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Clifford Chance
USA<br />

USA

In the US, we are a full-service law firm advising domestic and multinational clients in the US and around the world.

Our clients rely on us for deep experience and commercial insight on their most important and complex matters.

On cross-border matters, and for clients with a full range of multijurisdictional needs, our capabilities are unmatched. Our team of 400+ lawyers in New York, Washington, DC and Houston works closely with the firm's network of international lawyers. Uniquely, our offering includes a team of US-qualified attorneys who practice on the ground in Asia Pacific, Europe and South America.

The US is central to our private capital growth strategy. With attorneys in key financial centers including New York and London, we are seeing increasing demand for advice that combines US dealmaking strength with cross-border regulatory, financing, tax, antitrust and disputes capabilities. Operating as a single global team, we support clients through the full investment life cycle, from raising and deploying capital to restructuring and exiting investments, providing a single strategic view to help you see and gain the advantage.

Similarly, our US Tech Group – part of the firm's 600-lawyer-strong Global Tech Group – provides a global platform to deliver advice across transactional and litigation practices addressing both opportunity and risk.

Our Houston office, opened in 2023, reflects our continued investment in our US practice and strengthens our capabilities in the US and global energy markets to meet client demand.

Collaboration is a core value within our culture. We bring together teams across practices and jurisdictions to deliver solutions that reflect our clients priorities. It also means that when catastrophic events occur, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, or cyber breaches, our partners can quickly mobilize an experienced global team to work with regulators across all jurisdictions and help with the incident response.

Read on to learn about our US practices and how we bring advantage to our clients around the world on a broad range of corporate and financial transactions and high-level investigations.

Main areas of practice

Banking & Finance

Our US Banking & Finance group represents financial institutions and corporates in connection with all manner of financial products, including complex national and multinational insolvency and restructuring proceedings, acquisition finance, project finance, bank lending, asset finance, equipment leasing and debt trading.

Our asset finance team includes six ranked partners in New York by Chambers USA and Legal 500 United States – more than any other law firm – and is among the best and most active in the world in advising on large aircraft finance transactions.

In project finance and agency financings, we have several recognized partners in the US and Latin America guides of Chambers and Legal 500. Our projects attorneys regularly represent lenders, development finance institutions, export credit agencies, sponsors and developers on financings for projects in the US. In Latin America we are regarded as one of the leading international law firms and are ranked Band 1 by Chambers Latin America 2025 for Project Finance.

Our US financial restructuring group is fully integrated with our restructuring and insolvency team and is uniquely positioned to advise on complex multinational restructuring matters. We also have a full-service global debt and claims trading practice, providing the world’s largest financial institutions with the platform to access the global marketplace successfully. Our team is devoted to the secondary market trading of par and distressed bank loans, bankruptcy claims, equity interests, trade receivables and sovereign-backed obligations.

Finally, our US Financial Services Regulatory Group comprises attorneys from transactional and litigation practices to create a single access point for advice on risks and regulatory obligations across international markets.

Capital Markets

Our US Capital Markets practice advises on the full range of capital-raising transactions in the US, representing issuers, underwriters, sponsors and selling stockholders. Product coverage includes IPOs (for both US and non-US companies listing on US exchanges), secondary equity, private placements, preferred equity, equity-linked products, debt and high-yield offerings. We provide advice on all aspects of securities laws and regulations, including US registrations with the SEC and listings on all US exchanges.

In a complex environment shaped by uncertainty, tariffs and geopolitics, significant capital continues to be deployed through key sectors. We support clients across the entire investment lifecycle, from capital raising through deployment and portfolio management to exits, helping them access capital more dynamically and respond to evolving market opportunities.

The team has an outstanding reputation for developing innovative solutions in the area of specialty finance, particularly in relation to permanent capital vehicles and alternative REIT structures. We are recognized for our work across equity and mortgage REITs, listed and non-listed REITs, US and non-US REITs and innovative REITs.

Our registered funds practice advises on a significant proportion of closed-end fund IPOs in the US market, advising fund sponsors and underwriters on the launch of US closed-end funds.

Our US Structured Finance Group is at the forefront in structured finance, securitization, real estate and structured funds, and regularly advises CLO managers and issuers in residential and small-balance commercial mortgage-backed securities. The team represents borrowers in repos and warehouses for all mortgage products. We also counsel investors in consumer debt including marketplace loans, student loans and credit card receivables, and in agency, private, cash and synthetic CRT transactions. The team has an active and innovative trade finance practice, is experienced in aviation capital markets transactions, and highly respected for its US swaps and derivatives capabilities, including assisting clients in the review and negotiation of ISDA Master Agreements and associated credit support documentation. In Latin America, we advise on the securitization of milestone-based Governmental payments and hybrid multi-source, multi-currency solutions. 

Our team is frequently instructed on cross-border capital markets matters, with a principal focus on debt and equity transactions for sovereigns, quasi-sovereigns and corporates in Latin America.

Corporate

We have long advised clients on high-end, business-critical mergers, acquisitions, dispositions and joint ventures in the US. We represent a diverse client base consisting of both private and public companies as well as private equity houses, banks, asset managers, insurers, sovereign wealth funds, hedge funds and others. Our lawyers advise on the full spectrum of M&A products and services, and we regularly handle US inbound foreign direct investments for non-US clients leveraging the firm's global footprint.

