11 November 2002
The Lawyer
Ashursts, Fried Frank: the final countdown
Transatlantic merger talks reach climax; Ashursts considers ditching lockstep
Border patrols
With the continuing growth of cross-border investment, dispute settlement must maintain uniformity. Alejandro Escobar and Norah Gallagher report
Camerons ventures into Bulgaria for Viva contract
CMS Cameron McKenna is set to enter a political minefield after its client Viva Ventures was named as the preferred bidder to buy a majority stake in state-owned Bulgarian Telecommunications Company (BTC).Vienna-registered Viva, a consortium that includes investment fund Advent International, will offer €200m (£128m) for a 65 per cent share in BTG, which has been on the market for ...
Cayman corporate ace starts up new firm
The founding partner of Walkers, a leading Cayman Islands firm, has launched his own firm on the island, named Stuarts
Correction
In The Lawyer 100 it was incorrectly stated that Hammonds made profits per equity partner of £195,000 in the 2001-02 financial year. The figure was actually £275,000.
Dawsons takes on Far Eastern IP specialist
Dawsons has hired intellectual property (IP) and IT specialist Karen Fong from the Hong Kong office of Denton Wilde Sapte. Fong was a consultant for Dentons, advising on Hong Kong and Chinese IP issues. She moves back to London, where she was based while a partner at Willoughby & Partners.
DEAL OF THE WEEK: CENTER PARCS/PIZZA EXPRESS
CC eyes up Pizza Express deal after Center Parcs success for Sun Capital
DJ Freeman revamps support services
DJ Freeman has rejigged its support functions. Denton Wilde Sapte deputy finance director Steven Rowan has joined as finance director and former litigation partner Ann Robson has been named director of information and training. The new appointments are a result of a year-long review of the firm's support services by chief executive Laurence Harris.
DLA snaffles Harrods work from Hammonds
DLA's intellectual property drive given boost with Harrods' shift of allegiance
Eiffel power
Now that Orrick chairman and chief exec Ralph Baxter is sitting pretty in Paris, an English tie-up could be just around the corner. Dearbail Jordan reports
EU provides e7m for Palestinian judiciary Europe, US get closer on merger legislation
Unlike Israel and the US, the EU appears to have kept faith with the Palestinian Authority, with the European Commission (EC) spending e7m (£4.5m) on supporting its judicial reforms
Europe, US get closer on merger legislation
The European Commission (EC) is to step up its cooperation with the US over merger reviews in an effort to minimise the number of cases where the two sides come to different conclusions
Fishburn Morgan Cole bails out of its three-year merger
Morgan Cole and Fishburn Boxer have admitted defeat in their efforts to make their 1999 merger work and have opted to go their separate ways
Freshfields property ace set to quit profession
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer's highly-rated property partner James George is to leave the firm after 14 years in pursuit of a career change
Gold choice for Herbert Smith litigation head
Herbert Smith has elected David Gold as its new head of litigation. Gold, a partner at Herbert Smith since 1983, succeeds current litigation head Harry Anderson on 1 April 2003. Gold takes up the post with a string of high-profile litigations to his name. He recently successfully represented Fruit Shippers, the holding firm for the Bonita Banana Group, in a $1bn (£635.8m) family dispute.
Greenberg Traurig storms into Europe
Miami based firm opens offices in Amsterdam and Zurich
H20's new media network offers clients the 'full Monty'
Defamation and human rights boutique H20 has formed a strategic alliance with two other media practices to avoid referring work to larger firms
Halliwells wins East Lancashire Partnership bid
Halliwell Landau has won a tender to advise the newly-created East Lancashire Partnership, an association of local authorities and public bodies in the region. Corporate partners Mark Halliwell (left) and Sophie Brookes led the team that won the work. It is understood that Eversheds and Addleshaw Booth & Co also took part in the tendering process.
Hammonds set for massive profit drive
Hammonds' management team is gunning to raise profits per partner by at least 45 per cent, to more than £400,000, by April 2003 and has told partners that not achieving this will represent failure
Harvey Pitt keeps mum on private practice plan
There is a question mark hanging over the future of Harvey Pitt, the recently resigned chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), as to whether the former lawyer plans to return to private practice
Hewitsons hires Minter Ellison IP specialist
Cambridge-based Hewitson Becke + Shaw has hired intellectual property partner Mark Elmslie from Minter Ellison in Australia
High Court judge shuns Clayton Rule
A landmark High Court judgment has seriously eroded an almost 200-year-old rule determining the way solicitors' client accounts are broken up by the courts
Holman forces Yemen government to back down over pollution claim
A campaign of political, diplomatic and legal pressure instigated by shipping specialists Holman Fenwick & Willan has resulted in the Yemen government backing down over its $18.5m (£11.8m) claim against the owners of the Belgium ship attacked off Yemen by terrorists in October
I'm too sexy to be powerful
In a piece on the 100 most influential men in the UK, GQ made the surprising assertion that celebrity lawyer Keith Schilling, senior partner of boutique media firm Schillings, is the most influential man in law. Schilling, the only practising solicitor on the list of politicians, businesspeople and celebrities, made number 68, while Master of the Rolls Lord Woolf took 75th place and the Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine came a lowly 79th. GQ also placed Schilling above entrepreneur and household ...
