14 February 2005
The Lawyer
20 Essex Street silk to sit on Scottish bench
20 Essex Street's Angus Glennie QC has been appointed to the Scottish bench.
A&O reeling after Italian defections
Banking capability badly holed as troubled practice is hit by further key losses
Abingworth turns to Proskauer Rose
Life sciences venture capital group Abingworth Management has retained Richards Butler's prospective merger partner Proskauer Rose as its main adviser on US matters.
Appeal Court witnesses fall-off in civil hearings
The number of appeals heard in the Court of Appeal's civil division has dropped by 14 per cent in the last year, following a general trend that is seeing fewer cases coming to trial.
Asbestos sufferers emerge victorious in Pleural Plaques litigation
Personal injury lawyers are celebrating after a judge ruled today (15 February) that insurers are liable for compensation to asbestos victims.
B&M doubles pro bono hours in London with Charity focus
A programme by the London office of Baker & McKenzie (B&M) aimed at ramping up levels of pro bono work (see The Lawyer, 27 October 2003) to match those in its US offices has seen the number of hours devoted to good causes almost double.
B&M scoops EY Law quartet for Bologna expansion
Baker & McKenzie has expanded its Bologna office, taking four lawyers from EY Law.
Beachcrofts makes triple hire for construction
Beachcroft Wansbroughs has bolstered its construction team with the hire of three new partners. In London Tony Blackler joins Beachcrofts from Macfarlanes, where he was a partner in the firm's property group. Blackler specialises in contentious construction work, but also has a non-contentious practice. Meanwhile, in Birmingham and Bristol respectively, Beachcrofts has recruited
Bernie Ecclestone puts Richards Butler in driving seat for Formula 1 ownership fight
Richards Butler has scooped prestigious first-time instructions from Bernie Ecclestone in the ongoing litigation regarding the future ownership of Formula 1 motor racing.
Careers: In brief
The Group for Solicitors with Disabilities (GSD) is organising an open day on 14 April hosted by Herbert Smith. The group would like to hear from students with disabilities who would be interested in attending.
Careers: People
Intelli Corporate Finance's chief operating officer Stewart McIntyre was appointed chief executive of Scottish firm Henderson Boyd Jackson in January 2005. A strategic review at the firm concluded that a non-legal chief executive was needed to modernise its core legal business and drive expansion.
CC hit for six by Kaye Scholer NY raid
Clifford Chance’s embattled New York office has haemorrhaged six partners, with its entire insolvency and restructuring group quitting en masse for Kaye Scholer.
Cobbetts scoops third Hammonds partner
Cobbetts has snagged Hammonds’ former finance head to boost its corporate practice.
Countryside Alliance fails to overturn hunting ban
The Countryside Alliance’s heavyweight legal team of Allen & Overy, Sir Sydney Kentridge QC and Richard Lissack QC today (16 February) saw its appeal against the ban on hunting dismissed by the Court of Appeal.
Court unawares
Training company Bond Solon ran into a storm when the Court of Appeal held that coaching witnesses is entirely improper. Jon Robins reports on what it means for witness preparation
Don't dictate to me
The reign of terror at Lovells continues. First the door is shown to 25 partners, now it's the turn of the innocent dictaphone.
DWS loses its place as English Partnerships picks new panel
Denton Wilde Sapte (DWS) has lost its place on the English Partnerships panel following an exhaustive eight-month review.
Emily Taylor: Nominet
Nominet's potentially controversial dispute resolution service has proved to be a coup for its in-house legal team. Steve Hoare reports
Firm profile: Rutherfords Solicitors
After more than 80 years in practice, Birmingham's Rutherfords Solicitors is ramping up its offering in two areas - commercial and private client. Managing partner Peter Wiseman hopes to double partner numbers in the next two years
First Morgan Lewis French lateral signals Paris intent
Morgan Lewis & Bockius has made its first significant French hire since opening in Paris last June with the arrival of Stéphan Alamowitch from Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe.
Fourth Hammonds partner joins construction exodus
Hammonds has been hit by the news that it is to lose its fourth construction partner since the start of the year, but is making up for the loss with a lateral hire from DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary.
Freshfields wins Texas Pacific buyout work
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has strengthened its relationship with Texas Pacific Group after landing an instruction to advise the US buyout house on its bid for British Vita.
Grapevine
Will Wilmer Cutler end up showing Hale the door?Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr's first end-of-year financials will give all partners cause for cheer. The firm's turnover for 2004 was $750m (£402.1m). That figure is up a respectable 14 per cent on a combined 2003 total of Wilmer Cutler & Pickering's $334m (£179.2m) and Hale and Dorr's $325m (£174.3m).
