Gibson Dunn achieved 7 national rankings and 23 regional rankings in the 2026 edition of Best Law Firms™ – Germany.
The firm earned national rankings for Banking and Finance Law, Mergers and Acquisitions Law, Corporate Law, Competition/Antitrust Law, Litigation, Private Equity Law, and Arbitration and Mediation.
Our Munich office was ranked in Bavaria for Arbitration and Mediation, Competition/Antitrust Law, Corporate Governance & Compliance Practice, Corporate Law, International Arbitration, Litigation, Mergers and Acquisitions Law, Private Equity Law, and Criminal Defense.
Our Frankfurt office was ranked in Hessen for Banking and Finance Law, Corporate Governance & Compliance Practice, Corporate Law, Leveraged Buyouts, Mergers and Acquisitions Law, Private Equity Law, Arbitration and Mediation, Labor and Employment Law, Litigation, Tax Law, Criminal Defense, Employee benefits Law, International Arbitration, and Public Law.
Gibson Dunn, in partnership with Williams & Connolly, secured a life-changing victory for an Afghan client, who was granted asylum following a merits hearing.
Our client’s case stems from profound tragedy: his father, who provided vital security services to the U.S. in Afghanistan, was assassinated by the Taliban just two weeks before receiving approval of his Special Immigrant Visa. The Taliban had targeted him for years due to his outspoken support of education for women, free speech, and the rights of religious and ethnic minorities — values that our client also supports. After his father’s death, refusing to remain silent, our client shared his father’s story publicly, and it was reported in international news outlets. Our client fled in April 2023 to the U.S., where Williams & Connolly took on his representation, and that of his brother and grandmother, pro bono.
The team assembled a compelling case for asylum, supported by an extensive record. The team retained a former Afghan diplomat as a country conditions expert and obtained an expedited hearing date more than a year ahead of schedule. The preparation paid off: after testimony and argument, the immigration judge granted asylum from the bench. The judge acknowledged our client’s fear of persecution based on his political beliefs and affiliations and found a likelihood of persecution if he were to return to Afghanistan. Our client can now remain in the U.S. without fear of removal and continue his work as a case manager at a refugee resettlement organization. He supports his mother and younger sister, a high school student who aspires to become a lawyer, and he has reunited with two other members of his family who were left behind in Afghanistan.
Our client’s brother and grandmother fled to Pakistan after the death of their father and son, respectively. Both have now arrived safely in the U.S., the brother traveling on a Special Immigrant Visa that the firm helped prepare and push forward based on his own and his father’s service to the U.S., and the 88-year-old grandmother entering on a humanitarian parole visa successfully obtained by the firm based on urgent health and caregiving needs.
Gibson Dunn associate Janae Staicer wrote the asylum brief, compiled the various applications, and represented our client at his merits hearing, with supervision by Century City partner Diana M. Feinstein and Janae’s former colleagues at Williams & Connolly. The team continues to represent the grandmother in her claim for asylum.
This multi-year effort across three countries by two law firms underscores the power of advocacy and collaboration in ensuring protection for those who have sacrificed so much in support of American efforts abroad.
Gibson Dunn Chair and Managing Partner Barbara Becker recently spoke to the International Financial Law Review (IFLR) about the firm’s launch of its sixth European office, in Zurich. The city’s reputation as a preferred venue for international litigation and arbitration complements the firm’s existing disputes strength, and its high concentration of multinational headquarters and financial institutions “creates significant opportunities and synergies for our banking & finance and M&A practices,” she said.
Barbara also noted that increasing regulatory scrutiny in many markets is raising the risk of banking litigation, asset recovery, and enforcement measures — and the demand for cross-border expertise in these areas. “With our cross-border expertise in both transactional and litigation work,” Barbara said, “we are well-positioned to support Swiss businesses looking to expand globally and foreign investors interested in Swiss assets,” a capability that is “particularly valuable in today’s market, where regulatory, litigation, and transactional issues are increasingly intertwined.”
The Partner in Charge of the firm’s new Zurich office, Christopher Harris, is a UK-qualified barrister and Switzerland-admitted lawyer with more than two decades of experience in commercial and investment arbitration.
Read the full article here (subscription required).
