23 February 2009
The Lawyer
A&O blames recession for exhaustive clearout
Allen & Overy’s (A&O) wide-reaching internal restructuring was triggered by an unexpectedly sharp downturn at the beginning of this year, according to managing partner Wim Dejonghe.
Amarchand adopts lockstep in growth drive
Indian firm Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh A Shroff & Co has taken the unusual step of converting to a full lockstep model after years of maintaining tight reins on its equity.
Ashurst scores lead role on William Hill refinancing
Ashurst scores lead role on William Hill refinancing" /Ashurst has secured a key instruction from William Hill over its plan to raise £1.2bn via a rights issue and debt facility with Skadden ...
Ashurst to enter US with McKee Nelson hires
Ashurst to enter US with McKee Nelson hires" /Ashurst is set to open a fee-earning office in New York with the hire of a 10-partner structured finance team from long-time US niche-ally McKee Nelson.
Banking on it
How's this for an understatement - it's a curious time to be launching a structured finance practice in New York.
Blake Lapthorn asks partners to pay off debt
Blake Lapthorn is restructuring its balance sheet by asking partners to inject cash to pay off parts of its bank debt.
Brabners switches to RBS after HBOS payroll blunder
Manchester firm Brabners Chaffe Street has shifted its banking from HBOS to Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) after a blunder meant the firm could not pay its staff on time last month.
Bracewell & Giuliani: double digit rev, PEP increases
Texas firm Bracewell & Giuliani has posted a 15 per cent revenue hike for the 2008 financial year.
Building bridges
In restructuring property finance, enforcement is not your only option, says Nicholas Crocker
Business as usual after Mandy’s mandate
Business secretary Peter Mandelson made a bold move when he gave the green light for Lloyds TSB to take over struggling HBOS at the end of last year.
Camerons advises on Stanford receivership
CMS Cameron McKenna has been appointed to advise the receivers of two Antiguan companies of Texan billionaire Allen Stanford's group of businesses.
CC, links take lead on Rio-Chinalco deal
Clifford Chance and Linklaters have taken lead roles on the Chinese government’s $19.5bn (£13.66bn) proposed cash injection into mining group Rio Tinto.
Challinors banks on fraud for revenue boost
Midlands firm Challinors has set its sights on breaking through the £20m turnover barrier, setting an ambitious revenue growth target of 75 per cent by the end of the 2009-10 financial year.
City lawyers line up on Countrywide restructuring
Freshfields, Halliwells, Linklaters and Slaughters have landed key roles ahead of the potential takeover of Countrywide, the UK’s largest residential estate agency.
Clear thinking
Offshore jurisdictions have a tendency to be viewed with suspicion, accused of harbouring illegal funds. But it is a suspicion born of ignorance in how they operate, argues Charles Jennings
Clifford Chance loses further New York litigator
Clifford Chance has lost a further litigation partner from its New Yorkoffice with Vic Siber leaving to join US firm Baker Hostetler.
Cobbetts: Tough guise
A demanding few years for Cobbetts has seen the battle-hardened firm take a no-nonsense approach to getting back on track.
Credit guard
Cayman has not been left standing in the global economy, says Philip Paschalides
Cripps Harries Hall
Cripps Harries Hall" class="inline_image inline_image_left" src="/pictures/web/images/16377_P7_Cripps.jpg" /By winning a seat on the Crossrail panel this year, Cripps Harries Hall has fixed its place at the big projects table. The firm began the association after picking up Channel Tunnel organisation HS1, which hands the firm property work at stations along the high-speed railway line.
Dechert: second round of layoffs this month
Dechert has made its second round of layoffs this month, shedding 10 staff lawyers.
Dickinson Dees shake-up sees partnership contract by eight
Newcastle-headquartered Dickinson Dees has cut the size of its partnership, with former managing partner Neil Braithwaite being one of four people to take on non-partner roles within the firm.
DLA Piper shows its mettle in Emea, Asia
DLA Piper’s Europe, Middle East and Africa (Emea) and Asia businesses posted strong revenue growth in the 2008 calendar year, with turnover rising 16.2 per cent on 2007’s figure.
Dundas & Wilson to cut 50 jobs
Dundas & Wilson to cut 50 jobs" /Edinburgh-headquartered firm Dundas & Wilson has announced a redundancy consultation with up to 50 people across its three offices at risk of losing their jobs.