Group legal director Chidley in sudden exit from Royal Bank of Scotland
The Royal Bank of Scotland's (RBS) director of group legal services Mark Chidley is leaving after just three years with the bank.
Halliwells Liverpool hires DLA Piper partner
Halliwells has made its first lateral hire in Liverpool since merging with local firm Cuff Roberts at the beginning of the year.
Hammonds lose third partner to Hunton & Williams
Hammonds has suffered again at the hands of Hunton & Williams, losing its third partner to the US firm –the 16th partner to quit the firm since January 2004.
Heart disease
Congratulations to Browne Jacobson for the dumbest press release of the week.
Herbies' Gold in U-turn over managing partner plan
Herbert Smith senior partner David Gold has ditched his plan to create a managing partner role.
ICI general counsel retires
ICI's general counsel and company secretary Michael Herlihy has quit the FTSE 100 company after 26 years' service. Herlihy, who has been general counsel since January 1996, will be replaced by Andy Ransom, the group vice-president for mergers and acquisitions. Ransom has been with ICI for 18 years and prior to his current role worked as general counsel for ICI in the Americas. Herlihy is due to retire from ICI at the end of June. First revealed on www.thelawyer.com 9 February
ILA appoints Freshfields partner as president
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer partner Ken Baird (left) has been appointed as the new president of the UK Insolvency Lawyers' Association (ILA). Baird took up his position on 5 February. He will be involved in the ILA's work promoting the role of lawyers in the insolvency profession, as well as developing the theory and practice of insolvency administration. He succeeds Lovells partner ...
Jeantet continues revenue hike
French stalwart Jeantet & Associés has posted a revenue hike of 10 per cent for the second year running.
Keeping up with Jones
Sad news from up north, where it emerges that Hammonds’ former managing partner Chris Jones is selling his house.
Latham man joins Linklaters' investment group
Linklaters has hired Latham & Watkins New York partner Scott Bowie to further grow its investment management practice in the US. Bowie, formerly head of the New York private investment fund practice at Latham, is the tenth lateral hire to join Linklaters' US business since July 2003. Linklaters global investment ...
Legal Widow
"Well they're not democracies, are they Dad?" said Subjudice in a misguided attempt to cheer up her father, who had just read about the latest legal merger and was very down about the whole thing. "I mean, they can do whatever they want, can't they? If they want you all to move to Outer Mongolia tomorrow you'll probably have to, won't you? So a few more bods on the payroll shouldn't make a difference. Actually, they're probably oligarchies. Like Russia. You know, from oligos, rule by the ...
Lewis Silkin bolsters social housing practice with new partner
Lewis Silkin has snagged a rated social housing partner from boutique firm Jenkins & Hand.
Linklaters gets settled into New York with hiring spree
Linklaters' hire last week of investment fund partner Scott Bowie from Latham & Watkins marked the tenth lateral hire into the magic circle firm's New York office in the space of 18 months.
Linklaters loses HK corporate rainmaker
Linklaters' Hong Kong-based corporate partner Dominic Tsun has quit after almost eight years with the magic circle firm.
Linklaters wins Spanish purchase for Capio
Linklaters' London office has completed a major Spanish acquisition for Capio, a long-term client of its Swedish practice.
Lords acquits barrister of medical negligence claim
A barrister who was found negligent by the Court of Appeal has been vindicated in the House of Lords.
Lovells Berlin loses managing partner
Lovells has been hit with the departure of another partner from the firm’s Berlin office.Volkmar Jesch, Lovells’ Berlin-based managing partner has quit to team up with tax and real estate partner Nicholas Ley to launch their own boutique. Neither partner has been affected by Lovell’s radical plans to axe 25 partners in a bid to improve flagging profitability.The duo will be teaming up with former Lovells partner Klaus Racky, who retired last October.Lovells has ...
Manches ramps up property with double hire
Manches has bolstered its property team with the hire of two partners, including Davenport Lyons' former head of property Graham Atkins. Retail property specialist Atkins, who joined the firm last Monday (7 February), stepped down from a management role last year. He was at Davenport Lyons for 31 years. Manches has also hired Neil Benson, a property litigation partner at Howard Kennedy, who joined in January.
MBR&M UK partners face new pay regime
After a year of negotiations, Mayer Brown Rowe & Maw (MBR&M) has finally united its US and UK compensation systems, as it emerges that the London partnership negotiated a $10m (£5.4m) extra equity injection for the three years after the merger.
