1 October 2001
The Lawyer
Breaking news - Clark quits CC for Morgan Stanley role
Clifford Chance chairman Keith Clark is leaving to join investment bank Morgan Stanley at the start of next year
A fight for rights
The implementation of the Human Rights Act 1998 has created a challenge for the courts to balance the rights of the individual with freedom of expression. Rosalind English reports
A nose for art
Modern art really is dangerous, particularly in the workplace. And not just for the hoots of derision that can befall an error of judgement (see, for example, the horse made supposedly from underpants in Allens Arthur Robinson's atrium, or the rather phallic-looking sculpture - mischievously titled 'want' - in Simmons & Simmons' reception, above).In the good old days, you knew that art was art - a portrait or a landscape hung in a beautiful frame - and it was ...
A&O advises Center Parcs on first £420m financing
Allen & Overy (A&O) has advised new client Center Parcs on a £420m financing package for its purchase of Lake District holiday village Oasis.The firm scooped the client after advising private equity house DB Capital Partners on its £670m buyout of Center Parcs from Scottish & Newcastle at the end of last year.A&O acquisition finance partner Jacqueline Evans advised DB Capital ...
Ashursts' Madrid office takes on corporate team
Ashurst Morris Crisp's Madrid office has taken on the entire corporate practice and profit centre of Spanish corporate and regulatory firm Ariño y Almoguera.
Bevan Ashford (David Hutton) advised the Waterfront Leisure (Crosby) consortium
on a PFI deal with Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council for a new £7m leisure complex at Crosby on Merseyside, funded by Barclays. Devonshires (Paul Buckland) advised the council. DLA (Tony Randle) advised Barclays.
Bird & Bird loses its second practice head in 12 months
Bird & Bird has lost its second practice head in 12 months with the resignation of its head of e-commerce Graham Defries.
Bretherton Price Elgoods (John Workman) advised the management of Summit Medical
on its £16.5m management buyout funded by Graphite Capital Management. Graphite advised by SJ Berwin.
Capsticks advises NHS trust on private deal
London firm Capsticks is advising Hinchingbrooke Health Care NHS Trust on the development of one of the first wholly private funded NHS surgeries.The firm said it competed against Eversheds, Mills & Reeve and Addleshaw Booth ...
Case history
Daly and Alconbury are the two most significant judgments since the implementation of the Human Rights Act. Tim Owen QC and James Maurici comment on their impact
Chaffes fills gap left by Hammonds captures
Manchester's employment-law sector is experiencing a merry-go-round of lateral hires.
Chivas auction and a trip into space create a challenge for Bates Wells
Adventures as diverse as a trip to the international space station and a day on the set of ER are among those available in a massive charity auction on which Bates Wells & Braithwaite advised.
Clayton Utz loses fourth finance partner
Clayton Utz has lost another member of its finance group. Partner Mathew Allchurch has become the fourth senior lawyer to leave the Australian firm this year.
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton (Andrew Shutter) advised Callahan Associates International
on the financing of its acquisition of a majority stake in Deutsche Telekom including euro1.51bn (£943.75m) senior loan and euro300m (£187.5m) high-yield bonds. Senior lenders advised by Clifford Chance, Callahan advised by Squire Sanders & Dempsey.
Competition and public law teams merge
Wragge & Co has become the first firm in the UK to set up a single team incorporating competition, public law and regulation.
Crutes Sunderland chief sets up own firm after office closes
North East firm Crutes is shutting down its Sunderland office today (1 October).
Cuatrecasas seeks Mexican best friend
Spanish firm Cuatrecasas is looking for a best friend alliance in Mexico, with a view to opening an office.
Deal of the week - South african national road agency Ashursts drives South African toll-road project
Ashurst Morris Crisp has advised the South African National Roads Agency on a major toll-road project for the first time, after acting opposite the government body on its previous scheme.The latest £160m toll-road project will link Pretoria with the Botswana border. A 30-year concession for the construction, upgrade and operation of the N4 toll road was awarded to Bakweba Platinum Corridor Concessionaire ...
Dickinsons opts for two more in-housers
Dickinson Dees has added two former in-house lawyers to its commercial team.
DLA (Andrew Price, Sarah Day) advised Leeds United Football Club
on a £60m securitisation of future ticket revenues. Unnamed institutional investors advised by Latham & Watkins.
Efficiency drive gifts DLA double railway instruction
A&O, CC and Dentons all pipped for light rail projects in Leeds and Portsmouth
Falling flat
On the subject of subliminal marketing campaigns what on earth is Lewis Silkin up to? Perhaps keen to add to Tulkinghorn's growing installation exhibition (re 'the BLP mug', The Lawyer, 10 September) the firm has sent through three stand-up cardboard cutout figures of its senior partner, a property lawyer and a secretary. Their arrival provided at least 10 seconds of excitement for ...
Fantastic Mr Fax
Another exclusive for Tulkinghorn: KLegal has a new managing partner. In a shock move, Steven Winters, formerly the director of document delivery (or the guy who ran the fax room) has been promoted right to the top of the ladder.Previous incumbent of the managing partner's role Nick Holt will make it a straight swap by relocating to the fax room. The reason this isn't front page news on The Lawyer, of course, is that the pair only swapped roles for a day, because KLegal's ...
