11 September 2000
The Lawyer
A VIEW FROM RUSSIA
President Putin's ringing endorsement last Sunday of production-sharing agreements (PSAs) in Russia came as a welcome surprise. Indeed, it may just lead to the final reforms needed to attract the billions of dollars that western companies appear ready to invest in Russia's energy sector. Speaking in Sakhalin at the well-attended PSA 2000 Conference, Putin also made the unanticipated announcement that PSAs would henceforth be within the purview of German Gref, Russia's Minister of Economic ...
A&O sets up equity team for IPO work
Allen & Overy has responded to the boom in initial public offerings (IPOs) by setting up a dedicated equity capital markets group.
Assembling the local bar
Are Cardiff clerks hindering the development of their barristers, who risk losing out to London sets? Bal Khela reports
Bevan Ashford lures partner from the City
Bristol-based Bevan Ashford is expanding its commercial litigation practice with the appointment of a new partner, Robin Neill, from Stephenson Harwood.
Book Review
Rollercoaster tells the story of the rise and fall of the emerging markets. Starting with a spot of currency trouble in Bangkok in 1997, the panic spread across Asia, Russia and then Latin America.
Bristol barristers beat the Woolf from their door
With its successful insurance litgation practices and the popularity of the Mercantile Court, Bristol is one of the few regions where barristers are actually benefiting from the introduction of the Woolf Reforms. Bal Khela reports
Brobeck Phleger opens North Virginia IP office
San Francisco firm Brobeck Phleger & Harrison is taking on five intellectual property partners to boost its Washington DC office and launch a new outpost in Northern Virginia.
Burness hires two dept heads
Scottish commercial law firm Burness has recruited two new partners to head its pensions and finance departments.
Camerons wins IQ-Ludorum after working on AIM float
CMS CAMERON McKenna has won Canadian software specialist IQ-Ludorum as a corporate client after helping to steer the company to a successful flotation on the London Stock Exchange's Alternative Investment Market (AIM) in August.
Case of the Week
The tragic case of Siamese twins joined by the lower abdomen reached the High Court this week, as Lord Justice Ward lost sleep over the dilemma which will see at least one of the twins die. The parents, who come from an eastern European Catholic community do not want surgeons to separate the twins as the operation will result in the death of the weaker one, Mary. But surgeons want to give Jodie, the stronger one, who is at the moment acting as a life support machine for Mary, a chance ...
City firms work on death row case
Simons Muirhead & Burton, SJ Berwin, Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, Herbert Smith and Kingsley Napley each advised ...
CMS Swiss firm wins M&A ace
CMS Cameron McKenna's Swiss alliance CMS von Erlach Klainguti Stettler Wille has taken on a new corporate partner.
Cutting Silk
Gordon Pollock QC
Cutting Silk
Gordon Pollock QC, continued
Deutsche derivatives head in vanishing act
Deutsche Bank's head of legal in trading and derivatives has left.
DLA adds Italy to D&P international alliance
DLA is about to sign up Italian firm De Berti Jacchia Perno & Associati to its D&P alliance.
DLA hires partner for Brussels
DLA has strengthened its presence in Brussels with the appointment of a second competition partner.
Fried Frank launches English law practice
New York firm Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson is launching its English law practice with a new partner from O'Melveny & Myers in London.
Halliwells splits management as senior partner steps down
Halliwell Landau's senior partner is stepping down after six years service to return to full-time fee-earning.
Hammonds Suddards Edge
Hammond Suddards Edge advised Igroup on the £300m securitisation of residential non-conforming mortgages. The deal is made up of £264m of AAA-rated notes, £24m of A and £12m of BBB-rated notes. Associate Gary Walker led the transaction assisted by solicitor Anjlia Rajani. Igroup was also advised by its in-house counsel. Allen & Overy advised Morgan Stanley Dean Witter which acted as lead manager.
Hugh Nineham
Hugh Nineham, head of corporate practice at Lovells, is seen by some as the saviour who pulled the practice out of its slump. Julia Cahill meets the man who modestly claims that the firm has no individual stars
ICL Ireland sets up first in-house legal function
The Belfast office of PricewaterhouseCoopers has lost its director of corporate legal services to ICL.
It's been a bad week for...
A pound of spuds, which will land a Sunderland greengrocer in court. Steven Thoburn is the first trader to be prosecuted for continuing to use pounds and ounces to serve customers. The market stall owner refused to use the metric system which is a requirement under European law. After allegedly ignoring a warning to switch to the "new" system, which the 36-year-old would have been taught in school, two policemen raided his stall and confiscated his offending scales. He is being backed ...
It's been a good week for
m Andre Suard, hairdresser of Cherie Booth QC (above), who Booth deemed trustworthy to look after Baby Leo while she gave a speech at the New York University Law School symposium. In-depth reports from the no-nonsense Daily Mail re...
Legal Widow
The Lawyer has developed a new theory on office behaviour. He is quite taken with the idea of writing one of those mono-subject books, such as Butter: the Yellow Brick of Desire, or Pencils: One Man's Search for a Crayon Called HB that will net him a longitudinal-size fortune. I'm not sure that The Call of the Water Cooler will make him a former lawyer in demand for Radio 4 programmes starring argumentative academics, but it's a start.
Linklaters breaks off Budapest IT group
Linklaters & Alliance's Budapest office is separating its IT and telecoms department from its corporate team as the sector continues to grow in the region.
LITIGATOR'S VIEW
Tania Sless reports on the impact of the Civil Procedure Rules on the extension deadlines for serving a claim form
Liverpool set wins £6m Fastrack work
Small Liverpool chambers 42 Castle Street has won a contract for indemnity work worth an estimated £5-6m in annual fees.
