WASHINGTON, June 15, 2016: Morgan Lewis was ranked No. 1 among all law firms for legal defense of public companies against activist shareholders in the 2016 year-to-date activism defense league tables compiled by FactSet SharkRepellent and included in the Wall Street Journal-FactSet Activism Scorecard. The ranking is as of June 14, 2016 and is based on the number of publicly-disclosed activism defense matters that Morgan Lewis has advised on.
In the year-end league tables for both 2015 and 2014, Morgan Lewis was ranked No. 5 among law firms for legal defense of companies against activist shareholders based on the number of publicly-disclosed activism defense matters that Morgan Lewis advised on in each of those years. FactSet SharkRepellent's compiled data is included in the Wall Street Journal-FactSet Activism Scorecard that is publicly available on the Wall Street Journal’s web site.
Over the past two years, Morgan Lewis's market-leading Shareholder Activism Defense Practice, led by Morgan Lewis corporate partner Keith Gottfried, has advised more than two dozen public companies, based in the United States and abroad, in a wide array of industries, including, among others, apparel, automotive, banking, casual dining, consumer goods, energy, life sciences, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, real estate, retail, shipping, software, technology and waste management, with respect to preparing for and/or responding to high-profile proxy contests, special meeting demands, withhold campaigns, shareholder proposals and other activist shareholder campaigns as well as contests for corporate control and contested M&A situations. Morgan Lewis’s Shareholder Activism Defense Practice also advises public companies and their boards of directors on the latest techniques for making a company less vulnerable to activist shareholders, best practices for engaging with shareholders, corporate governance issues and board advisory matters.