14 June 2004
The Lawyer
A&O reinstates book debt ruling in NatWest victory
Allen & Overy (A&O) has won a landmark Court of Appeal case for National Westminster Bank (NatWest), finally overturning a 2001 Privy Council ruling in the Brumark Investments case which restricted banks’ access to the book debts of insolvent companies.
Ashurst, Freshfields triumph over CC and Travers on new Apax panel
Ashurst and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer have made it onto Apax Partners’ much-anticipated panel, knocking out longtime advisers Clifford Chance and
Awards preview: assistant solicitor of the year
On 22 June, 1400 people will crowd into the Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane for the most eagerly-awaited event of the year. With only one week to go, The Lawyer brings you a sneak preview of the shortlisted individuals and teams
Awards preview: barrister of the year
On 22 June, 1400 people will crowd into the Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane for the most eagerly-awaited event of the year. With only one week to go, The Lawyer brings you a sneak preview of the shortlisted individuals and teams
Awards preview: chambers of the year
On 22 June, 1400 people will crowd into the Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane for the most eagerly-awaited event of the year. With only one week to go, The Lawyer brings you a sneak preview of the shortlisted individuals and teams
Awards preview: corporate team of the year
On 22 June, 1400 people will crowd into the Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane for the most eagerly-awaited event of the year. With only one week to go, The Lawyer brings you a sneak preview of the shortlisted individuals and teams
Awards preview: employment team of the year
On 22 June, 1400 people will crowd into the Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane for the most eagerly-awaited event of the year. With only one week to go, The Lawyer brings you a sneak preview of the shortlisted individuals and teams
Awards preview: european in-house team of the year
On 22 June, 1400 people will crowd into the Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane for the most eagerly-awaited event of the year. With only one week to go, The Lawyer brings you a sneak preview of the shortlisted individuals and teams
Awards preview: finance team of the year
On 22 June, 1400 people will crowd into the Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane for the most eagerly-awaited event of the year. With only one week to go, The Lawyer brings you a sneak preview of the shortlisted individuals and teams
Awards preview: global law firm of the year
On 22 June, 1400 people will crowd into the Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane for the most eagerly-awaited event of the year. With only one week to go, The Lawyer brings you a sneak preview of the shortlisted individuals and teams
Awards preview: in-house banking & finance team of the year
On 22 June, 1400 people will crowd into the Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane for the most eagerly-awaited event of the year. With only one week to go, The Lawyer brings you a sneak preview of the shortlisted individuals and teams
Awards preview: in-house commerce & industry team of the year
On 22 June, 1400 people will crowd into the Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane for the most eagerly-awaited event of the year. With only one week to go, The Lawyer brings you a sneak preview of the shortlisted individuals and teams
Awards preview: in-house tmt team of the year
On 22 June, 1400 people will crowd into the Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane for the most eagerly-awaited event of the year. With only one week to go, The Lawyer brings you a sneak preview of the shortlisted individuals and teams
Awards preview: law firm of the year
On 22 June, 1400 people will crowd into the Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane for the most eagerly-awaited event of the year. With only one week to go, The Lawyer brings you a sneak preview of the shortlisted individuals and teams
Awards preview: litigation team of the year
On 22 June, 1400 people will crowd into the Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane for the most eagerly-awaited event of the year. With only one week to go, The Lawyer brings you a sneak preview of the shortlisted individuals and teams
Awards preview: M&A team of the year
On 22 June, 1400 people will crowd into the Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane for the most eagerly-awaited event of the year. With only one week to go, The Lawyer brings you a sneak preview of the shortlisted individuals and teams
Awards preview: management team of the year
On 22 June, 1400 people will crowd into the Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane for the most eagerly-awaited event of the year. With only one week to go, The Lawyer brings you a sneak preview of the shortlisted individuals and teams
Awards preview: media/ip/it team of the year
On 22 June, 1400 people will crowd into the Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane for the most eagerly-awaited event of the year. With only one week to go, The Lawyer brings you a sneak preview of the shortlisted individuals and teams
Awards preview: niche firm of the year
