18 March 2002
The Lawyer
A sight for law eyes
Another Tulkinghorn exclusive. Well, not exactly. To be fair, the following astonishing revelation was made by Time Out in its recent feature 'London's 100 Best Kept Secrets'.Apparently, one of those best-kept secrets is magic circle firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. Finally, the world wakes up to the allure of Alan Peck. On closer inspection, however, it ...
A&O finance practice in global streamlining
Magic circle firm replaces national model with six international banking boards
Addleshaws appoints new national head of banking
Addleshaw Booth & Co has elevated Richard Papworth to national head of banking
All change at Pinsents with hire of DLA team
Corporate recovery chief's departure sparks Pinsents rejig and DLA team hire
BA names new legal director
BA has named Stephen Walsh's replacement within its legal department
BLP scoops Brack Capital
Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) has pulled in Brack Capital Real Estate as a client, thanks to Benelux firm Loyens & Loeff
BT asks lawyers not to 'beat people up' in new PFI outsourcing initiative
BT is calling on lawyers to abandon their adversarial approach in order to meet the needs of PFI-style projects, and in particular a new infrastructure service that it launched at Mipim
Buchanan London suffers new losses as US partner duo quits
The London office of US firm Buchanan Ingersoll has lost its permanent resident US partners
Called to account
Five Statham Gill Davies partners made an average of £700,000 each when Tenon bought out the firm. But with the Tenon share price on the slide, is it a workable model in the long term? Helen Power reports
Camerons issues Euro fees guide
CMS Cameron McKenna used Mipim as a platform to launch a new guide to real estate transaction costs and taxes in Europe
Can eat, will eat
Tulkinghorn has just heard of the most marvellous wheeze: eat your fill and support a children's charity at the same time. The Variety Club of Great Britain is holding a celebrity chef gastronomic evening on Tuesday 16 April for lawyers and their clients. Normally, Tulkinghorn is happy with Mrs Tulkinghorn's pork chops, but he feels tempted by an event that has different courses supplied by a whole galaxy of stars: Michel Roux of Le Gavroche, Antonio Carluccio of Carluccios, ...
CC Pünder ex-Asia heavyweight joins Wessing
Clifford Chance Pünder's former head of Beijing and Shanghai is moving to the China desk of Wessing's Frankfurt office
Clarification
Following an article last week entitled 'Orchards furthers NY plan by doubling partner count' it has been brought to our attention that Patrick Heffernan was not a senior partner in the Halliwell Landau London office. In addition, the London office is down by only one partner compared to six months ago, which is accounted for by Heffernan's departure.
Clifford Chance to halt international expansion
Clifford Chance has put the brakes on its global expansion strategy, stating that it has no plans to open in any more countries
Commercial break
The Commercial Court is under constant attack. Jon Robins asks whether the critics have been too quick to see only the bad side
Competition partner
Oh, those canny clerks. Tulkinghorn never fails to be impressed at their ingenuity, particularly when it comes to getting invited to the most exclusive party of the year, The Lawyer's own Hot 100 bash, taking place tonight (18 March).Head of 20 Essex Street and one of this year's chosen ones Iain Milligan QC and his clerk Ian Lee were contacted by the event organisers to check on the attendance of their respective partners. Cunning clerk Mathew Kesbey took the call and ...
DEAL OF THE WEEK - BT
Bird & Bird ousts Linklaters to score BT corporate work
Deals summary
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Berwin Leighton Paisner are advising Brack Capital in its f1.46bn (£902.46m) cash bid for Anglo Dutch commercial property group Haslemere. Linklaters (Stephen ...
Deals summary
Berwin Leighton Paisner (Simon Pollock) acted for the Numerica Group on its £30m acquisition of the non-audit business of Leicester-based accountants Pole Arnold. Pole Arnold represented by Eversheds' Nottingham office.
Deals summary
Olswang (Fabrizio Carpanini) advised Sovereign Capital on the £20m management buyout (MBO) of Community Homes of Intensive Care & Education. Debt funder Lloyds TSB advised by Martineau Johnson. Management advised by M and A Solicitors.Norton Rose (Chris Viner) is advising Russian oil company Lukoil ...
