Cahill Gordon top high-yield underwriter's counsel; Vinson & Elkins top issuer's counsel

New York, April 4 - Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP was the top underwriter's counsel for high-yield bonds for the first quarter, according to data compiled by Prospect News.

For issuer's counsel, use of an in-house attorney ranked first. Vinson & Elkins LLP worked on the largest dollar amount of deals where an external law firm was used.

Cahill, which also took the number one spot for the year-to-date rankings in February, was far ahead of other firms as underwriter's counsel, accounting for $24.13 billion in 37 deals, or 24.6% of the market. That was almost 2.5 times as much as the second placed firm, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, which advised underwriters for $9.39 billion of new issues in 19 transactions. Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP was third at $5.34 billion in seven deals.

In-house counsel was the leading source of advice for issuers, accounting for $5.06 billion, or 5.2% of the total.

Vinson & Elkins, the leading external firm, advised on 11 deals totaling $3.09 billion, or 3.2% of the market.

The tables cover high-yield bond deals offered in the United States via a registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission or under Rule 144A. The identity of legal advisers was not available for all deals, particularly those from emerging markets issuers.

Underwriter's counsel, U.S. market, all issuers, year to date

	Underwriter's counsel	Amount	No.	Share
1	Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP	24.126	37	24.61%
2	Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP	9.391	19	9.58%
3	Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP	5.340	7	5.45%
4	Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP	5.142	9	5.25%
5	Shearman & Sterling LLP	4.966	10	5.07%
6	Latham & Watkins LLP	4.903	11	5.00%
7	Baker Botts LLP	2.031	6	2.07%
8	Vinson & Elkins LLP	1.181	3	1.20%
9	Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP	0.975	2	0.99%
10	Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP	0.796	2	0.81%
	Total	98.020	199
Underwriter's counsel, U.S. market, U.S. issuers, year to date
	Underwriter's counsel	Amount	No.	Share
1	Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP	22.573	34	28.54%
2	Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP	8.590	16	10.86%
3	Latham & Watkins LLP	4.903	11	6.20%
4	Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP	4.090	6	5.17%
5	Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP	3.250	5	4.11%
6	Shearman & Sterling LLP	2.676	6	3.38%
7	Baker Botts LLP	2.031	6	2.57%
8	Vinson & Elkins LLP	1.181	3	1.49%
9	Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP	0.796	2	1.01%
10	Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson LLP	0.500	1	0.63%
	Total	79.091	152
Issuer's counsel, U.S. market, all issuers, year to date
	Issuer's counsel	Amount	No.	Share
1	In house	5.057	17	5.16%
2	Vinson & Elkins LLP	3.094	11	3.16%
3	Baker Botts LLP	2.616	5	2.67%
4	Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP	2.521	6	2.57%
5	Bracewell & Giuliani LLP	2.102	3	2.14%
6	Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP	2.089	3	2.13%
7	Shearman & Sterling LLP	2.058	6	2.10%
8	Sullivan & Cromwell LLP	1.950	2	1.99%
9	Kirkland & Ellis LLP	1.762	3	1.80%
10	Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy LLP	1.700	3	1.73%
	Total	98.020	199
Issuer's counsel, U.S. market, U.S. issuers, year to date
	Issuer's counsel	Amount	No.	Share
1	In house	5.057	17	6.39%
2	Vinson & Elkins LLP	2.995	10	3.79%
3	Baker Botts LLP	2.616	5	3.31%
4	Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP	2.221	5	2.81%
5	Bracewell & Giuliani LLP	2.102	3	2.66%
6	Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP	2.089	3	2.64%
7	Sullivan & Cromwell LLP	1.950	2	2.47%
8	Shearman & Sterling LLP	1.747	4	2.08%
9	Kirkland & Ellis LLP	1.762	3	2.23%
10	Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy LLP	1.200	2	1.51%
	Total	79.091	152
Prospect News High Yield 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.

• Convertibles, trust preferreds, capital securities and preferred stock are excluded.

• Deals rated investment grade by either Standard & Poor's or Moody's Investors Service are excluded, but deals not rated by both are included.

• 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. For multiple firms, the total value is divided equally.

• Units made up of a bond and a warrant are included; other units are excluded.

• Sovereign issues are excluded.

• Each tranche is counted as a separate deal.

• Passthroughs, collateral trust and equipment trust certificates are included.

• Best efforts and non-underwritten deals are excluded as are remarketings.

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