Rankings: MVPs of the Year

Law360’s MVPs of the Year recognizes the five attorneys who had extraordinary wins and contributed most to their practice area in the past year. The series showcases standout attorneys across the practice areas and industries covered by Law360.
  • November 06, 2015

    Law360 MVP Awards Go To Legal Aces From 86 Firms

    This week, Law360 will begin profiling those elite attorneys whose successes in high-stakes litigation, record-breaking deals and complex global matters earned them a spot on this year's list of MVP award winners.

  • December 12, 2014

    Private Equity MVP: Simpson Thacher's Anthony Vernace

    Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP’s Anthony Vernace championed a series of complex deal as a new private equity partner with the calm of a seasoned leader, including navigating antitrust regulations to lock down the $13.5 billion sale of TRW Automotive Holdings Corp., earning him a spot among Law360’s Private Equity MVPs.

  • December 11, 2014

    Private Equity MVP: Ropes & Gray's Amanda Morrison

    Ropes & Gray LLP partner Amanda Morrison deftly handled a variety of transactions across the private equity portfolio-company life cycle this year, including an “inordinately complicated” $1.4 billion spinoff and the $1.5 billion IPO of a TPG Capital-backed health care company, to land a spot among Law360's Private Equity MVPs.

  • December 10, 2014

    Private Equity MVP: Simpson Thacher's Marni Lerner

    Thanks to her wide-ranging work representing various private equity firms and many of their portfolio companies — including several of private equity titan KKR & Co. LP's — Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP partner Marni J. Lerner has earned a spot on Law360's list of Private Equity MVPs.

  • December 09, 2014

    Private Equity MVP: Kirkland's Leo Greenberg

    Kirkland & Ellis LLP partner Leo Greenberg in the past year smoothed out a series of high-stakes deals, including the most complex carveout of his career and a multibillion-dollar transaction that put a young investment vehicle on the map, cementing his place on Law360's list of Private Equity MVPs.

  • November 18, 2014

    Law360 MVP Awards Go To Legal Aces From 78 Firms

    Beginning this week, Law360 will profile those elite attorneys whose successes in high-stakes litigation, record-breaking deals and complex global matters earned them a spot on this year's list of MVP award winners.

  • December 17, 2013

    Private Equity MVP: Michael Woronoff

    Proskauer Rose LLP's Michael Woronoff guided private equity firm Ares Management LLC and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board in their $6 billion acquisition of luxury department store Neiman Marcus Group Ltd., earning him a spot on Law360's 2013 Private Equity MVPs.

  • December 16, 2013

    Private Equity MVP: Ropes & Gray's William Shields

    While some deals teams hit a lull this year, Ropes & Gray LLP partner William M. Shields stayed busy advising some of the biggies of the private equity world, winning him a repeat spot on Law360's list of Private Equity MVPs.

  • December 13, 2013

    Private Equity MVP: Debevoise's Kevin Rinker

    Debevoise & Plimpton LLP corporate partner Kevin A. Rinker'

  • December 12, 2013

    Private Equity MVP: Willkie Farr's Gordon Caplan

    Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP's Gordon Caplan had a hand in some of this year's most complex, uniquely structured private equity deals including Hudson's Bay Co.'s $2.9 billion merger with Saks Inc., landing him a spot among Law360's 2013 Private Equity MVPs.

  • December 11, 2013

    Private Equity MVP: Kirkland & Ellis' David Breach

    Kirkland & Ellis LLP partner David A. Breach served as lead counsel on more than 45 private equity and mergers and acquisitions deals in the past year, including several valued at more than $1 billion, earning him a place among Law360’s 2013 Private Equity MVPs.

  • November 08, 2013

    Law360 MVP Awards Go To Legal Top Guns From 58 Firms

    Beginning this week, Law360 will profile the elite law firm partners whose exemplary work on critical litigation, mammoth deals and first-of-their-kind global matters earned them a spot on this year's list of MVP award winners.

  • December 05, 2012

    Private Equity MVP: Ropes & Gray's William Shields

    Advising some of the largest and most influential private equity firms in the world, including TPG Capital, on a variety of U.S. and cross-border transactions has earned veteran Ropes & Gray LLP partner William M. Shields a spot on Law360's list of Private Equity MVPs.

  • December 04, 2012

    Private Equity MVP: Latham's Paul Sheridan

    Latham & Watkins LLP's Paul F. Sheridan Jr. has forged a unique attorney-client relationship with some of the biggest players on the international private equity scene, launching no less than seven major deals for his repeat customers and earning himself a spot on Law360's Private Equity MVPs.

  • December 03, 2012

    Private Equity MVP: Fried Frank's Robert Schwenkel

    With a 2012 resume that includes two take-private deals valued over $1 billion, a delicate cross-border corporate carveout, and the year's biggest secondary transaction, Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson LLP's Robert Schwenkel is one of four dealmakers recognized as a Law360 Private Equity MVP.

  • November 30, 2012

    Private Equity MVP: Weil Gotshal's Marilyn French

    When private equity giant Advent International Corp. barreled into 2012 ready to ink big-ticket deals, Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP partner Marilyn French was ready to lead the firm to some of its biggest acquisitions to date, cementing her reputation at the firm and earning her a spot among Law360's Private Equity MVPs.

  • November 30, 2012

    Law360 MVP Awards Go To Legal Top Guns From 52 Firms

    Over the next several weeks, Law360 will profile the winners of this year's MVP awards honoring attorneys whose achievements in major litigation or transactions have set a new standard for accomplishment in corporate law.

  • December 12, 2011

    Private Equity MVP: Latham & Watkins' Howard Sobel

    Pulling off a leveraged buyout these days is hard enough, but the $2.6 billion acquisition of BJ's Wholesale Club Inc. in June by two private equity firms scores extra points for creativity and performance under pressure, earning Latham & Watkins LLP partner Howard Sobel, who represented the buyers, a spot among Law 360's Private Equity MVPs.

  • December 09, 2011

    Private Equity MVP: Skadden's Rick Madden

    When longtime Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP client Centro Properties Group ran into a wall of recession-triggered debt, corporate partner Rick Madden helped the Australian real estate concern avoid liquidation by raising $9.4 billion in a massive sale to The Blackstone Group LP, a deal that also helped land Madden a spot on Law360's list of Private Equity MVPs.

  • December 08, 2011

    Private Equity MVP: Cadwalader's Rocky Lee

    Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft LLP's Rocky Lee is writing the playbook for deal making in China, masterminding transactions like the venture capital investment in online-payment company China PnR and the Chinese government's stake in a Silicon Valley startup, making Lee one of Law360's Private Equity MVPs.