International Estates & Personal Client Practice

Sullivan & Cromwell’s Estates and Personal Clients Group is one of the largest and most active groups of its kind. Clients of our Estates & Personal Group benefit from the ability of the Firm’s lawyers to draw on our deep bench of recognized leaders in each of our core practice areas. The Group represents individual clients worldwide in all aspects of their business and personal affairs, including: estate planning; estate and trust administration; family business transition; tax planning and litigation; trusts and estates litigation and dispute resolution; creation and administration of family partnerships, joint ventures and property holding vehicles; and creation of private foundations.

In addition, we help our clients address a broad range of other personal matters, ranging from employment arrangements, investment structures and personal real estate transactions to the purchase and sale of art, yachts and aircraft, personal financial matters and prenuptial and postnuptial agreements. The Firm’s breadth of practice enables us to provide coordinated advice on virtually any legal issue that can arise for charitable organizations, including executive compensation, corporate organization and governance matters, real estate, environmental law, banking and investment matters and litigation.

Recent examples of the group’s work in the public domain include:

• For many years, S&C has counseled the majority of the Pritzker Family beneficiaries in the restructuring of their $25+ billion worldwide business empire, which includes interests in Global Hyatt Corporation, Marmon Corporation, TransUnion Corp., Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines and extensive international gaming operations.
• The Firm served as counsel to the independent directors of Alcon, Inc. in connection with its buyout by Novartis AG (in a deal worth $52 billion)-in particular advising on the creation of The Alcon Litigation Trust, which was funded with $50 million to support litigation on behalf of the minority shareholders of Alcon. Sullivan & Cromwell was noted as a 2010 “Dealmaker of the Year” by The American Lawyer specifically for its novel and creative strategy using a litigation trust. Other publications also highlighted S&C's approach, including The New York Times, which wrote, “The Sullivan & Cromwell lawyers devised a trust to finance any shareholder litigation against Novartis. Even if Novartis was able to replace the Alcon independent directors, Novartis would still face litigation paid for by the trust. Ten months after its initial offer, Novartis caved and paid a price equivalent to Nestle’s.” (January 4, 2011)
• The Firm represents the heir of a French citizen in connection with litigation in New York and France. The cross-border claims involve French forced inheritance law, alleged misappropriation of estate assets, and complex French and U.S. tax issues.
• The Firm represented Société Nautique de Genève (“SNG”), the Swiss yacht club that won the 31st and 32nd America’s Cup races, in its efforts to defend the Cup, the oldest active trophy in international sport. S&C secured a ruling in SNG’s favor that enabled the America’s Cup to take place, as planned, in February 2010 off the coast of Valencia, Spain. Specifically, S&C convinced the New York State Supreme Court in trust-related litigation to defer resolution of a challenge to SNG’s use of sails allegedly manufactured in the U.S., which allegedly violated a clause in the Deed of Gift (the underlying document establishing default rules for the America’s Cup race) requiring the competitors’ boats to be “constructed” in their respective countries. That ruling was an important tactical victory because it allowed the race to be determined first and foremost on the water, with any remaining legal challenges to be resolved thereafter.
• The Firm advised the principals of York Capital Management (U.S.), a leading hedge fund manager with $14 billion under management, in connection with its agreement to sell a minority interest in York to Credit Suisse (Switzerland) for a combination of cash and a significant earnout.
• The Firm served as counsel to the Mara and Tisch Families, the owners of the NY Football Giants, in the $1.6 billion joint venture with the Johnson family, the owners of the NY Jets, to develop a new football stadium and entertainment and retail complex in the Meadowlands, NJ.
• The Firm represented a director and Bancroft family member in connection with News Corp.’s acquisition of Dow Jones for $5 billion. The Bancroft family controlled Dow Jones since 1902 and held 64 percent of the shareholder vote, primarily through family trusts.
• The Firm represented the Frist family and HCA management in the $31.6 billion sale of HCA Inc. (U.S.) to an investor group consisting of the Frist family, Bain Capital LLC, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (“KKR”) and Merrill Lynch Global Private Equity (U.S.).