New targets for handling complaints about Law Society members have been announced, promising to improve the speed and the quality of responses. The targets were announced today by the legal services complaints commissioner Zahida Manzoor. They include reducing the number of cases that are open for 12 months or more to 65 by the end […]
It has been a fantastic year for most of us involved in the legal market. It has been a fantastic year for most of us involved in the legal market. On the back of an M&A boom, Slaughter and May looks set to become the first UK firm to record a take-home of more than […]
Willkie Farr & Gallagher has raided Clifford Chance’s Frankfurt office for two of its most rated German corporate partners. Mario Schmidt and Georg Linde are leaving Clifford Chance to join the US firm’s Frankfurt office, according to German publication Juve. This follows Willkie’s raid on Linklaters last year, when the firm poached private equity specialist […]
The Bahamas has made it into The Privy Council’s history books becoming the first place where the Judicial Committee have sat to hear cases outside of England. In the council’s 700-year history, many meetings have been held in Commonwealth and affiliated countries, such as New Zealand and Australia. However, these have been in the Council’s […]
Magic circle firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has retained its position at the top of the European M&A league table for the second year in a row. According to Mergermarket’s preliminary end of year league table for 1 January to 20 December, each of the top three firms finished in the same position as last year. […]
Linklaters has secured the latest in a string of recent deals for Hermes Private Equity, advising on the acquisition of a stake in a holiday park operator. HPE, a financial services group, obtained a £100m stake in Siblu Holdings, the owner and operator of eight of France’s premier holiday parks. The Linklaters team was led […]
It will be a happy Christmas for former Bar Council chair Guy Mansfield after a negligence case fell through and an even happier one for some bloke from Croydon who has scored a stunning court victory over Procul Harum. The wheels of justice move slowly, but not as slowly as the former Procul Harum organist […]
The Bar Council has fought off a claim brought by a barrister against several officers of the Council for unlawful prosecution, breach of contract, and negligence. Mr Justice Nelson ruled yesterday (Wednesday 20 December) that Paul Diamond’s claims against former Bar Council chair Guy Mansfield, Bar Council officers David Etherington QC and Richard Price QC […]
Former Procul Harum organist Matthew Fisher has won his High Court battle for the rights of A White Shade of Pale, giving 11 South Square’s Iain Purvis QC a winning start to his career as a silk. Mr Justice Blackburne upheld Fisher’s claim against band member Gary Brooker, ruling that he came up with the […]
Manchester-based Byrom Street Chambers has scored yet another appointment to the High Court as a flurry of judge appointments were announced this morning (21 December). Timothy King QC has been appointed as a judge to the Queen’s Bench Division succeeding Mr Justice Toulson, the chairman of the Law Commission. King was called to the Bar […]
Latham & Watkins’ client and US casino operator Harrah’s has accepted a $27.8bn (£14.29bn) offer from private equity funds Apollo and Texas Pacific. As first reported in The Lawyer (9 October), Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton also won roles on the mega-deal, advising their respective longstanding clients Apollo and […]
Rome II has been adopted by the European Union today, in a move which should bring more clarity to cross-border litigation. Cross-border negligence, defamation and product liability are among the issues affected by the new regulation. The implementation of the Rome II regulation aims to introduce legal clarity where there is a conflict of laws […]