Mayer Brown's derivatives practice spans its corporate, finance, and capital markets activities. Representation of clients in derivatives transactions ranges in complexity from simple fixed/floating interest rate swaps to emerging market structured products and from listed futures and options to offshore hedge funds. We regularly help design and evaluate novel and complex instruments. We work with our clients to develop structures that satisfy both the client's business objectives and applicable legal and regulatory requirements. We deal with all aspects of the rules and practices governing the trading of listed products, over-the-counter and hybrid products, foreign exchange, and physical commodities.

Our lawyers have acted in key roles in many matters of importance to the derivative products industry. These range from crisis management and litigation in the LME Tin and Silver Crises and the collapse of Barings Bank to advice on the structure, documentation, and distribution of credit derivatives, equity warrants, and other off-exchange products and formation of the first multiadvisor derivatives fund listed on the International Stock Exchange.

Because of the diversity of our clients' affairs, the lawyers practicing in this area have developed specializations in the applicable laws and regulations governing banking, securities, insolvency, insurance, pensions, partnerships, international law, currency control, and taxation and include a number of former advisors to regulatory bodies, including the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Department of the Treasury, the Securities and Exchange Commission, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Internal Revenue Service, and the Federal Energy Administration.