Identity crisis
Recent developments have made the question of what constitutes a public body even more complex. Thomas de la Mare and Nicholas De Marco discuss the current state of the law
In need of care
Nursing homes have had enough of receiving whatever rates local councils feel like paying and many are turning to the courts. Belinda Schwehr asks: is the state shirking its duties?
Innocent mistake?
The Lawyer seems to have missed an important name change. While perusing The Guardian last Monday, one of Tulkinghorn's scribe's spotted that Mark Stephens had been putting in his two pennies worth over the story of Victoria Beckham's escape from kidnappers."We have to make a decision as a society whether we want courts or the media to try cases," mused Mark. The only trouble is that the article quoted "Mark Stephens, of Stephens Finer Innocent". Funny, because ...
KLegal defers trainees again and slashes pay-off
Thirty trainees asked to defer 2003 training contracts for £2,500; payment down from £10,000 for last band of deferrals
KLegal loses Haftke to Brobecks
KLegal is losing its second highly-rated IT partner in less than two months, as Mark Haftke jumps ship to Brobeck Hale and Dorr's London office
Knight & Sons
After joining Lovells' Prudential panel, Knights shouldn't look back
Legal Widow
The Lawyer fell off his chair laughing when he read about Paddinggate, mostly because the poor itty-bitty associates want to do more work for charity and less horrid money-making stuff
Litigation conference brings to the fore blunders by expert witnesses
The array of problems caused by expert witnesses during litigation were highlighted at a landmark conference last week
Macfarlanes forms LLP for spun-off HSBC Private Equity
Macfarlanes has secured a foothold in gaining upcoming work from newly spun-off HSBC Private Equity after putting together the house's first fund as a separate outfit.The private equity arm, which has been part of HSBC for more than 30 years, was recently bought out when it was decided to separate the two units after the parent bank invested in New York's AEA Investors, creating ...
Maclays creates two roles in management shake-up
Leading Scottish firm Maclay Murray & Spens has undergone a management shake-up to introduce a corporate management structure
Masons handles London Stock Exchange relocation
Masons has scooped its first ever instruction for the London Stock Exchange (LSE) as it embarks on its relocation to Paternoster Square.The firm is acting for the LSE on construction and IT matters related to the site at King Edward's Court in Paternoster Square, into which the exchange hopes to move its 550 staff by 2004.The old building, which the LSE has occupied since 1972, is set to be remodelled - a task which is being overseen by Herbert Smith.
Maxwells gets a head for new construction unit
Maxwell Batley has recruited Masons partner Howard Crossman to head its new construction unit. Crossman becomes the firm's 17th partner, following the arrival of Rhodri Pazzi-Axworthy from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer last month. Crossman's expertise lies in arbitration and litigation of construction-related disputes.
Meridian dominates Bar software supply
Meridian Law takes ACE’s share of the market
Monti presents united front at EC's merger conference
Competition Commissioner's tough talking gains approval from competition lawyers. Helen Power reports
Norton Rose wins GIB UK panel place
Norton Rose has won a place on the legal panel of Gulf International Bank (UK) (GIB UK), as none of the bank's existing panel firms offer a Bahrain office
Opinion
In the last month the private finance initiative (PFI) has come in for even more criticism than the usual twice-monthly articles pointing out that the public sector can borrow more cheaply than the private sector
Orrick increases assistant bonus targets to compensate for slump
Bonus qualification levels move out of reach, knocking back assistant pay; insiders predict other firms will follow suit
Power to the public
The Aarhus Convention aims to remove barriers to the public's participation in key environmental matters. Kathy Mylrea finds out whether it's all it's cracked up to be
PR - your number's up
It's great fun being a managing partner, as it seems all one's little eccentricities can go unchecked. Take this unnamed example, who runs a large City firm, and plays games of 'management bingo' to amuse himself in meetings.His game involves first learning every example of management doublespeak, such as 'proactive blue sky thinking' or 'outside the box'. Then bored or befuddled attendees, such as said managing partner, can amuse ...
