Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP

Corporate

Keeping Business Moving Forward in Every Market
Tactics and strategies may change in bull and bear markets, but the core structure of doing business remains the same. Even in the most challenging economies, gaining access to capital markets, finding the right investment opportunities, structuring deals and navigating changing regulations are key to keeping businesses on track.

From their inception to growth to becoming established players in the global economy, corporations require counseling that provides a balanced blend of legal experience, market knowledge, foresight, common sense and innovation. Manatt is uniquely positioned to handle every phase of development—and maximize every opportunity—throughout the life cycle of an enterprise.

A Savvy and Experienced Partner in Business
Manatt’s Corporate Practice helps public and private, domestic and international corporations manage every aspect of their business. Our team not only brings to the table the strength of insightful legal counsel, but practical hands-on industry experience as well. Our attorneys have served as executives and in-house counsel with financial institutions, major insurers, large venture capital funds, global infrastructure developers and a variety of technology companies. For our clients, it means we bring sound business judgment to our counsel on issues from capital markets to corporate governance. 

Our attorneys serve as general counsel for many clients, advising them on legal issues encountered in everyday business operations. In heavily regulated industries such as energy, financial services and banking, healthcare, insurance, and real estate, we understand the nuances of continually evolving regulations and have deep relationships with state and federal regulators. Our in-depth knowledge and experience allow us to anticipate every hurdle and opportunity your business will face as you move forward.

Companies of all sizes also turn to Manatt for help with complex operational, finance and transactional matters, such as:

• Business and Joint Venture Formation and Structuring. Strategic partnerships are key to the growth of many companies. Our group designs joint ventures and strategic alliances that foster the development of key business goals and relationships for our clients. We develop solutions that balance the tax, liability, interrelated business, competitive technology, and intellectual property issues of all parties in order to achieve the most favorable results for the companies we represent.
• Capital Markets.  Helping businesses find and secure the cash they need to grow and operate is the focus of our Capital Markets Group. Whether involving equity, debt, or hybrid securities, we find and structure solutions through a comprehensive approach to financing transactions for industries such as consumer products, energy, entertainment, financial services, healthcare, real estate, and technology.
• Corporate Compliance and Governance. For companies of all sizes, Manatt handles the highly regulated, complex public reporting process for daily, quarterly, and annual due diligence. Additionally, we represent boards of directors and special committees of public companies in many sensitive situations, including “interested” transactions, option investigations, executive succession planning, financial restatements, proxy contests, shareholder activism and hostile takeovers.
• Mergers & Acquisitions. Whether it’s businesses looking to expand and accelerate market penetration or companies seeking buyers, our M&A lawyers work closely with transaction teams to turn opportunities into deals that work for all parties. On either side of the table, our strategic business advisors help you evaluate the risks and rewards of any potential transaction, and solve problems that may arise during the course of negotiations or execution. 
• Private Equity. We represent funds, investors, and portfolio companies in private equity transactions ranging from billion-dollar acquisitions to middle-market deals. We work with all stages, from fund formation to investment transactions to dispositions in the public and private marketplace. We understand how our private equity clients think and operate, and work with them as business partners.
• Venture Capital and Emerging Companies. Manatt represents emerging and high-growth companies in industries such as entertainment, healthcare, life sciences, and technology. For start-ups and high-growth companies—as well as the venture capital funds, investment banks and strategic investors that serve them—we offer a high level of deal-making experience combined with strategic thinking and regulatory insight.

The strength and prominence of Manatt’s Corporate Practice are also reflected in professional honors we have received. U.S. News and World Report has recognized Manatt’s Corporate Practice in the top tier of law firms nationally. Additionally, four of our corporate attorneys are listed in The Best Lawyers in America. 

Diversity at Manatt

Manatt considers diversity to be a fundamental component of our institutional identity. As a law firm, we have a professional responsibility, and as individuals, we have a personal responsibility to our respective communities. Incorporating diversity into our culture allows us to enhance the high-quality, creativity and excellence in legal services that our clients have come to expect.

Manatt has invested a significant amount of human and financial resources in our own diversity program. Our philosophy is simple: include women and minority lawyers at all levels of Firm leadership and promote diversity in the legal profession through our support and active involvement in various minority civic and bar organizations.

The mix of our minority and women attorneys has consistently exceeded the national average among the country's top law firms. Our talented mix includes minority and women lawyers serving as heads of offices, members of the firm's Board of Directors and management team, and chairs of some of the firm's most important practice groups.