Eversheds lawyer moves in-house to Braemar Reit
Real estate investment fund Braemar Group has hired Orla Ball as its new in-house counsel.
Firms go nuclear as NDA invites bids for panels
The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) is looking to cut firms from its legal panel.
Freshfields scoops British Land issue
reshfields Bruckhaus Deringer advised British Land on its £740m rights issue.
Good Gulf!
Rumours of potential job losses in the Gulf have been doing the rounds since the New Year, but the revelation that Trowers & Hamlins was the first firm to take the plunge came as a surprise for a number of reasons.
Grey matters: Caryl Longley, Deloitte
Deloitte general counsel Caryl Longley may be surrounded by the men in grey suits, but she still finds working for an accountancy firm fascinating.
Hammonds to trim 20 from its partnership
Hammonds is to cut up to 20 partners as part of a sweeping review that will see the firm's partnership reduced by more than 10 per cent.
Harm in the army
11.17amEvery now and then a personal injury case comes along which reignites the debate about Britain's so-called compensation culture.
Hogan posts revenue rise after buyout offer
Hogan & Hartson has reported an increase in total revenue for the 2008 financial year, two weeks after it revealed it is offering buyouts to 240 of its support staff.
Husband and wife to take silk together
Husband and wife barrister duo Joanna Smith and Mark Vanhegan will walk down the aisle together again when they both take silk before the Lord Chancellor next month.
Ian Hammond
If you weren’t a lawyer what would you have been? When I was at school I wanted to be a journalist.
Is flexible-friendliness the best alternative to redundancies?
Times are tough and law firms are facing unprecedented pressure on their finances, but are redundancies really the best way to tackle high staff costs?
Keeping up appearances
You can learn a lot from Linklaters (just ask Simmons), both from what it does and from what it doesn’t do. Take Allen & Overy (A&O), the latest magic circle firm to make massive staff cuts a ...
Latham to cut 440 jobs as workloads plummet
US firm Latham & Watkins is to lay off a total of 440 employees across its global network.
Latham's Dell speaks out on redundancies
Latham & Watkins managing partner Bob Dell has today spoken out about the firm’s record 440 layoffs.
Lawyers fall behind in IQ study
Lawyers have become less intelligent compared to the average person over thelast decade, research from the Centre for Market and Public Organisation(CMPO) has revealed.
LG returns to Adams brief as owner bails out ailing retailer
LG corporate recovery partner Tom Withyman advised the buyer of troubled high-street retailer Adams Childrenswear at the end of its administration process.
Links combines key partner meetings
Linklaters has scrapped one of its two annual partnership meetings by merging its partnership retreat and strategy meetings into a single conference.
Lovells homes in on financial performance
Lovells managing partner David Harris is mooting a plan to overhaul the firm’s management to create an international group focused specifically ;on ;driving financial performance.
Magic circle corners market as businesses turn to rights issues
As the economy worsens, companies are looking to squeeze shareholders for extra capital.
McClure Naismith makes real estate hire
Former DLA Piper Glasgow partner David Thomson has joined the real estate practice at Scottish firm McClure Naismith.
McKee Nelson names Ashurst's US partners
McKee Nelson has confirmed the names of the 11 partners who are set to join Ashurst to help spearhead the UK firm’s new US offices in Washington DC and New York.
MFB European arbitration win scuppers reach of English courts
London’s position as a leading arbitration centre has been dealt a blow following an MFB Solicitors victory in the European Court of Justice (ECJ).
Mishcons secures prison sentence in Microsoft case
Mishcon de Reya has scored a rare criminal conviction from an IP case, securing a jail sentence on behalf of Microsoft against a parallel importer.
Moves roundup: 23 February 2009
Ian Carson has joined Tollers as a director in its insolvency and litigation practice. He was previously a partner and head of litigation atPwC Legal.
Nardello scoops former SFO investigator
Legal investigations firm Nardello & Co has hired former Serious Fraud Office (SFO) assistant director Helen Garlick as a senior director of investigations. Garlick quit the SFO in June following a change of management. While there she led the four-year probe into BAE Systems and oversaw investigations into former Nigerian head of state Sani Abacha and Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. Garlick also served as the first head of the SFO’s Overseas Corruption Unit.