On 22 June, 1400 people will crowd into the Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane for the most eagerly-awaited event of the year. With only one week to go, The Lawyer brings you a sneak preview of the shortlisted individuals and teams
Awards preview: offshore law firm of the year
On 22 June, 1400 people will crowd into the Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane for the most eagerly-awaited event of the year. With only one week to go, The Lawyer brings you a sneak preview of the shortlisted individuals and teams
Awards preview: partner of the year
On 22 June, 1400 people will crowd into the Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane for the most eagerly-awaited event of the year. With only one week to go, The Lawyer brings you a sneak preview of the shortlisted individuals and teams
Awards preview: pro bono activity of the year
On 22 June, 1400 people will crowd into the Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane for the most eagerly-awaited event of the year. With only one week to go, The Lawyer brings you a sneak preview of the shortlisted individuals and teams
Awards preview: projects/pfi team of the year
On 22 June, 1400 people will crowd into the Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane for the most eagerly-awaited event of the year. With only one week to go, The Lawyer brings you a sneak preview of the shortlisted individuals and teams
Awards preview: public sector team of the year
On 22 June, 1400 people will crowd into the Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane for the most eagerly-awaited event of the year. With only one week to go, The Lawyer brings you a sneak preview of the shortlisted individuals and teams
Awards preview: real estate team of the year
On 22 June, 1400 people will crowd into the Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane for the most eagerly-awaited event of the year. With only one week to go, The Lawyer brings you a sneak preview of the shortlisted individuals and teams
Awards preview: US law firm of the year
On 22 June, 1400 people will crowd into the Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane for the most eagerly-awaited event of the year. With only one week to go, The Lawyer brings you a sneak preview of the shortlisted individuals and teams
Bar Council in disciplinary volte-face
The Bar Council’s Professional Conduct and Complaints Committee has overturned its own decision to rule against one of its members, six months after the Legal Services Ombudsman ordered it to reconsider the matter.
Bevan Ashford to demerge
Bevan Ashford is set to split in two, with its Bristol arm to be renamed Bevan Brittan (BBL) while the Exeter, Plymouth and London arm will trade as Ashfords (EPL).
Bird & Bird secures head of public law for Paris base
Bird & Bird Paris has taken on a second partner within a month, recruiting the head of public law from French independent August & Debouzy.
Bus spurs lawyers to ‘get on board’ in pro bono week
National Pro Bono Week geared up last Monday (7 June) with the smooth diesel-throated hum of a bus launch in Trafalgar Square, ahead of 38 varied events promoting the pro bono message throughout England and Wales.
Bush picks Bryan Cave partner as UN ambassador
Bryan Cave partner John Danforth is set to take on one of the world’s toughest jobs as the US ambassador to the UN, shortly after presiding over Ronald Reagan’s funeral.
Careers: in brief
Ageing partners are stifling the way law firms conduct their marketing activity, according to a recruitment expert.
Careers: people
Julia Hayhoe was elected as a director of management consultancy Hildebrandt International last month. Hayhoe, a former commercial litigator, primarily advises law firms, but also consults with investment banks, pharmaceutical companies and other professional services organisations. She has worked out of the New Jersey office since 2003 and will return to London at the end of this year, retaining an office in both cities.
Cassidy given Royal seal of approval
Hammonds property partner Michael Cassidy is among the lawyers celebrating after being awarded the Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in Saturday’s Queen’s Birthday Honours List.
CAT decision in Pernod Ricard case hikes rights of OFT complainants
A preliminary decision by the Competition Appeals Tribunal (CAT) in the Pernod Ricard case means that complainants will have more rights in Office of Fair Trading (OFT) competition investigations.
CC clears Piers Morgan in shares scandal
Clifford Chance has secured a victory for client Piers Morgan after the former Daily Mirror editor was cleared following a four-year-long Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) investigation into the ‘City Slickers’ share scandal.
CC exodus continues in DC
Washington DC is the latest Clifford Chance office to be hit by a departure as the managing partner for the region leaves for an in-house role at the Securities Industry Association.
CC tech team in turmoil as six leave
Clifford Chance’s tiny communications, media and technology (CMT) group has been shaken up after six associates quit the department.
CC West Coast faces mass defection
Clifford Chance is facing an unfolding crisis within its West Coast practice as it emerges that a group of partners is in talks to jump ship to Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe.
CC West Coast stung by partner exit number four
Clifford Chance’s West Coast office has lost a fourth partner along with a team of litigation associates.
