Chiomenti will be the first Italian independent to launch in China, which it is doing with a former Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer associate. Gianluca D’Agnolo, formerly a Beijing-based associate at Freshfields, will head Chiomenti’s Beijing office, which has just been granted its licence by the Chinese Ministry of Justice. London-based Chiomenti corporate partner Luigi Bendi will […]
If you were one of the 400,000 people who didn’t get paidtoday, blame SJ Berwin. Just one month ago SJ Berwin trumpeted its role advising theUK payments association Apacs on “a project to speed up theprocessing of bank transfers”. But the project is a work in progress. The system went badlywrong today causing delayed payments […]
Jenkens & Gilchrist’s long-running tax scandal has brought the 56-year-old firm to its knees, with it finally closing its doors for good. The chairman of the Dallas-headquartered firm Patrick Mitchell confirmed to The Lawyer that the firm would indeed close, referring to a Derpartment of Justice statement that said the firm would be “terminating its […]
Employment tribunals are “too costly and complex” and make “inconsistent decisions”, according to a government report. Commissioned by Secretary of State Alistair Darling in December 2006, Michael Gibbons’ review of the employment dispute resolution system highlighted a number of problems. He noted that more should be done to help employers and employees resolve more disputes […]
Taylor Wessing has raided the Paris office of Jones Day for a real estate finance lawyer to head its French finance practice. Former Jones Day senior associate Antonia Raccat joined Taylor Wessing as a partner last Monday (26 March), becoming the firm’s nineteenth in Paris. She is best known for real estate financing and, while […]
The first ‘Tesco law-style’ legal service was launched today (30 March) by the Co-operative Group as it takes advantage of the Clementi reforms. The Co-operative Group, which owns the Co-op supermarket, opened its new legal services head office in Bristol, dubbing it a “ground-breaking new legal business”. The Legal Services Bill, currently in draft form, […]
Anglo-Scottish firm HBJ Gateley Wareing has launched a shipping and transport group at the firm’s Glasgow office. The Glasgow operation will provide advice to the firm’s existing client base in the West of Scotland. The move into Glasgow follows on the back of the hire of Birmingham-based logistics and transport partner Buddug Williams from Shakespeares […]
Linklaters has been ranked first in a global survey of IPO transactions for the first quarter (Q1) of 2007. The preliminary Bloomberg League Adviser League Tables for 2007 Q1 rank firms by volume of deals. Linklaters came first in the global equity IPO manager adviser category with eight deals and a volume of deals totalling […]
Slaughter and May client Alliance-Boots will open its books to Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) now that the private equity house has upped its offer for the high street giant by 40p per share. KKR, which is backing a management buyout of Alliance-Boots by its deputy chairman and largest individual shareholder Stefano Pessina, has upped its […]
The announcement today that the Home Office is to be splitinto two, with the justice functions amalgamated with theDepartment for Constitutional Affairs, gives the currentSecretary of State for Constitutional Affairs an even biggertoybox than usual. The responses from the legal profession have been guardedso far. Lord Phillips, the Lord Chief Justice, was the quickest offthe […]
Lord Falconer has been unveiled as the UK’s first secretary of state for Justice. Falconer, who was also the first-ever secretary of state for the department of constitutional affairs said he was honoured that he has been chosen for the task. “It makes sense to bring under one roof everyone looking after the criminal and […]
Solicitor Adrian Sam has been made bankrupt by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) after his law firm Adrian Sam & Co (ASC) assisted an illegal overseas boiler room scam. The FSA took the action after ASC and the firm’s former partner John Martin failed to comply with a Court of Appeal ruling in 2005 that […]