Lovells raids local firms to launch two Italian offices
LOVELLS is to enter the Italian market with the opening of fully integrated offices in Milan and Rome in October. This comes as the next step in its strategy to create a one-stop international firm.
Millennium Commission kept Dome open on Simmons advice
Simmons & Simmons initiated the PricewaterhouseCoopers report which convinced the New Millennium Experience Company (NMEC) and the Millennium Commission not to close the Dome early.
Morrison & Foerster drafts in US partner to head up London
San Francisco firm Morrison & Foerster (MoFo) is moving a partner in from the US to head the London office and to spearhead an aggressive expansion.
Nabarro Nathanson
Nabarro Nathanson represented Henderson Investors on behalf of Pearl Assurance on the euro400m (£244.8m) acquisition of a portfolio of shopping centres in Europe. The 14 centres, valued at up to euro225m (£137.7m), are located across the continent. Partner Kevin Stimpson led a team of six, assisted by Simon Staite and Nick Collins, which worked alongside other European law firms including Uría & Menéndez ...
New partner boosts Arnold & Porter tax
Washington DC firm Arnold & Porter is boosting its tax and real estate practices with a partner from local rival Steptoe & Johnson.
Olswang hires top SJ Berwin film and television partner
Olswang has taken on a partner in the film and television practice at SJ Berwin, Jacqueline Hurt.
One amazing client
Vincent Denham says stringent quality assurance tests are needed to assess legal service delivery
Pollock holds court
Gordon Pollock
Quality control - the key to success
Traditionally, quality management and its associated systems and standards belonged within manufacturing environments, where conformance to specifications was always paramount. Even when service businesses embraced the idea of quality in the mid-1980s, the focus was on frontline customer care-style "smile training". Indeed, the quality of the service product or its processes were rarely considered.
Quote of the week
"I just think that the whole thing is a complete waste of time."- Gordon Pollock QC on the Woolf Reforms.
Scottish legal aid system breaches human rights
In a test case, Fort William Sheriff, Colin McKay ruled that two Mallaig fishermen could not receive a fair trial because the £500 cap on legal aid fees in Scotland limited their access to justice.
Scuffle of the Week
The Queen's cousin Lady Elizabeth Anson and socialite Ivana Trump were both ticked off by Recorder David Barnard for refusing to go to mediation over a bill for a surprise party. A seven-year spat between the two ended with a £110,000 legal bill for loser Anson, who in 1993 was hired by Trump to organise a surprise birthday party for her then fiance Riccardo Mazzuchelli at the sumptuous Manoir Aux Quat'Saisons. The dispute arose over the £36,500 bill which was £12,500 more than Trump ...
SECURITISATION
Linklaters & Alliance acted for Irish financial institutions EBS Building Society and the Bank of Ireland on mortgage securitisations valued at more than euro995m (£609m). Advice was given on two separate securitisations, the first on a pool of financial mortgages for the Bank of Ireland worth euro500m (£313m), and the second on a pool of mortgages for EBS to the value of euro495m (£306m). A team of ...
Seven leave 4-5 Gray's Inn in public law exodus
Following the announced retirement last week of leading libel silk George Carman QC, 4-5 Gray's Inn Square has lost seven of its public law tenants.
Sidley & Austin boosts London office
Chicago firm Sidley & Austin is flying in two partners from its foreign offices to boost its international finance practice in London.
The Inside Agents
The decision of several leading law firms to take all or part of their recruitment process in-house has thrown open the debate about the best way to secure the services of the most sought after lawyers. The initiative is not universally supported, but advocates claim it offers a more focused service and can save both money and time.
The magnificent Severn
Devolution may have caused some ructions for Wales, but it has also inspired an economic boom. Julia Cahill reports on the benefits that independence has brought
The Personnelity
After a period of sustained economic growth and increasing profitability, the legal sector, in common with many others, finds itself with a dearth of talented people and dramatically rising labour costs. One can barely pick up a legal sector news publication without registering the sense of disillusionment felt within law firms, including that of partners. The response to this has been in some respects predictable and in others, extraordinary.
The South West & Wales: Bristol Mercantile Court
Established: January 1994
The South West & Wales: CHOSEN COUNSEL
Counsel used recently by the Welsh National Assembly:
The South West & Wales: the quiet life?
Those who have made the move from the City are overwhelmingly positive about their experience in the regions. Perhaps you would expect as much, but their evidence is convincing nonetheless.
The South West & Wales: THE WELSH NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
The work of the Office of the Counsel General (OCG) falls into three broad areas: drafting subordinate legislation; advising the assembly; and representing the assembly in litigation. The OCG instructs the Treasury Solicitor in connection with most litigation, and Eversheds' Cardiff office in connection with a large part of the non-core advice work. Core advice concerns legislation, policy development, ...
Thyssen case setback as Patten joins bench
One of the Commonwealth's most expensive litigation cases ever has been left without a key player in the defence team after Nicholas Patten QC was invited to become a judge.
Trinity Mirror
"To publish and be damned" is not the only legal headache a newspaper and magazine publisher such as Trinity Mirror faces. Its commercial interests cover 165 national and regional newspapers, sports publications, magazines, managing and staging exhibitions, and also provides internet services.
Vizards targets NHS litigation
London firm Vizard Oldham is taking on a leading healthcare litigation partner from Capsticks in a drive to turn its focus away from insurance litigation.
Weil Gotshal acts in Goldman Sachs deal
The London office of US firm Weil Gotshal & Manges has completed its first major deal for investment bank Goldman Sachs International.
Weil Gotshal fixes US lawyer shortage
New York firm Weil Gotshal & Manges is boosting its US banking and finance practice in London by drafting in two new partners.
White & Case woos capital markets ace
Canadian firm Goodman Phillips & Vineberg has lost its Hong Kong managing partner to White & Case.
