Corporate
The corporate practice in Skadden’s Boston office includes mergers and acquisitions, proxy contests, debt and equity financings, restructurings, crisis management, and general counseling and advice. We represent public and private companies, including global conglomerates, financial institutions, private equity firms, and high-technology and biopharmaceutical companies. Our investment management practice offers transactional and other advice to investment companies, investment advisers and hedge funds.
Our representations have included EMC Corporation in numerous acquisitions, including its $2.25 billion acquisition of Isilon Systems; OfficeMax Incorporated in its merger of equals with Office Depot, Inc.; Boise Inc. in its $1.3 billion acquisition by Packaging Corporation of America; Novell Inc. in its acquisition by Attachmate Corporation and in the concurrent sale of its intellectual property assets to CPTN Holdings; Rhythmia Medical in its sale to Boston Scientific for $265 million; Savient Pharmaceuticals in its debt restructuring, bankruptcy filing and sale of substantially all of its assets to Crealta Pharmaceuticals for $120 million; and VMware, Inc. in its $1.1 billion IPO. We also have counseled clients in the REIT industry, including Commonwealth REIT in its defense of an unsolicited takeover attempt by an activist hedge fund and real estate developer, and Select Income REIT and Government Properties Income Trust in their respective IPOs, and successfully defended TravelCenters of America LLC and RMR Hospitality and Real Estate Fund in separate proxy contests brought by activist hedge funds.
In connection with our corporate practice, we provide counseling on employee benefits and executive compensation matters, as well as intellectual property and information technology matters. We work closely with other Skadden offices around the world to provide other specialized transactional advice, including antitrust, restructuring and tax, among others.
Litigation
Our litigators represent corporations and financial institutions, their officers, directors, underwriters and auditors in matters of vital consequence, including disclosure litigation, class actions and derivative lawsuits. We handle securities litigation, general business litigation, control contests and a broad array of other disputes, particularly in the insurance, high-tech, biotech, pharmaceutical and financial services arenas. In addition to jury trials, preliminary injunction proceedings, bench trials, arbitrations and appeals venued throughout the United States, we also defend our clients against state and federal regulatory investigations and actions. Our litigation clients have included Aspen Tech, Citigroup, Conseco, Eaton Vance, EMC Corporation, Forrester Research, Fremont, Guardian Life Insurance and Sycamore Networks.
The litigation team provides counsel to many of the public corporations that our corporate attorneys represent. Our Litigation Group also advises on litigation avoidance through appropriate public disclosure, as well as on permissible officer and director trading practices and reporting.
Investment Management
Our investment management attorneys provide a wide array of legal services to investment advisers, private and registered investment funds, investment banks, broker-dealers and diversified financial service firms. We advise fund complexes and underwriters in the structuring, offering and regulation of registered investment companies and business development companies. We also represent sponsors, investors and placement agents in the structuring, offering and regulation of hedge funds, funds of funds, venture capital funds and private equity funds. In addition, our investment management attorneys have extensive experience representing investment advisers, investment banks, insurance companies, broker-dealers and diversified financial service firms in mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, financings and related corporate transactions.
Government Enforcement and Health Care
The government enforcement and health care regulation practice represents hospitals, health maintenance organizations, pharmaceutical companies and medical device manufacturers in federal and state enforcement inquiries, False Claims Act litigation, FDA enforcement, compliance and risk assessment, and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and criminal investigations, and also advises on other health care regulatory and compliance issues. We have conducted internal investigations and evaluated systems efficacy for a wide variety of health care and life science clients on sales and marketing practices, internal audit functions, corporate compliance functions, risk adjustment data submissions and on relationships with health care professionals. Our work has included representing medical device companies in responding to warning letters and before the FDA in the 510(k) device approval process. We have advised corporations and corporate officers on compliance issues arising in Corporate Integrity Agreements. We also have advised hospital and pharmaceutical clients on FCPA issues with respect to business practices and strategies in Europe, India and South America, and have conducted on-site FCPA audits in Brazil.
Corporate Restructuring
Our corporate restructuring attorneys represent public and private companies in varied out-of-court workouts and financial restructurings, prepackaged bankruptcies and traditional Chapter 11 cases. We lead restructuring transactions while drawing on the firm’s M&A, banking, corporate finance, securities, litigation, real estate, regulatory, tax and capital markets experience, and advise on insolvency issues in corporate and financing transactions and on all aspects of distressed M&A situations. We also represent and provide strategic advice to major lenders, creditors, investors and asset acquirers of financially troubled public and private companies both within the U.S. and internationally.
Accounting
Skadden has worked with clients in or involved with the accounting and auditing profession for more than 25 years. We have an intimate understanding of the challenges accounting firms and individual accountants face from sea changes in the economy and the litigation that often follows, to flashpoints in certain sectors that may adversely affect their clients. Our accounting practice has provided integrated legal services relating to litigation and investigations, regulatory and compliance issues, global structuring, acquisitions and divestitures, financing, tax and general commercial matters to Deloitte LLP, Ernst & Young LLP, KPMG LLP and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, as well as midsize accounting firms.