Our US Insurance team is a leader in complex M&A transactions, innovative risk-transfer and capital-raising transactions, representations and warranties insurance, insurtech and strategic regulatory matters, and our lawyers have done pioneering work in the non-payment insurance space. We are the leader in forming alternative capital insurance and reinsurance companies, having advised on deals with an aggregate value of more than US$14 billion in the life insurance and P&C insurance space.

Our Funds & Investment Management team advises on an especially broad range of mandates, with notable strength in the US real estate and asset/structured finance sectors. We have experience with private equity, real estate and debt funds, as well as large limited partner investments and secondaries transactions.

Our US Antitrust team advises on civil and criminal investigations, merger control and joint venture matters, federal court class action litigation, competition compliance and broader complex antitrust and regulatory matters. The team is ranked in The Legal 500 US and is also recommended in Global Competition Review 100 for the US.

Litigation & Dispute Resolution

Our US Litigation & Dispute Resolution team represents many of the largest global financial institutions, leading companies, governments and international organizations, as well as individuals from the business community, in some of the market's largest and highest-profile US disputes.

We help clients resolve complex disputes in a manner that reflects their global business objectives, and we are frequently called upon to conduct critical domestic and cross-border investigations. Our team defends multifaceted and high-risk securities class actions and boasts a highly regarded white collar and enforcement capability.

Our trial experience includes all types of civil and criminal cases before juries and judges in multiple jurisdictions, as well as appellate matters before national and international courts and tribunals. In addition to helping clients through the challenges of a trial, our US litigators offer in-depth guidance regarding the development of compliance programs to assist in minimizing future risks.

Real Estate

Our US Real Estate group focuses on the legal issues and commercial challenges involved in dealing with acquisitions and sales, preferred equity structures, joint ventures, limited partnerships, REITs and other co-investment arrangements, leasing, mortgage loans and credit facilities and mezzanine loans.

The group advises on the full suite of real estate asset classes in the US, including office, retail, industrial, manufactured housing, senior housing, hotels and hospitality, land for development, multifamily and residential and medical office. We are also a market leader for cross-border transactions and regularly represent investors, including foreign investors, in the acquisition of trophy-type properties and large portfolios in the US that often require complex structuring and significant tax planning.

Tax, Pensions & Employment

Our Tax team is routinely sought out by clients to help them move transactions forward, regularly advising on US and international taxation, covering corporate and commercial transactions, equity and debt offerings, real estate and private equity funds and investments, financing and securitization transactions, tax-efficient structured transactions, insurance taxation, charitable organizations and the resolution of tax disputes.

We understand the rapidly changing US tax rules, and we combine that with easy access to the firm's global network of tax attorneys with extensive knowledge of international tax systems and how they interlink. Our team is trusted by clients to ensure that deal structures fit with their broader business goals and risk tolerance. The team has been ranked Tier 1 in the US for Tax: Financial Products for over ten years by The Legal 500 USA and has a particularly strong reputation for its tax work in supporting REIT and insurance structures.

Our Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation lawyers regularly advise domestic and multinational companies on critical employment matters in the context of M&A transactions, including the treatment of equity compensation, negotiating employment agreements and pension plan terminations. Our ERISA team advises on all aspects of Title I of ERISA, including fiduciary issues in connection with the investment of employee benefit plan assets as well as the fiduciary responsibility requirements that pension plan investment committees must comply with.

Recent highlights

 

Directory and client comments

  • “Clifford Chance is one of the most experienced firms in aviation finance and offers the highest quality service in jurisdictions all over the world. The firm has been an integral part of developing our precedents and guiding us through difficult matters."
    Chambers USA 2026: Transportation: Aviation: Finance (USA Nationwide) – Band 1
  • " Clifford Chance's expertise on anything energy and infrastructure is amazing. It has a deep bench and a lot of experts that can provide assistance."
    Chambers USA 2026: Banking & Finance: Projects: Agency Financing (Nationwide) – Band 1
  • “Clifford Chance has breadth of expertise globally. They have highly experienced and agile lawyers that are the top of the market in many jurisdictions and work seamlessly.” 
    Chambers USA 2026: Litigation: Corporate Crime & Investigations: Highly Regarded (USA Nationwide) – Band 1
  • Clifford Chance works extremely diligently, ensuring that the right level of information is disclosed at all times while simultaneously taking out complexity wherever necessary. The team's ability in managing complex issues with such ease leaves a very positive impression. It provides an extremely high level of responsiveness."
    Chambers USA 2026: Litigation: International Trade: Export Controls & Economic Sanctions: Highly Regarded (USA Nationwide) – Band 1
  • "Clifford combines extensive experience in cross-border securitization transactions out of their New York and London offices with deep experience in emerging markets. They are strong and dedicated from the most senior to the most junior levels. They draw on a high level of specialist expertise to address discrete issues." Chambers USA 2026: Capital Markets: Securitizations: CLOs – Band 2
  • "Good breadth of technology, business and legal impact - especially with AI and GCC's.’
    Legal 500 USA 2026: Media, Technology and Telecoms Outsourcing – Tier 2

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The growth of ESG in Latin America

"As a member of the firm's global ESG Board, I'm seeing first-hand the increasing appetite for ESG-related investment opportunities worldwide. Latin America is no exception to the rule. We've been helping our clients to not only comply with ESG-related obligations, but develop best practices in the field, and capitalise on ESG value creation opportunities. It's a fascinating time for the Latin America region, with some really exciting projects and new policies around ESG emerging."

Thais Garcia, Partner, New York

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Our Americas coverage