22 July 2002
The Lawyer
Andersen Legal's Swedish team joins KLegal network
Archibald divides; members create new firm; remainder join Deloitte & Touche
BA loses out in Kuwait Airways insurance case
Landmark ruling could affect World Trade Center claims
Bar talk
John Gott was the last man to be sent to prison under the UK's blasphemy laws in 1921, for publishing a pamphlet which compared Christ to a donkey-riding circus clown. Since then, blasphemy has hit the headlines only twice
Buck review
London head Bruce Buck reckons he's your typical Skadden lawyer: a private life's just a distraction from work. Kathryn Hobbs reports
Carphone in-house
Carphone Warehouse group corporate counsel Tim Morris built the company's in-house law department from scratch and has practically banned outsourcing. But he still has mates who work at law firms. Caroline Davies asks: how?
CC on the rack in India for back taxes from energy instructions
An Indian tribunal has found that Clifford Chance is liable for high rates of tax in India for all the work it carried out in relation to three energy-related projects
CC votes for corporate governance
Two-thirds of Clifford Chance partners have voted overwhelmingly in favour of new corporate governance proposals, ushering in a new slimmed-down management structure
Clyde & Co finds quick-fix solution for WTC claims
A unique scheme has been drawn up by Clyde & Co to resolve quickly the hundreds of reinsurance claims arising out of the destruction of the World Trade Center (WTC) - totalling an estimated $45bn (£28.7bn) - that are soon to reach the London market .The firm's senior partner Michael Payton is responsible for the scheme, which has been welcomed by the insurance and reinsurance market in the US ...
Constellation Energy hires St Paul group counsel
Constellation Energy Group, the parent company of a number of energy-related businesses, has hired Kathleen Chagnon to replace outgoing vice-president, general counsel and corporate secretary David Brune
Date set for Deacons-White & Case HK showdown
The Hong Kong High Court has set down a trial date of 9 September for a suit brought by Deacons against White & Case
DEAL OF THE WEEK - BURBERRY
Freshfields and Linklaters scoop roles on Burberry IPO
Deals summary
SJ Berwin (Richard Lever) advised online grocer Ocado on its £20m refinancing by investors John Lewis and UBS Warburg. John Lewis was advised by Lovells (Frances Le Grys) and UBS was advised by Linklaters (Richard Youle).
Deals summary
SJ Berwin (John Eldridge) acted for property company Merivale Moore on its £16.75m acquisition of the freehold of Imperial House in Kingsway, Central London, from a private vendor. Vendor was represented by Linklaters (Andrew Kinsey).
Deals summary
Ashurst Morris Crisp (Mark Vickers) advised Barclays Bank Leveraged Finance on the £50.75m public to private takeover of FCX International by XCF Investments, a company funded by the Alchemy Investment Plan. XCF advised by Macfarlanes.
Dentons takes on media team in France
Denton Wilde Sapte is boosting its technology, media and telecoms (TMT) practice in France, with the appointment of media and copyright heavyweight Giles Vercken and his team of four associates and a consultant
Directing the blame
Draft guidelines from the Office of Fair Trading are set to give the body greater power to disqualify company directors. Joanna Goldsworthy reports on related recent cases
DLA hires two non-equity partners
DLA is taking on two new non-equity partners
Euro moan
Eurostat has been handed the unenviable task of handling sovereign securitisations in the Eurozone. Yannis Manuelides gives the story so far
Euro stars
Linklaters may have come top for European M&A yet again but those one-off mammoth deals have yielded a few surprises. Caroline Davies reports on the latest league results
European Commission gets slated for 'leaking information'
EC improves on last year but still criticised; OFT praised for its merger-handling; US regulators come top
Eversheds awaits High Court summons in wrangle over ownership of company
Eversheds is facing a High Court battle after refusing to hand over company documents
Finance
Say the word 'derivatives' and normal people look blank and switch off. Even lawyers tend to glaze over when faced with more than a fleeting moment engaged in derivatives banter. But if you put credit derivatives and workouts together, it's another matter entirely. The combination creates a fizz, not dissimilar to the reaction seen when chemists mix sodium with water.Although credit derivatives are a relatively new financial instrument, their sudden prevalence means ...
