14 October 2002
The Lawyer
3 Stone Buildings hits New York
3 Stone Buildings has opened an annexe in New York. The chancery commercial set is believed to be the first UK chambers to open in the US city. The annexe will be run by professional negligence barrister Teresa Rosen Peacock, who is in the process of qualifying for the New York Bar.
A sporting chance
The growing number of claims in the sporting world has sparked a new interest in ADR. Jon Siddall reports on how many sports are making mediation part of the game plan
A&O power struggle: Rink was asked to go
Cabal of top partners sought Rink's exit last year; leadership vote in December
A&O telecoms expert rages at Oftel's 'out-of-date' regulatory proposals
Allen & Overy (A&O) telecoms specialist Chris Watson has slammed Oftel's policies for the wireless industry
Ashursts hires lawyer from BT Ignite
Ashurst Morris Crisp has added a finance capability to its fledgling Spanish practice with the hire of BT Ignite's general counsel for Southern Europe. Gonzalo Jiménez-Blanco will join the firm's partnership shortly. Ashursts counts BT among its major clients, but the Spanish office uses Clifford Chance ...
Bahrain Bank picks Norton Rose
Norton Rose has received its first major instruction from Bahrain International Bank (BIB) to advise on the restructuring of its $460m (£294m) debt
Beiten Burkhardt team defects to Salans
Salans has taken a team from KPMG Beiten Burkhardt's St Petersburg office
Blake Dawson returns A$1m to HIH
Australian firm Blake Dawson Waldron has repaid the A$1m (£350,000) in fees that it was paid by HIH in the final 24 hours before the collapse of the Australian insurance giant in March
Broadly speaking
Twenty five years ago, life for those entering the legal profession was very different. A newly qualified solicitor coming in to the profession could expect a much greater variety of work upon qualification
Caller staller
Tulkinghorn is counting his lucky stars that he never had to rely on computers when he was a young lawyer. As readers may recall, last week Tulkinghorn had an incredible fit of pique when every call he made to Pinsent Curtis Biddle partner and John Major's libel lawyer David Hooper went unanswered.On the Monday that Tulkinghorn tried to get through, the blasted phone would ring for hours before Tulkinghorn was unceremoniously cut off without so much as a "Hello, Pinsent Curtis ...
Carter-Ruck leads Stansted dogfight
A campaign group of lawyers, including Peter Carter-Ruck, has been formed to attack proposals for the expansion of Stansted Airport
CC picks three regional chiefs as votes continue
Three Clifford Chance partners have been elected unopposed as regional managing partners, as the firm continues its series of leadership votes. Peter Charlton has been re-elected as regional managing partner for London and Dubai for an initial term of three years beginning in January. Jim Baird has been re-elected as regional managing partner for Asia. The US post goes to John Carroll, who takes ...
Cleary helps steer Fiat towards safety
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton has tied down a controversial lifeline designed to keep Fiat afloat as the troubled industrial group attempts to stave off the wrath of the Italian government.The e1.1bn (£690.3m) financing, which was announced in June but put in place only last week, was provided by a syndicate of banks led by Citibank, which Fiat hopes will give the company room ...
DEAL OF THE WEEK - LITTLEWOODS
Lovells hikes M&A market with Littlewoods instruction
EAT still playing catch-up despite new judges
The Department of Trade and Industry's decision to appoint six additional part-time judges to the Employ-ment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) will not overcome the court's problems of delay and backlog, say employment experts
Eversheds, Simmons lose Next work to Herbert Smith
Herbert Smith has captured a new FTSE 100 client with the capital restructuring of high street retailer Next
Firms lose out as Ford slashes bills by a third
Ailing corporate giant Ford Motors has asked several of its main UK advisers, including Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Lovells and Wragge & Co, to slash their legal bills to get Ford's overall legal spend down, according to one source, by 35 per cent
Founding partner quits O'Sullivan
US private equity firm O'Sullivan is breaking away from the last vestiges of its past as one of its original name partners joins Carter Ledyard & Milburn
German deals round-up
Baker & McKenzie Düsseldorf (Benedikt von Schorlemer) acted for E-Plus on the sale of its call centres to operator SNT. Linklaters Oppenhoff & Rädler (Wolfgang Krauel) represented SNT.Luther Menold (Mark Kersting) and Nauta Dutilh (Reinhoud Bredius) both acted for D Logistics in the sale of its holdings in the Cargo Service Centre and the Gateway Service Centre to Swissport, ...
