Cleary Gottlieb Lawyers and Practices Earn Outstanding Rankings in Legal 500 U.S. 2024

Cleary Gottlieb lawyers and practices continue to receive exceptional recognition in the 2024 edition of The Legal 500 U.S.

In the most recent rankings, the firm received 10 “Hall of Fame” rankings, 42 “Leading Lawyer” rankings, 19 “Next Generation Partner” rankings, and five “Rising Star” rankings.

The firm also earned 46 practice rankings, 20 of which were Tier 1.

Cleary was recognized as a Tier 1 firm in the following practice areas:

• Antitrust: Cartel
• Antitrust: Civil Litigation/Class Actions: Defense
• Antitrust: Merger Control
• Dispute Resolution: Corporate Investigations and White-Collar Criminal Defense: Advice to Corporates
• Dispute Resolution: e-Discovery
• Dispute Resolution: Financial Services: Litigation
• Dispute Resolution: International Litigation
• Dispute Resolution: Securities Litigation: Defense
• Finance: Capital Markets: Debt Offerings – Advice to Issuers
• Finance: Capital Markets: Debt Offerings – Advice to Underwriters
• Finance: Capital Markets: Global Offerings – Advice to Issuers
• Finance: Capital Markets: Global Offerings – Advice to Underwriters
• Finance: Financial Services: Regulation
• Finance: Structured Finance: Derivatives and Structured Products
• Labor and Employment: Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation and Retirement Plans: Transactional
• M&A/Corporate and Commercial: M&A: Large Deals ($1bn+)
• Real Estate: Real Estate Finance
• Tax: Financial Products
• Tax: International Tax
• U.S. Taxes: Non-contentious

Select feedback from clients and peers included:

