27 January 2003
The Lawyer
A&O scoops first deal for Ciber UK
Allen & Overy (A&O) is about to complete its first deal for new US client Ciber Inc. The firm is advising the Colorado-based company on a recommended cash offer to take over ECsoft Group for £34m.Corporate partner Richard Hough, who led the deal, said that A&O was recommended to Ciber by one of the firm's existing European clients.New York Stock Exchange-listed Ciber is an international systems integration consultancy to both the private ...
A&O’s Spitalfields headache risks second judicial review
The site of Allen & Overy’s (A&O) new Spitalfields headquarters could face a second judicial review in one of the most protracted planning disputes the City has ever seen
AAR in talks to stop partners sitting on boards
Allens Arthur Robinson, Australia's largest firm, is reviewing whether it will continue to let its partners sit on company boards
ADR Chambers bags Gibraltar in international offensive
Taunton-based ADR Chambers has linked up with Gibraltar firm Cruz & Co as its efforts continue to establish offices in an array of other jurisdictions worldwide
Bar Council chair slams top-up fees
Matthias Kelly fears Education White Paper "will keep the poor out of the law"
Bevan Ashford profits from Morgan Cole exodus
Morgan Cole is continuing to haemorrhage partners, suffering its latest loss to Bevan Ashford
Bircham Dyson Bell appoints new chairman
Westminster firm Bircham Dyson Bell has appointed private client partner Michael Wood as chairman of its executive committee, following the decision of former chairman Nicholas Brown to step down. Wood has been with the firm for 30 years, and has been on the executive committee for the past 18 months.
Bircham Dyson Bell ditches investment arm
Closure blamed on changes in investment and regulatory environment
Brobeck faces collapse after merger bid fails
Breakdown of talks with fellow US firm Morgan Lewis leaves Brobeck on verge of dissolution
Burges Salmon challenges farmers' £5m action
The £5m negligence claim brought by 34 dairy farmers against Burges Salmon is due to be heard next month
Cadwalader partner picked for US commission
Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft will be sharing one of its partners with the US Sentencing Commission for a term of six years. US president George Bush has announced his intention to nominate Michael Horowitz, a litigation partner in the firm’s Washington office, for a place on the seven-person body. First revealed on www.thelawyer.com/lawyernews 21 January
Cadwalader slammed over Colt mishandling
High Court judge rules 'no substance whatever' to telecom administration case
Catch you if we can
this week's award for inn-ovative marketing goes to Bircham Dyson Bell. One of The Lawyer's hacks was rather bewildered to receive a black-and-white photo of a bearded gentlemen, which by her phenomenal powers of deduction she assumed to be a lawyer. But there was no documentation to give any information about this man, aside from the address on the envelope.Slightly unsure ...
CC partner speaks out against death row
A senior Clifford Chance partner acting for Jackie Elliott, the UK-born man facing death by lethal injection in Texas next week, has criticised the justice system in the US state
Cisco Kid
Cisco toughened up as a reaction to the tech sector's inclemency, and as Steve Hoare reports, it would appear to be paying off.
Citigroup poaches new general counsel
Citigroup has poached Nationwide's chief strategic officer and former Wilmer Cutler & Pickering chief executive Michael Helfer to be its new general counsel
Corbett quits St Philips for London
Silk leaves Birmingham for Serle Court
Corporate deals round-up
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (Martin Taylor) advised the Rank Group on its acquisition of Blue Square, one of the UK's leading telebetting and internet betting business, for £65m. Blue Square advised by Macfarlanes.Addleshaw Booth & Co (Darryl Cooke, Simon Pilling) advised ...
CPS News takes blind alley
Tulkinghorn's counterpart on Lawyer 2B, the Snail, has lately been enjoying a good chuckle over his favourite read, the snappily titled Crown Prosecution Service News (CPS News).In the latest issue of Lawyer 2B, in stores from today, the Snail commended CPS News for its outstanding sensitivity during a recent interview with a CPS employee.As part of an in-depth feature into visually-impaired people, the CPS News picked Shirley Grizedale, a blind typist in ...
