained a constant focus: to provide clients, both large and small, with legal advice and services that meet the highest possible standards.

Affiliated Businesses

As an additional service to our clients, Taft attorneys often partner with members of our affiliated businesses to provide comprehensive service to our clients. Our affiliated businesses include:

• Ginovus
• Taft Advisors LLC
• Taft Business Consulting
• Taft Infrastructure Advisors

Through these businesses, clients can access business consulting across a variety of disciplines, from general planning and forecasting to government relations and public policy.

Awards and Honors

Taft has received numerous awards and honors:

• 108 Taft attorneys and 45 practice areas are listed in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business.

• Eight Taft attorneys are listed in Chambers High Net Worth (HNW), and the firm is named a leading law firm in the HNW guide in Private Wealth Law for Indiana, Minnesota, and Ohio.

• Taft is ranked among the Best Lawyers “Best Law Firms." Taft received 20 national Tier 1 rankings, and Tier 1 rankings by metropolitan area in 154 practice areas.

• 363 Taft attorneys were honored with inclusion in the most recent edition of The Best Lawyers in America, with an additional 136 attorneys honored in Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in America.

• 112 Taft attorneys were named to the most recent list of Super Lawyers by Super Lawyers magazine.

• 78 Taft attorneys were named to the most recent list of Rising Stars by Super Lawyers magazine.

• Taft is rated a Highly Recommended Firm in Ohio and Indiana as well as a Recommended Firm in Minnesota by Benchmark Litigation, and Taft attorneys hold 22 rankings by Benchmark in one or more categories.

Main Areas of Practice:

Business: We provide legal services to public, private, and non-profit clients in a wide variety of industries, including banking, construction, distribution, finance, health care, housing, insurance, manufacturing, private equity, professional sports, real estate, retail, and utilities. Members of the group represent clients of different sizes, from emerging companies to Fortune 500 companies, on issues ranging from local matters to transactions with national and international implications.

Bankruptcy and Restructuring: We represent debtors, lenders, committees, suppliers, real estate owners and developers, equipment lessors, receivers, trustees, buyers and sellers, and other parties in connection with a wide assortment of transactions and litigation. We have extensive experience in the automotive, steel, telecommunications, basic manufacturing, retail and wholesale goods, and distressed-debt trading industries.

Employment and Labor Relations: We represent clients in a wide range of legal services to manage the complex relationship between employers and employees, including labor management relations, employment litigation, day-to-day counseling, benefit plans and ERISA compliance, workplace safety and health, immigration and citizenship, and workers’ compensation.

Energy: We provide full-service representation to a broad range of energy providers, public utilities, transmission-only utilities, independent power producers, developers, regional entities, and other energy-sector participants.

Environmental: We provide services in the areas of trial practice, Superfund defense and negotiation, enforcement defense, cost-recovery for plaintiffs and defendants, criminal environmental defense, environmental insurance and toxic tort litigation, mold and sick building litigation, lawsuits involving environmental problems discovered as a result of real property transfers or mergers and acquisitions, Brownfields redevelopment, defense of claims of occupational exposures, and administrative proceedings before state and federal agencies.

Health Care: We advise individual and institutional healthcare providers, research institutions, and pharmaceutical, medical device and biotechnology clients in multiple areas of law, including business and finance, employment and labor relations, malpractice litigation, insurance, regulatory and administrative law, ERISA, third-party reimbursement (Medicare, Medicaid and private payers) and hospital financing (tax-exempt bond financing).

Intellectual Property: We counsel and assist clients with patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, intellectual property, and pharmaceutical and life sciences litigation, including Hatch-Waxman litigation, biosimilars, computer software and internet-related issues.

Lending and Finance: Lenders and borrowers alike need lawyers that understand market dynamics and help simplify the complexity of transactions wherever possible. Clients trust our team to bring a practical, business-oriented approach to each transaction. Our team represents lenders and borrowers in all types of financing transactions, including asset-based lending, mezzanine finance, traditional working capital and equipment finance, acquisition finance (senior and mezzanine), capital call lines of credit, real estate finance, equipment leasing, regulatory compliance, investigations and enforcement, and consumer financial services and lending.

Litigation: We represent clients in pretrial, trial and appellate litigation in federal and state courts, before regulatory agencies and arbitration panels, and in alternative dispute resolution in a full range of matters, including antitrust, appellate, bankruptcy, construction, ERISA, education, estates, trusts and fiduciary, environmental, FCPA and international anti-corruption, First Amendment and media law, government contracts, insurance, intellectual property, pharmaceutical and life sciences, product liability and personal injury, securities, sports, and corporate compliance and white collar criminal defense.

Private Client: We counsel owners of family businesses in establishing organizational structures to satisfy current and long-term needs, to plan for the transfer of the business to the next generation (whether during the owner's lifetime or upon death), and to implement strategies. We also represent clients on personal planning, taking into account estate and income tax issues, closely-held businesses, second marriages, and planning for special needs of children and other heirs.

Real Estate: We represent clients in all services related to the acquisition, disposition, financing, leasing, management, and use of real estate, including lease, financing agreement, construction contract, and purchase and sale agreement negotiations, land use representation and litigation, and tax valuation representation and litigation.

Tax: We represent public corporations, financial institutions, domestic joint ventures, new business ventures, non-profit and tax-exempt organizations, and individuals in tax matters such as business transactions, employee benefits and executive compensation, international taxation, mergers and acquisitions, state and local tax, and tax controversy and litigation.