Gibson Dunn is advising the underwriters on Alliant Energy’s offering of $725 million of 5.750% junior subordinated notes.
The underwriters are BofA Securities, Inc., MUFG Securities Americas Inc., Barclays Capital Inc., Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, and J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, with Mizuho Securities USA LLC and Wells Fargo Securities, LLC as joint book-running managers.
Our corporate team is led by partner Andrew Fabens and includes of counsel Rodrigo Surcan and associates Clinton Eastman and Kevin Mills. Partner Jennifer Sabin and of counsel Kate Long are advising on tax aspects. Partner William Hollaway and senior counsel Janine Durand are advising on regulatory aspects.
Gibson Dunn advised Serent Capital and Arbiter, a trusted provider of athletic and school operations management software, on the sale of a majority stake in Arbiter to Accel-KKR.
Led by partner Abtin Jalali, our corporate team included associates Michael Andrews, Chris Ayers, and Jasmine Vitug. Partner Sean Feller and associate Akiva Reich advised on benefits; partner Daniel Angel advised on IP and data privacy aspects.
In a Q&A with Texas Lawyer [PDF], partner Trey Cox, Co-Chair of our global Litigation Practice Group and Co-Partner in Charge of our Dallas office, shared the team’s most significant achievements and biggest challenges of 2024 and discussed how it is adapting to those challenges, which includes managing the Dallas and Houston practice as a singular, integrated “Texas” platform for clients and continuing to hire “the best people — those with the versatility, judgment, and drive to thrive in a dynamic legal environment.” Trey added: “Excellence in talent remains the firm’s best hedge against market volatility and its greatest asset in delivering lasting client value.”
Gibson Dunn is a finalist for Texas Lawyer’s 2025 Litigation Department of the Year Award. The awards will be presented in Dallas on September 25.
Gibson Dunn topped Debtwire’s August lead counsel ranking for the U.S. and Canada, with four new engagements, and continued to remain well ahead in the year-to-date ranking, with 34 mandates.
Debtwire’s Restructuring Advisory Mandates Report for the U.S. and Canada ranks advisors based on the total number of in-court and out-of-court representations. The lead counsel category tracks the main restructuring/bankruptcy counsel retained by a party.
Our Business Restructuring and Reorganization Practice Group specializes in representing creditor and stakeholder groups in the nation’s largest and most complex restructurings and is a pioneering leader in the liability management space.
Gibson Dunn has been named to the 2025 National Women’s Law Center Pro Bono Honor Roll. This special designation is given to exemplary NWLC pro bono partners who meet certain annual qualifying criteria set by the Law Center. Over the past decade, Gibson Dunn has dedicated over 1.4 million hours valued at more than $1 billion to pro bono work across the United States and around the world.
Over the past decade, Gibson Dunn has dedicated over 1.4 million hours valued at more than $1 billion to pro bono work across the United States and around the world.
Click to read Law.com International’s article, “Gibson Dunn Launches Zurich Office, Expanding Its Foothold in Europe” [PDF], which highlights the opening of the firm’s Zurich office.
In a high-stakes battle that put a critical Gulf Coast energy hub on the line, Gibson Dunn secured a resounding courtroom victory for client Energy Transfer that safeguarded the Sea Robin Gas Processing Plant and reaffirmed the rule of law in the midstream sector.
At issue was an audacious attempt by Energy Transfer’s midstream energy rival Enterprise to shutter the plant through a corporate sleight of hand. Enterprise carved off a 7.39 percent slice of its own interest, transferred it to a freshly minted affiliate with no gas of its own, and then used that affiliate’s vote to fabricate the super-majority needed to shut the facility down.
The Energy Transfer team acted decisively, exposing the scheme as a violation of both the substantive requirement that all transferees deliver qualifying gas and the procedural mandate that every owner receive advance notice under the parties’ longstanding 1995 Operating Agreement.
Louisiana District Judge Laurie Hulin granted summary judgment voiding the transfer of the plant, finding that Enterprise did not “strictly follow the language of the agreement” governing transfer of plant ownership. The result was a complete vindication of contractual governance — and the preservation of a vital piece of America’s Gulf energy infrastructure.
Our Dallas team was led by partner Trey Cox and associates Travis Jones and Cody Johnson and included associates Robert Frey and Lara Kakish.
