Dynamic Practice, Compelling Work
Fried Frank associates play an essential role in the Firm’s delivery of top-notch legal services to its client base, which comprises the world’s largest investment banks and financial institutions, Fortune 500 companies and other multinational industry leaders. Working at a global law firm with offices in the world’s principal financial centers, associates at Fried Frank are continually involved in complex, high-profile matters involving the sophisticated cross-border work for which the Firm is well known. As vital members of the firm, Fried Frank associates are given a high level of responsibility and immersed in significant matters from their first day, with ample opportunity to interact with clients and work closely with partners.
Our attorneys strive for excellence. The 2020 Edition of U.S. News – Best Lawyers “Best Law Firms” recognized Fried Frank as a first-tier law firm in 24 national practice areas, as well as 35 practice areas in New York City and Washington, DC combined; and the Firm is consistently ranked in the Vault Law 100. Fried Frank was named a “Leading Firm” in the Chambers USA 2020 guide. The guide also recognized 59 individual Fried Frank attorneys and ranked the Firm in 21 categories across its District of Columbia, Nationwide, and New York regions. Additionally, Asset Management and Real Estate were named Practice Groups of the Year in 2019 by Law360.
Fried Frank is one of the few firms that represent the full spectrum of M&A players, including leading corporations, private equity firms, investment banks and acquisitive hedge funds. Our team advises clients on their most challenging transactions, including joint ventures, restructurings, negotiated and hostile takeovers and mergers, and strategic investments. The Firm has aggressively grown its corporate practices, through lateral additions and organic attorney development, to best position the Firm’s services for highly complex client matters. The group’s success is reflected in our consistent performance within league table rankings, notably in Mergermarket's 2019 Year End M&A League Tables, where the Firm was ranked #5 in Global Completed M&A and #4 in US Private Equity (buyouts and exits). Additionally, the Firm’s capital markets and finance practices have received more than 20 top ten rankings across the Global, US, and EMEA deal categories in the Bloomberg and Debtwire 1st Half 2020 League Tables, including ranking #1 in US Equity Offerings: Issuer (Volume) and #3 in US Leveraged Loans: Borrower (Volume) by Bloomberg.
Our litigators are some of the best in the field, and their expertise in general commercial litigation, enforcement and investigations, securities shareholder litigation, intellectual property, white collar defense and corporate governance is widely recognized. The Firm’s award-winning real estate practice is unmatched in reputation and skill, and its lawyers consistently handle market-leading deals shaping the landscape of New York and Washington, DC real estate. Fried Frank is also highly regarded for its work on critical matters involving antitrust and competition, asset management, bankruptcy and restructuring, executive compensation and ERISA, insurance, international trade and investment, and tax, among other areas of law.
Some of the Firm’s recent headline-grabbing work, from across various practice areas, includes:
- Counsel to Aleris Corporation, a leading global producer of aluminum rolled products, in its $2.8b acquisition by Novelis, Inc., the global leader in aluminum rolled products and the world's largest recycler of aluminum.
- Counsel to CVS Health in its sale of Coventry Workers’ Comp Services to Mitchell | Genex.
- Counsel to Blackstone in its acquisition of a 65% controlling interest in Great Wolf Resorts, forming a $2.9b joint venture between Blackstone and Centerbridge Partners.
- Counsel to Sinclair Broadcast Group in its $10.6b (enterprise value) acquisition of the equity interests in 21 regional sports networks and Fox College Sports, which were acquired by The Walt Disney Company in its acquisition of Twenty-First Century Fox, as well as its $1.025b issuance of perpetual preferred equity to JPMorgan Chase Funding in connection with this acquisition.
- Counsel to BlackRock on the formation of Global Energy & Power Infrastructure Fund III (GEPIF III). The fund closing represented one of the largest alternative asset fundraises in BlackRock’s history and one of the largest multi-regional infrastructure funds currently in the market with $5.123b in aggregate commitments.
- Counsel to Permira on the formation of Permira VII, which raised €11b and focuses on investments in the technology, consumer, financial services, healthcare, and industrial technology industries. Fried Frank additionally advised Permira in connection with the formation of the predecessor €$7.5b fund, Permira VI.
- Counsel to Brookfield Asset Management in connection with the formation of Brookfield Strategic Real Estate Partners III, which is one of the largest opportunistic real estate funds in the world and Brookfield’s flagship real estate fund. The fund closed with $15b in aggregate commitments and is Brookfield’s largest property fund to date.
- Counsel to Bain Capital in connection with the formation of its flagship North American buyout fund ($9.4b Bain Capital Fund XII), flagship European buyout fund (€4.35b Bain Capital Europe Fund V), and flagship Asia buyout fund ($4.65b Bain Capital Asia Fund IV).