• Dispute Resolution: Corporate Investigations and White-Collar Criminal Defense: Advice to Corporates: “They have a great team . . . all of whom are superb lawyers and wonderful people. They are a terrific group.”
• Dispute Resolution: Financial Services Litigation: “Smart, well-informed, great at understanding business issues, and give practical, thoughtful advice.”; “Partners invest time and effort to address concerns and find practical solutions to complicated problems.”
• Dispute Resolution: International Arbitration: “The team is an outstanding mixture of seasoned professionals and hard-working staff, who put forward a deep analysis of the matters. There is coordination around all aspects of the service.”; “The individuals are highly involved in the matters and have—each of them—developed their own specific knowledge, which makes the overall mixture a very balanced one, between technical knowledge, analysis, and knowledge of the area of practice.”; “Lawyers are smart, detailed and business-friendly.”
• Dispute Resolution: Securities Litigation: Defense: “Cleary excels at high-profile securities litigation – often with an international component. The firm has a strong group of securities litigators. Cleary as a firm has a significant international presence; and the ability of its securities litigators to handle complex cases, which frequently have cross-border implications, stands out. Over the years, I have worked with Cleary on securities class actions (we represented different defendants) and seen the strength of the firm’s legal strategy, briefing, and oral argument.”; “Cleary’s securities litigation team has been consistently outstanding for at least the past 20 years, with each generation of leaders training the next one. They work collaboratively among themselves and co-defense counsel, know what they are doing and are focused solely on winning, with the least amount of muss and fuss. They do great work.”
• Finance: Capital Markets: Debt Offerings: “Cleary Gottlieb is an outstanding law firm, all members are very collaborative and all of them are super experts in their field and results oriented. Working with them makes any process more efficient and smooth.”; “We know each other very well, we have constructed a longstanding relationship based on quality work and trust. They work as a team, they know the client and how to handle it.”
• Finance: Capital Markets: Equity Offerings: “Highly knowledgeable and creatively thinking team that delivers strong value.”; “Highly thoughtful, creative individuals who provide advice for the businessperson instead of advice that really isn’t actionable.”
• Finance: Capital Markets: High-Yield Debt Offerings: “Everyone at Cleary is very good at what they do. No matter who we work with, I can count on them being responsive, reliable, experienced. The entire team is amazing. I am yet to work with someone at Cleary who I don’t think the highest of.”
• Finance: Restructuring (including Bankruptcy): Corporate: “The team has been global in its reach and effectiveness. We have worked with them on restructuring not just in the U.S. but in multiple non-U.S. jurisdictions.”; “Our experience working with multiple partners and offices has been seamless.”; “They have a stellar Latin American practice. They are lean and provide practical advice and know their subject matter well.”
• Finance: Structured Finance: Derivatives and Structured Products: “I can’t think of another law firm that is on par with Cleary in terms of its breadth of knowledge and ability to structure complex equity capital markets solutions.”; “Cleary Gottlieb [has] excellent cross-border capabilities and their bankruptcy and regulatory expertise is a unique combination that makes their advice holistic, thoughtful, commercial and practical. Few firms have similar capabilities and none provide that feedback alongside such excellent client service.”; “Able to marry deep industry knowledge, practical business judgment, and keen legal intellect to give advice.”
• International Trade: CFIUS: “Very responsive, knowledgeable and pragmatic.”; “The CFIUS team has deep experience dealing with CFIUS under different types of transactions.”
• International Trade: Customs, Export Controls and Economic Sanctions: “Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP is a very reliable and super professional partner that is capable of solving extremely challenging issues in a very efficient way.”; “The Cleary team stands out for the proactivity of its lawyers, for its business-oriented approach and for its clear analyses and simple and practical recommendations.”
• M&A/Corporate and Commercial: Corporate Governance: “Team is pro-active. Informs client of changes in regulations.”; “The CGSH team is an excellent one, we’ve been working with them for several years in a wide variety of matters, they are always our benchmark of knowledge, responsiveness, sophistication and commitment.”
• M&A/Corporate and Commercial: M&A: Large Deals ($1bn+): “Characteristics/uniqueness: Natural and appreciated collaboration with and highly respected by other third-party advisors, strong support for management and board, including anticipatory thinking and planning; also challenged board and management as needed. Professionalism at all times and excellent communicators – no drama, cool under pressure. Efficiently and seamlessly tapped into specialty areas of expertise at the firm beyond the immediate team/mission, including governance, employment law, M&A, activist investors, and activism, regulatory, as needed. Humble, authentic, smart, experienced, nimble; strong values and integrity.”; “Cleary is a full-service law firm that is capable of handling the most complex of deals and has an immediate response to any and all requests always through with a very knowledgeable set of experienced and seasoned lawyers that get the job done.”
• M&A/Corporate and Commercial: Private Equity Buyouts: Large Deals ($500m+): “Cleary provides high-quality work, responsive service, and an understanding of market trends and developments. What we have found, in addition, is that the partners at Cleary are great business partners – they help us identify and think through issues, as well as come up with legal solutions to business problems. They don’t just defer to the client, but also actively help the client achieve the desired outcome.”
• Media, Technology and Telecoms: Cyber Law (Including Data Privacy and Data Protection): “The team [they bring] to the table is hard working and precise.”; “What makes Cleary lawyers in general . . . is the intellectual rigor and the deep caring they bring to the work – they don’t leave a stone unturned.”
• Media, Technology and Telecoms: Technology Transactions: “The firm is reliable, excellent, and provides a high quality of advice and work.”; “Amongst peer firms, their associates seem particularly well-trained and on top of matters. They really take ownership of their work, which allows partners more freedom to provide higher level advice while keeping the client up to date on matters.”
• Tax: Financial Products: “Collaborative, always available, and focused on problem solving.”; “Very collaborative and technically strong.”; “Deep expertise, efficient work, great advice.”
• U.S. Taxes: Non-contentious: “They understand the client, are technically strong, and focus on problem solving. They are always available and collaborative.”; “Extremely collaborative, clear and focused on problem solving.”

View Cleary’s complete results on The Legal 500’s website.