Sidley Austin LLP

Sidley is a global powerhouse with a long list of clients—from Fortune 500 companies to startups—in a range of industries, including energy, financial services, healthcare, insurance, life sciences, sports and media, and technology. With over 2,300 lawyers across 21 offices who collaborate across disciplines and borders, Sidley helps clients in more than 70 countries with cross-border transactions, investigations, litigation, and regulatory matters.

Chicago & New York Powers Unite

Sidley traces its history back to the 1860s in Chicago and has represented marquee clients from the start, including former first lady Mary Todd Lincoln, George Pullman, and the Western Union Telegraph Company (later AT&T). The Chicago-based firm merged in 2001 with a top Wall Street-founded law firm, creating the Sidley Austin LLP clients look to now.  

Elite Platform, Cross-Border Capabilities

Among the firm’s top practices are M&A and private equity, litigation, restructuring, life sciences, energy, environmental law, capital markets, Supreme Court and appellate, securities enforcement and regulatory, and white collar and government investigations, all of which the firm handles for clients worldwide. Sidley’s 750 litigators use “Built to Win” strategies at each stage of litigation, representing clients nearly anywhere they find themselves facing a dispute. In the 2023 edition of Global Investigations Review’s GIR 100, the firm ranked among the top two law firms in the world for cross-border corporate investigations.

Sidley handles private equity, M&A, and broader corporate matters across major international markets . Clients include public and private companies, private equity funds and other financial sponsors, boards of directors, special committees, and financial advisers. In 2023, Sidley handled over 630 private equity/M&A transactions worth more than $235 billion in deal value, earning continued recognition in global league tables, including ranking No. 1 in the Bloomberg Global Activism League Tables for company-side engagements among legal advisers.

The firm’s Supreme Court and Appellate practice has secured victories in each of the 13 courts of appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court in the past two years. Since 2010, Sidley lawyers have briefed over 250 Supreme Court cases on the merits, argued over 150 cases before SCOTUS, and had a hand in over 450 cases in federal appellate courts. The firm needs three hands to count how many times it has been named to The National Law Journal’s Appellate Hot List and is regularly ranked in Vault’s Appellate ranking.

Clients also turn to the firm to navigate the regulatory, policy, and compliance challenges that arise in conducting business across borders. The firm’s cross-border team is well-versed in local laws across jurisdictions and includes over 100 lawyers who were former officials at key regulatory agencies globally. The firm was highly ranked by Chambers Global 2024 for international and cross-border work in energy, investigations and enforcement, finance and capital markets, investment funds and asset management, life sciences and pharmaceutical, and technology.

Impacting the World

Through its robust pro bono program, Sidley lawyers work on matters involving impact immigration litigation, political asylum matters, and cases involving political unrest and racial inequality issues. The firm has also tackled pressing cases before the Supreme Court and represented medically vulnerable prisoners in compassionate release matters. As part of its social responsibility program, the firm provides charitable donations to various organizations and lawyers and staff at the firm log many hours of volunteer work, expanding its efforts to contribute to local communities each year.

• Sidley represented Invenergy Renewables in its $1.5 billion acquisition of a 1,365-megawatt unregulated, contracted renewables portfolio from American Electric Power. The acquisition represented the largest-ever acquisition for Invenergy, includes 14 projects in 11 states, and is comprised of 1,200 MW of wind generation and 165 MW of solar projects.
• Sidley represented Eldridge Industries, LLC in its acquisition alongside Dick Clark Productions of all the Golden Globes’ assets, rights, and properties from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.
• Sidley represented Sunac China Holdings Limited in the restructuring of its US$10.2 billion offshore debt. (“Asia-Pacific Restructuring” award—IFR Awards 2023; “Turnaround Deal” award—IFR Asia Awards 2023)
• Sidley won a victory for Amgen Inc. when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the judgment of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey in a patent infringement lawsuit brought by Amgen against Sandoz Inc. and Zydus Pharmaceuticals (USA), Inc. (“Patent Impact Case of the Year”—LMG Life Sciences Awards 2023)
• Sidley represented hedge fund manager Louis Bacon in a defamation showdown with fashion mogul Peter Nygard. The court awarded Bacon $203 million—the largest defamation award in New York history and among the top five ever globally. (“Litigator of the Week” runner-up—The American Lawyer 2023)

• TIME magazine named Sidley as one of “The Best Companies for Future Leaders” in the U.S.—the only law firm to be featured
• “Excellent Performer” for Career Development, Associate Retention, Quality of Life, and Pro Bono; “Strong Performer” for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion; and “Endorsed” for Associate Satisfaction—Chambers Associate 2024 “Associate Satisfaction Survey”
• 123 practice rankings and 298 lawyer rankings, of which 19 practice rankings and 43 lawyer rankings were in “Band 1”—Chambers USA 2023
• Best Law Firms for Women and Diversity, 2023—Seramount
• Ranked second among the best organizations for employee training and development—Chief Learning Officer’s 2023 LearningElite List