CFA success fee rate nailed down
The Civil Justice Council has agreed the level of success fees payable under conditional fee arrangements in employer liability accident cases.
Client training: the net solution
Joe Glavina and Damian Griffiths report on the changes wrought by the electronic information age on legal training for clients
Conflict rules to be eased by Law Society
Law Society president Peter Williamson has given the strongest indication yet that the conflicts rules will be clarified in favour of City practice, subject to Law Society Council approval at the end of next month.
Cyprus firm makes Middle East tie-up
A vast network has been established involving three Middle East law firms and Cyprus’s largest practice.
Daughter flaunter
The UK has its first Emmy-winning lawyer in the shape of Osborne Clarke’s Phil Alberstat.
Debevoise scoops US government litigation ace
Debevoise & Plimpton has lured a leading litigation partner back to the firm from West Coast giant Morrison & Foerster.
Dechert nabs Morgan Lewis securitisation team
Dechert has swooped on Morgan Lewis & Bockius, taking an eight-strong securitisation team that includes the former chairman of the group. Steven Molitor, who served as chairman of the securitisation group during his tenure at Morgan Lewis and as a partner for over 10 years, led the team of attorneys to Dechert’s Philadelphia office. The loss comes soon after the departure of two partners from Morgan Lewis’s ...
Dickinson Dees bags Sainsbury’s
Newcastle firm Dickinson Dees has won J Sainsbury as a new client.Dickinson Dees was first introduced to Sainsbury’s when it was on the other side of the supermarket chain’s £22m acquisition of Bells Stores from the Bells family.
Dickson Minto suspends lawyers after drunken brawl
Private equity boutique Dickson Minto has called in an independent investigator to assess allegations that two of the firm’s lawyers were involved in a drunken brawl during a boozy firmwide weekend away at the Lake District’s Langdale resort.
DMH launches City employment practice
South East firm DMH has launched a London employment team with a partner from Magrath & Co.
Duane Morris scoops litigation double from Kirkpatrick & Lockhart
Duane Morris’s New York office has scored two leading litigation experts from Kirkpatrick & Lockhart to lead its newly carved out broker-dealer practice.
FFW steals a march on Lawrence Graham as Londis switches firms
Lawrence Graham as Londis switches firms" /Convenience store group Londis has dropped Lawrence Graham in the middle of its takeover battle.
Finers reports hefty rise in partner profits
Finers Stephens Innocent has posted an astounding 45 per cent increase in average profits per equity partner (PEP).
Fladgates to fight legal action
Fladgate Fielder faces a negligence action from John Mundy, a former client who claims the firm breached its duty of care when advising him on an investment scheme run by Orb, the Jersey company at the centre of an ongoing investigation by the Serious Fraud Office.
Free ride
Irwin Mitchell’s Mike Napier is spreading the word on pro bono. But don’t take what he says as gospel. By Jon Robins
Freshfields Paris elects new managing partner
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has elected M&A and private equity lawyer Jean-Claude Cotoni as its French managing partner for a three year term.Cotoni succeeds Jean-Luc Michaud, who has been managing partner since 2001. Freshfields’ Paris office has 38 partners and 211 lawyers.
Freshfields takes the tube for £30m
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer reaped almost £30m in fees advising on the three controversial London Underground public-private partnerships (PPPs), it has emerged.
Gucci general counsel walks as company is bought by PPR
Gucci’s general counsel Alan Tuttle has quit following the multibillion-pound acquisition of the fashion house by French conglomerate Pinault Printemps Redoute (PPR).
Hammonds’ egg on chin
Good to see that Hammonds is taking financial matters seriously. Last Wednesday (9 June) the firm’s managing partner Chris Jones made a presentation at a law firm conference on financial management, organised by his bankers Barclays. Now, as Tulkinghorn is sure you are aware, average profits per equity partner (PEP) at Hammonds have just dropped by 18 per cent, from £330,000 to £272,000. So was Jones being ironic? Perhaps Jones was putting on a similarly brave front as that worn ...
Herbert Smith suffers profits slump
Herbert Smith has joined the growing throng of City firms experiencing declining profits on static turnover for the last financial year.
Howard Kennedy revenues up
Howard Kennedy has reported a 16 per cent rise in revenues to £22m, subject to what managing partner Trevor Newey called the “nonsense” of the debated change in tax on work in progress. Profits were static at £230,000.
