23 January 2012

Norton Rose’s merger anatomy

Four mergers in two years mean a tough integration job, but Norton Rose has found the perfect solution: a speed-dating style session to help get the head of a key practice group to know his or her team. It doesn’t stop there. The firm has introduced ’champions’ around the world as the contact points for […]

Job Watch: South West/Bristol

As trainees and newly qualified associates alike face increasingly stiff competition in the City, there are many good reasons for young lawyers to look further west. While the South West legal market not been immune from the tough economic climate, according to Tom Pogmore, manager of regional legal recruitment at Robert Walters, there is still […]

Siddhartha Mankad

The Lawyer Management: Kemp Little

Siddhartha Mankad joined technology and digital media firm Kemp Little as its first chief operating ­officer (COO) last summer. Mankad joined as a fixed-share partner and a member of Kemp Little’s management board. Siddhartha Mankad, chief operating officer Siddhartha Mankad joined technology and digital media firm Kemp Little as its first chief operating ­officer (COO) […]

Alastair Dickson

Focus: A Farr fetched alliance

With the one-stop shop increasingly de rigueur and cross-border alliances looking like yesterday’s model, is it time for Willkie Farr and Dickson Minto to consign their tie-up to the scrapheap? Are alliances really worth the bother? More specifically, is the three-year ­association between Willkie Farr & Gallagher and Dickson Minto worth continuing with? First, some […]

Christophe Asselineau

On the move

Ashurst is set to lose heavyweight City projects partner John Inglis to US firm Shearman & Sterling’s energy and resources practice. Move of the week Inglis, who has a sizeable Middle East and Asia projects practice, is set to join Shearman’s London office after five years as a partner at the UK firm. The hire […]

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Move On Up: DWF

Even without the Cobbetts tie-up, DWF has been on a growth spurt. Will it last? North West firm DWF has had one of the most rapid growth trajectories of any of the UK’s top 100 firms in recent years, adding a net total of 64 partners and directors in three years through promotions and laterals […]

William Trower QC

Judgment call: 23 January 2012

Bezier Acquisitions Ltd, Re (2011) EWHC 3299, 6 January 2012. Chancery Division, Companies Court. Norris, J. Insolvency 12 December 2011 A failure to comply strictly with the Insolvency Rules 1986 Pt 2 (2) r.2.8(2) as to service, at the company’s registered office, of a notice of intention to appoint administrators did not invalidate the notice […]

(l-r) Jenkins and Jones: time at the bar

HM Procurator General and Treasury Solicitor: Politically correct

Efficiency is the watchword for Treasury Solicitor Paul Jenkins, as he and his team keep their government clients on the legal straight and narrow Paul Jenkins QCTreasury Solicitor’s department Title: HM Procurator General and Treasury SolicitorReporting to: Attorney General Dominic Grieve QC MPDepartmental income: £101.2m (2010-11)Employees: 1,031Annual legal spend: £5mLegal capability: 650Main external law firms: […]

Case of the week: Employment

Coulson v News Group Newspapers Ltd (2011) EWHC 3482 Queen’s Bench Division, Supperstone J. 21 December 2011Does an agreement between a newspaper editor and his employer made in contemplation of the termination of the employment render the employer liable for legal fees arising from criminal allegations relating to the hacking of mobile phone voicemails? Judgment […]

Work Life Q­­uiz: Naylah Hamour, Howard Kennedy

What was your first-ever job? A Saturday job waitressing when I was 14. What was your worst experience as a trainee? Trying to find my way around the Royal Courts of Justice. Where’s the best place to go if you want to find out what’s really going on in the office? Ask the trainees. What […]

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Halliwells: picking at the carcass

The battle to claw back monies from ex-equity partners has put creditors and former fixed-share partners at loggerheads. This sale-and-leaseback agreement is at the heart of the battle ­raging between the firm’s partners. Tensions are mounting in the fight between the liquidators of Halliwells and the failed firm’s former equity partners as the battle to […]