| Slaughter and May | Standout | The blueprint for Europe-wide crisis intervention measures | 8 | 8 | 9 | 25 | The firm devised the threefold structure of increased liquidity, guarantee schemes and recapitalisations for the UK Treasury. Later, work on the asset protection scheme for Lloyds and RBS involved exceptional complexity |
|---|
| Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer | Standout | Strategic adviser to the German government in the credit crisis | 8 | 9 | 8 | 25 | The firm drafted the initial legislative solution to the crisis in one weekend. Later, it developed a unique expropriation act to deal with non-cooperative shareholders of Hypo Real Estate Bank and a new twist on the good bank / bad bank concept |
|---|
| Slaughter and May | Standout | Transferring banks and building societies into different hands | 6 | 7 | 8 | 21 | The firm developed the Banking (Special Provisions) Act, enabling the transfer of £20bn (€21.7bn) from the ailing Northern Rock in 48 hours. It also acted as key adviser on the transfers for Bradford & Bingley and the Dunfermline Building Society |
|---|
| Slaughter and May | Standout | Solutions to the Icelandic banking collapse | 7 | 6 | 7 | 20 | An unusual mixture of international insolvency law and political turmoil formed the backdrop to the firm’s work to recover Icesave funds from the failed Landsbanki, as well as transferring further bank deposit books to ING Direct |
|---|
| Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer | Standout | Reshaping the rules around European Union state aid | 6 | 7 | 7 | 20 | Helping to accelerate the European Commission’s previously sluggish processes of approval for state aid, Freshfields combined legal expertise with commercial and political negotiating skills |
|---|
| Arthur Cox | Standout | Advising the Irish government on the unfolding economic crisis | 7 | 7 | 6 | 20 | Acting on two European firsts, the firm designed the state guarantee for all depositors and developed the National Asset Management Agency to manage “toxic” bank assets |
|---|
| Bevan Brittan | Highly commended | Co-ordinating local government response to the Icelandic bank | 5 | 8 | 6 | 19 | Actively helping local councils manage their exposure to the Icelandic banks, the firm led lobbying of the Icelandic authorities and ensured that councils had local legal representation |
|---|
| Mannheimer Swartling | Commended | Support for the Swedish government | 5 | 6 | 7 | 18 | The firm used its commercial experience to help the government set up a guarantee scheme, rescue Carnegie Investment Bank and design the legal provisions for capital injections |
|---|
| Bredin Prat | Commended | First preference share issue by a listed French company | 6 | 6 | 6 | 18 | As part of France’s attempts to strengthen banking capital in the credit crisis, the firm worked around restrictions to allow BNP Paribas to issue preference shares |
|---|
| Tuca Zbarcea & Asociatii | Commended | Defending the Romanian legislative elections | 4 | 7 | 6 | 17 | The 2008 elections faced a legal challenge that if successful would lead to political paralysis just as the economic crisis began. Tuca intervened to offer pro bono assistance and defeat the challenge |
|---|
| SJ Berwin | Commended | Assisting start-ups in the credit crunch | 5 | 5 | 6 | 16 | The firm designed the government’s enterprise fund, acting like venture capitalists to seed small- and medium-sized enterprises hit by the credit crisis |
|---|
| Download this view as a PDF Output this view to Excel |
SPECIAL REPORTS 