Race is on to win place on Taylor Woodrow panel
Julia Cahill says that Camerons and Eversheds are the ones to beat in the Taylor Woodrow review
Real estate and projects deals round-up
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (David Lewis) advised Scottish Widows on the £77.7m sale of Cannock Shopping Centre in Staffordshire, Green Lanes Shopping Centre in Barnstaple and Eastgate Shopping Centre in Gloucester. Eversheds (Richard Stephens) acted for the puchaser Dunwilco (951), a joint ...
Setterwalls hires top partners for launch
Swedish firm Setterwalls has hired three partners to launch an insolvency and restructuring practice as part of its strategy to go full-service
Stanbrook in overseas expansion
Brussels-based EU and international trade boutique Stanbrook & Hooper has appointed a new managing partner as it steps up its international strategy
Sugden Spencer joins Gordons Cranswick
Yorkshire-based Gordons Cranswick is merging with Bradford firm Sugden Spencer to create a 33-partner firm
Swan song?
Tulkinghorn doesn't mind admitting that he has become quite a fan of Popstars - the Rivals, and it seems he is not alone in the legal world. The spirit of Popstars infiltrated Slaug-hter and May's recent dinner dance over at the Grosvenor House Hotel.Slaughters tradition sees lawyers and support staff take it in turn each year to take to the floor and respond to the senior partner's speech. So this year, after Tim Clark did his bit for the boys' team, ...
The laws of nature
A minimal budget and archaic UK laws have made protecting nature more than a full-time job for WWF-UK's Niall Watson. Husnara Begum reports
The Leader Column
You get the impression that Simpson Thacher & Bartlett partners are a patient bunch. After three years of wooing pretty much every finance partner in the magic circle it finally got its man with the hire of Allen & Overy's Euan Gorrie.With its US acquisition finance franchise, Simpson Thacher has always been more open than the likes of Cravath to the possibilities in the London market (although there are, by the way, persistent rumours that Cravath was after ...
The truth will out
After fleeing South Africa during its Apartheid years, civil rights lawyer and ANC activist Albie Sachs survived a car bomb before returning to his homeland as a judge at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Jon Robins reports
Three seniors join Altheimers as partner quits
Altheimer & Gray has lost project finance partner Ashok Ghosh to Beachcroft Wansbroughs. Ghosh starts at Beachcrofts in January 2003. Meanwhile, Altheimers has boosted its capital projects group with three senior hires. Nina Hoque, a senior associate at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, joins as a partner. The firm has also taken on a managing assistant from
Tipped A&O election runner goes to New York
One of the partners tipped by insiders to stand in Allen & Overy's (A&O) managing partner election is moving to New York to head the firm's US operation
Two IP partners set to quit Linklaters
Linklaters is continuing the shake-up of its intellectual property (IP) department as two partners leave the firm
UN pushes for Saudi reforms
A UN envoy is urging the Saudi Arabian government to speed up an unprecedented yet tentative judicial reform process
Uría boosts London office with partner from Madrid
Slaughter and May's Spanish best friend Uría & Menéndez is stepping up its commitment to London by sending a partner to manage its City office, which is currently run by a senior associate
Vickers, Fingleton call for reform to merger control
At the Merger Control Conference last Friday, the Director-General of Fair Trading John Vickers said he wanted the European Commission (EC) to reform the test it uses in merger control decisions
Watson Burton targets employment growth
Watson Burton has bolstered its employment practice with the hire of Chris Graham, a partner from Leeds-based Ford & Warren. Graham's focus is on the transport sector. He brings many years of experience acting for haulage companies, and bus and coach operators. Other clients include the UK-wide Reeds Rains estate agency and Danka UK. First revealed on www.thelawyer.com/lawyernews on 6 November
White & Case in litigation hiring spree
White & Case has taken on three Dewey Ballantine partners in New York. They are Vincent FitzPatrick and Robert Milne, who both specialise in antitrust and appellate work, and Wayne Cross, a veteran trial lawyer. FitzPatrick first joined White & Case in 1969 and is returning as head of the firm's 350-lawyer litigation and arbitration practice. First revealed on www.thelawyer.com/lawyernews on 4 November
Woolf says ADR needs more time in the UK
Lord Chief Justice admits that litigants need more encouragement to go to mediation
Wragges hires Lovells star to lead property litigation
Birmingham giant Wragge & Co has snapped up highly-regarded property litigator Anne Waltham from Lovells
