Practices

Derivatives

Cleary Gottlieb’s influence in the financial derivatives markets is felt throughout the world. Our derivatives lawyers are recognized for their unique strengths in devising innovative techniques and strategies to accomplish our clients’ objectives. Our ideas helped define many of the derivative products in the market today. We helped develop interest rate and currency swaps in the early 1980’s and, more recently, a variety of equity, credit and commodity-linked products. Cleary Gottlieb has determined the direction of industry trends with CBOs, CFOs, CLOs, CMOs, and hybrid instruments subject to multiple regulatory schemes. Our marks of innovation, such as in the first publicly offered REMICs with embedded interest rate swaps and the first publicly offered equity-linked hybrid instruments, have continually changed the U.S. capital markets landscape.

What Others Say About Our Practice

Restructuring Deal of the Year
(Lehman Brothers Chapter 11 proceedings)
International Financial Law Review (2012)

#1 in Derivatives (United States)
The Best Lawyers in America (2010)

“Cleary is universally recognized as a market leader in the derivatives and structured products area. The firm has a highly impressive global reach and makes best use of its complementary capabilities in tax and insolvency. The group has amassed a wealth of collective experience and is held in especially high regard for its role as a regulatory adviser … It provides this cutting-edge counsel to a host of derivatives market participants and financial trade associations … ‘The lawyers deliver the highest level of legal services in the world.’”
Chambers USA (2012)

“Cleary’s global network and prominence in areas such as derivatives tax, insolvency and securities regulation help its derivatives and structured products practices remain at the cutting edge of market developments. The group has been especially active in advising major derivatives market participants, as well as leading banks and dealers, on Dodd-Frank Act reforms.”
Chambers USA (2011)

“Cleary’s excellence in securities regulation has seen it involved in most of the major developments to affect the market. This has included proposed tax legislation relating to derivatives, analysis of insolvency matters, the establishment of CDS clearing facilities and the launch of the Green Exchange to facilitate the trading of climate-related derivatives. … ‘We use the firm for complex, long-running matters because of its extensive legal and regulatory history.’”
Chambers USA (2010)

“For many commentators, Cleary is ‘the best derivatives shop, period — from equity to credit products, and from securitised to OTC derivatives into futures and commodities, it just has the best continuum of people.’”

“‘They know what goes on behind the scenes, and as products evolve so rapidly they have been great at giving us benchmarking.’”
Chambers Global (2009)

Practice News

Robert W. Cook, Former Director of SEC Division of Trading and Markets, Returns to Cleary Gottlieb

Recently Published

The Volcker Rule Proposal: Challenges, Open Issues and Unintended Consequences
(Updated November 29, 2011)