De Brauw dumped by top client KLM
Dutch airline terminates De Brauw's 'house lawyer' role over Alitalia advice
DEAL OF THE WEEK - NATIONAL AIR TRAFFIC SERVICES
BLP advises on NATS' £100m lease for new headquarters
Dechert gets its wise guy
The legal profession is abundant with 'am-dram' talent, but Dechert seems to be taking things even further.The firm has just hired litigator Edward McDonald, the man who shared the screen with Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta and Joe Pesci in Martin Scorcese's classic crime drama GoodFellas.As all good film buffs will know, McDonald played himself in the film, as head of ...
Dentons bolsters litigation in Hong Kong
Four hires coincide with firm's review of international network
DLA hires for Scottish tech push
DLA has launched a Scottish telecoms, media and communications (TMC) practice, with the hire of McGrigor Donald technology and intellectual property (IP) specialist John McKinlay
Enron report pulls up Linklaters, Shearman
Linklaters is understood to be among a number of firms whose roles in the Enron affair have been questioned in a confidential report filed with a US court last week
EU concerns rise over cartel conflicts
The Competition Commission's new guaranteed immunity procedure for cartel members is already bearing fruit, with 17 companies currently acting as informants, according to a senior commission source
Eversheds gets curried
National firm appoints former European official Jim Currie as consultant
Eversheds' Italian alliance gets boost as Piergrossi merges with Benvenuto
Eversheds' associated Italian law firm Piergrossi Villa Bianchini-Riccardi has merged with Benvenuto Barozzi Scherini
Exercising restraint
A landmark ruling in the Cayman Islands has shown the extent to which the Proceeds of Criminal Conduct Law can reimburse victims of crime. Diarmad Murray reports
Freshfields ups stakes on German leverage
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer intends to push up its leverage ratios in Germany to as high as 1:3 in the next few years, putting clear water between the Anglo-German firm and Germany's remaining independent law firms.Although Freshfields will be more highly leveraged than German rivals, the firms' planned rate is half what some Anglo-German firms privately ...
Govt to review court policy on competition law issues
The government is reviewing how the court system deals with competition issues, but is unlikely to go for a dedicated competition court - the solution favoured by some members of the judiciary
Hale and Dorr saves Brobeck European joint venture
Brobeck Hale and Dorr to be taken over by Boston-based firm
Halliwell Landau in fitness drive
London office signs up Holmes Place senior legal counsel
Halliwells audits trail of expelled partner
Halliwell Landau has instructed Deloitte & Touche to audit its client accounts over an alleged misappropriation of funds carried out by expelled debt collection partner Mark Dennis
Harrison Clark poaches new employment head
George Green & Co's employment head jumps ship to bolster Harrison Clark
Hide and seek
The swath of regulations introduced post Enron and WorldCom have yet to show any substantial improvement in finding embezzled money. Alan Gough reports
HIH denies wrongdoing over Blake payment
As the HIH scandal continues to unfold before the royal commission, former finance manager Bill Howard has denied he knew about the company's imminent collapse when he made payouts to advisers in the insurance giant's final days
Hong Kong proves a graveyard for Camerons and Dewey Ballantine
Dewey closes door on Hong Kong; US firms suffer from lack of dual capability; UK firms await fruition of Chinese promise
I wanna work for common people
Lawyers at Ashurst Morris Crisp have the satisfaction of beating rivals at Allen & Overy to win Morrisons' bid for Safeway; but did they realise when they auditioned for the role that they would have to work with such common people?For the firm whose recruitment mantra is rumoured to be 'You don't have to be posh and thick to work here, but it helps' rubbing shoulders ...
Latham grabs SEC man for securities push
WorldCom investigator William Baker to join Washington office
Law Centres at risk as funding slashed
Central London, Hammersmith and Fulham, North Kensington and Paddington could all lose Law Centres
Law firms gorge on Safeway bidders
As the battle for Safeway continued to hot up last week, conflicts paved the way for further law firms to get a piece of the action
Lindahls ramps up with double hire
Swedish firm Lindahl has recruited the head of legal from client ABB Financial Services and has hired EU partner Eva-Maj Mühlenbock from the ruins of Ernst & Young's Swedish firm EY Law
Linklaters overhauls top real estate jobs
Patrick Plant appointed global head; new position created in Europe
Linklaters recamps partner to Bangkok
Hong Kong-based Linklaters partner Peter Treacy has moved to the firm’s Bangkok office. The move coincides with CMS Cameron McKenna’s decision to significantly downsize its presence in China and comes at a time when firms are reviewing their strategies in the region. Treacy joins fellow partner Wilailuk Okanurak ...
