24 May 2010
The Lawyer
Bakers managing partner to focus on profit
Baker & McKenzie London managing partner Gary Senior has been reelected for a third term. Corporate lawyer Senior first took on the managing partner role in 2003 and is nearing the end of his second three-year term. His third term will begin in September. Going into his second term in 2007 Senior said growth in London was to be a priority, but the firm was hit, like its competitors, by the global recession. Senior said his priority for his third term would be to increase profitability ...
Reed Smith nets Pepper Hamilton team
US firm Reed Smith has snared seven real estate lawyers from the Pittsburgh office of Pepper Hamilton. The group comprises four partners and three associates, including former Pepper Hamilton executive committee member and real estate co-chair Dusty Kirk. She is joined by partners Sharon DiPaolo, Jeffrey Mills and Alan Sable, and associates Peter Kogan, Paul Didomenico and Jeffrey Wilhelm. All seven ...
Asda in the driving seat as property partners battle for retail panel nod
As its relationship with Eversheds falters, the retail giant looks further afield.
Camerons battles backlash from controversial outsourcing deal
CMS CAMERON McKenna has admitted that a number of elements of its business support function may be retained in-house after facing a barrage of criticism over its deal with outsourcing specialist Integreon.
Clyde & Co appoints trio across practices
CLYDE & Co has made a trio of partner hires across its transatlantic practices, with Peter Whalen and Edward Kirk joining the firm in the US, while Addleshaw Goddard corporate insurance partner Ivor Edwards has joined in London.
Dentons tie-up aids entry into Lebanon
DENTON Wilde Sapte is to launch in Lebanon through an association with local firm Chedid Law Offices.
Equity share boost gives Dentons reason to cheer
NEWS that Denton Wilde Sapte equity partners will take home equity shares that are around 22 per cent higher than last year will be met by its partners with cautious optimism.
Great haul of China
After two-and-a-half years, the Sino-Global Legal Alliance still has no imitators. James Swift reviews its progress and asks whether it’s of any real value in the Chinese legal market
Hickman & Rose
Specialising in criminal law and human rights, Hickman & Rose takes on work across the spectrum of criminal justice. And now the firm is developing an overseas presence through its work on international arrest warrants and extradition.
Julius: the UK needs its intellectuals
MISHCON de Reya deputy chairman Anthony Julius is adamant that he isn’t a workaholic
Kennedys pulls a U-turn on lawyer bonuses
Kennedys is to pay bonuses at the financial year-end after telling lawyers last year that they would no longer receive the package. In March 2008 staff were told that the salary enhancement scheme would be abandoned at the 2009-10 year-end in favour of a salary rise for all. At the time senior partner Nick Thomas told the firm: “The thought of a possible bonus payment does not motivate during ...
Langley departure sees Watson Burton searching for new leader
Lewis Silkin outsources litigation to New Zealand
LEWIS Silkin has begun outsourcing sophisticated disputes work to litigation partners at a law firm in New Zealand.
LfB pilots Patriot’s buyout of West Midlands airport
BIRMINGHAM-based ’virtual’ law firm Lawyers for Business (LfB) has advised Patriot Aerospace on its acquisition of Coventry Airport.
London corporate to spearhead Hogan Lovells’ staff integration
HOGAN Lovells’ London corporate practice has put in place a series of measures to encourage speedier integration between each side of the merged firm.
Making risk a priority
?The tough economic climate is forcing law firms to rethink their risk-averse strategies as they seek to gain new business. But caution has to be exercised when reputations are on the line, warns Yuri Frayman
Milbank lures EU head from SJ Berwin
SJ Berwin has lost its German head of EU and competition after Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy swooped for Alexander Rinne to launch its own European antitrust practice. Rinne, who will be joined at Milbank’s Munich office by associates Andreas Boos and Tatjana Muehlbach, has been with SJ Berwin since 2001. The departure leaves the firm with just one partner in its German EU and competition team. Peter ...
