Practice areas

Whatever area of law you want to work in, you want to work with us

Antitrust / competition

Shearman & Sterling’s Antitrust group advises in a wide range of sectors and on all aspects of antitrust law and practice. We offer an integrated and seamless transatlantic service covering strategic M&A, multi-jurisdictional pre-merger filings, international cartel and monopoly investigations, antitrust litigation, private litigation, EU state aid and public procurement and utility regulation.

Asset management

The Asset Management group offers a broad range of legal services to registered and unregistered investment funds and advisers, working with clients worldwide. By combining our multidisciplinary knowledge and experience with a globally integrated approach, we find solutions to the complex challenges facing our investment funds clients.

Compensation, Governance & ERISA

In today’s competitive marketplace for human capital, executive compensation arrangements that reward executives and create value for shareholders are indispensable tools for attracting and retaining first-rate talent. Corporate governance practices related to compensation must be designed to provide boards and committees with the information and resources necessary to make informed judgments, must advance business goals and strategy, and should withstand hindsight reexamination when decisions are challenged by investors or regulators.

The lawyers in Shearman & Sterling’s Compensation, Governance & ERISA Group advise public and private companies and corporate boards and committees across all industry segments on the full spectrum of compensation and governance issues. With decades of experience, we are trusted advisers to our clients, helping carefully navigate the competing interests of executives, corporations and shareholders.

Finance

Our experienced finance lawyers advise clients across Europe on all their debt financing needs. We offer expert advice under English, French and German law and regularly advise on cross-border transactions involving multiple facilities, currencies and jurisdictions. We work closely with our US colleagues, particularly those focused on the high yield area. We represent commercial banks, investment banks, private equity firms, hedge funds and corporates on a wide range of transactions including acquisition and bank finance, debt capital markets, restructuring and refinancing, structured finance and derivatives.

Financial institutions advisory & financial regulatory

Shearman & Sterling’s long-standing regulatory compliance practice serves our clients’ retail and institutional businesses in the US, UK, EU and globally. This focus on regulatory activity across geographies and the excellence of our US, UK and European practices make us the international counsel of choice for clients with difficult compliance challenges in their home jurisdictions that are also seeking to meet global best practices. We offer integrated solutions to increasingly complex regulatory issues backed by clear technical advice and strong relationships with regulators.

International arbitration

Our International Arbitration group has extensive experience to offer clients assistance, representation and advice at all stages of the arbitration process. This includes pre-arbitral negotiations, the conduct of arbitral proceedings and advocacy at trial. Because we are a key player in the field, we know the majority of the arbitrators regularly appointed to act in international disputes, as well as the personnel of leading arbitral institutions, and we understand the tactics and strategies applied by other law firms that regularly handle investment and commercial disputes.

Litigation

The Litigation Group is strongly positioned to counsel and protect clients in today’s challenging environment. Our team is ready to assist in any crisis, whether the adversary is a government regulator, a competitor, or a well-funded class action attorney.

M&A

The M&A group comprises M&A and private equity lawyers and their role is to provide seamless legal advice to our European and global corporate and financial institution clients on the full range of M&A and private equity transactions, as well as corporate advisory work. Against a backdrop of ever-changing market conditions, our clients benefit from having access to lawyers with a broad base of experience, combined with market-leading expertise in English, US, French, German, Italian and EU law.

Project development & finance

Shearman & Sterling’s project finance group is recognised as one of the leading global practices. Our dedicated, multinational and multilingual team is specialised both in terms of industry and geography. Our industry expertise covers the power, telecommunications, oil and gas, mining, pipelines, transportation, water and other infrastructure and manufacturing sectors. The group has significant expertise on advising project developers and financial institutions on all aspects of the structuring, negotiation, development and financing of major international projects.

Real estate

The Property group advises on all aspects of commercial property transactions and has particular expertise in development projects, investment transactions, joint ventures and property finance. The Group represents a broad range of clients, including developers, lenders, borrowers, issuers, underwriters and investors.

Tax

Shearman & Sterling’s Tax group – with tax lawyers in France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States – takes a team-oriented approach in offering cross-border and domestic tax structuring and planning for clients on a worldwide basis. We have considerable experience in advising multinational companies and financial institutions in the reduction of overall tax costs inherent in operating in multiple jurisdictions and in developing tax-efficient investment, holding and operating structures and transactions. Our diverse tax expertise includes cross-border and domestic structuring and re-structuring, financing, transfer pricing, transactional tax planning (M&A, joint ventures, spin-offs), structured finance arrangements and tax controversy resolution.