FIRM PROFILE: VEITCH PENNY
With a new leader at the helm, Veitch Penny is gunning for commercial growth
Freshfields, Slaughters M&A partners dethroned
Six-month performance tables of individual partners see last year's kings slip
Gouldens loses defamation head
Gouldens has lost its head of defamation to Peter Carter Ruck & Partners
Hardwicke and 22 Old Buildings halt merger talks
Hardwicke Building and Benet Hytner QC's 22 Old Buildings have called off merger talks because of insufficient "common ground"
Hungarian minister returns to B&M
Baker & McKenzie has welcomed the return of János Martonyi to its Budapest office
Informative... how?
Tulkinghorn would not be human if he didn't get swayed by a little bit of flattery once in a while. And so it is with Ian Henery & Co solicitors.The firm sent a charming little letter praising The Lawyer, commenting: "In particular we enjoy Tulkington [sic] since he makes us laugh as well as being informative." One tries, one tries.Anyway, with such praise it is easy to forgive the misspelling of one's name; and so Tulkinghorn is happy to reveal the latest ...
ITV Digital faces £1.5m claim from employees
Hobson Audley has lodged 153 claims valuing £1.5m in the Stratford employment tribunal on behalf of the Ex-ITV Digital Employees' Group - those dismissed from the company after it went into administration in March
Kimbells launches corporate division
Milton Keynes firm Kimbells has opened a new corporate advisory division to offer corporate finance services to clients
KLegal tells its trainees: don't show up this year
Future trainees offered £10K to defer; McGrigors merger sparks spring clean
Law Society bumps up trainees' minimum pay
The Law Society has hiked minimum salaries for trainee solicitors to take account of rising living and study costs across the country
Legal Widow
After a row over taking the bins out, when the Lawyer threatened to throw Subjudice's mobile phone into the back of the next rubbish truck that came along (strikes permitting), our elder daughter spraypainted the number for ChildLine above the phone in the hall and said her entire class had learned it by rote in a recent Citizenship lesson.It's already proved useful, apparently. Clemency Alldays has managed to keep her playground extortion racket going by threatening to shop the ...
Leigh Day acts for Masai in MoD case
Leigh Day & Co has represented a group of six Masai in their negotiations with the Ministry of Defence (MoD) over injuries sustained by Masai tribespeople on an MoD military range in Kenya
Linklaters handed £85m property deal
Linklaters has advised longstanding client Rope-maker Properties on the acquisition of 50 Stratton Street from Burford Holdings for around £85m.The scheme was rushed through by Ropemaker, a subsidiary of BP Pension Fund, to avoid the Chancellor's clampdown on stamp duty savings schemes."It was a relatively complex deal," said Link-laters real estate partner Christopher Coombe. ...
Linklaters shares clients' pain with fee discounts for failed IPOs
Linklaters is breaking with the magic circle by giving fee discounts to clients involved in failed initial public offerings (IPOs)
Mace & Jones wins Pannones partner
Mace & Jones has appointed private client partner Katherine Peterson from Pannone & Partners to head the firm's private client department
Martineaus ups turnover while profits take a tumble
Midlands firm Martineau Johnson has announced a growth in turnover of £1.3m for 2001-02, but has experienced a dip in profits over the same period
Mayer Brown bags Inter-Alliance work
Mayer Brown Rowe & Maw is advising new client Inter-Alliance Group on its takeover offer of HST Financial. Inter-Alliance, which is an independent financial advisory group, has in the past been advised by Lawrence Graham.The client was first introduced to Mayer Brown corporate partner Stephen Bottomley ...
Microsoft lawyer returns to Preston
Microsoft's general counsel and executive vice president William Neukom is to return to his former firm
Mishcons forms LLP to buy new office
Mishcon de Reya has set up an innovative management structure for its new building in Holborn, central London
New TJG hire brings in London & Regional sale and leaseback
Former Garretts property head Keith Barnett has brought a deal for key client London & Regional Properties to his new firm Taylor Joynson Garrett (TJG). London & Regional has secured a $300m (£197m) sale and leaseback with struggling Swiss engineering group ABB.Barnett used former Swedish Andersen Legal firm Archibald for the Swedish aspects of the deal, while ABB was mainly represented in-house with support from Swedish firm Mannheimer.Although the deal took ...
