21 June 2004
The Lawyer
A good judge of character
After thirty-five years at A&O, solicitor-QC David Mackie is leaving to become a judge. Jon Robins finds out why
A sporting chance
With sports claims becoming more prevalent, Richard Davies QC and Jonathan Bellamy discuss who will hold the burden of the claims
A&O relocation sees Roman banking practice rise from ashes
Allen & Overy (A&O) is rebuilding its Roman banking practice with the transfer of project finance partner Catia Tomasetti to the Italian capital from Milan.
Akin Gump raids King & Spalding for energy team
Texas-based law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld has raided US rival King & Spalding for a team of 10 energy lawyers.
Attorney-General to endorse new EU constitution
The Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith QC, will tomorrow (25 June) endorse the Charter of Fundamental Rights which forms part of the new EU constitution.
B&M takes on iTunes launch for Apple
Baker & McKenzie’s (B&M) London office advised Apple on the European launch of its iTunes digital music download service, announced last week.
Baker & McKenzie swoops for CC San Diego partner
Baker & McKenzie has scooped Clifford Chance San Diego partner Maria Sendra.
Bank of England legal budget tops £21m
The Bank of England’s legal budget will top £20m for the second year running. Fees for the BCCI litigation were £21m in the last financial year, and £21.2m is budgeted for 2004/2005. In total, the bank will have paid its advisers Freshfields and Fountain Court’s Nicholas Stadlen QC more than £60m over four years. Governor Mervyn King defended the costs, which represent nearly 10 per cent of the bank’s annual budget.
Barrister’s jury service fiasco
An unlucky barrister on jury duty has been discharged from three juries in the last eight days as he keeps bumping into colleagues. The QC was called on 6 April, the day after legislation came into force allowing lawyers and judges to do so. Following the subsequent discharges, the QC applied to the Old Bailey’s most senior judge, the Recorder of London Michael Hyam, to be discharged from jury service. His application was refused. First revealed on www.thelawyer.com 16 June
Bevan Ashford ends false marriage with demerger
Bevan Ashford is finally to split in two, 18 years after its merger. The move was announced last Monday (14 June), and will see the Birmingham, Bristol and London (BBL) arm formally demerge from the Exeter, Plymouth and London arm (EPL) at the end of October.
Camerons targets Bulgaria
CMS Cameron McKenna has opened its first project office in Bulgaria after closing the country’s largest ever leveraged privatisation for longstanding client Advent.
Careers: in brief
Irwin Mitchell is offering a month-long, all-expenses-paid trip to work in Australia as part of a new pro bono scholarship open to University of Northumbria law students. The firm is working with the university’s Student Law Office, which takes on several hundred cases every year. Students advise and represent the public for free as part of their studies. The student who best demonstrates a commitment ...
Careers: people
South East firm Thomas Eggar has appointed Alan Parsons as a chartered tax adviser and Carl O’Shea as an assistant solicitor in its tax solutions group. Parsons was formerly advising on the management of offshore structures for wealthy individuals with both Deloitte & Touche and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
CC gives west coast the final ultimatum
CC insists on tough billing targets; San Francisco office poised to quit for Orrick
Clarke Willmott handed HM Customs mandate
Bristol’s Clarke Willmott has scooped the role as sole legal adviser to HM Customs & Excise on debt recovery cases for England and Wales. The firm, led by partner Stephen Allison, triumphed in a competitive tender over a host of firms, including previous legal advisers DLA, Lees Lloyd Whitley and London outfit Moon Beever.
CMS alliance firms forge closer ties in Russia
The Moscow offices of CMS Cameron McKenna are set to unite under one roof in a bid to forge closer ties between the firm’s allied UK, German and French arms.
Comical Ali in new PR role
Tulkinghorn loves a thorough and professional PR bod, and they don’t come much better than those hugely efficient fellows at Grandfield. Their particular brand of genius was displayed to its fullest possible extent when they attempted to come to the rescue of client Fladgate Fielder.
Congratulations to all the winners
Hundreds of lawyers will be nursing their heads today after The Lawyer Awards last night. Congratulations to all the winners, a full list of whom can be seen here.