Dewey takes on partner for Houston
Dewey Ballantine has added corporate finance and bankruptcy capability to its new Houston office
EEF report shows tribunal downturn
The employment tribunal continues to be awash with frivolous claims, but according to a new report, only 4 per cent of claimants won last year
Flexibility is the way forward
The transformation of property as an asset class and the future of the listed property company were hot topics of debate at Mipim
Freeserve condemns Olswang over conflict
Internet service provider Freeserve has fallen out with its long-term adviser Olswang, claiming that the firm failed to tell it about a massive client conflict - first revealed on www.thelaw-yer.com on 12 March.
Freshfields axed after France Telecom/MobilCom conflict
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has been removed from its role as adviser to high-profile clients France Telecom and German mobile operator MobilCom on a joint venture set up between the two telecoms companies
Freshfields moves in on housing bond issue
Annington deal underlines relationship with magic circle firm
Garrigues, Dundas set to quit Andersen Legal
US indictment threatens legal network as key members poised to sever links
GMC picks Field Fisher for Manchester case work
Field Fisher Waterhouse has been appointed to present the General Medical Council's (GMC) cases in Manchester as well as London
Herbert Smith scoops Kajima UK PFI
Herbert Smith has advised a Japanese construction and development giant on its first PFI venture in the UK. It is the first time that Herbert Smith has acted for Kajima.Kajima Cambridge, a subsidiary of Kajima Corporation, first instructed Herbert Smith in 1998, after it won the contract to build 12,500 square metres of serviced accommodation for the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) on a 30 acre site in Cambridge.Herbert Smith finance partner ...
Holland & Knight freezes pay scales
Holland & Knight has frozen associate salaries as part of an ongoing cost-saving process and a more radical shake-up of its compensation system
In-houser up for Law Society president
The Law Society could have an in-house lawyer as president for the first time
JACKSONS
Jacksons is looking beyond its success in insurance for continued growth
Keeping the faith
Among the stormy seas of recent corporate events, the 'good faith' section of the Marine Insurance Act 1906 has been making waves of its own. Joanna Goldsworthy reports
Law Soc vote for a new era: firms freed to sell equity
The Law Society Council will vote on Thursday on reforms to revolutionise the way in which law firms are funded
Law Society hindered by Data Protection
The Law Society is adding an extra seat for an ethnic minority lawyer to the Law Society Council, but the Data Protection Act has prevented the society from mailshotting ethnic minority solicitors to ask them to apply
Lawrence Graham takes on Cayman specialist
Lawrence Graham has appointed senior solicitor Richard Williams to its private client department from Cayman Islands firm Maples and Calder
Legal Widow
They have a new clear desk policy at the Lawyer's office, and he has had to free his cubicle of all the games and gadgets that gave meaning to his working days. Gone is the radio-controlled Zeppelin, which he can fly round the office and into the back of his colleagues' heads; gone the foam dart gun which can hit a running secretary at 20 paces; ditto the minifridge filled with choccy bars and cans of Coke; also the tiny basketball hoop, tabletop golf putting set, micro-Jenga and roulette ...
Liedekerke numbers dwindle after decision to stay single
Liedekerke's competition practice hit hard as two partners quit for Ashursts; Antwerp office defects to Baker & McKenzie
Linklaters and Hengeler hike salaries in Germany
Possibility of wage war looms as rivals scoff at claims that euro conversion necessitated pay increases
Livingstone blasts 'endless work' for lawyers at Mipim
London Mayor hails potential for future growth of capital but rues rise in kneejerk judicial reviews
McGrigors loses Lockerbie ace
McGrigor Donald has lost Eddie MacKechnie, the partner who led the team defending Al Amin Khalifa Fhima, the defendant who was cleared of the Lockerbie bombing
Mostyn-Williams joins Cadwalader's City office
US firm Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft is hiring high-profile banking lawyer Stephen Mostyn-Williams to head its London international banking and finance practice
My first job: moron
Tulkinghorn recently introduced a new regular feature entitled 'My first job'. Unfortunately, it seems that some readers are getting the wrong end of the stick.Tulkinghorn was delighted with the response rate of lawyers jamming the phone lines in their eagerness to become the subject of said new feature, but became rapidly less enthused as he pressed for details of their former careers. A typical response to the question "So, what was your first job?" was "Well, I was ...
