Agribusiness
The Agribusiness research encompasses a
broad range of legal, financial and transactional support for agricultural
projects, representing a wide spectrum of clients. Firms may represent project
developers, investors and financial institutions as well as other stakeholders
from the private and public sectors and offer expertise in one or
multiple key agribusiness markets.
The section covers rural real estate due
diligence, acquisitions and leasing, sector-specific M&A, environment law,
IP and technology relating to agri-tech products and services.
The section also covers international trade
matters including pre-export financing, import and
export licences and compliance with international trade regulations.
Firms may also cover insurance, contracts, tax, employment, regulations and
general corporate advice and private client concerns.
Arbitration (International)
Incorporating both general commercial and
investment arbitration matters, firms and individuals featured in this section
are expected to evidence the handling of a range of international disputes in
front of sole arbitrators and arbitration panels in key
arbitral centres around the world including London, Paris, Geneva,
Singapore, Hong Kong and New York. Key considerations include the ability to
advise on sophisticated commercial arbitration governed by ICC (International
Chamber of Commerce), ICSID (International Centre for the Settlement of
Investment Disputes) and UNCITRAL (United Nations Commission on International
Trade Law) rules.
Another major element the Arbitration
(International) rankings is designed to capture is clear expertise in
investment arbitration representing corporates, investors, states or
state-owned entities under international investment agreements including ISDS
(Investor-State Dispute Settlements) and BIT (Bilateral Investment Treaty)
cases.
The Most In Demand Arbitrators section ranks
those individuals who act as arbitrators on international cases and who are
widely recognised as the go-to arbitrators for such cases.
Artificial Intelligence
Our Artificial Intelligence table identifies the
leading professional advisers to the global AI market. This category covers
those individuals who provide advisory and governance services for the use of
AI. These issues include but are not limited to, data privacy, copyright,
regulatory compliance, and responsible usage policies. Contentious matters are
also included, such as liability disputes and intellectual property
infringements.
Asset Finance
This section covers firms and lawyers advising
on cross-border finance linked to the purchase or construction of a distinct
asset or set of assets (typically ships, aircraft or rolling stock). Clients
may include financial institutions, government agencies, airlines, aircraft
leasing companies, rolling stock lessors and ship owners, to name a few.
Business & Human Rights
The Business & Human Rights section
recognises firms and lawyers with expertise in representing clients in matters
pertaining to human rights within the context of business operations.
The lawyers and firms covered in this section
are experts in a range of human rights-related laws and principles (including,
but not limited to, the
UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights,
the UK Modern Slavery Act, the French Duty of Vigilance laws, the Australian
Modern Slavery Act, and the Dutch Child Labour Due Diligence Law).
They will typically advise large, multinational companies on: human rights due
diligence-reporting; constructing compliance programs; grievance mechanisms to
pay victims; responding to allegations and litigation claims; and conducting
human rights impact assessments in high-risk countries.
The section also includes a claimants table that
recognises lawyers and law firms who represent claimants on human rights
issues.
Charities &
Nonprofits
The Charities
& Nonprofits section covers law firms and lawyers
who advise third sector and nonprofit clients on all manner of cross-border and
international contentious and non-contentious matters. This incudes governance,
corporate, property, employment, partnership, policy and tax issues.
Climate Change
The Climate Change section covers firms and
individuals who advise clients on a range of compliance, regulatory,
transactional and contentious matters as they relate to climate change.
This section includes work relating to emissions
trading, including assisting companies in adhering to carbon regulations. The
section also covers legal issues relating to renewable and low carbon projects,
which includes assisting with the development and financial issues attached to
these ventures. In addition to this, the section covers advice on the risks and
investment opportunities concerning climate change in corporate transactions,
key issues of which include energy efficiency, supply chain issues, climate
change adaptation and mitigation, due diligence and risk assessment.
Commercial
Contracts
This section covers practices that assist
clients with agreements relating to the establishment and development of
commercial activities between non-public sector entities. It primarily looks at
cooperation agreements to conduct commercial activities, including ongoing
supply, agency, distribution, or manufacturing agreements relating to trading
activities and commercial strategies, as well as joint ventures.
Franchising
This section covers law firms and lawyers
advising franchisees and franchisors in respect of both cross-border
transactional and contentious work, such as setting up franchise agreements and
disputes arising from such contracts.
Gaming &
Gambling
This section
covers licensing and permitting matters as well as wider issues related to
traditional and online gambling activities, including casinos. Mergers and
acquisitions, privacy, tax, platform development, anti-money laundering,
contract negotiation and governance matters are all also considered within this
section.
International Trade/WTO
The International Trade/WTO section covers
classic trade cases such as anti-dumping, countervailing duties, export control
and other customs/tariff classifications and regulatory work. The practice area
also includes issues such as WTO and other treaty-based trade and investment
disputes, bilateral and multilateral trade negotiations, and market access
issues.
Leading Law Firm Networks
In this section we focus on independent law firm
networks. The chief criterion is that the member firms are independent of each
other and any controlling entity. For the most part, the network should exist
without relying on a central law firm. A strong law firm network positions
itself as a cost-effective alternative to an international law firm with many
international branches. If effective, the network should help members generate
cross-referral work, and that clients benefit from unified solutions when work
crosses borders. A network's ranking in this section is contingent on the
rankings, and the ranking strength, of its member firms across the various
Chambers guides. Aside from an analysis of the data, the research process
involves extended interviews with a selected group of network representatives
and calls with referees the network provides.
This section
ranks the world’s leading mediators, all of whom are successful resolvers of a
wide range of disputes. We only rank individual mediators in this table, not
organisations.
Outsourcing
This section
covers legal aspects of the transfer of business administration and services to
external providers. The section includes every variation of this process,
including IT outsourcing, business process outsourcing, and legal process
outsourcing. Occasionally unsuccessful outsourcing contracts can result in
disputes and this type of work is also covered in the section.
Public International Law
Public International Law covers inter-state
disputes such as those before the International Court of Justice, the
International Tribunal of the Law of the Sea and the International Criminal
Court. Firms and individuals recognised in this section will have expertise on
a wide range of state-to-state disputes, international humanitarian law as well
as sovereign immunity, sanctions and boundary rights.
Investment arbitration is now found solely under
the Arbitration (International) practice area.
The Most In Demand Arbitrators section ranks
those individuals who act as arbitrators on international cases and who are
widely recognised as the go-to arbitrators for such cases.
Shipping
The
Shipping Litigation section covers contentious work,
including breaches of charter-party disputes, cargo and bills of lading
claims, the arrest of vessels and cargoes, marine insurance claims, collision,
salvage, and environmental liabilities. Typical clients will include
P&I clubs, underwriters, terminal operators, ship owners and
operators, charterers and banks.
The Shipping
Finance section covers transactional matters such as
acquisitions, leasings and financings. Clients can include
financial institutions and shipping companies, among others.