Top 25 Lawyers Behind the Deals of the Year - DealBook Blog - NYTimes.com

Wow.  It's a sign of the times when the vast majority of notable deals are hightlighted as non-traditional M&A related to bailouts and collapses! Remarkable times.

Only six of the dealmakers on the list this year were recognized for their involvement in conventional mergers-related deals (most are at the bottom of the list except for those involved in InBev’s purchase of Anheuser-Busch and Mars’s purchase of Wrigley). The various distressed deals and government–brokered mergers topped the list...

Here were the deals noted in American Lawyer:

1. Bank Bailouts: H. Rodgin Cohen, Sullivan & Cromwell

2. Bank of America’s Merrill Lynch acquisition: Edward Herlihy, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz

3. Lehman Bankruptcy: Harvey Miller, Weil, Gotshal & Manges

4. TARP: Lee Meyerson, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett

5. A.I.G. Bailout: Michael Wiseman, Sullivan & Cromwell

6. IndyMac Purchase: Paul Glotzer, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton

7. InBev’s Anheuser-Busch Acquisition: Francis Aquila, Sullivan & Cromwell

8. Fannie, Freddie Conservatorships: Harold Novikoff, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz

9. FGIC Rescue: Corinne Ball, Jones Day

10. Federal Interventions: Thomas Baxter Jr., Federal Reserve Bank of New York

11. Calpine, Solutia Bankruptcies: Richard Cieri, Kirkland & Elli

12. KazMunayGas Pipeline Renegotiation: George Kahale III, Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle

13. Mars’s Wrigley Acquisition: John Finley, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett

14. Latin American Project Financings: Cynthia Urda Kassis, Shearman & Sterling

15. A.I.G. Bailout: Marshall Huebner, Davis Polk & Wardwell

16. Visa I.P.O.: S. Ward Atterbury, White & Case

17. Independent Director Representations: Robert Joffe, Cravath, Swaine & Moore

18. Vallejo Bankruptcy: Marc Levinson, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe

19. Clearwire Asset Acquisition: Joshua Korff, Kirkland & Ellis

20. Sirius-XM Merger: Joe Sims, Jones Day

21. Verizon Wireless’s Alltel Acquisition: Jeffrey Rosen, Debevoise & Plimpton

22. Triarc’s Wendy’s Acquisition: Paul Ginsberg, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison

23. Citigroup Bailout: George Bason Jr., Davis Polk & Wardwell

24. Washington Mutual Bankruptcy: Marcia Goldstein, Weil, Gotshal & Manges

25. A.I.G. Bailout: Eric Dinallo, New York State Insurance Department

via Top 25 Lawyers Behind the Deals of the Year - DealBook Blog - NYTimes.com.