MBRM signs up former EU ambassador to regulatory team
Mayer Brown Rowe & Maw has taken on the former European Union ambassador to the US Dr Gunter Burghardt for its regulatory team.
McLibel duo emerge triumphant from ECHR case
The pair of environmentalists who took fast food chain McDonald’s to court have sensationally won an appeal in the European Court of Human Rights against the British government.
MoD demands more value from advisers
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) is asking its external lawyers to be more accountable and to offer added value.
Nestor legal head defects to Homeserve as first in-houser
FTSE 250 company Homeserve has raided Nestor, the provider of UK health and social care services, for its first in-house lawyer.
Opinion
Government must address questions of clarity and responsibility before ID cards will be accepted
Orrick raids Heller Ehrman for technology team
Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe has raided West Coast start up experts Heller Ehrman Venture Law Group, to secure a five partner technology team.
Paul Hastings' new star to build German team in UK
Paul Hastings Janofsky & Walker is continuing its European expansion with the hire of high-profile German private equity lawyer Geza Toth-Feher.
Paul Weiss chair switches sides for Intelsat in-house role
Intelsat has recruited Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison's chair of communications and technology Phillip Spector as its new general counsel.
Pillsbury Winthrop and Shaw Pittman commit to merger
Pillsbury Winthrop and Shaw Pittman last week finally confirmed their intention to merge.
Pinsent Masons loses first partner since merger
Pinsent Masons has lost its first legacy Pinsents partner since the firm's merger went live in December. The former London head of banking and finance Rhodri Davies is moving to join Scottish firm Dundas & Wilson on 21 February. Davies's departure comes hot on the heels of the resignation of Masons legacy ...
Raising the bar
The prospect of Clementi's changes may have got a few pulses racing, but Robert Englehart QC's advice is: carry on as normal
Reynolds Porter turns down place on NHSLA legal panel
Reynolds Porter Chamberlain last week turned its back on the NHS Litigation Authority (NHSLA) after seven years as a panel member.
Separated at birth
Comedian Steve Coogan has gone far since making his name as Norwich's finest in the guise of TV and radio icon Alan Partridge. The 'part' still occasionally pops up here and there, but the man himself has many other guises designed to entertain and sometimes even educate. His latest is a Guernsey-based solicitor going under the obviously fake but funny name of 'Benjamin Wrench'. Witness Coogan's finely honed humour in 'Wrench's' piece in a recent offshore special: "The market abuse ...
Sharing the burden
The Art of delegation is central to productivity, client care and team building, says Charles Boyle
Shepherd + Wedderburn wins F&C adviser role
F&C Asset Management, one of the five largest asset managers in the UK, has added Scottish firm Shepherd + Wedderburn to its legal roster.
Sidley and McKee top US tables
Sidley Austin Brown & Wood and McKee Nelson have topped the US capital markets tables for 2004, according to research published this month by Thomson Financial.
SIF surplus runs to £55m
The Solicitors Indemnity Fund (SIF) has reported an accumulated surplus of £54.5m.
Simmons gets first job from Royal Dutch
Simmons & Simmons has completed its first deal for Royal Dutch/Shell since being awarded a place on the oil giant's panel last year.
Sirius business
Judgments in Sirius have raised questions about where the line should be drawn between literal and contextual translations of the law. Sean Wilken and Jess Connors report
TfL tenders East London Line project
Transport for London (TfL), the Government agency charged with managing the capital's transport infrastructure, has launched a tender process to appoint a firm to advise on the £896m East London Line extension.
The trouble with Italy ...
In a world where the global brand is king, you can still count on resistance in the oddest places. The big international law firms still can't crack Italy.
The work-life quiz
Tony Edwards, managing partner, Thomas Eggar
Thorn brings in MBR&M to prove illegitimacy of UK tax
Mayer Brown Rowe & Maw's (MBR&M) tiny London tax litigation team has scooped a role in the mammoth Loss Relief Group Litigation challenging UK tax laws.
Watson Farley to convert to LLP
Watson Farley & Williams (WFW) has become the latest firm to announce that it is converting to a limited liability partnership (LLP).The City firm’s decision to convert follows the publication of research by Zurich Professional last month, which showed that 37 per cent of UK firms have ruled out converting to LLP status (www.thelawyer.com 31 January). The report also found that ...
Weil bags Apax as Soundy closes on rival Freshfields
Apax has extended its panel to include a third law firm, Weil Gotshal & Manges.
You bet your life
After the House of Lords’ decision in Gregg v Scott it seems that clinical negligence is safe from loss of chance claims. William Flenley gives the lowdown
