19 September 2005
The Lawyer
Deals comment
Bruce White is giving his partners a lot to think about. Gemma Westacott reports
Deals round-up
Nabarro Nathanson advised longstanding client Great Portland Estates on the sale of 90 Fetter Lane, EC4 to Blue Chip Capital Europa Immobilien for £37.3m. The 58,000sq ft building was built by Great Portland Estates in the early 1990s and is let to Bird & Bird and
A&O finance ace joins Simpson Thacher after clashes with management
Allen & Overy's (A&O) heavy-hitting leverage finance partner Tony Keal is moving to Simpson Thacher & Bartlett following a series of clashes with the magic circle firm's senior management.
Age of reason
Businesses in every sector are readying themselves for the DTI's Employment Equality (Age) Regulations
Airline costs to mount after ECJ judge ruling
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has dealt the aviation industry a massive blow that could cost airlines billions of pounds in compensation.
Allianz calls on Shearman for merger, rejig advice
Shearman & Sterling's German offices have combined forces to advise longstanding client Allianz as it merges with Italian subsidiary Riunione Adriatica di Sicurtà (RAS) and undergoes a full-scale reorganisation.
Arnold & Porter poaches Simmons offshore expert
Arnold & Porter has snared Simmons & Simmons IT lawyer Murali Neelakantan, the key figure in Simmons' booming offshore outsourcing practice.Neelakantan played a crucial role advising Tata Consultancy Services on its role in the National Health Service's National Programme for IT in the NHS. He joins Arnold & Porter intellectual property and technology group as a partner.Simmons & Simmons were unavailable for comment.
Associated Newspapers pans libel charge 'lottery'
Bingham, Latham and Weil handed Gate Gourmet roles
A host of US firms have bagged work on the restructuring of troubled airline catering company Gate Gourmet as negotiations over the future of hundreds of workers continue.
Blake Dawson scoops IPO for Alinta
Blake Dawson Waldron has advised on the A$900m (£380m) listing of energy infrastructure group Alinta Infrastructure Holdings (AIH), one of the country's largest IPOs so far this year.
British Energy to cull firms as market bites
Power giant follows market trend; legal spend cut to £1m; CC role downsized
Cadwalader restructuring partner joins Oaktree
Cadwalader Wicker-sham & Taft's London office has lost restructuring partner Justin Bickle to client Oaktree Capital Management.
Calyon, Cobbetts pair to write for The Lawyer
The winners of The Lawyer's competition to send two readers on charity-related field visits as honorary journalists - one to street children's charity ChildHope's operations in Tanzania and the other to the Cystic Fibrosis (CF) Trust's world-class laboratories in London - were announced last week.
Careers: People
Latham & Watkins has appointed Eugene Lee, formerly of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, as of counsel in its Hong Kong corporate department. Prior to Simpson Thacher, Lee was an associate at Debevoise & ...
CC returns to take Euro M&A crown
Clifford Chance has retained its position as top legal adviser in European M&A according to preliminary figures published by Mergermarket for the third quarter of 2005.
CC swoops for Lovells private equity star
Clifford Chance has raided Lovells German practice for a five-strong private equity team.Lovells head of German private equity Oliver Felsenstein quit the firm this morning (20 September) to move to Clifford Chance’s Frankfurt office. Felsenstein is ...
Cobbetts chief targets post-expansion PEP hike as three partners make tracks
Corporate to the four
Freshfields' London corporate partners are hoping their massive restructure will reverse the stagnation of the last four years. What are its chances of success? By Matt Byrne
Dechert confirms Coudert France capture
DECHERT has confirmed its committment to take on Coudert Brothers' Paris office.
DLA Piper secures documents in defence of £2m negligence claim
A Manhattan judge has ordered two US firms to turn over documents to DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary as the firm seeks to defend a legal malpractice suit over 'late trading'.
DLA Piper takes Coudert's Belgian office
DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary looks set to add Belgium to its growing collection of Coudert Brother offices
Dorsey London snares S&M team
Dorsey & Whitney’s London office has hired a litigation team of three senior associates from Slaughter and May and capital markets partner John Chrisman from Coudert Brothers.