Global firms witness boom in German asset finance market
A&O, CC Pünder and Freshfields face up to wave of unexpected competition. Aled Griffiths reports
Gouldens takes lead role on Pillar work
Gouldens has reprised its role as lead adviser to Pillar Property as the group finally sells off its interest in Cannon Bridge, home of the London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange (Liffe).Pillar, which owns a 25 per cent stake in the building, and the US's Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association (TIAA), which holds a 75 per cent share, have sold off the building to Fordgate, a Jersey-based private property group owned by brothers Moises and Mendi Gertner, ...
Hammonds wins Russian govt contract
Hammonds has continued its push into Russia by signing a cooperation agreement with the Russian Chamber of Commerce to give European legal advice to all its members
Harcourt barrister voted Lord Mayor of London
Gavyn Arthur, a barrister at civil set Harcourt Chambers, has been elected as the next Lord Mayor of London
HENDERSON BOYD JACKSON
Careful diversity is Scottish firm Henderson Boyd's route to continued strong performance
Here's lookin' at you, clerk
Some clerks run their ships with rods of iron and not a few barristers have complained of them acting something akin to a nightmarish Big Brother observatory machine. Now, ironically, at Brick Court Chambers it is the clerks themselves who have become the victims as the surprisingly modern set has introduced a webcam at reception in order to keep an eye on what the clerks are up to.Apparently the purpose of these probing lenses is to enable the receptionist to see what the clerks ...
Houthoff wins ex-Andersen Legal chief
Houthoff Buruma has picked up Albert Ploeger, the former head of Andersen Legal's Dutch intellectual property (IP), IT and telecoms practice, and his team. Ploeger is bringing two associates from former accountancy-tied practice Wouters Advocaten & Notarissen.
Jones Day raids rivals for Munich
Four senior German partners will lead Jones Day Reavis & Pogue's push into Munich
Law Soc hits solicitors' pockets for OSS boost
Solicitors in England and Wales will be ordered to cough up at least £21m between them over the next three years and thereafter to strengthen the Law Society's ability to regulate the profession
Lawyers sceptical about EU code
The European Commission released yet another draft directive for a EU Takeover Code at the beginning of the month, but UK lawyers who remember the farcical demise of the last code are cynical about the chances of this code's success
Legal Widow
The Lawyer's firm has switched to a new contract cleaning service staffed by refugees and impoverished students earning the money for their next night out
Lewis rejoins DJ Freeman management
Former DJ Freeman chief executive Jonathan Lewis (left) has once again stepped onto the firm's management team with his appointment as head of the property department. Lewis, who handed over the reins to Laurence Harris in November last year, was previously chief executive for eight years. He will now take former department head Susan Hall's place on the executive board. Hall will now focus on client development, rather than internal management, and more fee-earning work.
Licensing: the dark side of the law?
Licensing might be mega-lucrative, but it could cost a packet in disputes if all is not clear, says Melanie Butler
Major picks Pinsents to fight New Statesman
John Major has finally instructed lawyers to handle any possible litigation against the New Statesman arising from the Edwina Currie affair. Pinsent Curtis Biddle will represent the former Prime Minister. Major won at least £27,000 from the New Statesman in 1993 after the magazine repeated false claims made in the now defunct Scallywag magazine that he was having an affair with a Downing Street caterer. The issue of Major's libel action has been reopened after Currie's ...
Maxwell Batley escapes $70m action
Maxwell Batley has successfully defended a $70m (£45m) High Court claim, believed to be the largest negligence action against a law firm since the demise of the Solicitors’ Indemnity Fund (SIF)
Namedropping
Tulkinghorn is always concerned by lawyers who think they are cool. But one really has to despair at Clifford Chance's ad campaign designed to tell punters that they're dropping the 'Rogers & Wells' in the States.The firm has taken out full-page ads in publications including The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times which read: 'The name is Chance… Clifford ...
Nauta's new focus spells end for Paris
Slaughter and May best friend NautaDutilh has closed its Paris practice and is reviewing the future of its 18-lawyer Madrid office as part of a strategy to focus on Dutch and Belgian law in Benelux, London and New York
New laws expected to hike Chinese M&A
The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) last week finalised the regulations governing mergers and acquisitions of domestic-listed companies
Non-lawyer takes exec post at Simpson Grierson
New Zealand firm Simpson Grierson has appointed a new executive director. Non-lawyer David Graham comes from AT Kearney, where he has held a number of international strategic roles. He has also previously worked at Telecom New Zealand and Fletcher Challenge.