Finance
If there's one thing to be learned from this week's headlines about Marconi's bonds having fallen to crisis levels, it is that there is no such thing as certified high-quality investment.With creditors exposed to Marconi's junk-status credit rating and bondholders stepping up pressure to renegotiate existing loans, the group is coming to terms with the fact that it must act, and act soon.The two syndicated loan facilities worth £4.6bn were arranged ...
Firms vie for places as Oftel announces new legal panel
Theodore Goddard and Fox Williams hoping to maintain pole position as regulator opens its doors
Firms work around the clock to help airline crisis
Barlow Lyde & Gilbert joined magic circle firms Allen & Overy (A&O) and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in last weekend's emergency negotiations to provide temporary insurance cover for UK airlines against risk of terrorist attacks.
Fladgate Fielder (Charles Wander) advised TEP Exchange Group
on its placing and application for admission to AIM, with an anticipated market capitalisation of £9.25m. Nominated adviser John East & Partners and broker Insinger Townsley advised by Lewis Silkin (Clare Grayston, Peter Townsend).
French Resistance
French firms focusing on French law are having to battle hard just to retain their market share as accountancy-tied and global firms firms post record figures. Catrin Griffiths reports
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (Graham Prentice, Paul Watchman) advised South Marston
on a construction and lease agreement from Legal & General Assurance Society for a 230,000sq ft warehouse at Keypoint estate in Swindon. Legal & General advised by Berwin Leighton Paisner. Developer Wilson Bowden Developments advised by Eversheds.
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (Jeffrey Rubinoff, James George) advised Land Securities Trillium
on its ground-breaking property partnership with the BBC, expected to be worth approximately £2bn over 30 years. Linklaters & Alliance (Stella Mitchell, James Knox) advised the BBC.
Freshfields eyes LLP as prelude to US move
LLP 'excuses' run out; London tightens grip as Germans absent from power reshuffle
Getting it right
Before the introduction of the Human Rights Act, the sceptics predicted doom and gloom. So after a year in force, did they get it all wrong? Fenella Quinn investigates
Hammonds' Manchester office signs KMS company secretary
Hammond Suddards Edge has taken on Knowledge Management Software's (KMS) company secretary Tim Jackson-Smith as a partner in its Manchester-based corporate finance group.
Italian duo completes tripartite tax merger
Two of Italy's independent law firms have sealed a tripartite merger with a tax advisory practice and plan to grow the merged firm's London base.
Lady of little leisure
Four kids, listed buildings and a law firm. It's not a title for a sitcom - it's Lovells' recently re-elected managing partner Lesley MacDonagh's life
Leader
One suspects that these mergers did not just founder because recession was looming. The seeds of their demise were sown way before 11 September. Whatever the Theodore Goddard spin, no one seriously believes that its talks with Salans failed as a direct result of the World Trade Center atrocity - although that might have been the final straw.No, Theodore Goddard - now the biggest tease in the profession - simply couldn't summon up enough enthusiasm in the first place. (Look ...
Legal Widow
They invited the Lawyer to play in the firm's five-a-side league. It was carnage. The Lawyer managed to break three fingers (not his own), his watch and the opposing team's goalpost, after which he was taken to hospital with concussion. I had foolishly taken Deminimus along to watch, and had to spend most of the time with my hand over his eyes, as the Lawyer yet again disgraced the name of British sport. He swore a lot, and because he's not too clever with his feet, he tends to barge ...
Linklaters & Alliance (Anne Byrne) advised Development Securities
on the first office pre-let at PaddingtonCentral to WJB Chiltern. Kerman & Co (Siju Soremekun) advised WJB Chiltern. Denton Wilde Sapte (Nichola West) advised the scheme's owners Norwich Union and Equitable Life.
Linklaters & Alliance (Nick Rees) advised Guoco Group
on a general offer to repurchase 10-25 per cent of its share capital by way of a modified Dutch auction valued up to HK$5.46bn (£478.89m). Financial adviser Morgan Stanley Dean Witter advised by Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. Hong Leong Group, Malaysia, Guoco's parent company advised by Slaughter ...
Live and learn
NYLS learned so much from Eversheds on its first PFI that it didn't bother with an outside law firm a second time. Vanessa Pawsey asks head of legal Richard Daly how he does it
Long Island firm tells workers to blow their bonuses to prop up the ailing US economy
The largest law firm in Long Island is doing its bit to help the stricken New York economy by giving all of its employees bonuses.
Lovells continues German tax push
Lovells is continuing its aggressive tax expansion plans in Germany as it takes on a partner from KPMG.
MacRoberts
For the past three years, MacRoberts has gone all-out on PFI, and its strategy seems to be working
Mallesons hits the top down under
Mallesons Stephen Jaques has topped a league of Australian law firms.
Mundays (Peter Munday) advised UniChem
on the acquisition of Yorkshire-based Crest Medical for an undisclosed amount. Crest Medical advised by the Beaumont Partnership.