DWS fails to stem exits as veteran heads for Addleshaws
Denton Wilde Sapte (DWS) has lost its fourteenth partner this year as former head of dispute resolution Mark Gill quits to join Addleshaw Goddard.
Ely Place expansion continues as set buys HQ
In an unusual move at the bar, Ely Place Chambers has bought its building.
Equitable settles: E&Y silk Hapgood slams "pointless" claim
Equitable Life has this morning settled its £2.6 b claim against former auditors Ernst & Young by discontinuing its claim, with each side left to pay its own costs.
Eversheds poaches DWS MK head
Denton Wilde Sapte is losing the head of Milton Keynes office as Eversheds ramps its real estate litigation department.
Ex-Shell chairman's tribunal defence falls foul of Grabiner
Lord Grabiner QC helped the Financial Services Authority (FSA) to secure a landmark victory over Sir Philip Watts, the former chairman of Royal Dutch Shell, last week.
Firm profile: RLS Solicitors
Managing partner: Julien Rutler Turnover: £250,000 Total number of partners: Two Total number of fee-earners: Two Main practice areas: Exclusively commercial property Key clients: Farlows, Keeler Gordon, Ster Century Cinemas and the Swiss government Number of offices: One
'Fraid of the thirteenth
Bird & Bird is on the hunt for its next international office as a matter of urgency. It now has 13, following last week's Madrid opening.
Freelancers can be enhancers
Lawfirms are recognising the problem-solving uses of highly qualified interim staff. By Monique Mullins
Freshfields closes Fitness First sale
FRESHFIELDS Bruckhaus Deringer has advised private equity house Cinven on the sale of healthclub chain Fitness First for £835 m to BC Partners.
Freshfields to roll out M&A review to Germany
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer's hugely successful German corporate group has embarked on a wide-ranging review similar to that recently completed by its London counterpart.
Grapevine
When is a CMT group not a CMT group?
Herbert Smith, Norton Rose hike LPC grants
Herbert Smith and Norton Rose have become the latest firms to hike their LPC maintenance grants.
High Court boosted as DCA appoints David Kitchin QC
Kennedys ties the knot with Spanish practice
Insurance specialist Kennedys is entering into a full merger with Spanish associate firm Araúz de Robles Y Vélez Abogados (ARV) in the firm's first step towards international expansion.
Kilpatrick Stockton to take axe to London practice
US firm Kilpatrick Stockton has entered into redundancy negotiations with the majority of staff in its London office as it seeks to restructure the office in the image of its US practice.
Latham sees Urbium through Electra deal
US firm Latham & Watkins has bagged its first instruction from the management of Urbium, the owner of Tiger Tiger and other London bars.
Law Soc polls its members about Clementi-inspired modifications
The Law Society has commissioned market research company NOP to poll its members ahead of the splicing of its regulatory and representative functions, as recommended by the Clementi review.
Law Society Council sets TFR review date
The Law Society Council will review the controversial Training Framework Review (TFR) in December 2005.
Lawyers have a field day
More snippets from the cricket...
Linklaters' projects practice gets wholesale makeover
Recent deals acted on by Linklaters' projects team.
Linklaters ramps up Dutch team with Nauta rainmaker
Linklaters ramps up Dutch team with Nauta rainmaker" /
Lord Woolf joins CEDR
Lord Woolf is joining the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR) as a special advisor.
Lovells captures Linklaters' client InterContinental on Paris hotel sale
Linklaters' client InterContinental on Paris hotel sale" /
Lovells ups Rome capability with quadruple Pavia swoop
Lovells has raided Italian independent Pavia e Ansalado for a four-lawyer team to be based in the City firm's Rome arm.
Message presage
Who would have known that being a PR for a law firm could be so complicated.
MoFo targets London with Bird & Bird tax capture
Morrison & Foerster (Mofo) has raided rival technology firm Bird & Bird for the joint head of its international tax group Trevor James.