Nuclear cower
As Messrs Bush and Blair finalise the battle plan for their war with Iraq, West Midlands firm Waldrons is not taking any chances. Tulkinghorn spotted a team of 15 lawyers from the firm checking out a nuclear bunker in Staffordshire. He did wonder if the firm was planning to relocate to the vast complex of tunnels which contains air-filtration systems, massive generators, a fully equipped kitchen, a doctor's surgery and several bedrooms, but he can confirm that this is not the case. ...
Ombudsman claims EU data protection is abused
The European Ombudsman wants a 'clarification' of EU data protection legislation, which he claims is being abused by EU institutions and national governments to restrict access to public information
Opinion
By the time you read this, the Prospectus Directive will have been virtually fin-alised. It has been improved beyond recognition from the European Commission's (EC) first draft of 30 May 2001
Osborne Clarke makes £9m on property deal
Partners quids in after sale and leaseback deal in Bristol
Pennie rejects Cooley merger
Top Pennie partners veto merger over fear of losing control
Pillsbury Winthrop is defending a $45m claim as ex-partner sues for libel
Former partner Jensen brings action as proposed Latham move goes sour after allegations of sexual harassment
Realty bites
Which firms are kings of the castle in terms of their real estate portfolios? Julia Cahill and Emma Vere-Jones reveal the findings of The Lawyer's real estate survey
Reed Smith continues aggressive expansion with California merger
US firm swoops for fourth merger in three years; partners to vote on deal by the end of the month
Simkins Partnership hires global IP/IT star
The Simkins Partnership has appointed Nic Garnett as a consultant in intellectual property and IT. Garnett's international experience includes time as in-house counsel at InterTrust Technologies in Silicon Valley and seven years as director general and chief executive officer of the International Federation of Phonographic Industries.
SJ Berwin targets clients US-style
In a radical departure, SJ Berwin has adopted US-style marketing in an attempt to generate litigation clients by mailing UK institutional investors who may have suffered significant losses on the US stock market following financial restatements
Snap decisions
The compulsory adjudication process has proved successful in the construction industry. So why, asks Peter Rees, can't other practice areas share the benefits?
Stephenson Harwood's Madrid woes continue as Paris ally denies merger
Stephenson Harwood's post-merger international strategy is in tatters following the loss of its profitable Madrid office to a DLA raid
Talking balls
As the cast of a thousand lawyers that worked on he long-running Wembley Stadium deal catch up on hours of lost sleep and generally get their lives back, Tulkinghorn is concerned that one lawyer involved may be in need of some extra help.Clifford Chance partner David Metzger, who was part of the Multiplex team and a keen footballer, has found that, since the deal, he can speak only in football ...
The Leader Column
Splendid. Trust Allen & Overy to try to outdo Clifford Chance. Just as the CC elections are tailing off, here's A&O's unexpected leadership vote - and the politics involved are positively laced with kerosene.As revealed in this week's issue, there's a lot more to John Rink's early retirement ...
The lone rearranger
The doyen of corporate restructuring is now at Nomura. Dearbail Jordan talks to Richard Gitlin about Maxwell, the IMF and being big in Japan
The right chemistry
Johnson Matthey's head of legal Simon Farrant has the right formula of in-house and external lawyers to keep the chemicals company healthy for another century. Steve Hoare reports
VLG $3m cash boost too late for SF office
West Coast technology firm Venture Law Group (VLG) has been forced to close its San Francisco office just as it received a $3m (£1.9m) windfall from one of its early stage investments
WDA legal head quits for Cardiff boutique
Welsh Development Agency (WDA) legal director Roy Thomas has departed to join Cardiff corporate boutique M&A Solicitors as it gears up to target the public sector market
White & Case shuts its Bahrain office as Dubai market hots up
US firm quits, but others circle the market as privatisation stirs up the Middle East. Brendan Malkin reports
Wragges, Masons act on major windfarm projects
Wragge & Co is attempting to help push ahead Powergen Renewables' plan to build a major windfarm in Norfolk after the project was postponed for a year over disagreements with contractors on price.The 37-wind turbine farm, which will be located offshore at Scroby Sands near Great Yarmouth, was due for completion by the end of 2003. However, it is understood that Powergen Renewables, a joint ...
