Lawyers 3,200
Turnover £4.4 billion
Offices 31
Latham & Watkins represented multiple clients sued by the chess grandmaster Hans Niemann in a defamation and antitrust case after a high-profile cheating scandal. In October 2022, Chess.com said it had found evidence that Niemann had cheated in online games as recently as August 2020, when he was 17. The accusation came a week after Magnus Carlsen, the five-time world champion, said he believed that Niemann had cheated more recently and more often than he had publicly admitted. The firm acted for Chess.com, Danny Rensch, the company’s chief chess officer, and Play Magnus, a training academy. Carlsen was represented separately. In June 2023 a judge in Missouri dismissed the entire complaint. Niemann has repeatedly denied cheating, calling the claims “ridiculous”.
The firm also represents Litmus Music, which has purchased the rights to the popstar Katy Perry’s back catalogue of music. The deal covers all five of Perry’s studio albums released for Capitol Records between 2008 and 2020, which include 16 multi-platinum singles. Latham represented Litmus and its backer, the investment firm Carlyle, in a financing drive that partly funded the deal.
★ Commended for banking & finance; insolvency & restructuring; mergers & acquisitions
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