New blood takes over at Fenwick Elliott
Niche construction firm Fenwick Elliott is undergoing the most radical shake-up in its 20-year history, as name partner Robert Fenwick Elliott steps down as senior partner to become a consultant to the firm
New Chancery Bar Association rules speed up CFAs
The Chancery Bar Association (CBA) has redrafted its conditional fee arrangement (CFA) rules in an effort to save time and to save clients' money
New Vinson & Elkins partners launch NY litigation group
Vinson & Elkins has set up a litigation practice in its New York office with a series of lateral hires
Norton Rose has Georgia on its mind for arbitration
The former Soviet republic of Georgia may become an international arbitration centre to sit alongside London, Paris, Stockholm and the US if a collaborative project involving Norton Rose goes ahead
Norton Rose in hiring spree for Amsterdam launch
Norton Rose has hired four partners from Dutch firms as it prepares to launch its Amsterdam practice with two-partner Groenewald van Wassenaer
Opinion
It is time to move on and for firms to redefine the traditional secretarial role
Poppleston Allen wins gaming star
Licensing specialist law firm Poppleston Allen has recruited Addleshaw Booth & Co's Paddy Whur as a partner into its Nottingham office
Pure Logica
Technology company Logica narrowly missed losing its prized FTSE 100 status. Brendan Malkin talks to group legal adviser Lawrence Guedes about what it takes to stay at the top
PwC Legal appoints replacement chair
The Australian legal arm of accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has appointed Michael Daniel as its new chairman following the departure of John Churchill four months ago
Real Estate
Jerry Springer, Days of Our Lives, high-yield bonds… For better or for worse, our trends have a habit of coming from the US.Title insurance is eager to join the list. Our friends across the pond wouldn't dream of touching a property deal without it. Law firms in the US don't want to do title work or give opinions on it, unlike their UK cousins, who of course do both.Here in the UK, buying insurance to protect purchasers and lenders against title defects is ...
Revealed: Ince and Clyde dominate Commercial Court
Mr Justice Colman has revealed that shipping litigation specialists Ince & Co and Clyde & Co carry out half of the work in the Commercial Court
Robert Muckle rejigs management
Robert Muckle has undertaken a management reshuffle
Shadbolts handed bioscience instruction
Shadbolt & Co, KLegal and SJ Berwin have advised on the £25.5m third-round funding of biotechnology company Microscience, with Shadbolts advising the company. The investment was provided by Advent Partners and JP Morgan, as well as existing backers Merlin and Apax Partners Funds. The deal cements Shadbolts' relationship with Microscience, which it nabbed from
Shepherd & Wedderburn pledges to keep independent from accountancy practices
Shepherd & Wedderburn has unanimously agreed that it will never formally link up with an accountancy firm at its recent strategy review
Simmons lands ITCC instruction
Simmons & Simmons, US firm Swindler Berlin Shereff Friedman and Australian telecoms firm Gilbert + Tobin have won key roles as advisers to international bandwidth trading company
Six UK firms disregard lawyers' fears and join First Title insurance law panel
Boyds, Halliwell Landau, MacRoberts and Mills & Reeve have taken the plunge of joining a new referral panel set up by the UK arm of US title insurance giant First American
The Leader Column
Any law firm worth its salt nowadays prides itself on its brand. Of course, half the time they are deluded. Countless partners in all sorts of different firms bang on that their brand is all about being commercial, innovative and - I say, here's a new one - client-focused. (Memo to those partners: please don't embarrass yourselves any further. You're part of a service industry: being commercial, innovative and client-focused is supposed to be a given.)Andersen used ...
TJG helps to create domestic giant via Marconi acquisition
Taylor Joynson Garrett has advised Italian company Merloni Elettrodomestici on its acquisition of 50 per cent of UK domestic appliance manufacturer GDA from Marconi for l195.5m (£120.8m). The remaining 50 per cent is owned by General Electric (GE).Merloni, whose primary brands are Ariston and Indesit, is a new client for Taylor Joynson and the firm was instructed after a competitive tender process.Taylor Joynson partner Declan Tarpey led the negotiations with GE, while ...
Travers boosts NTL team with BLP recovery head
Travers Smith Braith-waite is underlining its commitment to the workout market by hiring Berwin Leighton Paisner's (BLP) head of corporate recovery Keith Bordell
Trowers hooks up with Qatari firm
City firm Trowers & Hamlins has established a formal association with Qatari law firm Hassan Alkhater Law Office
Very taxing
As beloved as those technical intricacies and the minutiae of a contract may be to many lawyers, there are few among you who would say: "Tax is sexy, tax is cool." So what chance a tutor to convince his students of just that?Well, it seems that the College of Law in York has a wizard of motivation within its ranks. So enthused was Legal Practice Course student Simon Lee about the delights of tax that he wrote a poem about it. Tulkinghorn was so astonished that he is delighted ...
