White & Case

While most City law firms have claimed “international” to their names, it is difficult to exaggerate the global reach of White & Case. In 2023, the firm advised clients from 128 countries on matters spanning 201 jurisdictions, supported by 44 offices worldwide. This global operation is underpinned by a unified profit pool model that hedges profit across markets, which incentivises international collaborations and cross-sellings. In 2023, White & Case posted global revenue of $2.95 billion, up 4% from $2.8 billion in 2022, making it the 9th biggest law firm globally by gross revenue. This result was driven by strong activity across high-impact practice areas including capital markets, debt finance, and financial restructuring & insolvency, as highlighted in the firm’s 2023 Annual Review. London revenue, however, stood at $444 million, down nearly 2% from $451 million the year earlier. That said, London is still one of the biggest offices within White & Case’s global network, with 482 lawyers and trainees, compared to around 1000 lawyers in the firm’s eight US offices combined. Debt capital markets expertise is White & Case’s claim to fame. The firm is known to have sovereign states on speed dial, and the London office in particular has advised on some of the world’s biggest sovereign debt restructurings, including those of Argentina, Greece, Sri Lanka, Sudan, and, most recently, Ukraine. It’s not just about debt restructuring, however, issuance is a strong suit for the firm too. In 2024, working closely with the New York and Washington DC teams, White & Case London represented the Republic of El Salvador on the world’s largest debt-for-nature conversion, involving a $1 billion impact notes issuance and the refinancing of outstanding notes. The transaction’s structure will generate $350 million in savings from reduced interest payments over time, which will be redirected to support watershed conservation efforts in the Rio Lempa basin, one of Central America’s longest rivers. On the corporate bond side, White & Case advised Barclays and J.P. Morgan on a fully underwritten £7 billion rights issue by National Grid – the largest rights issue in the UK since 2010. The variety and scale of the projects that the firm is instructed on and the wide range of stakeholders that it represents demonstrate that White & Case is really “the market” when it comes to debt capital markets work. White & Case is a true projects powerhouse, leading the market with Band 1 rankings in energy, natural resources, infrastructure and project finance. The London office is regularly retained to advise on projects in the Middle East and Africa (particularly with the head of White & Case's Africa practice being part of the London’s Energy, Infrastructure, Project and Asset Finance Group). The London team advised the sponsors of Mozambique’s first onshore liquified natural gas (LNG) development with a USD 20 billion financing package - the largest ever foreign direct investment into Africa. Closer to home, the London team also advised on both Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the €9bn Nord Stream gas pipeline project connecting the Russian and European gas grids, before they ingloriously fell into disuse due to geopolitical rifts.