Norton Rose hires AXA UK co-legal head
Norton Rose has hired insurance giant Axa's UK co-head of legal in a move that it hopes will reaffirm its place as one of the company's key advisers.
Nous trap
The use of restrictive covenants to keep hold of partners may do a firm more harm than good. Ronnie Fox and Aron Pope report
O'Melveny takes chunk from Paul Hastings Japan
Japanese firm Taiyo Law Office has been split in two by rival US firms O’Melveny & Myers and Paul Hastings Janofksy & Walker.
Opinion
The UK Government must act to prevent unjust extraditions of UK citizens to the US
Parting is such bitter sweet sorrow
It was never a question of if.
Partner trio jumps ship from EY Luther for Frankfurt launch
The exodus from German Ernst & Young ally EY Luther Menold shows no sign of slowing after three more partners left to launch a Frankfurt office for Zirngibl Langwieser.
Paul Hastings merges with Taiyo Law Office
Paul Hastings Janofksy & Walker has become the latest foreign firm to merge with a domestic Japanese firm following reforms introduced to Japan earlier this year.
Paul Hastings raids Lovells for corporate first
US law firm Paul Hastings Janofsky & Walker has raided City giant Lovells to appoint its first corporate partner in London.
Richard Spears in City launch
New York boutique Richard Spears Kibbe & Orbe has launched in London with a two-lawyer raid on Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe.
Robert Armour: British Energy Group
Separated at birth
Coronation Street's Eileen Grimshaw is one feisty lady
Silk in log jam
New technology is sweeping the courtrooms of England and Wales.
SJ Berwin recaptures Usher from Dundas
SJ Berwin has won back senior competition partner Tom Usher from Dundas & Wilson almost 18 months after he defected from the firm.
Solicitors to shun advocacy as criminal barristers strike
Striking a deal
The unofficial Gate Gourmet strikes highlighted the need for better industrial relations in the UK. Is the legalisation of secondary action the answer? By Tim Johnson
Talk is steep
Maybe it's not all about money, but Law Society chief executive Janet Paraskeva is doing okay, having trousered £27,000 for her non-exec roles on the Serious Organised Crime Agency and the board of the Consumer Council for Water.Good for her, says Tulkinghorn, who quite fancies a bit of this highly paid, few-hours-a-week work himself (while at the same time remaining a staunch advocate of legal aid, don't you know).
Tax alliance snares UK firm while doubling in size
Taxand, the alliance of independent tax boutiques born out of the ashes of Andersen Legal, has welcomed 10 new to its network including UK firm Chiltern.
The dark side of the law
Last week the 50th anniversary Commonwealth Law Conference was held in the spectacularly uninspiring concrete surroundings of the Queen Elizabeth II Centre in Westminster. It was a colourful affair and all human life, as always, was in attendance, with a variety of national dress on show and the concreted halls ringing with accents and languages diverse.
The work-life quiz
Edward Bennet, head of trust and private capital, Bedell Cristin
US lawyers react to Hurricane Katrina with huge relief effort
The US legal profession has rallied around in the wake of the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina, with Michael Greco, president of the American Bar Association (ABA), calling on lawyers to "do our part to help the country recover and rebuild".
Walkers ups HK capability with new counsel
Cayman Islands law firm Walkers has bulked up its Hong Kong presence with the hire of the general counsel of Fortis Prime Fund Solutions Asia, signalling the beginning of a recruitment drive for the firm in Asia.
White & Case rejig sees capital markets halved
White & Case rejig sees capital markets halved" /
White gets Black's spot
The secretive shake-up within Linklaters' London projects team might be more extensive than the firm is letting on. Tulkinghorn has hard evidence that it has led to a battle of dark versus light.
Wilson Sonsini boosts Manhattan with Akin Gump raid
Palo Alto firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati has raided US rival Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld to bolster its New York office with the hire of two senior partners, including its co-chair of antitrust.
Yahoo! ditches B&M in favour of Simmons
Simmons & Simmons has usurped Baker & McKenzie (B&M) as Yahoo! Europe's lead adviser following an exhaustive review of external legal suppliers by general counsel Richard Hastings.
