Regno Unito

Finance

Our finance team provides active counsel to leading credit providers and borrowers with their sophisticated credit and corporate finance matters. We work across a wide range of cross-border and UK transactions, including syndicated credit facilities, acquisition and leveraged financings, private equity financings, high-yield and structured financings, and project and energy finance.

We regularly advise traditional financial institutions, funds and asset managers, private equity sponsors, tech and fintech companies and other alternative lenders. Our work is focused on financing and asset-based projects, securitisations, restructurings, licensing, authorisations and conduct of business requirements. We regularly handle compliance in relation to regulatory investigations and provide strategic advice around future legislation.

Mergers & Acquisitions

Over the past 12 months, Orrick's London team advised on more than 60 tech M&A deals valued at over $4.2 billion. Our lawyers are well-versed in coordinating complex cross-border transactions, working across multiple jurisdictions within the technology, financial services and energy and infrastructure sectors. We act for buyers, sellers and private equity funds in relation to share and asset leveraged buyouts, acquisitions and disposals, joint ventures, strategic alliances, licensing agreements and group reorganisations.

Dispute Resolution & International Arbitration

A truly international practice, long recognised by the Global Arbitration Review as one of the top 30 firms in the world. Our London team protects the interests of our key clients, high net worth individuals, multinationals and nation states, in all the sectors in which Orrick excels: technology & innovation, energy & infrastructure and finance.

Our team handles large domestic disputes in the English Courts in addition to complex, multijurisdictional litigation and both investment treaty and commercial arbitrations before all major arbitral institutions. We assist with internal investigations and advise on regulatory compliance, contractual and corporate partnership disputes, executive liability for corporate negligence and trademark infringements.

Antitrust and Competition

Our team offers innovative solutions on complex cross-border matters involving merger control and clearance aspects of transactions, private damages actions, behavioural cases and investigations.

We are a leading authority on private damages actions and advised on the first private antitrust damages action to reach trial in the UK. In collaboration with our Brussels office, we regularly appear before the European Commission and the Competition and Markets Authority.

Capital Markets

Our team advises UK and global public and late stage private companies, entrepreneurs and underwriters. Offering a combination of English law and US law we guide our clients through debt and equity issues including IPOs and secondary fundraisings on the Main Market and AIM, as well as private placements and domiciliation for the purposes of fundraising.

Business and Human Rights

In today’s interconnected world, a company’s approach to human rights can have a dramatic effect on its business activities. The rise of AI, big data, gig workers, facial recognition technology and 5G has given rise to a new set of human rights issues. Our team provides expert advice on the rapidly-expanding regulatory landscape and develops legal policy and business strategies to remedy human rights harms. We represent clients in litigation and arbitration relating to human rights issues.

Employment

Our employment team serves as strategic counsel to many of the most prestigious employers in the world, across all sectors. Working with start-ups to major multinational corporations, our team offers strategic and pragmatic solutions for contentious collaborative and transactional employment and human resource matters.

Orrick Cares

London is a leading example of our firm-wide commitment to making a social impact. Our European pro bono and sustainability director is based in London and has helped 100% of our London team provide 5,350 hours in pro bono service in the past year.  Legal Week recognised Orrick as one of the top 5 pro bono firms in the UK last year. And we are honoured to work with our peer firms and NGOs to strengthen the UK and European pro bono culture.

A highlight is our involvement as a founding member of the Greece Collaborative project, focused on providing pro bono legal advice to refugees and asylum seekers on the Greek island of Lesbos. Teaming up with NGOs, other international law firms, Refugee Legal Support and European Lawyers on-the-ground, our pro bono volunteers use their legal skills to help protect human rights, support due process, and uphold the rule of law. Orrick has committed to £15,000 in funding and to sending volunteer lawyers for a minimum of two weeks over the course of the year to provide pro bono assistance, particularly with first instance interviews and family reunification.

Our London office runs an annual social mobility program, funded through Orrick Cares. This program, in collaboration with the Spear Programme at Resurgo, aims to assist some of the most disadvantaged and marginalised young adults in London in overcoming barriers, finding meaningful work and building a career. We host motivated and determined young adults who are keen to learn, network and improve their skills. Over a third of the office is involved in delivering sessions that include legal rights awareness, soft skills workshops, mentoring sessions and work shadowing placements.

Over the last 18 months, our London office has launched several new pro bono partnerships and programs. We collaborate with Mencap to advocate for individuals with learning disabilities and with LawWorks to support families with terminally ill children. We work with Bail for Immigration Detainees to offer support to individuals at risk of deportation. These initiatives received the Best New Pro Bono Activity Award and the Most Effective Pro Bono Partnership Award at the 2019 LawWorks Pro Bono Awards.

Inclusion & Wellness

Inclusiveness is a core value that shapes the way we run our firm. It’s part of our daily conversation about investing in talent, staffing our teams and measuring our success. We are a founding member of the Reignite Academy, which provides opportunities for women returning to the profession after a career break to raise their families. This investment in women's leadership led to the firm receiving the Diversity and Inclusion Award at the 2019 Financial Times European Innovation Awards.

As our firm works to remove the stigma around talking about mental health, we are leading The Conversation in London which includes a 12-month program involving psychologist-led educational seminars, team discussions and monthly support groups for our team members.

Innovation

As one of the world’s most innovative and forward-thinking law firms, Orrick in London is constantly looking at ways to improve the delivery of legal services and deliver greater value to clients. For the fourth year in a row, Orrick has been recognised by the Financial Times in its annual Innovative Lawyers Report Europe for various projects focused on delivering these innovative solutions. Overall, the Report ranks Orrick among the top five US-origin law firms in Europe.

Highlights include the development of the firm's GDPR Readiness Assessment Tool, led by our London Cyber, Privacy & Data Innovation practice. Our TCG practice helped to build and utilises Joinder, a next generation cloud-based document management system allowing founders and investors to access relevant company documentation – anywhere and at any time. They also introduced electronic signatures and AI into their workflow to help speed up transactions and deliver greater value to clients. These resources were developed through Orrick Labs, our in-house team of technologists dedicated to accelerating the development of leading-edge and innovative legal service solutions.

We partner with like-minded organisations that promote innovation within our core sectors. We host regular initiatives with London Enterprise Tech which fosters innovation in the London enterprise technology ecosystem through championing early stage technology companies, supporting entrepreneurs, educating companies on how to work with enterprises, and creating an environment where entrepreneurs, investors and businesses can work together.