Cahill stays ahead in high-yield underwriter's counsel rankings; Simpson Thacher first for issuers

New York, May 3 - Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP was again the number one counsel for underwriters of high-yield bonds, according to data compiled by Prospect News.

Cahill was first in January, February and the first quarter of this year and also for 2012 as a whole and the year-to-date rankings for every month of 2012.

For the first four months of 2013, Cahill has advised on $34.34 billion of junk deals, or 30.9% of the market.

Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP was second, as in the first quarter, and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP was again third.

For issuers, the leading counsel was Simpson Thacher. Latham & Watkins LLP moved up one place to second from third for the first quarter.

Debevoise & Plimpton LLP slipped one notch 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. Emerging markets deals are excluded. The identity of legal advisers was not available for all deals, particularly those from emerging markets issuers.

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

2012 Comparables

	Underwriter's counsel	Amount	No.	Share	Rank	Amount	No.	Share
1	Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP	34.339	58	30.87%	1	34.724	58	31.14%
2	Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP	7.454	13	6.70%	2	10.015	17	8.98%
3	Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP	3.764	11	3.38%	3	9.961	21	8.93%
4	Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP	3.513	4	3.16%	15	0.275	1	0.25%
5	Latham & Watkins LLP	2.621	5	2.36%	6	5.153	12	4.62%
6	Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP	2.131	7	1.92%	4	5.390	9	4.83%
7	Shearman & Sterling LLP	2.107	6	1.89%	5	5.316	11	4.77%
8	Vinson & Elkins LLP	1.435	4	1.29%	9	1.181	3	1.06%
9	Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP	1.250	2	1.12%
10	Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP	1.000	1	0.90%	11	0.796	2	0.71%
	Total	111.240	244	111.514	229
Underwriter's counsel, U.S. market, April
					2012 Comparables
	Underwriter's counsel	Amount	No.	Share	Rank	Amount	No.	Share
1	Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP	7.150	10	32.20%	1	9.058	15	43.28%
2	Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP	1.512	2	6.81%	4	0.275	1	1.31%
3	Latham & Watkins LLP	1.371	3	6.17%	5	0.250	1	1.19%
4	Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP	1.100	3	4.95%	7	0.212	1	1.01%
5	Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP	0.750	2	3.38%	8	0.130	1	0.62%
6	Shearman & Sterling LLP	0.661	2	2.98%
7	Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy LLP	0.200	1	0.90%	6	0.244	2	1.16%
8	Vinson & Elkins LLP	0.105	1	0.47%
9	Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP	0.056	1	0.25%	2	1.350	2	6.45%
10	Proskauer Rose LLP	0.051	1	0.23%
	Total	22.206	54	20.931	49
Issuer's counsel, U.S. market, year to date
					2012 Comparables
	Issuer's counsel	Amount	No.	Share	Rank	Amount	No.	Share
1	Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP	6.270	13	5.64%	5	2.593	6	2.33%
2	Latham & Watkins LLP	4.162	6	3.74%	10	1.894	5	1.70%
3	Debevoise & Plimpton LLP	3.413	5	3.07%	2	3.979	7	3.57%
4	Vinson & Elkins LLP	3.286	6	2.95%	3	3.094	11	2.77%
5	Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP	3.025	5	2.72%	8	2.089	3	1.87%
6	Shearman & Sterling LLP	2.920	5	2.62%	13	1.686	5	1.51%
7	Bracewell & Giuliani LLP	2.300	3	2.07%	7	2.102	3	1.89%
8	Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP	2.294	4	2.06%	11	1.775	2	1.59%
9	Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP	1.900	3	1.71%	21	0.676	3	0.61%
10	Kirkland & Ellis LLP	1.804	3	1.62%	6	2.202	6	1.97%
	Total	89.021	190	90.583	180
Issuer's counsel, U.S. market, April
					2012 Comparables
	Issuer's counsel	Amount	No.	Share	Rank	Amount	No.	Share
1	Latham & Watkins LLP	2.412	4	10.86%	2	0.994	3	4.75%
2	McDermott Will & Emery LLP	1.550	2	6.98%	3	0.900	2	4.30%
3	Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP	1.156	4	5.21%
4	Kirkland & Ellis LLP	1.000	1	4.50%	17	0.174	1	0.83%
5	Vinson & Elkins LLP	0.827	2	3.72%
6	Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP	0.550	1	2.48%
7	Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP	0.500	1	2.25%
8	DLA Piper LLP (US)	0.456	2	2.05%
9	Mayer Brown LLP	0.300	1	1.35%
10	Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP	0.296	1	1.33%	8	0.500	1	2.39%
	Total	22.206	54	20.931	49
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.

• Emerging markets deals 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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