13 June 2011

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Clifford Chance loses four-partner funds team to Weil Gotshal

Weil Gotshal & Manges has raided magic circle firm Clifford Chance for a four-partner funds team. Ed Gander, Nigel Clark and Nick Benson, as well as tax partner Jonathan Kandel, have quit Clifford Chance to launch a funds formation practice in the US firm’s City office. Weil executive partner Barry Wolf said in a statement: […]

Herd about the country solicitor…

As a trainee at Lincoln’s Inn firm Wedlake Bell, Nigel Davis acquired a taste for open, green spaces. But there was one thing lacking from nearby Lincoln’s Inn Fields and Gray’s Inn Gardens – sheep. For just as the lawyer, who now runs Nigel Davis Solicitors from his farm in Derbyshire, was preparing to qualify […]

Wolfgang Ewer

The battle over German LLPs – Kultur Klub

A coalition of German professional bodies and firms is mounting a spirited fightback against the march of the Anglo-Saxon LLP. The battle has barely begun  Wolfgang Ewer does not look like a revolutionary. But if the president of the German lawyers association, the Deutscher Anwaltsverein (DAV) manages to push through the plans he has […]

Bernardine Adkins

Bureaucracy-busters offer all-round value

Competition teams are vital to companies of all types, as The Lawyer Awards 2011 shortlist shows, says Joshua Freedman That the red tape-cutters of the competition and regulatory world are among the most valuable of all lawyers is hardly news. But the list of nominees for Competition/ Regulatory Team of the Year for The Lawyer […]

DLA Piper and BLP act on final White Tower sale

Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) and DLA Piper landed roles on the sale of the last property in the White Tower portfolio, Aviva Tower, to an unnamed purchaser for £288m. The sale marks the end of one of the most high-profile commercial mortgage-backed security workouts. BLP advised Ernst & Young as vendor, and managed the bidding […]

Brick Court QC seals Ryanair victory in Gatwick ground charges face-off

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has ruled that Gatwick Airport’s ­baggage handling and check-in charges are unfair, forcing it to revise the fees. Nabarro partner Peter Fitzpatrick instructed Brick Court Chambers’ Daniel Jowell QC to lead the legal fight for Ryanair against Gatwick Airport. It argued that charges for check-in and baggage facilities were inherently […]

City quartet guides brand-led TUI Travel pensions revamp

Herbert Smith, CMS Cameron McKenna, Linklaters and Stephenson Harwood all landed roles on TUI Travel’s cost-cutting pension schemes revamp. The travel company has used the value of its Thomson and First Choice brands to help cut the cost of running the schemes. It is anticipated that the deal will save the company £38m a year. […]

Marjorie Nunez

Lex Caribbean

Lex Caribbean was launched in 1997 in Barbados, but it is only since 1 July 2000, when the firm merged with Trinidad and Tobago’s De Nobriga Inniss & Co, that it really hit its stride.   “We wanted to be the first truly integrated, pan-Caribbean commercial law firm in terms of structure and pay,” says […]

Firestone boss runs Moscow practice from London as partner death probed

The managing partner of a US law firm in Russia is being forced to run his firm from London after continuing to speak out against the authorities he believes are responsible for his former partner’s death. The managing partner of a US law firm in Russia is being forced to run his firm from London […]

Skadden banking counsel set for September switch to BLP

Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) has given its growing banking and capital markets team a lift with a hire from Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom. Paul Simcock, a counsel in Skadden’s London office, will join BLP in September as a partner, focusing on acquisition and leveraged finance. He also has expertise in high-yield finance. His […]

Freshfields freshens up Asia operations

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer is shaking up its Asia management team, as the former US managing partner relocates to Hong Kong to add firepower to the capital markets practice. Stephen Revell, global co-head of the international capital markets practice and US managing partner between 1998 and 2002, will relocate to Hong Kong to deal with the […]

Harbottle family chief ups sticks to niche firm

Harbottle & Lewis family head Tom Amlot has left the firm to join niche family boutique Alexiou Fisher Philipps (AFP) as its sixth partner. Amlot, who joined Harbottle on qualifying in 1999, said he was attracted to AFP after becoming intrigued by the idea of niche practices. “There was more support, more people and more […]