Gibson Dunn is once again one of the Fearsome Foursome — the four law firms that corporate counsel and other legal decision-makers say they most dread having to face off against in litigation, according to The BTI Consulting Group’s BTI Litigation Outlook 2026 report.
“We are part of the Fearsome Foursome because we win,” says partner Helgi Walker, Co-Chair of the firm’s global Litigation Practice Group, “and we win because we work harder, think smarter, strategize more creatively, and dig deeper than our peers. When we show up in a case for our clients, our opponents know the fight just got tougher and the stakes higher.”
The Litigation Outlook report is based on surveys and interviews with general counsel and other legal decision-makers at large organizations with $1 billion or more in revenue.
Gibson Dunn is home to the most preeminent trial practice in the world. We lead the market in trial victories across industries, practices and venues. Clients call on us to handle their most consequential and bet-the-company matters. We win cases that change our world and make a major difference for our economy and society. Our winning track record is unparalleled. When the stakes are highest and the evidentiary and legal challenges appear insurmountable, clients turn to Gibson Dunn to take control and win.
Reed Brodsky of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and Bill Burck and Avi Perry of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan represented the co-CEOs of technology company Next Jump Inc. in a criminal trial where they were accused of bribing the co-defendant, four-star Navy Admiral Robert Burke, with the promise of a $500,000 job in exchange for a government contract. After U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden in Washington, D.C., granted a defense motion to sever Burke’s trial from the government’s case against the executives last year, jurors found Burke guilty in May. But last week, with a Quinn Emanuel team representing Next Jump’s Charlie Kim and a Gibson Dunn team representing his co-CEO Meghan Messenger, jurors deadlocked after more than a week of deliberations, and the judge declared a mistrial. The Gibson Dunn team included of counsel Sam Raymond and associates Simone Rivera and Francesca Broggini. The Quinn team included of counsel Fritz Scanlon and Christopher Clore, and associates Rachel Frank and Brett Raffish.
Gibson Dunn partner Elizabeth Papez and of counsel Melanie Katsur teamed with Kressin Powers counsel Zach Martin to help hospital bed maker Hill-Rom knock out claims that the company engaged in anticompetitive practices in the markets for standard, intensive care unit and birthing beds. U.S. District Judge John Gallagher in Allentown, Pennsylvania, last week dismissed the suit with prejudice, holding that the plaintiff, Reading Hospital, failed to plead a plausible antitrust claim or provide any specific detail about Hill-Rom’s corporate enterprise agreements with health systems. The Gibson Dunn team included Caeli Higney, Julian Kleinbrodt, Kristen Limarzi, Amanda Sterling, Connie Lee and Aaron Cheung. The Kressin Powers included Brandon Kressin and Richard Powers.
To read the complete article visit Law.com (subscription required)
Reprinted with permission from the September 19, 2025 edition of “The AmLaw Litigation Daily” © 2025 ALM Global Properties, LLC. All rights reserved. Further duplication without permission is prohibited, contact 877-256-2472 or asset-and-logo-licensing@alm.com.
Gibson Dunn advised Dianthus Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company dedicated to advancing the next generation of antibody complement therapeutics to treat severe autoimmune diseases, on its $288 million offering of common stock and pre-funded warrants.
Our corporate team was led by partners Ryan Murr, Branden Berns, and Melanie Neary and included associates Nicholas Linke, Jasmine Vitug, and Lauren Guzman.
Shout-out to a Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher team led by partner Trey Cox and associates Travis Jones and Cody Johnson, who secured a plaintiff-side win for client Energy Transfer. Louisiana District Judge Laurie Hulin granted summary judgment voiding the transfer of the Sea Robin Gas Processing Plant, finding that Energy Transfer’s midstream energy rival Enterprise did not “strictly follow the language of the agreement” governing transfer of plant ownership. Energy Transfer’s team also included Gibson Dunn associates Robert Frey and Lara Kakish and local counsel Jimmy Ordeneaux of Plauché Maselli Parkerson.
