Slaughter and May corporate partner David Watkins has been seconded to the Takeover Panel to take up the role of assistant secretary. Watkins has replaced Selina Sagayam, who is set to return to Simmons & Simmons after serving out two years at the Takeover Panel. In the role, Watkins will work closely with the director […]
White & Case has boosted its Asia foreign investment practice, poaching two new partners for its Beijing and Hong Kong offices. Frederick Chang joined the firm’s Beijing office from King & Wood – China’s largest law firm. Wui Seung Chong joined White & Case’s Hong Kong office from Simmons & Simmons. The new partners have […]
The former name partner of Haarmann Hemmelrath has set up his own practice following his decision to quit last year over rows about the firm’s remuneration system. Wilhelm Haarmann and partners Francis Bellen, Christoph Schmitt, Markus Söhnchen and Jan Wildberger have founded Haarmann Partnerschaftsgesellschaft Rechtsanwälte Steuerberater Wirtschaftsprüfer (a partnership of lawyers, tax advisers and auditors) […]
Salans is in talks to take a five-partner team from dissolving French independent Rambaud Martel. Rambaud Martel partners Guillaume Forbin, Michel Jockey, Pierre Lubet, Pierre-Gilles Wogue and David Masson look set to join Salans’ Paris office. They will bring with them a team of 10 lawyers working in corporate, employment and IT/IP law. A Salans […]
Stephenson Harwood has lost its head of M&A Kevin Dean, who has quit for Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham. Dean joined Kirkpatrick & Lockhart this week after three years at Stephenson Harwood. He became a partner at Stephenson Harwood in May 2002, when the firm merged with Sinclair Roche & Temperley. Prior to that, Dean […]
Kirkland & Ellis has raided the London office of US rival Weil Gotshal & Manges to hire corporate tax specialist John Baldry. Baldry joins Kirkland as a tax partner in the firm’s London office. His practice concentrates on the taxation of mergers, acquisitions and restructurings and private equity tax structuring. He was most recently of […]
Baker & McKenzie Warsaw tax partner Miroslaw Barszcz has joined the Polish government as Vice Minister of Finance after less than a year at the firm. At Baker & McKenzie, Barszcz provided tax advice to clients across the service and manufacturing sectors and for the Polish government, specialising in VAT advice to real estate and […]
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer’s new senior partner Guy Morton has taken the helm at the magic circle firm with immediate effect following Anthony Salz’s decision to stand down. Morton, who beat Philip Richards and Graham Nicholson to the top job job last month, took over as senior partner alongside Frankfurt-based co-senior partner Konstantin Mettenheimer at the […]
Shearman & Sterling has gained a rare instruction for chemical giant BASF advising on its hostile bid for smaller US rival Engelhard. BASF has a huge in-house legal team and although highly acquisitive, rarely instructs outside counsel. The company launched its hostile bid for Engelhard yesterday (3 Jan) with a $4.9bn all-cash takeover offer or […]
Charles Russell has raided insurance specialist Hextalls to poach the firm’s head of technology, media and telecommunications. Victoria Russell, a specialist in telecommunications, joins Charles Russell as a partner. Her practice includes advising international network operators, telecoms service providers and regulators on regulatory and commercial issues. Charles Russell’s technology and telecoms partner Mark Moncreiffe said […]
Virgin Group has ditched Ashurst from its law firm panel following the conclusion of the review of its UK legal advisers. South-west firm Bond Pearce has been appointed to the panel for the first time. The review, which was led by group general counsel Josh Bayliss and group legal director Ian Woods, sees Virgin appoint […]
Ashurst has dramatically bulked up its presence in the German and Italian markets with a mass raid on Allen & Overy (A&O) and Haarmann Hemmelrath – underlining its aggressive push on finance in Europe. The silver circle firm has hired three restructuring partners from Haarmann: David von Saucken, Matt McDonald and Ingo Scholz. They are […]