New legal head for Merrill Lynch
US investment bank Merrill Lynch is reshuffling its legal department and replacing the general counsel, who has been in the post for 17 years.
News in brief
A round up of stories from the UK and around the world
Nigella gives Olswang a bite of the cherry
Olswang is advising food expert Nigella Lawson and business partner William Miller on the creation of television production company Pabulum Productions and on a deal with Channel 4.Media and communications partner Lisbeth Savill led the Olswang team, assisted by partner Jane Moore and assistant Nigel McCorry.The deal with Channel 4 is for more series and a number of special projects produced ...
Norton Rose handles joint development for Persimmon
Norton Rose has acted for Persimmon Homes on its joint acquisition and redevelopment of land in Kingston-Upon-Thames with Mount Anvil Group. The deal forms part of a £40m PFI transaction led by Mount Anvil for the development of additional facilities for Kingston College.Senior property partner Jonathan Ody led the Norton Rose team, continuing his relationship with Persimmon.He said: ...
Norton Rose in double acquisition finance win
Norton Rose's acquisition finance group has won two new banking clients on the back of existing relationships.
Opinion
As the shock waves of 11 September still reverberate ac-ross the globe, the attention of financial regulators is devoted to the unravelling of the paper trail to reveal how this international terrorist gang was financed and how that money was transferred and applied by the terrorists.It is inevitable that many financial centres, both 'onshore' and 'offshore', are likely to be implicated in one way or another. Already, accounts in London have been frozen. Offshore ...
Osborne Clarke nabs BLP partner
Osborne Clarke's Bristol office has hired an employment partner from Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP).
Radcliffes updates with private client hire
Radcliffes is modernising its private client department in preparation for the retirement of three partners during the next few years.
Sheridans launches new office in Surrey
West End firm Sheridans has opened a new office in Surrey in a bid to cut overheads and to be closer to its clients.
Simmons to push Italian integration
Simmons & Simmons is relocating one of its senior London corporate partners to Milan to boost the firm's international integration.
Simmons wins Duke Street work against Clifford Chance
Duke Street Capital pushes regular advisers aside after Simmons wins beauty parade
SJ Berwin (John Eldridge) advised Chelsfield
on its purchase of the freehold of Bedford House, London WC1, for £9m from Cable & Wireless. DLA (Catherine Usher) advised Cable & Wireless.
Skadden secretary steals $1m
A secretary from the Washington, DC office of Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom is pleading guilty to stealing $1m (£671,000) from a partner at the firm.
Slaughters singled out by Cadbury
Slaughter and May is the only UK law firm to have scooped a role advising UK confectioner Cadbury Schweppes on its purchase of Pernod Ricard's soft drinks businesses.Slaughters partner William Sibree is advising the company on the competition issues surrounding its euro700m (£437.5m) acquisition of the soft drinks businesses in Continental Europe, the US and Australia.Businesses ...
Taking Liberties
The attack on the World Trade Center has pushed the Government into drafting stronger anti-terrorist laws. Jon Robins talks to the lawyers who argue that new legislation will harm civil liberties more than it hinders terrorists
The Human Rights Act - a draftsman's view one year on
It was a great privilege to participate as a member of the small Parliamentary drafting team preparing the bill that became the Human Rights Act 1998. But how has the act measured up to the hopes of those involved in its creation?The Human Rights Act (HRA) is the property of no one. Its conception and enactment were the product of many minds and as many agendas. It involved politicians, lawyers, organisations ranging from Liberty to the faith communities, and, of course, those ...
The law of the sea
Now, we've had lawyers from many firms proudly sending in their holiday snaps, recollecting many happy hours spent in exotic locations reading The Lawyer. But no firm has been quite so prolific as SJ Berwin, whose lawyers seem to have embarked on a subliminal marketing campaign with photos arriving from all manner of exciting destinations.In Cyprus, the firm's lawyers were pictured reading ...
The Law Society's McIntosh slates Digby-Bell for 'maverick' behaviour
The Law Society president David McIntosh has slammed the council member for City lawyers Chris-topher Digby-Bell for being a "maverick", not attending council meetings and lacking support.
The Personnelity
The relationship between large firms and the individuals who work in them has exercised the minds of management writers for decades. In the 1980s, the accepted wisdom of the supremacy of organisation over individual was turned on its head as the 'me-first' culture took hold. In the parlance of the day, the excellent firms would be those who could change the organisation to suit the needs of the key individuals. Rather than forcing these individuals to bend to the will of a ...
Travers Smith Braithwaite (David Adams) advised Planit Holdings
on its acquisition of Licom Systems for £6.1m. Licom advised by DLA.
Watson Farley rejigs Singapore management
As part of a major expansion initiative in South East Asia, Watson Farley & Williams has undertaken a management reshuffle in its Singapore office.
Wedlake Bell focuses on funds with Dechert hire
Brady to launch investment management unit; initial targets to be start-ups; more hires to follow
Zurich Prof MD post filled by Coughlan
Zurich Professional has appointed David Coughlan as its new managing director.