Jenner & Block merges with IP boutique
Chicago-based law firm Jenner & Block has merged with IP litigation boutique Roper & Quigg. Roper & Quigg’s founding partner Harry Roper will lead Jenner & Block’s IP and technology team.Seven other lawyers will join Jenner as partners, two as of counsel and there are nine associates moving to Jenner. Former assistant secretary of commerce and commissioner of patents and trademarks Donald Quigg is one of the of counsel.
Kirkland & Ellis scoops Schroders head of legal
The soon to retire head of legal at Schroders is joining US firm Kirkland & Ellis as he prepares to become president of the International Bar Association (IBA).
Lady luck fails to smile on QC juror
An unlucky barrister on jury duty has been discharged from three juries in the last eight days because he keeps bumping into colleagues.
L-Cat super-panel met with disdain by the public sector
Central Government’s super-panel L-Cat is preparing to roll out to local government, but it faces receiving short shrift from some local authority lawyers.
Leader
My, my. The timing couldn’t have been better. A week after Barry O’Brien’s team at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer was thrown off the M&S bid, Law Society president Peter Williamson was giving delegates at The St Paul risk management conference an insight into the way the new conflicts rules were shaping up.
Lewis Silkin challenges Merrill Lynch
Lewis Silkin’s employment team is battling its largest ever employment tribunal matter, with the firm taking the lead for former Merrill Lynch banker Stephanie Villalba in her sex discrimination claim against the bank.
Linklaters in international launch of ‘volunteer days’
Linklaters has taken the lead from investment banking clients, including Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, to become what is believed to be the first UK law firm to introduce a ‘volunteer day’ across its international network.
Lovells makes Freshfields hire
Lovells has hired a new partner in Milan from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. Marco Lantelme, a former senior finance associate at Freshfields, will launch an Italian capital markets and securitisation practice from Lovells’ Milan office. The move follows the exit of corporate head Greg Terry from Lovells’ Asian practice after just one year. Lovells is understood to be planning more ...
M&S: why Freshfields ought to have known
Revealed: Freshfields faced same Slaughters team, same M&A tactic last year
Mace & Jones appoints first head of property
Mace & Jones has appointed its first firm-wide head of property.
Maples Finance acquires Jersey fund
A financial arm of Cayman Islands firm Maples & Calder has bought a Jersey branch of world-renowned fund manager Gartmore, whose chairman recently took up posts at both Marks & Spencer and the Guardian Media Group.
Martineaus and Birchams celebrate billings bonanza
Martineau Johnson and Bircham Dyson Bell have both posted double-digit increases for the year.
Mental cases
As everybody knows, the world is a more litigious place these days, but some legal battles are surely doomed before they ever reach a courtroom.
Morgan Cole loses employment head to Wedlake
Morgan Cole has lost its London head of employment in another blow for the firm. Ravinder Mahal, formerly an associate at Morgan Cole, has joined Wedlake Bell as a senior solicitor as part of an ongoing recruitment drive at the London and Guernsey firm, where fee-earners now number eight. Morgan Cole has lost five partners ...
Nabarros lures BLP construction expert
Nabarro Nathanson has raided rival Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) for the latest addition to its construction team.
Nominet receives top industry award
Nominet’s dispute resolution service has been awarded the Industry Award for Excellence in Alternative Dispute Resolution by the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution. In the past two years, Nominet, the UK internet domain name registry, has handled over 10 per cent of the total mediation cases across the UK civil and commercial mediation market. It has assisted over 1,500 companies to date.
Nomura legal chief rejoins Cadwalader
Japanese investment bank Nomura has lost the head of its transactional legal department following a shake-up instituted by head of legal Terence Kyle.
Norton Rose gifted Amlin corporate role
Norton Rose is the major beneficiary of FTSE 250 insurance company Amlin’s first legal panel for non-insurance-related work. Linklaters will continue as its key corporate adviser, but Norton Rose will act on corporate and regulatory issues. Group general counsel James Healy-Pratt will focus on forming a legal panel for ...
O’Melveny takes on DLA private equity partner
DLA has lost a private equity partner to O’Melveny & Myers. Andrew Carpenter is joining the US firm around the same time as Stuart Hills, a senior associate from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. Hills specialises in acquisition finance.
