16 January 2012
The Lawyer
Arabian plights
While the Arab Spring has left some deals up in the air, infrastructure work looks set to be the main area of growth in North Africa
Breaking China: not as easy at it looks
Is the China goldrush really what it seems? It’s taken as a given that any global firm worth its salt has to be there, but talk to any UK managing partner and they’ll tell you that making profit in China is damn hard going.
Case of the week: Banking & Finance
Change manager
Michel Nussbaumer, chief counsel at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, is turning his attention towards nations affected by the Arab Spring
DWF-Cobbetts: fit for purpose?
While both firms will benefit from a tie-up, top 30 hopeful DWF will be in the driving seat
Funds and games
Regulation from the EU is just one of several concerns for the funds industry, according to in-house and private practice lawyers
Gaelic alarm
The Irish Legal Services Regulation Bill has caused ructions over the future of the profession
Great haul of China
A massive domestic push and some international toe-dipping has seen China’s Dacheng grow into a firm of 2,600 lawyers. Now it has global ambitions
Job Watch: Energy, should you relocate?
Working in the UK and further afield both offer many advantages for lawyers trying to break into the energy sector.
Judgment call: 16th January 2012
Starlight Shipping Co v Allianz Marine & Aviation Versicherungs AG & Ors; and Brit UW Ltd v Starlight; and Brit UW & Ors vImperial (2011) EWHC 3381. Commercial Court Queen’s Bench Division. Burton J.
Land of opportunity?
British Land wants thoroughly modern relationships with its advisers
Moroccan roll
The arrival of international players into Casablanca has made a confident Moroccan legal community sit up and take note
Move On Up: Fladgate
Property and corporate still rule at Fladgate - but where’s the gender transparency?
Move On Up: Fladgate
West End firm Fladgate is best known for its property and corporate practices, so it is no surprise that the focus of both its partnership promotions and lateral hires over the past few years has been these two areas.
Moves: 16 January 2012
?Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom has turned to US rival Weil Gotshal & Manges for a London restructuring hire, scooping partner Dominic McCahill. McCahill, who advises on insolvencies and restructurings, joins London practice head Chris Mallon in Skadden’s corporate restructuring team as the practice’s second City partner.
Number crunching: Barclays
Barclays might have one of the biggest bank panels in the world, but that doesn’t prevent it from having close relationships with select firms.
ON THE MOVE
Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom has turned to US rival Weil Gotshal & Manges for a London restructuring hire, scooping partner Dominic McCahill.
Private practice
Take-privates by US-listed Chinese companies are now a good earner for US firms. By Yun Kriegler
Regulating the final frontier
New arbitration rules have been drawn up for space law disputes
Self-fulfilling economies
We need to stop talking ourselves into catastrophe
Sugar-coated bills
Revealed: the fee structures underpinning the Quinn Emanuel litigation machine
The Lawyer Management: Field Fisher Waterhouse
?Charlie Keeling is Field Fisher Waterhouse’s (FFW) first-ever chief operating officer (COO). He was appointed last year to oversee the firm’s business services and support functions, having joined FFW in 2008 as HR director from IT and consulting company BearingPoint. He previously worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers as a change management consultant.
The panel connection
Rodney Dukes, head of finance, Taylor Wessing
Tort in the web
ECJ adapts established tort law for internet cases
Tulkinghorn: Florida keys
Law firm mergers always produce the odd bit of unexpected intrigue, but the dilemma facing SJ Berwin partner and former managing partner candidate Perry Yam during the firm’s 2010 merger talks with Proskauer Rose is surely one of the most absorbing ever.
Work Life Quiz: Mark Weston, Matthew Arnold & Baldwin
