Davis Polk & Wardwell top legal counsel to underwriters of convertible bonds for year to date

By Rebecca Melvin

New York, Oct. 3 - International law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP remained on top of the legal league tables as the most active legal counsel to underwriters of convertible bonds for the year to date through September, accounting for 24.7% of total volume under its guidance, or $3.90 billion in 17 deals, according to data compiled by Prospect News.

Latham & Watkins LLP remained the No. 2 counsel, with the global law firm accounting for $2.10 billion in issuance in eight deals, for 13.3% of the total.

Sullivan & Cromwell LLP was No. 3 on the underwriter's counsel chart with two deals, accounting for 8.6% of the total, or $1.35 billion, while Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP was fourth in the rankings, with $1.34 billion in issuance in four deals, or 8.1% of the total.

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP ranked fifth, with $1.17 million in convertibles issuance in three deals for 7.4% of total volume.

Heading up the list of counsel for the issuers of convertible debt was Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz, which aided in $1.1 billion in new issuance being brought in one deal for 7.0% of total volume.

International law firm Sullivan & Cromwell LLP provided legal counsel to issuers of $1.07 billion of convertibles in two deals for 6.8% of the total.

In-house legal counsel for issuers accounted for $1.04 billion in issuance in three deals for the year to date through September, accounting for 6.6% of the total.

Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP unseated K&L Gates LLP for fourth-ranking legal counsel to issuers for the year to date with $915 million of issuance, in two deals, for 5.8% of total volume of issuance under its guidance. It was followed by K&L Gates, which worked on $785 million in issuance in two deals for 5% of the total.

Details on the legal counsel of all new issues weren't available to Prospect News. Total issuance for the year to date is $15.79 billion in 60 deals, which is up from $12.93 billion in 46 deals through August, but down for the same period of 2011, when $22.93 billion in 71 deals was priced.

U.S. market, year to date

2011 Comparables

	Underwriter's counsel	Amount	No.	Share	Rank	Amount	No.	Share
1	Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP	3.899	17	24.69%	2	4.551	21	19.85%
2	Latham & Watkins LLP	2.098	8	13.28%	5	2.077	7	9.06%
3	Sullivan & Cromwell LLP	1.350	2	8.55%	9	0.350	1	1.53%
4	Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP	1.335	4	8.45%	4	2.256	9	9.84%
5	Hunton & Williams LLP	1.274	3	8.07%
6	Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP	1.165	3	7.38%	6	1.981	4	8.64%
7	Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson LLP	0.862	2	5.46%	7	0.859	5	3.75%
8	Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP	0.483	2	3.06%	13	0.155	1	0.68%
9	Vinson & Elkins LLP	0.350	2	2.22%
10	Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP	0.227	3	1.44%
	Total	15.790	60	22.928	73
U.S. market, year to date
					2011 Comparables
	Issuer's counsel	Amount	No.	Share	Rank	Amount	No.	Share
1	Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz	1.100	1	6.97%
2	Sullivan & Cromwell LLP	1.069	2	6.77%	11	0.613	2.000	2.67%
3	In house	1.043	3	6.61%
4	Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP	0.915	2	5.80%
5	K&L Gates LLP	0.785	2	4.97%
6	Cooley LLP	0.694	4	4.39%	28	0.120	1	0.52%
7	Wyrick Robbins Yates & Ponton LLP	0.690	1	4.37%
8	Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati	0.632	2	4.00%	7	0.765	3	3.34%
9	Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP	0.540	3	3.42%	5	1.064	2	4.64%
10	Hogan Lovells US LLP	0.520	2	3.29%
	Total	15.790	60	22.928	73
Prospect News Convertibles Counsel Rankings

Criteria

• The tables include all underwritten dollar-denominated offerings sold in the United States as public or Rule 144A deals reported to Prospect News.

• Offerings are included in the time period in which they price.

• Amounts are based on the total sales price (face amount multiplied by the offering price). The full amount is credited to the issuer's counsel or underwriter's counsel.

• Each tranche is counted as a separate deal.

• Bonds are included that convert into the issuer's or another company's stock or the cash equivalent; bonds that convert into other bonds are excluded.

• Structured products are excluded.

• Preferred issues are included using the same criteria as for bonds.

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