Inclusive Culture
Our progressive culture allows us to maintain a growing mix of women and minority lawyers, and the results illustrate this commitment.  The American Lawyer ranked our Firm 29th (in the top 12%) on its Diversity Scorecard for the largest 250 law firms in the country for 2009.  Multi Cultural Law Magazine included our Firm on its 2008 lists of the Top 100 Law Firms for Diversity, Top 25 Law Firms for Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders, and Top 25 Law Firms for Openly Gay/Lesbian Americans.

Despite our progress and diversity success, we can do better.  Our challenge extends far beyond exceeding national averages.  Our plan cannot succeed if we focus only on recruiting minority and women attorneys.  The true challenge and measure for achieving success lies in creating and preserving an inclusive environment where our minority and women lawyers will stay, progress, prosper and succeed.  We have implemented a formal diversity program designed to enhance our recruiting and retention of diverse attorneys through an executive mentoring program intended to cultivate personally and professionally meaningful relationships between our diverse lawyers and our partners. 

Our commitment to diversity exists in a living document – a plan – that is concrete, easy to understand and publicly available.  The plan demonstrates to every law school student, lateral associate candidate, lateral partner candidate, recruiter, existing client, and potential client that we are serious about creating a workplace that mirrors the breadth of the communities where we and our clients live and work.

We focus on the following key areas to accomplish our mission.

Targeted Recruitment Effort
At Manatt, recruiting women and minority attorneys does not end on law school campuses. Our recruiting efforts focus on locating talented women and minority lawyers at all levels. At law schools, we seek out and interview students who share our core values in ways shaped and enhanced by their own experience. Manatt's 2005 Summer Program was the most diverse in the Firm's history. Our nine 2005 Summer Associates included two African-American students, three Hispanic students, one Asian-American student and three Caucasian students. Five of these nine students were women.

Mentoring as a Cornerstone
Minority attorneys who join Manatt as new or lateral hires immediately become the focus of a mentoring program. They are paired with senior attorneys who take an active role in encouraging their career development. Mentors actively work with their protégés, helping them form business plans and involving them in firm-wide marketing and development opportunities. Management holds mentors accountable for their roles and their protégés' progress at the Firm, including reviewing their efforts as part of the evaluation and compensation process.

Access to Opportunity
Success is a matter of talent and opportunity. At Manatt, we believe that the key to retaining talented minority attorneys -- and therefore the key to the success of our diversity efforts -- is providing a distinctive experience that offers clear access to professional accomplishment. We provide women and minority attorneys with important responsibilities and leadership opportunities in client development activities, complex litigation, large transactional matters and high-profile community and civic organizations. We also encourage and support minority and women attorneys who take leadership positions within the firm and outside in the community at large.

Long-Term Commitment
We challenge ourselves to make our young lawyers feel valued, involved and invested in the future of the firm. We know that they will eventually occupy the most important financial, management and executive positions at Manatt. Our professionals thrive in an atmosphere that encourages and supports responsibility, ambition, and entrepreneurship. We offer true opportunity equal to individual commitment to success and advancement. That's the history of opportunity at Manatt, where professionals with talent and drive are rewarded with a nurturing, dynamic and energizing climate.

Promoting Diversity
Promoting diversity in the legal profession requires both an investment of money and time. Our women and minority attorneys are prominently involved and hold leadership positions in some of the most important minority civic and bar organizations in the country including:

• Asian Americans of Equality
• Asian Pacific American Legal Center
• Black Entertainment and Sports Lawyers Association
• California Association of Black Lawyers
• California Black Chamber of Commerce
• California Women's Law Center
• Chilean Association of Attorneys
• D.C. Commission on Asian & Pacific Islander Affairs
• Hispanic National Bar Association
• Inner City Law Center
• International Human Rights Committee of the Association of the Bar of City of New York
• Korean American Bar Association
• Korean American Coalition
• L.A. Conservation Corps
• La Raza Galeria Posada
• Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles
• Los Angeles Urban League
• National Asian Pacific American Bar Association
• NOW Legal Defense & Education Fund Board
• Southern California Chinese Lawyers Association
• The Association of Women in International Trade
• Women Lawyers Association
• Women's Bar Association of District of Columbia
• Women's Forum of Washington D.C.