25 July 2011

Smarter living

Businesses must smarten up to deal with the changing environment, say John Houghton, Sarah Holmes and Duncan Tilney The physical environment within which we all live and within which all businesses operate is undoubtedly changing, whether or not we agree on the cause. We are seeing the mass movement of peoples, resource constraints, a contraction […]

Norton Rose seals triple listing for mining outfit

Norton Rose capitalised on its expansion into Canada and Australia to guide Allied Gold Mining through a triple listing on the London, Toronto and Australian stock exchanges. The firm merged with Australian outfit Deacons in January 2010 and went live with a merger with Canadian firm Ogilvy Renault on 1 June this year. The A$700m […]

Slaughters, Macfarlanes secure Chi-X sale brief

Slaughter and May won a competitive tender to advise alongside Macfarlanes on the acquisition of equity exchange Chi-X Europe by BATS Global Markets. The deal is expected to create the largest ­pan-European trading centre by market share and value traded. The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) referred the takeover to the Competition Commission (CC), prompting […]

A&O takes Westbrook through refinancing of Shell-Mex House

Allen & Overy (A&O) has advised private equity group Westbrook Partners on the £338m refinancing of what is thought to be one of the most expensive properties ever bought in the UK. Shell-Mex House, which sits on London’s Strand, was sold by a consortium of property moguls made up of Robert and Vincent Tchenguiz, David and Simon […]

Linklaters on board as Eircom heads for major restructure

A raft of law firms are ­lining up for the restructuring of Irish telecoms group Eircom, one of the biggest this year. Eircom is being advised by Eugene McCague and Willie Day at Arthur Cox and Robert Elliott and Bruce Bell at Linklaters. Its financial advisers are Gleacher Shacklock and JP Morgan, and in March […]

1

DLA Piper moves to replenish Aussie offices after Phillips Fox merger fallout

DLA Piper has begun rebuilding its Brisbane office after it suffered ­departures in the run-up to the firm’s merger with DLA Phillips Fox, taking on two partners and their support teams from Australian firm Dibbs Barker. Jim Holding has joined DLA Piper’s corporate team while David Richardson will bolster the IP and technology departments. Both were partners at […]

Wim Dejonghe
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A&O reels in Gide trio for new Casablanca outpost

Allen & Overy (A&O) has become the first of the magic circle firms to announce its intention to open an office in Africa, with the firm scheduling a Morocco launch for the autumn. The Casablanca office will open in September, at which time banking and corporate partner François Duquette will relocate from the firm’s Abu […]

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Barristers tread boards for Romeo trial

“O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?” These are the familiar words spoken by Juliet Capulet from her balcony. But in a modern take on a classic tale, ­several of the UK’s top legal minds took to the stage last week to ­perform a more unfamiliar spin-off of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. The Trial of […]

Clare Wardle

United front: Clare Wardle, Kingfisher

Ex-barrister Clare Wardle finds strength in numbers when dealing with the challenges of her role as Kingfisher general counsel. Largely thanks to a rather remarkable career path, Kingfisher general ­counsel Clare ­Wardle is certainly equipped with the right tools for her new position at the home improvement giant. Wardle’s role has proved to be one of her […]

Richard Masters

Scotland’s mightiest firms face up to the downturn

Scottish chiefs put brave face on stagnant figures as deals conveyor belt keeps rolling. Scotland’s leading law firms continued to have a tough time in the 2010-11 financial year, with even those firms with presences in the higher-margin London market failing to post significant hikes in turnover or profitability. Leader of the pack McGrigors remains […]

Christian Pothe

Buse Heberer Fromm

Since the merger with Munich-based firm Spitzweg last year, Buse Heberer Fromm has seen a significant boost to its tax practice. Buse has now included Steuerberater, Germany’s professional license for tax advisers, in its firm name. “The past couple of years since the financial crash have been positive,” says Buse managing director Christian Pothe. “Since […]

Richard Lissack QC
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Opinion: No room for error in Leveson LJ’s hacking inquiry

As the noise surrounding the ­phone-hacking issue becomes ever louder and the list of casualties ever longer, in the eye of the engulfing storm sits Lord Justice ­Leveson’s inquiry. It provides the calm centre, where matters as simple and uncontroversial as the future of ­constitutional governance and the ­interaction of the executive and the fourth […]