2024 DIVERSITY DATABASE UNDERWRITER Clifford Chance US LLP

With 2,500 lawyers across more than 30 offices around the globe, Clifford Chance is a legal behemoth. The firm boasts a growing practice in the United States and a global reputation that shines.

Brits and Yanks

The modern Clifford Chance was created in 1987 when the giant U.K. firms Coward Chance and Clifford Turner merged, creating an entity The Times of London called “the country’s first mega law firm.” Indeed, Clifford Chance was twice as large as the firm that had previously been the U.K.’s largest: Linklaters & Paines. Over the years, Clifford Chance has opened offices and built client lists around the world, adopting a cross-border focus long before such an outlook became commonplace. The firm grew from hundreds of attorneys to thousands, which enabled it to take on several major deals and cases and work on them simultaneously. 

Starting in the 1990s, Clifford Chance blazed the trail for international firms to practice U.S. law. Now over two decades since its merger with New York litigation powerhouse Rogers & Wells, Clifford Chance is a thriving, full-service U.S. firm with over 300 lawyers and offices in Houston, New York, and Washington, DC. According to the firm, its U.S. practice is currently the firm’s No. 1 priority.

Delivering the Best

Today, Clifford Chance has 33 offices spanning key markets across the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. With a particularly strong reputation in the financial sector, the firm offers substantive experience in a wide array of practice areas and industry sectors, including banking and finance, capital markets, corporate, litigation and dispute resolution, real estate, tax pensions, and employment. The firm also offers numerous cross-practice areas, such as those common in Latin America (including energy, infrastructure, M&A, and capital markets), as well as regulatory, and technology (such as fintech). 

First-year associates in the firm’s transactional practice enter the Clifford Chance transactional pool and remain there for eighteen months and receive assignments in banking and finance, capital markets, corporate, and real estate. A dedicated assignment team oversees the pool and aims to provide associates with assignments that align with their long-term goals.

Lawyers at the firm can also make their practice more efficient by calling on the firm’s Best Delivery Team. According to the firm, “These specialists focus on continuous improvement, project management, and legal technology to help make the practice of law more efficient and allow our associates to better focus on the legal aspects of each matter.”

Commitment by Committee

Looking to improve diversity? Clifford Chance has a committee for that. The firm’s Diversity Committee is comprised of nine subcommittees: the Asian, Asian-American, and Pacific Islanders Subcommittee; the Black and Latino Subcommittee; the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBTQ+) Subcommittee (known as Arcus); Enable, a group supporting colleagues living with a disability and who are neurodiverse; the Jewish Affinity Group; MENASA; Veterans and Affiliates (known as CliffVets); the Women’s Subcommittee; and the Working Parents Subcommittee. The firm is vocal about its commitment to creating a diverse workplace and has been successful, as indicated by its attainment of Mansfield Certification.

• Clifford Chance acted as counsel to VanEck on the registration and launch of the first spot bitcoin ETF in the United States.
• Clifford Chance advised Australia's Karoon Energy on its ~US$760 million entry into the Gulf of Mexico via acquisition of interests in multiple oil and gas assets from LLOG Exploration and affiliates.
• Clifford Chance advised the Initial Purchasers on a sovereign bond issuance by the Republic of Costa Rica of US$1.5 billion aggregate principal amount of 7.3% notes due 2054.
• Clifford Chance advised on IDB Invest's US$1.8 billion A/B tariff stabilization purchase facility and the securitization of MPC Securities.

• Chambers Associate Satisfaction Survey 2023: Elite firm in: DE&I, Associate Satisfaction, Retention and Quality of Life
• Chambers Associate Satisfaction Survey 2023: Excellent performer in Associate Career Development and Pro Bono
• Ranked #1 in the 2023 Stonewall Top 100 Employers List, which celebrates pioneering efforts and commitments of leading organizations to LGBTQ+ workplace inclusion
• Infrastructure Law Firm of the Year 2023 – Andes: LatinFinance Project & Infrastructure Finance Awards
• Law Firm of the Year 2023 – SCI Capital Relief Trades Awards