Dear Clients and Friends:

I am pleased to provide our fourth annual collection of commentaries on the critical legal issues our clients may face in the year ahead. Many of these issues relate to the responses by governments, markets and business entities to the economic conditions and market instability of the past several years. The commentaries are arranged in seven broad sections that cover the areas in which our clients may find both challenges and opportunities:

- Capital Markets. Many of our clients are focused on how the current financial environment might impact their capital structure and ability to raise capital. We also examine opportunities in various sectors of the financial markets.

- Corporate Restructuring. We discuss current developments impacting creditors’ rights and both in-court and out-of-court restructurings, as well as the increased use of Chapter 11 by European companies.

- Financial Regulation. The transition into a new regulatory environment created by laws such as the Dodd-Frank Act began last year and will continue in 2012. We review the potential scope, reach and impact of these regulations and discuss how they might evolve.

- Global Litigation. Dispute resolution continues to become more global and complex, particularly in areas such as securities and other types of class actions, antitrust and white collar/government investigations. We discuss recent developments and anticipated decisions in the U.S. Supreme Court and elsewhere — as well as international litigation and arbitration trends — that are likely to impact how corporations do business and manage disputes in 2012.

- Global M&A. In 2011, global M&A and other transactional activity continued to be somewhat constrained by ongoing challenges in the financial and economic environments, particularly Europe. Although our outlook for 2012 is cautiously optimistic, a meaningful increase in activity appears to hinge on the stabilization of global markets and economic conditions.