Norton Rose shrugs off the past as Greek govt hands out lottery work
US capability lands UK firm Opap float in Greece; Athens and Piraeus reborn as branch offices
Norton Rose storms back on to HSBC's Hong Kong panel
Norton Rose is back on the HSBC panel in Hong Kong just four months after reopening its office there
Opinion
Is your management in control of the knowledge relating to the risk areas in your firm? And is it taking effective steps to manage those risks? Given recent events in the professional world, the answer for many firms is likely to be no.I am speaking of knowledge and risk in the widest possible context. Knowledge in the sense of the sum of what is known about every aspect of a firm's business rather than the usual narrow use of the term 'knowledge management'. Risk ...
RJW loses £300K in Crédit Lyonnais fight
CrEdit Lyonnais has won a damages claim totalling £300,000 against Russell Jones & Walker
Scrummin' it
Secretary and legal officer to the Rugby Football Union Jonathan Hall has a vision of England winning the 2007 World Cup. Emma Vere-Jones finds out that even lawyers can dream
Stibbe relocates tax head to London
Stibbe, Herbert Smith's Benelux ally, is moving its head of international tax to London, where it currently has no tax capability
The Bill, please
Henri Brandman of Henri Brandman & Co recently had a case in Brighton. Driving back through Streatham, he noticed an armed robbery taking place in full daylight outside a pub. He thought this was rather strange until he saw the TV cameras and realised an episode of something like The Bill was being filmed. Two minutes later (rather good for that road) he was in Brixton and saw another armed robbery taking place in broad daylight. But this time it was real. Spooky.
The Leader Column
Senior restructuring assistants had better start polishing up their CVs. White & Case is the latest US firm to target the insolvency market by hiring Dan Hamilton from CMS Cameron McKenna. White & Case is following in the footsteps of Sidley ...
The long legs of the law
Tulkinghorn has his fingers, toes and eyes crossed for Addleshaw Booth & Co lawyer Ann Danson, who is currently limbering up for an appearance in front of millions. For Danson, a solicitor in the firm's private client department, is something of a long jump expert and is leaping for England at the Commonwealth Games spectacular in Manchester later on this month.
Travers, Freshfields and CC land work on LSE overhaul
Travers Smith Braith-waite, Freshfields Bruckhaus Derringer and Clifford Chance have advised CRESTCo, the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and the London Clearing House on a revolutionary trade settlement system provided for the LSE by CRESTCo.The new system, which took effect on 1 July, will allow traders ...
UK counsel in Hong Kong and Singapore
Top daily rates for Hong Kong counsel are al-most twice the fees paid to UK silks working in the region
UK leans towards contingency fee payments
The US style of paying lawyers by contingency fees is growing in the UK, as what is believed to be the fourth firm begins working on this basis
We shall not be moved
It seems that Scottish firm Dundas & Wilson has been the most reluctant to leave the now defunct Andersen network. The Andersen switchboard is still operational, and if you ring it up and ask for any of the Dundas partners, the receptionist will put you straight through. None of the other former Andersen Legal firms are contactable through the switchboard anymore.The receptionist was not sure how long this facility would be available, but confirmed that Dundas is keeping her ...
When will I, will I be famous?
In yet another exclusive, Tulkinghorn can reveal that the ILEX (Institute of Legal Executives) tie man is not a legal executive at all but the Karaoke King. Our good friend - real name Matthew Arnold - is in fact a Countrywide Legal Indemnities marketing support executive. He was spotted at The Lawyer Awards plying his sideline in karaoke and Tulkinghorn caught up with him last week. Apparently, his modelling career was kicked off at the ILEX conference, where he was picked out from ...
White & Case in insolvency coup
White & Case is taking on highly-rated insolvency partner Dan Hamilton from CMS Cameron McKenna, giving the London office its first insolvency capability
