Cahill Gordon top high-yield underwriter's counsel; Sullivan & Cromwell top issuer's counsel

New York, July 5 - Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP was the number one underwriter's counsel for high-yield bonds for the first half of 2012, according to data compiled by Prospect News.

For issuer's counsel, use of an in-house attorney ranked first. Sullivan & Cromwell LLP placed first for deals with an external legal adviser.

Cahill has topped the year-to-date rankings for every month this year apart from January and is now substantially ahead of other firms, having advised on more than three times as many deals as number-two ranked Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP.

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP took third place but was only $14 million behind Davis Polk. Both firms were unchanged in position from the year through May.

In-house counsel was the leading source of advice for issuers, being used for $7.60 billion of deals, or 4.87% of the total.

Sullivan & Cromwell LLP was the leader among external law firms, as it had been the month before.

Debevoise & Plimpton LLP moved up one notch to second among external advisers, while Vinson & Elkins LLP slipped a position to third.

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	43.509	73	27.91%
2	Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP	12.048	18	7.73%
3	Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP	12.034	25	7.72%
4	Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP	7.555	13	4.85%
5	Shearman & Sterling LLP	6.990	14	4.48%
6	Latham & Watkins LLP	5.453	13	3.50%
7	Baker Botts LLP	2.587	8	1.66%
8	Andrews Kurth LLP	2.351	5	1.51%
9	Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson LLP	1.743	4	1.12%
10	Vinson & Elkins LLP	1.431	4	0.92%
	Total	155.909	333
Underwriter's counsel, U.S. market, U.S. issuers, year to date
	Underwriter's counsel	Amount	No.	Share
1	Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP	41.256	69	33.53%
2	Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP	9.755	21	7.93%
3	Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP	6.041	11	4.91%
4	Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP	5.656	10	4.60%
5	Latham & Watkins LLP	5.453	13	4.43%
6	Shearman & Sterling LLP	4.700	10	3.82%
7	Baker Botts LLP	2.587	8	2.10%
8	Andrews Kurth LLP	2.351	5	1.91%
9	Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson LLP	1.743	4	1.42%
10	Vinson & Elkins LLP	1.431	4	1.16%
	Total	123.035	259
Issuer's counsel, U.S. market, all issuers, year to date
	Issuer's counsel	Amount	No.	Share
1	In house	7.595	23	4.87%
2	Sullivan & Cromwell LLP	4.735	7	3.04%
3	Debevoise & Plimpton LLP	4.305	9	2.76%
4	Vinson & Elkins LLP	4.064	14	2.61%
5	Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP	3.836	6	2.46%
6	Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP	3.541	9	2.27%
7	Shearman & Sterling LLP	3.165	6	2.03%
8	Baker Botts LLP	2.996	7	1.92%
9	Kirkland & Ellis LLP	2.402	7	1.54%
10	Bracewell & Giuliani LLP	2.102	3	1.35%
	Total	155.909	333
Issuer's counsel, U.S. market, U.S. issuers, year to date
	Issuer's counsel	Amount	No.	Share
1	In house	7.595	23	6.17%
2	Sullivan & Cromwell LLP	4.735	7	3.85%
3	Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP	3.836	6	3.12%
4	Vinson & Elkins LLP	3.566	12	2.90%
5	Baker Botts LLP	2.996	7	2.44%
6	Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP	2.843	7	2.31%
7	Debevoise & Plimpton LLP	2.554	6	2.08%
8	Kirkland & Ellis LLP	2.402	7	1.95%
9	Bracewell & Giuliani LLP	2.102	3	1.71%
10	Latham & Watkins LLP	1.894	5	1.54%
	Total	123.035	259
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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