18 April 2011

World figures

With businesses increasingly operating across international borders, Maryam Kennedy looks at how forensic accounting is keeping pace with the challenges of different regulatory regimes How many languages can you speak? Are you able to travel with 24 hours’ notice? Which of the former Soviet states have you worked in? These three crucial questions neatly encapsulate […]

Counting time

James Stanbury examines the effects of the late appointment of expert witnesses The structural preservation of the country’s financial resource is not the singular preserve of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The instigation and continuation of any litigation process is underpinned by consideration of its costs – not only those of the legal team but […]

Belgian adds interest to Links senior partner poll

The three partners vying to replace David Cheyne as Linklaters’ senior partner put forward their cases at the firm’s partner conference in Paris earlier this month, with the contest still widely seen as too close to call. What emerged at the ­conference – reportedly the best-attended ever staged – were material differences between the style and ­content of […]

Andrew Edge

Stephensons, Walker Morris act on Romag’s pre-pack sale to Gentoo

Stephenson Harwood and Walker Morris have completed the pre-pack administration sale of the assets of AIM-listed glass and solar panel manufacturer Romag Holdings to Gentoo Group. The deal came after trading in Romag’s shares on the junior market were suspended in January following former chairman John ­Kennair’s admission that he injected £4m of his own […]

Scottish and English firms team up for wind farm deal

Burness, Eversheds, Norton Rose and Shepherd & Wedderburn all advised on the financing of a £38.6m wind farm project in the Scottish Borders. The 28.6Mw Drone Hill wind farm will produce enough energy to supply 14,000 homes. Barclays Corporate provided US power company AES Wind Generation with a £22.8m long-term loan for the project, with […]

Charlie Jacobs

Clifford Chance, Links scoop main roles on Glencore float

Clifford Chance and Linklaters have snared the prize mandates on the long-awaited IPO of commodities trader Glencore. The flotation of up to $12bn (£7.3bn) of stock on the London and Hong Kong exchanges would value the trading giant at around $60bn and be the biggest IPO ever to hit the London market. Linklaters corporate partner […]

Bratislava

Squire Sanders starts to plug the gap following Bratislava partner exodus

Squire Sanders & Dempsey is moving to rebuild its Slovakia office after the departure of three partners in the first two months of 2011. Squire Sanders, which combined with Hammonds last year, has hired Tatiana Prokopová as a European partner specialising in real estate for the Bratislava office. Corporate partners Adrian Barger and Roman Prekop […]

Hugh Nineham

US firms promote as laterals prove elusive

Despite the strong buying position of a number of US firms, as we report on the front page, several ­London offices are taking a longer term view towards organic growth. That is good news for associates, who have often been overlooked in the past by their US employers in favour of the diversity of experience and […]

A senior moment

Law firm bosses know a thing or two about internationalisation and, if recent manoeuvres are anything to go by, it looks like the quickest wits among them are doing their best to position their firms for the ongoing West-to-East power shift.  Yet, with the exception of A&O, when it comes to their own centres […]

LCR GC departs after High Speed 1 disposal

London Continental Railways (LCR) general counsel and company secretary Chris Hamill has left the organisation after overseeing the £2.1bn sale of its High Speed 1 rail business. High Speed 1 was sold as a 50-50 deal between Canadian pension funds Borealis Infrastructure and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan. Following the deal LCR is focusing on its […]

Croydon clocktower

Croydon Council trials ‘open’ panel

Croydon Council has become the latest local authority to embrace the concept of shared legal services, with the appointment of four ’open’ legal panels. Two other councils – the London boroughs of Enfield and Newham – have already signed up to the new panels, which are serviced by a roster of 10 law firms. The […]

David Taylor
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Pinsents pumps up property muscle with DLA’s Taylor

DLA Piper’s former joint global head of real estate David Taylor is leaving the firm to join Pinsent Masons as a senior consultant. Taylor, whose clients include British Land, Burberry and the Petchey Group of Companies, will be tasked with helping Pinsents raise its profile in the international real estate market. The UK firm has […]