Shout-out to a separate Gibson Dunn team led by partners Kristin Linsley and Samuel Eckman, who secured a ruling knocking out claims brought by families of victims of the 2022 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, against Meta Platforms Inc. and Instagram. The plaintiffs claimed that Instagram exposed the shooter to “aggressive, combat-fetishizing, and unlawful marketing” for the firearm used in the shooting. But Los Angeles County Superior Judge William Highberger held last week that the shooter himself was the proximate cause of the harm and any conduct by Meta and Instagram was “so far attenuated from plaintiffs’ harm that it is only negligible or theoretical.” The judge granted Meta’s demurrer without leave to amend, but denied anti-SLAPP motions brought by the company and codefendant Activision Blizzard Inc. The Gibson Dunn team included associates Jamila MacEbong and Lindsay Laird and former associate Allie Miller.
To read the complete article visit Law.com (subscription required)
Reprinted with permission from the September 12, 2025 edition of “The AmLaw Litigation Daily” © 2025 ALM Global Properties, LLC. All rights reserved. Further duplication without permission is prohibited, contact 877-256-2472 or asset-and-logo-licensing@alm.com.
Gibson Dunn is advising Technip Energies on its $556 million acquisition of Ecovyst Inc.’s Advanced Materials & Catalysts business.
Our corporate team is led by partner Tull Florey and includes associates Ashley Whittington, Adri Langemeier, George Hang, Caroline Bakewell, and Nathan Halaney. Senior counsel Greg Nelson and associate Nathan Sauers are advising on tax; partners Krista Hanvey and associate John Curran are advising on benefits; partners Sophia Hansell and Attila Borsos are advising on antitrust; partner Chris Timura is advising on international trade; partner Daniel Angel and associate Andrew Hartman are advising on intellectual property and transition; and of counsel Richard Sen and associate Stefan Koller are advising on real estate.
“Great players make the coach look really good. And so, I am very focused on great players, because that’s where it all starts,” said partner Trey Cox when he joined host Mike Spivey on a recent episode of the Status Check podcast to discuss his leadership philosophy and commitment to mentoring the next generation of legal professionals. “There’s no way I could accomplish, or we could accomplish, the things that we can accomplish without all of the talented people that we have here.”
On the podcast, Trey spoke about his journey into law — from choosing a law school to becoming a litigation heavyweight and Co-Partner in Charge of our Dallas office — what he looks for in legal talent, and why resilience is such a vital attribute. “I like a little mutt in the dog … I’m happy to have the perfect pedigree, but I also like to see someone who survived, someone who fought, someone who had overcome very hard things. That’s somebody that I’m going to take a very significant, very special interest in and help develop.”
He also spoke about the importance of growth through experience. “They call it the practice of law for a reason. You continue to practice, you continue to grow, you continue to develop,” he said. “I want to get you here, and I want you to fail as fast as you possibly can, because those are the experiences and that’s how you grow.”
Trey is Co-Chair of our firm’s global Litigation Practice Group.
Listen to the full episode of the podcast: https://www.spiveyconsulting.com/blog-post/interview-with-trey-cox/
September 10, 2025 – James J. Moloney, a longtime Gibson Dunn partner, has been named Director of the Division of Corporation Finance at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Barbara Becker, Chair and Managing Partner of Gibson Dunn, said: “Jim has been integral to building our securities regulation and corporate governance practice into the powerhouse it is today. He has been a trusted colleague, advisor, and mentor throughout his time at Gibson Dunn, and we wish him the very best as he returns to public service and takes on this important new role.”
Jim is a co-leader of Gibson Dunn’s Securities Regulation and Corporate Governance Practice Group. For more than two decades, he has advised public companies, their boards, and independent board committees on securities law reporting, corporate compliance programs, mergers, regulatory investigations, and stock exchange proceedings.
Previously, Jim spent six years at the SEC, serving his final three years as Special Counsel in the Office of Mergers & Acquisitions in the Division of Corporation Finance. In addition to reviewing merger transactions, Jim was the principal drafter of Regulation M-A, a comprehensive rulemaking on takeovers and shareholder communications adopted by the Commission in October 1999. Jim began his legal career as an associate at Gibson Dunn in 2000.
“I’m excited to return to the Commission at this pivotal time in securities regulation, and I want to thank the firm for the unique opportunity to advise such a broad base of stellar clients alongside so many talented individuals,” said Jim.