Linklaters' Terence Kyle to retire from the law
Terence Kyle, Linklaters' managing partner for the Americas, is set to retire
Markland quits Freshfields
Perry Noble to replace Ruth Markland as Asia managing partner
Morgan Cole takes on rival's Assembly seat
Morgan Cole has scooped an exclusive three-year contract with the Welsh National Assembly from under the nose of existing adviser Eversheds
Mr Softy?
Once seen as a popular groundbreaker, how did Lord Woolf turn into a vilified protector of criminals? Jon Robins investigates the media furore surrounding the Lord Chief Justice's controversial views on the sentencing of burglars
New London chambers opens its doors in April
A new set, Sterling Chambers, is due to launch in April, specialising in blue-chip and white collar immigration
O’Melveny hires Hunton & Williams counsel
O’Melveny & Myers is making the most of the battered telecoms sector by setting up a specialist regulatory group. James Young, former general counsel at Bell Atlantic (now Verizon Communications) and of counsel at Hunton & Williams, will be moving to O’Melveny as a partner. Kimberley Newman is also joining from Hunton & Williams, where she was a partner specialising in regulation and antitrust. Both will be joining O’Melveny’s Washington office. First ...
Ogier launches office in London
The Channel Islands' legal and corporate services provider, the Ogier Group, will launch a London office in April staffed with newcomers that have been cherry-picked from London and Jersey
Olsens accused of overcharging £75k
Jersey law firm denies overbilling Parish of St Helier for publicly funded work
Opinion
There has been much media speculation about the recent decline in corporate work forcing some law firms to let staff go. For the first time in years, the prospect of redundancy is an issue for partners, as well as assistants and support staff
Overbilling barristers tackled by Bar Council
The Bar Council is reviewing whether barristers are guilty of serious misconduct by overclaiming in publicly funded cases
Piper Rudnick gains Boston presence
Piper Rudnick has cracked the Boston market after taking on 33 lawyers from the recently dissolved Hill & Barlow to open an office in the region. The hires, including 17 partners, build up its real estate, litigation and energy groups. First revealed on www.thelawyer.com/lawyernews 21 January
Pitmans
The hire of a GLA in-houser declares Pitmans plans for expansion
Provincial firms are the toast of Cafcass
Beachcroft Wans-broughs and Exeter firm Michelmores have beaten off national competition to take places on the panel of the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass)
Rhodes to nowhere
Which amorous managing partner has been forced to employ a male secretary after being barred from using female PAs?Warning - some lawyers may find this next piece of information upsetting.According to reports, City Rhodes, that bastion of Square Mile gluttony, is set to close in the Summer. Apparently Sodexho, the French catering company that went into partnership with spikey-haired TV poppet Gary Rhodes, are parting ways. So far the Manchester restaurant has ...
Richards Butler ace leaves to go it alone
A key Richards Butler shipping partner who acted in the well known Koch Shipping case will leave the firm this week to launch his own niche shipping litigation practice
Rollits wins lawyer from Addleshaws
Hull and York-based firm Rollits has hired Caroline Hedges of Addleshaw Booth & Co’s Leeds office as a partner in its private client department. Hedges advises numerous substantial trusts and wealthy families on all aspects of estate and tax planning.
Safeway-mania hits M&A as six bidders go head-to-head
Dearbail Jordan on how the Takeover Panel will respond to this remarkable supermarket sell-off
SEC backs down over 'noisy withdrawal' rule
Pressure from international legal community forces U-turn on Sarbannes-Oxley
Sidley handles UK CDO for CIBC World Markets
Sidley Austin Brown & Wood has closed its first UK structured finance deal with CIBC World Markets. The company was joint arranger with longstanding Sidley client Merrill Lynch on a €180m (£119.3m) collateralised debt obligation (CDO) for AIG-MezzVest.Sidley won a competitive tender for the work, which came from contacts that UK partner Sarah Smith made during a period ...