Corporate deals round-up
Weil Gotshal & Manges (Gerhard Schmidt) advised a consortium led by investment companies Texas Pacific Group and Credit Suisse First Boston Private Equity on the acquisition of Grohe Aktiengesellschaft from BC Partners. It is one of the largest leveraged buyouts in Germany’s recent history, costing a reported €1.84bn (£1.22bn). CMS ...
Deacons appoints first female senior partner
Deacons has appointed the firm’s property head Lilian Chiang as the firm’s first ever female senior partner.Chiang is replacing Mark Roberts who is retiring from the firm after a total of 27 years, including six as managing partner and the last four as senior partner.Her appointment will take effect from 1 July for an indefinite period. She will also continue to lead Deacons’ property department.
Deaf lawyers get their own website
A new website has been launched to help deaf lawyers get a foothold in the legal industry and to raise awareness of deaf issues. The site (www.deaflawyers.org.uk) was set up by a group of deaf lawyers and law students to allow deaf people to access independent information about the legal system. The site has already received praise from deaf lawyers around the world and the British Deaf Association.
Debevoise welcomes back litigation expert
Debevoise & Plimpton has lured a leading litigation partner back from Morrison & Foerster (MoFo). James Johnson began his career with Debevoise before spending 10 years within the US government in a variety of roles, including Under Secretary of the United States Department of the Treasury. He moved ...
DLA deals blow to SJ Berwin
DLA has poached SJ Berwin private equity partner Andrew Harris.DLA voted Harris into the equity last Friday (18 June), just a week after private equity partner Andrew Carpenter quit for O’Melveny & Myers.
eBay
In an article dated 31 May 2004, we reported on an action by UEFA against individuals selling Euro 2004 tickets on eBay. Contrary to the suggestions in our article, eBay agreed to a “Norwich Pharmacal” order in which UEFA could make requests to eBay for personal details of those within the UK selling tickets to certain matches. eBay was not asked nor compelled to delist any of the individuals in the proceedings. It was also wrong to suggest that eBay was compelled to monitor the site ...
Ethel Austin turns to Eversheds for sell-off
Eversheds has received its first instruction for the management of clothing retailer Ethel Austin thanks to a referral from Deloitte & Touche corporate finance.
Eversheds’ profits exceed budget
Eversheds’ profits rose to £330,000 in 2003-04, exceeding budget by 7 per cent. Turnover rose 4 per cent from £284.9m to £296.2m.
For the record...
EurostarA photograph of a Eurostar train was used to illustrate an article headlined ‘Eurotunnel: Weil Gotshal in, Herbert Smith pushed aside’ (The Lawyer, 24 May). We would like to clarify that Eurostar and Eurotunnel are two wholly separate entities and that the picture was used in error. Eurotunnel is the owner and operator of the Channel Tunnel and Eurostar is the operator of the passenger service running between London, Paris and Brussels.
Freshfields appoints French managing partner
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has elected M&A and private equity lawyer Jean-Claude Cotoni as its French managing partner for a three-year term. Cotoni succeeds Jean-Luc Michaud, who has been the managing partner since 2001. Freshfields’ Paris office has 38 partners and 211 lawyers. First revealed on www.thelawyer.com 15 June
Freshfields goes native with Italian management
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer is set to shake-up its Rome and Milan management with the introduction of an all-Italian line-up.
Freshfields takes the Tube for £30m on PPP project
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer reaped almost £30m in fees on the three controversial London Underground public-private partnerships (PPPs), it has emerged.
Gallaher jettisons Simmons
Simmons & Simmons has been dumped by trophy client Gallaher on the Office of Fair Trading’s (OFT) investigation into price-rigging in the tobacco market, The Lawyer can reveal.
Gawie Nienaber: CSC
IT outsourcing giant CSC’s Gawie Nienaber is happy with Europe’s progress, but eager law firms will have a hard time prising work from his department. By Steve Hoare
Gianni Origoni cashes in on Parmalat with €1m a month
Gianni Origoni Grippo & Partners is reaping an average €1m (£656,000) a month for its role on the Parmalat administration, with overall annual legal fees expected to reach €30m (£19.7m).
Girl dour
Those wacky property lawyers: whatever will they do next? A bunch of Ashurst lawyers dressed up as the Spice Girls and sang Wannabe last week for Party Near the Park 3, an event held in aid of Central London children’s theatre The Unicorn. The lawyers followed in the footsteps of Canary Wharf Group ...