Opinion
It is five years since the most radical changes for more than a century were imposed upon the civil justice system. Lord Woolf’s reforms, which brought the new Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) regime into effect on 26 April 1999, were brought in under ‘Access to Justice’. The main impetus for the reforms were the delay, cost and uncertainty that had become the hallmark of civil litigation.
Osborne Clarke boasts record figures
Osborne Clarke has announced record end of year figures, with provisional profits per partner (PPP) rising by 30 per cent.
Osborne Clarke bolsters corporate with double hire
Osborne Clarke is ramping up its corporate practice with the hire of two new partners.
Pet hate
With all the recent problems about conflicts of interest, it’s strangely reassuring that the Americans are at it as well.
Richards Butler suffers worldwide turnover slump
Richards Butler has had a tough year with average profits per partner down 7.8 per cent from £450,000 in 2003 to £415,000 this year.
Salans develops Europe with Hungarian tie-up
Salans announced on 11 June that it is forging an alliance with 20-fee-earner Hungarian firm Szabo Kovari Tercsak. Szabo’s clients include McDonald’s, Skanska and ING Real Estate. Last September, Salans scooped the lion’s share of the international offices of ill-fated Altheimer & Gray, giving it instant capacity in Bratislava, Bucharest, Istanbul, Prague and Shanghai.
Separated at birth
The Iron Lady’s longest-serving Cabinet minister, but the one seen as the catalyst for her downfall, Geoffrey Howe (now of course Baron Howe of Aberavon) is no word-mincer before authority. In the years since that fateful 1 November in 1990, Baron Howe (also known as Richard Gordon QC in his day job guise) has turned his attention, quite naturally as an arch-Tory, to the ever-growing web of regulation that entangles the honest British worker. But what about the dishonest ones? Perhaps ...
SFO succeeds in double Versailles fraud conviction
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) had a rare unqualified success last week when Southwark Crown Court put away Versailles fraudsters Carlton Cushnie, represented by Jo Rickards of Peters & Peters, and Fred Clough, represented by Gerallt Owen of Orchard, for a combined total of 12 years in prison.
Sidley scoops China Life class action
Sidley Austin Brown & Wood has beaten US rival Shearman & Sterling to win a mandate to defend China Life Insurance in a class action against the company.
Slaughters partnership to mull over conversion to LLP status
Slaughter and May is considering a move to UK limited-liability partnership (LLP) status and will put the proposal to its partners later this year.
Steeles poach Eversheds partner for launch of inquiries practice
Steeles has launched a specialist inquiry and investigations practice, with the hire of Eversheds litigation partner Charles Holloway.
Stevens & Bolton turnover up 13 per cent
Turnover at Stevens & Bolton rose 13 per cent last year to £11.1m, with profits edging up 3.5 per cent to £240,000. The firm has recruited a number of heavyweight partners in the past year, including Stephanie Dale, former head of employment at Denton Wilde Sapte, and Ken Woffenden, former head of corporate at Simmons & Simmons.
Sue Edwards: Assets Recovery Agency
Assets Recovery Agency head of legal Sue Edwards has brought plenty of nous to her job. And that’s bad news for wealthy criminals. Brendan Malkin investigates
Suitably high
And the prize for the most bizarre charity event so far this year goes to… Lester Aldridge.
Taylor Wessing rides technology wave with strong year-end figures
Taylor Wessing rides technology wave with strong year-end figures" /Taylor Wessing has posted a robust set of figures in line with the upturn in fortunes of technology-focused firms such as Bird & Bird,
The ‘B’ all and end all
We all know that City lawyers work hard, but honestly, there’s always one person who has to go that one step further.
Waterfront Partnership
“We don’t believe in charging clients for each minute we spend. Our philosophy is very much one of ‘pick up the phone and give us a call’,” says Carole Hailey, who set up boutique IP and IT firm the Waterfront Partnership two years ago.
Weil misses starring role on WestLB’s Odeon sale
German bank WestLB has ignored Weil Gosthal & Manges on the disposal of the Odeon cinema chain, switching back to long-term adviser Allen & Overy (A&O), which has now accepted instructions on both the buy and sell sides of this transaction.
Work-life quiz
Stuart Whitfield, chief executive, Bevan Ashford
