Public Companies

McDermott Will & Emery’s Public Companies Group efficiently provides public companies a broad array of significant, high-quality services. Attorneys in various disciplines collaborate seamlessly to counsel public companies with regard to:

securities law compliance and offerings
corporate responsibility and governance
executive compensation and other employee benefits
Sarbanes-Oxley requirements
stock exchange listing standards
investor relations

We are primary outside counsel to public companies in many different industries, and we help them meet their business objectives while satisfying their obligations and commitments to regulators, security holders, employees, ratings agencies, the media and the public. In addition to clients for whom we are primary outside counsel, we advise many other public companies on discrete compliance, finance, disclosure, policy, governance and other matters.

Our Public Companies Group frequently works with the Firm’s other departments and practice groups that regularly provide legal services to public companies and their directors and executives, such as our Employee Benefits, Private Client (i.e., estate planning), Tax and Trial departments and our corporate lawyers focused primarily on merger and other acquisition and disposition transactions. We represent public companies of all sizes, including a number of Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 companies. We also advise SEC-reporting companies based outside the United States (including those referred to by the SEC as “foreign private issuers”) and other non-U.S. public companies.

We advise companies and boards of directors on a range of matters related to managing relationships with their investors. In this area, we provide advice with regard to the following:

Proxy advisors and governance raters
Shareholder proposals
Institutional investor sentiment and voting guidelines
The role of investor relations staff
Board independence and operation
Shareholders communications with the board

We represent a significant number foreign private issuers with shares or American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) listed on U.S. securities exchanges with respect to their obligations under U.S. securities laws. We assist these companies in both public offering and private placement (including PIPE) financing transactions, cross-border tender offer transactions, international debt tender and exchange transactions, preparation of annual and periodic reports, stock exchange compliance issues and corporate governance matters, as well as public and private merger and acquisition transactions.

In addition, our international offices represent a number of public companies in Belgium, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and other EU jurisdictions with regard to a full gamut of corporate, securities and other matters, including cross-border securities offerings and merger and acquisition transactions and compliance with increased scrutiny of corporate governance and responsibility similar to that currently prevailing in the United States.