14 November 2011
The Lawyer
A case of "caveat celebritas" - celebrity beware?
The High Court [Ferdinand v MGN Ltd [2011] EWHC 2454 (QB)] recently dismissed footballer Rio Ferdinand’s claim against the Sunday Mirror for damages after the newspaper published what Nicol J called a “kiss and paid for telling” story about the ex-England captain.
A&O widens Belfast focus with fee-earner injection
Allen & Overy (A&O) is bolstering its Belfast Legal Services Centre with a team of fee-earners as it diversifies the support centre’s focus.
Camerons augments Integreon tie with HR hire
CMS Cameron McKenna has appointed a former colleague of DLA Piper senior partner Tony Angel as director of people to manage the relationship with its HR operation, which has been outsourced to Integreon.
CC, Dentons, SJ Berwin advise on City redevelopment project
Clifford Chance, SJ Berwin and SNR Denton won roles on the joint acquisition and redevelopment of an office site in the heart of the City.
Chinese law association first to admit foreigners
Foreign lawyers based in Shanghai are to be offered membership of a local association for the first time, as the Shanghai Lawyers Association extends a welcome to ’specially invited members’.
Disenfranchising the turkeys
Few countries outside North America have a holiday equivalent to Thanksgiving Day
DLA Piper hires for global securities start-up
DLA Piper has launched an international securities group after poaching a US securities partner from Dewey & LeBoeuf.
Ex-2Birds partner targets Asian ally for ABS in City
With ABSs the talk of the town, a new frontier has opened up: Asian-owned ABSs.
Focus: Partner Pay - How do you like your stake?
Owner or underling? The intricacies and politics of partnership status are about to escalate
GE Oil & Gas - Putting the A into ADR
While standard forms of litigation or arbitration may be well suited to resolving complex, high value disputes, they can be too time consuming and expensive for the determination of low value disputes of a more routine nature.
Good looking
An updated e-discovery direction means laying the groundwork for a search will be a key component of success. Adam Clemens’ message is clear: be prepared
Grey sky thinking
Cloud computing can provide benefits when it comes to e-disclosure but is still rife with potential pitfalls. Daniel Kavan advises implementing clear processes before the cloud is introduced
High Court drives hard bargain in Tesla case against Top Gear
The High Court has ordered a US car manufacturer to amend its case against the BBC in a dispute involving Top Gear or have the claim thrown out.
Hill Dickinson apes DLA in brand drive
Hill Dickinson senior partner David Wareing has launched a firmwide consultation process in a bid to create a “defineable” brand “like DLA Piper”.
India all out
With outbound investment from India growing, the complex relationship between the country’s domestic firms and international practices is evolving, says Joanne Harris
Inside track: Torsten Bartsch, Caterpillar
Caterpillar lawyer Torsten Bartsch knows a thing or two about the environment - handy for a plant maker facing tough EU rules. Joanne Harris reports
Is Law Society putting SRA cease-fire at risk with management clearout?
Law Society management was last week hit by a whirlwind that sees its six-strong top team either shifted out of the door or demoted.
It’s EPP talk, not PEP talk
With back-of-the-envelope projections already being made for the end of the financial year, it’s a good time to address that collective fiction profit per equity partner (PEP).
King & Wood leads for Wolong on Austrian deal
Beijing-headquartered King & Wood has played the lead counsel role in China Wolong Group’s acquisition of Austria’s largest motor manufacturer ATB Group in an investment exceeding e100m (£85.73m).
Macquarie to name first panel outside Australia
Aussie bank to set up dedicated roster as subsidiaries come of age
Middle class twit, er, tweet
Why tweet? I suspect this is something many lawyers have asked themselves, once, before going on to do something decidedly more interesting with their lives. Or maybe, as US movie star Ashton Kutcher has apparently just done having said something infra dig on his Twitter feed, they have instead outsourced it all to a PR agent, which, imho, is rather like paying someone to go to a party for you and pretend to be you.
On the move
Newly enlarged Clyde & Co, which merged with Barlow Lyde & Gilbert at the beginning of this month, has recruited Louisa Robbins as a partner in its professional and commercial disputes team in Manchester.
Opinion: European ruling risks pushing out the scientists
Scientists have reacted with shock and dismay at a recent decision from the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) on the patentability of human stem cells.
Pannone’s white-label business hands St Johns bulk lit work
Pannone has signed up St Johns Buildings to handle commodity litigation work stemming from its white-label arm Affinity Solutions.
Place matters
With so many tools of communication now in use, identifying the locations of stored data and their various laws regarding disclosure is essential, say Phil Beckett and Tristan Jenkinson
QC gets on his bike over road safety issues
As regular readers of the Back Page will doubtless have noticed, there are lots of lawyers out there who like nothing better than dressing up in Lycra and hitting the roads on two wheels.
Right direction
The most recent e-discovery practice direction has been pitched just right and should be followed as a matter of course, says Vince Neicho
Robin Simon
The lawyers at specialist insurance and professional indemnity (PI) boutique Robin Simon like to think of themselves as working at the country’s “smallest national firm”.
Silks who make the cut at the Supreme Court
Successful Supreme Court silks are a special breed, with the same names dominating the most high-profile cases. Katy Dowell reports
Sports bodies team up to seek 10-firm roster
The UK’s top sporting bodies have come together to establish a panel of firms to provide legal services to national governing sports organisations.
Stephenson Harwood acts for new US client
Stephenson Harwood has scooped a new corporate client, winning work from New York-listed Duff & Phelps opposite Eversheds on the financial adviser and investment bank’s biggest non-US acquisition yet.
Taylor Wessing hikes tax team with ex-Slaughters partner
Former Slaughter and May tax partner Richard Carson is poised to resurface at Taylor Wessing after retiring from the magic circle firm in April.
Taylor Wessing, Ince lawyers chart new course to Hamburg shipping boutique
A group of eight lawyers, four each from Taylor Wessing and Ince & Co’s Hamburg offices, have split off to establish a shipping law boutique in the German city.
Temple Court targets China with HK outpost
Temple Court Chambers is establishing a Hong Kong annexe in a bid to attract more work to London from Greater China.
The hidden burden of the general counsel role
In another life I once held positions as general counsel in two major companies and so watching the News International phone hacking story play out in the press and on television I cannot help having a thought for Tom Crone and wondering what he must be going through now and what it was like for him when he was at N.I.
Tulkinghorn: Bride before a call
Tracking down lawyers for a recent feature on India proved especially difficult for Tulkinghorn’s minions.
Twitter. Just the very name sounds stupid doesn't it?
And some of the language around it – twittering, twitterati, twittersphere, tweeting, tweeps - sounds frivolous and lightweight. For those of you who tweet, nothing I say here will be a surprise. For those of you who don’t, some of it may be.
Work Life Quiz: Robert Postlethwaite, Postlethwaite
