25 April 2011

Litigation chief wins top job at Simmons

Colin Passmore has won the senior partner election at Simmons & Simmons, beating former managing partner Mark Dawkins in the final round of voting. Passmore, who is head of litigation at the top 10 firm, will take the post at the end of June when incumbent David Dickinson steps down. As revealed by The Lawyer […]

Structurally sound

As Islamic finance booms tawwaruq structures are increasingly popular. Mike Rainey argues the surge in their use should be curbed. The enormous growth in the global Islamic finance industry is well documented and shows no signs of abating. But, as the industry continues to develop, there is a somewhat concerning trend in the use (or […]

Sheena Singla

Power player: Sheena Singla, Essar Energy

Essar Energy general counsel Sheena Singla has her work cut out building the company’s London in-house capability from the ground up, says Caroline Butcher Five months into her first in-house role Sheena Singla is ­relishing the challenge of building an in-house legal team from scratch in the rapidly changing energy sector. Singla trained at Freshfields Bruckhaus […]

Freshfields advises Land Securities on City let

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has advised Land Securities on its securing of SMBC Nikko Capital Markets as the latest tenant for its high-profile City development One New Change. Real estate partner Chris Morris is leading the Freshfields team advising Land Securities on the office and retail letting of the landmark development opposite St Paul’s Cathedral. US […]

Jacques McChesney
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Latham, Shearman, Weil take lead roles on Priory’s Craegmoor buy

Latham & Watkins, Shearman & Sterling and Weil Gotshal & Manges secured the lead mandates on The Priory Group’s acquisition of healthcare support provider Craegmoor Group. Shearman and Weil acted for private equity house Advent International, which bought Priory in January. Weil, Advent’s longstanding corporate adviser, acted on M&A aspects, while a transatlantic Shearman team […]

Herbies, Grayston record ECJ victory for Sky+ box

Pay-TV broadcaster BSkyB and the world’s biggest ­producer of set-top boxes Pace have won a dispute regarding customs duties in the European Court of ­Justice (ECJ). BSkyB was advised by Herbert Smith partner Lode Van Den Hende and represented in court by David Anderson QC of Brick Court Chambers, while Pace turned to partner John […]

HM Prison Birmingham

Simmons oversees MoJ’s £2.4bn prison service contracts process

Simmons & Simmons has advised the Ministry of ­Justice (MoJ) on two prison service procurement ­provisions that resulted in contracts worth a combined total of £2.4bn being awarded to bidders. Simmons advised the MoJ from start to finish on the competitions. International projects head Juliet Reingold led for the firm. Of counsel Michael Polling assisted on the deal and […]

1

Hogan Lovells pair sign up for Noerr’s European IP crusade with Alicante launch

German firm Noerr is set to launch an IP office in ­Alicante after poaching two lawyers from Hogan Lovells. Hogan Lovells counsel Tobias Dolde and senior associate Michael Hawkins will join the German firm to help launch the Alicante office. Both were based in Hogan Lovells’ Alicante office. Dolde joins as a salaried partner while Hawkins comes […]

Promotions rebound post-crunch

Partnership promotions across the country’s leading firms have topped 2009’s and 2010’s levels, marking a return to upward mobility within the profession. Of The Lawyer’s top 30 firms, 19 have announced partnership promotions for the next financial year. Looking at the promotions in total, there has been a 32 per cent jump in the number […]

Yorkshire terriers

Twenty years ago a brash Yorkshire firm called Dibb Lupton decided it could go mid-tier and that SME corporate clients needed a more responsive service than City firms were providing. It bulked up aggressively, paid big bucks to lateral hires and sold the market a vision of what a modern law firm should be. It […]

Burges Salmon sets up low-tax vehicle for staff

Burges Salmon is set to transfer its entire non-­partner staff base to a newly ­created service company in an effort to cut its tax bill. The new company, Burges Salmon Limited, will be wholly owned by Burges Salmon partners and fully indemnified by the LLP.The Bristol firm launched a consultation process with staff earlier this […]

Rob Day
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SJ Berwin scraps associate lockstep

SJ Berwin has become the latest firm to abandon the associate lockstep model as it moves to a merit-based remuneration system. Associates at the City firm will be remunerated according to their performance against a range of both legal and business competencies. There will be three bands based broadly on SJ Berwin’s Insight programme, which […]