Goldman and Cadwalader walk City tightrope on QMH
First Meridien, now QMH; the Cads-Goldman double act is up to something. By Dearbail Jordan
Halliwells latest to take plunge as LLP conversions gain momentum
Joanne Harris reports on the increasing number of UK law firms that are converting to limited-liability partnerships
Hammonds and Memery Crystal float on AIM high as IPOs hit record levels
Memery Crystal float on AIM high as IPOs hit record levels" /As AIM celebrated its ninth birthday last weekend, the junior market continued to outperform its full-list older brother. According to London Stock Exchange figures, the total number of initial public offerings (IPO) on AIM in the first ...
Hammonds’ Michael Cassidy receives OBE
Hammonds property partner Michael Cassidy is among the lawyers celebrating after being awarded the Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in Saturday’s Queen’s Birthday Honours List. Cassidy joined Hammonds last year after a brief stint at DJ Freeman and then Olswang. He spent more than 30 years as a property partner at Maxwell Batley. He is also a director on the boards of British Land and UBS ...
Hardwicke Building to split its civil and criminal departments
Hardwicke Building, the largest set of chambers in London, is to demerge its civil and criminal teams.
Hearsay
Which wealthy senior partner at a very large City firm is so tight with his money that he’ll only wear plastic shoes?
In all probability
Should statistics be included in a lawyer’s training? Joan Manuel Batista-Foguet believes so
It’s official: CC takes axe to West Coast
Clifford Chance is closing down its San Francisco and Los Angeles offices, just two years after their inception.
Jenner & Block and Roper & Quigg merge
Chicago-based law firm Jenner & Block has merged with IP litigation boutique Roper & Quigg. Roper’s founding partner Harry Roper will lead Jenner’s IP and technology team. Seven other lawyers will join Jenner as partners, two as of counsel, with a further nine associates making the move. Former assistant secretary of commerce and commissioner of patents and trademarks Donald Quigg is one of the of counsel. First revealed on www.thelawyer.com 14 June
Jones Day Paris loses real estate ace to Clifford Chance
Clifford Chance Paris-based real estate group has added a second partner to the practice after recruiting a specialist from Jones Day.
Keating and Seven Bedford Row boast record year-end turnovers
Keating Chambers and Seven Bedford Row have reported record years, indicative of a strong financial performance at the top end of the bar.
Law Society seeks repeal of limited liability prohibition
The Law Society is to seek the repeal of a prohibition against limiting the liability of a solicitor in a contentious business agreement.
Leader
When you look at Clifford Chance’s sprawling global practice, you wonder why any of its partners would ever stand for the leadership election. The Italian mutiny is over, but the management still has to deal with constant fusillades from its rebel province in the US, as well as the odd sniper in London. Freshfields’ Hugh Crisp, who’s got the simple task of pacifying a few grumbling Germans, must be ...
Lee & Pembertons
“Commercially active high-net-worth individuals demand expert legal advice,” says Julian Whately, senior partner of Westminster firm Lee & Pembertons. Whately claims that his firm provides that advice, and not just in the traditional private client sectors of, for example, trusts and personal tax planning. “What we aim to be is a one-stop shop for all our clients’ needs,” he says.
Legal widow
The Lawyer smuggled home this month’s management reports, which is amazing, as they only print a miserly number of copies and they’re usually surrounded with the sort of security that blasts purple ink all over you if you open the cover. Perhaps it’s to stop juniors fainting at the thought of all the hours they’re supposed to put in at partner level, although it’s more likely ...
Linklaters NY brings in new blood for management role
Linklaters is ushering in a new era for its New York practice after changing the head of the office for the second time in just over a year.
Linklaters tops M&A league tables
Linklaters has topped the European M&A league tables for the first half of 2004, trumping magic circle rival Clifford Chance who ranked number one in last year’s annual ratings.
McCanns wins Ernst & Young funds team
Dublin firm McCann Fitzgerald has taken advantage of the impact of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act on Ireland’s big four accountants to grab a funds-listing and authorisation team from Ernst & Young (EY).
Merger results in Addleshaws breaking £300K PEP barrier
Addleshaw Goddard has stormed through the £300,000 average profits per equity partner (PEP) barrier in its first full year as a merged firm.
