2024 DIVERSITY DATABASE PREMIUM SPONSOR Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP

Cleary is a leading global law firm with offices on four continents and an unparalleled reputation for groundbreaking work. A dominant player in the international and corporate business world, Cleary has increased both its corporate and litigation capabilities, strengthening and expanding the full suite of resources it offers clients.

Globetrotting Trendsetter

Founded in 1946 by four former partners of the Wall Street law firm Root Clark and three attorneys steeped in government service (including Henry Friendly, a preeminent federal judge widely known from his time on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit), Cleary Gottlieb simultaneously opened offices in New York and Washington, DC. The firm almost immediately began to expand its global footprint in 1949 with the opening of its Paris office, hiring local lawyers who were partially trained in the United States. The firm opened an office in Brussels in 1960, which contributed to the firm’s leading role in the burgeoning Eurodollar markets when the European Community came to Belgium a few years later. Once Cleary started expanding, it didn’t stop; today, the firm operates offices throughout Europe, Asia, South America, and the Middle East. Most recently, the firm expanded to the Bay Area, opening offices in Silicon Valley and San Francisco.

Foreign Governments on Speed Dial

Cleary is known for its representation of national governments, especially in advising on sovereign debt restructurings and financings. The firm represented Greece in the largest-ever sovereign debt restructuring and largest-ever bond exchange, valued at €206 billion and €31.9 billion, respectively, as well as Argentina in its $63.4 billion debt restructuring. The firm has also advised on bond offerings for innumerable sovereigns, including Benin, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Côte d’Ivoire, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Mexico, Mongolia, the Philippines, and Senegal. Other prominent sovereign clients have included Armenia, Barbados, Belize, Chad, Colombia, Egypt, France, Guatemala, Iraq, Korea, Malaysia, Paraguay, Peru, Togo, and Uruguay. Notably, Cleary represented the Puerto Rico Public-Private Partnerships Authority in a landmark agreement intended to transform Puerto Rico’s electric sector; the transaction represents a historic milestone in the Government of Puerto Rico’s objective of providing modern, affordable, resilient, and reliable power to the island and will help serve as a driver of economic recovery and growth.

An “integrated global partnership,” Cleary makes headlines worldwide with its highly regarded corporate, antitrust, and litigation practices. Cleary has represented Levi Strauss & Co. in connection with its initial public offerings and dual-class capital structure; Broadcom in its acquisition of VMware, a cash-and-stock transaction valued at approximately $87 billion; T-Mobile in its $146 billion merger with Sprint (which included securing a decisive victory in an unprecedented multistate lawsuit by a group of state attorneys general attempting to block the merger); longstanding client Credit Suisse in connection with its merger with UBS, following the intervention of the Swiss Federal Department of Finance, the Swiss National Bank, and Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority; and Sue Gove, the CEO of Bed Bath & Beyond Inc., in successfully obtaining the dismissal of a putative securities class action.; The firm also advised Artémis, the Pinault family’s investment company and controlling shareholder of luxury group Kering, in its acquisition of a majority stake in talent agency CAA; and Disney, in the combination of its Star India business with Viacom18 to form a new strategic joint venture with Reliance Industries Limited.

Welcome Back

Alumni of the firm are found in corporate C-suites, U.S. attorney’s offices, and government agencies, and lawyers regularly choose to return to Cleary following their years of government service. Cleary also boasts among its ranks former federal prosecutors, former deputy assistant attorneys general in the DOJ’s Antitrust Division, a former director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition, a former chief litigation counsel of the SEC’s Enforcement Division, and a former chief of the DOJ’s FCPA Unit.

• Cleary represented Disney and 21st Century Fox on matters related to Disney’s acquisition of 21CF, one of the largest and most complex media transactions of all time.
• Cleary represented T-Mobile and Deutsche Telekom in connection with T-Mobile’s merger with Sprint, securing a decisive victory in an unprecedented multistate lawsuit filed in an attempt to block the merger.
• Cleary successfully represented Brazilian state-controlled oil company Petrobras in its historic securities litigation arising out of the widely covered corruption scandal Lava Jato (Operation Carwash).
• Cleary represented Greece in restructuring over €200 billion of government bonds—the largest sovereign debt restructuring in history.

• No. 1 in the Top 25 “Global Elite,” 2024—Global Competition Review
• Law Firm of the Year in Latin America (for a record 11th time), 2023—LatinFinance
• Top 5 Restructuring Firm, 2023—Global Restructuring Review
• Top 15 Firm on A-List, 2023—The American Lawyer
• Best International Firm: Work-Life Balance, 2023— Euromoney Americas Women in Business Law Awards