Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP, formerly Cleary, Gottlieb, Friendly & Cox and Cleary, Gottlieb, Friendly, Steen & Hamilton, and known as Cleary Gottlieb, is an American multinational white shoe law firm. It is headquartered at One Liberty Plaza in New York City, with over 1,000 lawyers practicing worldwide.[1]

History

The firm was founded in 1946, when six partners from Root, Clark, Buckner & Howland left to found a firm, Cleary, Gottlieb, Friendly & Cox. One of those partners was Henry Friendly, whose name was removed from the firm's name after he was appointed as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in 1959, as is customary.

In August 2007, Manhattan federal judge Loretta Preska imposed monetary sanctions on Cleary Gottlieb for improperly trying to dissuade a witness, French-Congolese businessman Medard Mbemba, from testifying in Kensington International Ltd. v. Republic of Congo, in which Kensington, which was trying to collect on a nearly $57 million judgement against Congo and Cleary Gottlieb was representing Congo.[3][4]

Notable clients and cases

Cleary Gottlieb has been engaged in several cases involving the restructuring of sovereign debt. Most recently, they have represented Greece, the Republic of Congo and the Ivory Coast.[15] Other notable cases include:

Advised Argentina in the 2005 restructuring of its $81.8 billion global debt, and in 2012 it represented Greece in the largest ever sovereign-debt restructuring and the largest ever bond exchange. But in 2014, a number of commentators criticized the firm severely for its handling of the Argentinian debt case.[15]

In 2011, represented the Chinese company Sichuan Hongda Group in its $3 billion investment in Tanzania, a joint venture with Tanzania's National Development Corporation (NDC) that constituted the largest investment venture in East Africa to date.[16]

In 2007, legal adviser to T-Mobile in its $2.4 billion merger with SunCom Wireless.[17]

Defended the Republic of Congo in litigation in the United States arising from attempts to garnish Congo's oil royalties.[18]

Represented Mittal Steel Czech subsidiary in ICC arbitration claim brought by Dutch contractor.[19]

Advised Google in its acquisition of Motorola Mobility.[20]

In 2012, provided legal counsel to T-Mobile US and Deutsche Telekom in connection with T-Mobile US's merger with Sprint Corporation.[21]

In 2012, international counsel to The Hellenic Republic in connection with its invitation, launched on February 24, relating to approximately €206 billion face amount of Greek bonds held by private sector holders, the largest ever sovereign debt restructuring and the largest ever bond exchange.[22]

In 2014, represented Russia in the case of Yukos, a company that the Russian government had broken up in 2003, after arresting its owner, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, on charges of tax evasion. Courts in several countries later ruled that the Russian government's real intent was to destroy Yukos, seize its assets, and punish Khodorkovsky, a political enemy.[23] The largest arbitration award in history, $50 billion, was won by Yukos' former owners against Russia.[24] In April 2016, a Dutch Court of the Hague overturned the award.[25]

In 2014, retained by the government of Puerto Rico, to help in the restructuring of its $72 billion public debt[26]

In 2017, represented The Dow Chemical Company on the antitrust aspects of its $130 billion merger of equals with DuPont, the third-largest ever.[27]

In 2018, represented the Walt Disney Company and 21st Century Fox on antitrust matters related to Disney's $71.3 billion acquisition of 21st Century Fox assets.[28]

In 2018, advised on the $146 Billion Sprint T-Mobile merger.[29]

Starting in 2022, represents Alphabet in their compliance with the EU's Digital Markets Act. [30]

headquarters	One Liberty Plaza New York City
num offices	17
num attorneys	1,050+
practice areas	General practice
revenue	$1.7 billion (2024)‡R1R‡
key people	Michael Gerstenzang, Senior partner‡R2R‡ Jeffrey D. Karpf, Managing partner
date founded	1946
founder	Henry Friendly Leo Gottlieb
company type	Limited liability partnership
homepage	https://clearygottlieb.com

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton

History

Offices

Notable lawyers

Notable clients and cases

Buchheit and collective action

See also

External links

References