Morgan Cole suffers further London departure
Morgan Cole’s beleaguered London office has been hit by another partner departure.
Opinion
On 21 May, Regulation 4 of the Amended Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 2002 came into force. The regulations introduced the duty to manage and will mean that the UK has some of the most stringent controls on asbestos in the world.
Orrick takes bulk of CC West Coast practice
Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe today confirmed that a team of eight Clifford Chance partners are joining the firm.
Paul Hastings hire kick-starts Asia project finance group
Paul Hastings Janofsky & Walker has bolstered its Asian project finance practice with White & Case’s former global head of India.
Pro bono cheek
The National Pro Bono Week bus was touring the country last week, spreading the good word about the value of working for nothing.
RFU lawyer transfers to the FA
Rugby Football Union (RFU) legal officer Jonathan Hall is leaving to join the Football Association (FA).
RPC scores victory for barrister in property dispute
Reynolds Porter Chamberlain was celebrating today after their client Kerry Cox won her three-year property dispute against Lawrence Jones.
Schroders head of legal hooks up with Kirkland
The soon-to-retire head of legal at Schroders is joining Kirkland & Ellis as he prepares to become president of the International Bar Association (IBA). Francis Neate, Schroders’ group legal adviser since 1997, joins Kirkland on 1 July. He is currently IBA vice-president, but will become president for a two-year term from January. He will work at Kirkland part time.
Slaughter knocks out rivals for Standard Life deal
Slaughter and May has won out against a slew of City firms for the coveted role as legal adviser on the demutualisation of Standard Life.
SPBG creates survey to show pro bono efforts across Europe
A new steering group led by the Solicitors’ Pro Bono Group (SPBG) has compiled a survey with the aim of educating law students on pro bono programmes available at firms throughout England and Wales.
Static PEP for Watson Farley
Watson Farley & Williams has announced flat year-end results, with average profits per equity partner remaining static at £358,000 in 2004.
Stephenson Harwood wins and loses in recruitment stakes
Stephenson Harwood has lost its head of corporate and a partner to Taylor Wessing but gained two new recruits.
Stressing the point
Barber v Somerset County Council has resurrected the debate on PI claims for occupational stress. Jeff Zindani and Adam Korn give the employer and employee perspectives
Team goes to Gardner Carton as Lovells dumps Chicago litigation
Lovells is closing its niche commodities and securities litigation practice in Chicago, a move that will lead to the departure of litigation partner Timothy Carey and two associates.
Tesco Law goes live
‘Tesco Law’ became a reality this week with the launch of the supermarket giant’s online legal store.
Thomson Snell senior partner calls it a day
Trevor May, senior partner at Thomson Snell & Passmore, has retired after 36 years with the firm. In the last three years, he has overseen a 25 per cent increase in fee income at the 434-year-old Kent firm, and his place will be taken by new senior partner Michael Sugden.
Ways of making you talk
No one can be forced to mediate, but refusal to do so could be risky. Ralph Lewis QC reports
White & Case capital markets in disarray over European strategy
White & Case’s London capital markets group is in a state of turmoil after the partner charged with restructuring the European practice has quit after just six months at the firm.
White & Case scoops major Kazakhstan banking clients
White & Case scoops major Kazakhstan banking clients" /White & Case has cemented its place at the forefront of Kazakhstan capital markets after the firm won mandates to advise the lead managers and trustees on two of the country’s major bond issues in the banking sector this year.
Woolf to take on chairmanship of UCL Council
The Lord Chief Justice, Lord Woolf has been named as the new Chair of University College London (UCL) Council. The 25-member council is the governing body of UCL, consisting of both internal and external members, and meets regularly to review the university’s strategic direction. Woolf, a UCL alumnus, will join as vice-chair on 1 October 2004 and will take over as chair from Lord Graffam on 1 October 2005.
Work-life quiz
Michael Ward, senior partner, Gateley Wareing
Yank skanks
Rarely in these days of licentious abandon are Tulkinghorn and his cohorts shocked, but an anonymous letter from a lawyer at a well-known US firm caused gaping mouths and widened eyes all round. Then… how we laughed.
Yukos brings in Freshfields as the plot thickens in Moscow
In Putin’s battle with the oligarchs, the rule of law is looking increasingly fragile. By Joanne O’Connor