- Counsel to BlueBay Asset Management in connection with the spin-out of its private debt business, which was formally relaunched as Arcmont Asset Management in November 2019.
- Counsel to Simon Property and Brookfield Retail in connection with the chapter 11 bankruptcy of Forever 21. Fried Frank represented Simon and Brookfield in pre-bankruptcy restructuring negotiations and continues to represent them in bankruptcy related matters.
- Counsel to Spanish Broadcasting System in connection with its recapitalization which includes negotiations between Spanish Broadcasting System and the preferred stockholder sand noteholders over the terms of the company’s restructuring. The company plans to receive secured debt financing of approximately $300m.
- Counsel to Jack Wills Retail Limited, an apparel and luxury goods retailer, and the administrators from KPMG on the restructuring and pre-packaged administration sale of the business to Sports Direct.
- Counsel to an ad hoc group of holders of senior secured notes of Fuse, LLC in connection with the company’s prepackaged chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.
- Counsel to T-Mobile in multiple mid-pandemic transactions, including $46b of bank and bond debt financing related to the merger with Sprint, including the second largest US bond offering of 2020; $17.9b in synthetic secondary transactions enabling SoftBank to monetize a portion of its $21b stockholding in T-Mobile in the largest non-governmental secondary of all time; and an additional $4b notes offering.
- Counsel to Tradeweb Markets in its $1.2b IPO, listing on the NASDAQ, and $725m and $644m follow-on offerings.
- Counsel to Bank of America as lead arranger and administrative agent in $7.3b of new senior secured term loans for affiliates of Royalty Pharma.
- Counsel to Citigroup Global Markets, Goldman Sachs & Co., and Morgan Stanley, as lead underwriters, in The Procter & Gamble Company’s $5b offering of five tranches of investment grade notes.
- Counsel to Merck in a $5b, four-tranche registered public offering of US dollar-denominated senior notes.
- Counsel to Sinclair Broadcast Group and several of its executives in a significant litigation victory in a federal securities class action related to Sinclair’s proposed merger with Tribune Media Company.
- Counsel to Under Armour and members of its Board of Directors in a federal securities class action litigation, achieving a dismissal.
Counsel to Hospital for Special Surgery, the country's preeminent orthopedic hospital, in securing a litigation victory in connection with its efforts to expand its main campus on the Upper East Side.
Click here to review sampling of Fried Frank's recent major matters
Click here to view some of our recent rankings and accolades
Reigning Over Real Estate
Fried Frank’s Real Estate Department is consistently at the forefront of the largest and most complicated transactions and is unrivaled in both the scope of its work and the talent of its attorneys. Our real estate practice consistently ranks number one in Chambers USA and Legal 500 US and has received the Chambers USA Award for Excellence.
Associates specializing in real estate law learn from, and work with, the best in the industry. We represent our clients on complex matters involving the acquisition and disposition of single assets and portfolios, mortgage, mezzanine and construction financing on behalf of borrowers and lenders, land use, development and construction, leasing on behalf of landlords and tenants, distressed real estate and workouts, joint ventures, real estate investment trusts and real estate litigation.
Among the noteworthy transactions recently handled by the Fried Frank real estate team are:
- Counsel to JP Morgan Chase in connection with various aspects of its planned 2.5-million-square-foot headquarters redevelopment at its 270 Park Avenue location.
- Counsel to WarnerMedia in the sale-lease back of its approximately 1.5 million-square-foot Time Warner Condominium Unit at 30 Hudson Yards.
- Counsel to Blackstone in its acquisition of a 65% controlling interest in Great Wolf Resorts.
- Counsel to Related Companies in its over 1.5 million-square-foot lease to Facebook across 30 floors and three buildings at Hudson Yards.
- Counsel to a private fund controlled by Brookfield Asset Management in its approximately $1.2b sale of a portfolio of five residential assets consisting of approximately 2,800 rental apartment units in New York City, to a joint venture between L + M Development Partners and Invesco Real Estate.
- Counsel to Blackstone in connection with its aggregate $1.52b construction loans to a joint venture between Worthe and Stockbridge for the redevelopment of Burbank Studios in connection with Warner Brothers headquarters expansion, and sale of mortgage loan to Wells Fargo.
- Counsel to Vornado Realty Trust and Related Companies on the redevelopment of Penn Station, including the redevelopment of the James A. Farley Building and the construction of Moynihan Train Hall.
- Counsel to Google in connection with its $2.4b acquisition of Chelsea Market in New York City.