Paul Hastings prospers in the face of recession, thanks to European focus
Increase in UK turnover the result of a patient build-up on the Continent
Payne Hicks trio to set up boutique practice
Three Payne Hicks Beach private client partners will leave the firm next month to set up a boutique private client practice. Louise Stoten, a partner at Payne Hicks for the past 10 years, will set up New Quadrant Partners along with partners Marcus Parker and Jane Bennett, who both joined the firm last year. They will be joined by Payne Hicks associate Zoë Camp and tax and trust principal Simon ...
Peddie power
As director of litigation and special investigations, Jonathan Peddie has seen off the OFT and implemented major changes at Barclays Global Retail and Banking. But that was only the beginning, writes Andrew Pugh
People Moves
US firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld has bolstered its Moscow practice by hiring corporate partner Ilya Rybalkin from Hogan Lovells.
Pinsents scores six from dissolving Roiter Zucker
PINSENT Masons is hiring a team of six lawyers that together form the bulk of the life sciences boutique Roiter Zucker.
Russian MoJ consults international and independent firms over new regulations
THE CREATION of a Russian legal regulator took a step closer last week with a series of meetings between law firms and the country’s Ministry of Justice (MoJ).
Scottish councils finalise panel reviews
TWO SCOTTISH local authorities have completed panel reviews, with a mixture of Scottish and UK firms winning places.
SJ Berwin aids Matrix in £182m IZD Tower sale
SJ BERWIN has helped longstanding client Matrix European Real Estate Investment Trust sell an iconic European property.
Slaughters halts ‘Viking raider’ with High Court assets freeze
SLAUGHTER and May has secured a High Court freezing order against the assets of Jón Ásgeir Jóhannesson, the former executive chairman of retail investor Baugur, on behalf of Icelandic bank Glitnir.
Sorry: the hardest word
The call for more openness in healthcare is understandable, but as Katie Costello points out, making it work in practice is not quite so straightforward
Source of Doubt
The experience of CMS Cameron McKenna is a lesson for anyone who assumes that reorganisation of business processes can lead us to the sunlit uplands.
Stepping down
As Freshfields’ co-senior partner prepares to take his leave, he puts on his salesman’s hat to highlight the firm’s successes and spell out thechallenges for the future
Taylor Wessing makes up 12 partners
Taylor Wessing has made up 12 associates to its partnership, with just two in London, in a reduced round of partner promotions. The number of new partners made up at the firm has come down from 17 last year and 19 in 2008. Taylor Wessing’s German offices have seen the bulk of this year’s promotions. Three of the new partners are based in Düsseldorf with a further three in Hamburg. London and ...
The Hogan Lovells love-in continues – but don’t mention remuneration
AT THE Hogan Lovells annual press party last week co-chief executive David Harris gave a short speech. As always, there was a strategic theme. This time the new American partners were in town, and three weeks into the merger Harris was keen to push the firm’s perennial line that this was a deal between equals. “I know this looks like a coalition,” he said, “but neither of us is the Nick Clegg in this relationship.”
The Lawyer European Awards 2010: Shortlist
After the success of last year’s inaugural event, it’s no exaggeration to say that interest in The Lawyer European Awards 2010 has exploded.
Trio of firms primed to push bids on potential £3bn RBS division sell-off
CLIFFORD Chance, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Weil Gotshal & Manges have lined up to represent competing bidders on the auction of RBS’s payment processing arm, with Linklaters winning the mandate on the sale side.
Tulkinghorn: 99 problems but a pitch ain't one
Remember The Flying Doctors, the Aussie drama series where mulleted medics swoop in to save the day?
UK banks fend off mooted pre-election facelift
Coming into the election, there were clear dividing lines between the parties on bank regulation - Labour thought that the existing mechanism worked well and wanted to keep it; the Conservatives wanted to remake the regulatory system; and the Liberal Democrats wanted to remake the banking system.
