Our international practice is designed to serve the transactional needsof U.S. financial institutions and companies operating abroad andnon-U.S. enterprises with stateside operations or internationalfinancing needs. Lawyers in all of our offices and transactionalpractice areas collaborate in this practice. It is comprehensive andincludes financing, debt restructuring, securitization, investmentfunds, securities offerings, privatization transactions, debt-equityconversions, cross-border joint ventures, merger and acquisitiontransactions, technology licensing, international insurance, foreigntrade, and tax planning and litigation. Former U.S. Commerce Secretaryand U.S. Trade Representative Mickey Kantor, a partner in our Washingtonoffice, has developed a specialized market opening practice, whichfocuses on market access issues, helping clients to expand theiractivities in foreign markets through trade, direct investment, jointventures, and strategic business alliances.

Our London office, which just celebrated its 25th anniversary, is registeredwith the English Law Society and reconstituted as a multinationalpartnership. This registration entitlesU.S. partners to practice in partnership with English solicitors and isan important step in the continued growth of the English law practice.This status enables the firm to attract partners from otherEnglish law firms and to appoint English solicitors from within ourranks as partners.

The Emerging Markets receive particular attention: we have establishedformal practice groups for Latin America, Asia, and Russia/Commonwealthof Independent States (C.I.S.), each comprising U.S. and local nationallawyers who advise on matters ranging from securities offerings andinvestment funds to infrastructure, and natural resources financing.

Along with major multinational corporations we represent start-upventures, financial institutions and insurance companies, publicutilities and trade associations, companies of every size and industry,and many not-for-profit organizations as well. Our lawyers haveexperience in all phases of legal problem-solving: negotiation,arbitration, trial and appellate litigation, legislation, andregulation. We often work at the frontier of legal issues, helpingclients adapt their legal understanding to new ideas, technologies,products, and processes. We pride ourselves on our responsiveness toclient needs and on our ability to develop and implement creativesolutions to business problems. The principal areas of our practice arediscussed in the following pages.