Normal service resumed?
Bernard Madoff may have picked the worst possible time to reveal the extent of his fraudulent practices, but as Jeremy Walton reports, a resulting reboot could be just what the funds industry needs
Norton Rose US merger is ‘inevitable’
Norton Rose’s incoming chairman Stephen Parish has vowed to steer the firm towards a US merger, believing that a New York office is crucial for any international law firm.
Obituary: Peter Peddie
Peter Charles Peddie CBE QC died on 3 February 2009. Peddie joined Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer as an articled clerk in the 1950s and became a partner there in 1960 at the age of 28.
Offshore
All offshore eyes are carefully watching the movements of Stop the Tax Haven Abuse Act, the Bill introduced to the US Senate by US President Barack Obama in February 2007.
Olswang investment head joins Nabarro
Olswang investment head joins Nabarro" /Nabarro has hired Olswang investment funds head Andrew Wylie as a partner in its indirect investment team in London.
Opinion: government honesty is overdue on overseas torture
Clare Algar, executive director at Reprieve, calls for honesty from the government to repair the damage done by those who were complicit in the rendition and torture of Binyam Mohammed, the Guantanamo detainee who returned to the UK this week.
OPINION: The Supreme Court is moving to mirror society
Next October (if the building works are finished in time) the Law Lords will move across Parliament Square and become Supreme Court justices.
Paul Weiss sets the pace
Litigation heavyweight finds success being the tortoise rather than the hare.
Pay cut plan fails to save Dentons property jobs
Denton Wilde Sapte's Milton Keynes employees have proposed to slash their pay as an alternative to seeing colleagues made redundant, but the proposal has failed.
Personal Injury funding in war zones
For over 20 years, I have acted almost exclusively on behalf of military personnel recovering damages for accidents while at work.
Pinsents joins China trio to win bridge work
Pinsent Masons’ Chinese practice has teamed up with a consortium of Chinese firms to advise on the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge project, which will see the construction of a 30km bridge between mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau.
Polish firm snaps up Linklaters team after magic circle firm downsizes in CEE
A Polish firm has changed its name and rebranded after taking on two partners and a team of associates from Linklaters.
Postcard from... Tokyo
In the latest in our Postcards from... series, Lovells partner Anthony Raven discusses life in Japan and how Tokyo avoids many of the pitfalls of urban life in other countries.
Proskauer posts 10 per cent drop in average PEP
Proskauer Rose has posted its financial results for 2008, unveiling a 10 per cent drop in average profit per equity partner (PEP).
Redeeming features
A less litigious approach to fund redemptions is staving off the expected bloodbath. By Robert Shepherd and Anthony Williams
Redemptions on song?
Recent Cayman, Bermudian and BVI court decisions have given practitioners a heads-up on fund redemption legislation.
Resistance is futile
The US has strengthened its regulatory reach with ruthless efficiency to the point where a failure to comply can have disastrous consequences for any international business.
Spanish deals
When negotiating pre-insolvency agreements in Spain, lawyers should take into account directors’ liability, say Alberto Núñez-Lagos and Ángel AlonsoWith the current financial crisis, many companies are resorting to out-of-court restructurings or renegotiations as opposed to going to court to handle their insolvencies.
Supreme Court overleaps Lords with avowals of better value, transparency
From October this year the Supreme Court will replace the House of Lords as the highest court in England and Wales.
The Lawyer Annual Offshore Survey
The world’s leading offshore firms were in expansion mode in 2008, with four of the five top players opening more than one new office base.
The White stuff
Executive chairman Jonathan White has overseen the expansion of Ogier from local Jersey firm to international offshore powerhouse.
Trowers first to fall prey to Middle East downturn
Gulf stalwart cuts jobs across region; prospects bleak in ‘dead’ Dubai
Trowers to cut four jobs in UK regions
Trowers & Hamlins has launched a redundancy consultation with fee earners in its UK-based real estate team.
Tulkinghorn
Tulkinghorn is not a fan of Valentine’s Day and neither, it seems, is the Law Society.
US elite line up for Citi stock deal
A trio of US firms has snared lead roles advising on Citigroup’s recapitalisation.
WilmerHale puts more rungs on the ladder
WilmerHale has revamped its firmwide structure to create additional categories within its associate and partner ranks.