Gibson Dunn’s Securities Regulation and Corporate Governance Practice Group regularly represents Fortune 100 and 500 companies on a variety of disclosure and regulatory issues, corporate governance issues, and shareholder matters. The firm has a deep bench of senior SEC alumni and longstanding relationships with the stock exchanges and the proxy advisory and governance-rating services.
Partner Ibrahim Soumrany has spoken to Arab News about the resilience of Tadawul, the Saudi Exchange, amid a global downturn in initial public offerings (IPOs). He also explored how this trend could signal a broader shift in the deployment of global capital.
He told the publication: “Tadawul is the largest stock exchange in the MENA region by market capitalization. Its high free-float requirement ensures liquidity, and Tadawul’s inclusion and weighting in MSCI EM and FTSE indices boosts demand from passive global funds.”
Ibrahim highlighted several factors driving this momentum, including strong valuation premiums, robust institutional demand, and consistent oversubscription in retail tranches. He also pointed to the privatization of state assets and IPOs from major family-owned conglomerates as key contributors to Tadawul’s continued strength.
Gibson Dunn advised Marriott Vacations Worldwide Corporation on the offering of $575 million aggregate principal amount of 6.500% senior notes by its wholly owned subsidiary, Marriott Ownership Resorts, Inc.
The Gibson Dunn team was led by partners Doug Horowitz and Atma Kabad and included associates Victoria Dodev and Mariana Lozano.
Partner Jennifer Sabin and associate Eva Gao advised on tax; partner Krista Hanvey and associate Lucy Hong advised on benefits; and partner Adam M. Smith, of counsel Samantha Sewall, and associate Mason Gauch advised on international trade.
Gibson Dunn secured two major pro bono victories under New Jersey’s anti-SLAPP statute, the Uniform Public Expression Protection Act (UPEPA), winning the first-ever attorneys’ fees awards under the statute after closing a loophole that would have denied defendants in anti-SLAPP lawsuits that were voluntarily dismissed the statutory right to seek recompense.
Since 2023, the firm has represented a Jewish news outlet, a rabbi, and a synagogue in New Jersey state court, defending against claims stemming from flyers and online posts that allegedly featured a photo of the plaintiff and urged him to grant his wife a get, a Jewish bill of divorce.
After the plaintiff voluntarily dismissed the initial lawsuit, Gibson Dunn moved to reopen the case for the limited purpose of seeking attorneys’ fees under New Jersey’s anti-SLAPP law. Our firm argued that allowing the dismissal to stand would undermine UPEPA’s core purpose and reward the plaintiff’s strategic attempt to avoid fee liability. The trial court heard oral argument on April 4, 2024, but denied the motion to reopen.
On May 15, 2025, after securing leave to file an interlocutory appeal, partner Akiva Shapiro presented oral argument before the Appellate Division. Two weeks later, in the first published decision under UPEPA, the Appellate Division unanimously reversed the trial court’s ruling and directed the lower court to hear Gibson Dunn’s order to show cause. The court reasoned: “Permitting the dismissal of defendants’ order to show cause to stand would contravene legislative intent and create a loophole in the UPEPA allowing SLAPP plaintiffs to financially harm New Jersey residents who are the subject of their lawsuits and then strategically dismiss their suits, depriving our residents of the statutory right to seek recompense.”
Following the remand, the plaintiff filed a second lawsuit targeting some of the same defendants and raising similar claims. Our firm responded by filing orders to show cause in both cases, seeking dismissal and attorneys’ fees under UPEPA.
Associate Brian Yeh argued both motions at a consolidated hearing on August 20, 2025. At its conclusion, the Superior Court granted both orders to show cause, dismissed the cases with prejudice, and awarded Gibson Dunn reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs. Akiva argued in opposition to a sanctions motion filed by the plaintiff, which the court denied from the bench.
Gibson Dunn now intends to submit its calculation of reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs in both matters.
Alongside Akiva and Brian, our team included associates Apratim Vidyarthi, Beshoy Shokralla, and Ahin Lee. The cases are Satz v. Starr et al., No. BER-L-00596-23, and Satz v. Turk et al., No. BER-L-3175-25, Superior Court of New Jersey, Law Division, Bergen County.