Skadden Arps suffers double partner defection to Kirkland
New York's Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom has lost two capital markets partners, including the former head of its Hong Kong office, to Kirkland & Ellis
Solicitor wins libel against The Mail on Sunday
Maria Fernandes (left), solicitor and wife of Labour politician Keith Vaz, last week won her second libel action against The Mail on Sunday. The newspaper alleged in June 2001 that Fernandes, principal of Fernandes Vaz solicitors, had used her contacts with senior immigration officials to bypass the procedures for the regulation of UK passport applications to enable a Venezuelan client facing a criminal prosecution for fraud to obtain a passport. First revealed on www.thelawyer.com/ ...
Sonnenschein raids LeBoeuf team
Four regulatory partners join Sonnenschein's San Francisco push
Sotheby's capture provides Withers with artistic talent
Withers has hired the former co-head of legal at Sotheby's to launch a new service for public and private art collectors
Speechly Bircham takes on employment lawyer
Speechly Bircham’s employment group has hired Noel Deans, formerly a partner at Landwell. Before joining Landwell, Dean managed the employment team at Goodman Derrick.
Thank heaven for little secretaries
Seminars, brochures, those website thingies… In Tulkinghorn's day, 'marketing' meant a day at the races followed by a bottle of whisky; but apparently this new stuff is what clients like these days. Not so law firms. When they are being marketed to, a new theory goes, they want nothing more than to be shown pictures of babies. Or at least that's what Legal Linx, provider of temporary legal secretaries, would have us believe.They may, of course, be ...
That Slaughter guy
Slaughters competition veteran Malcolm Nicholson is as unique as the firm he works for. And as Helen Power reports, it certainly hasn't done him any harm
That's the spirit
Who says that equality is still a problem in the City? The Suffragettes didn't chain themselves to the railings outside Buckingham Palace for nothing - as one delightful magic circle partner proved.The gentleman, who shall remain nameless, had bought a share in a whisky distillery and was full of excitement when the first casks of fire water emerged. As a little treat, Mr Moonshine decided to bring a few bottles into work - some for the male partners and some for the ...
The Douglases and OK! v Hello!: the photo finish
Will the Hollywood stars force the Government to change privacy laws? Naomi Rovnick reports
The Leader Column
Woah! That must hurt. Cadwal-ader's dressing down at the hands of Mr Justice Jacob was not so much a bruising, rather more a steel toe-capped kick in the holiest of holies. Did Cadwalader and its client, the hedge fund Highberry, really think it could put Colt Telecom into administration? Reading the judgment, it seems crazy they even tried.The firm must have thought there was a ghost of a chance or it wouldn't have made the move. There are numerous examples of ...
The professionals
Professional funds are always on the lookout for tax-friendly environments, and as Adrian Odell reports, Jersey is poised to benefit
The two-year itch
Guernsey's Employment Protection Law gives more rights to workers who have been continuously employed for two years, but there are still creases to be ironed out. Robert Shepherd reports
Theodores' paranoia extends to partners' own phones
Theodore Goddard has stepped up its partner surveillance by asking all partners for itemised bills for home and personal mobile telephones
Thiéffry partner quits for Haarmann in Shanghai
German firm Haarmann Hemmelrath has strengthened its Shanghai office by recruiting Bruno Lefebure, a partner from Paris-based Thiéffry & Associés. Lefebure managed Thiéffry’s Shanghai office for two years until 2002. He specialises in French and European investment in China and joined Haarmann as an associated partner on 1 January. First revealed on www.thelawyer.com/lawyernews 22 January
Too high to pry
The conspiracy culture at Theodore Goddard - the firm that The Lawyer revealed last month had hired private investigators to spy on partners who may be leaking information about potential merger suitors, is getting out of control.While no one has yet asked for a public flogging on Aldersgate Street, partners are waiting with baited breath to find out who the culprit is.Tulkinghorn understands that the latest theory doing the rounds among the partnership is that ...
Treasure island
Bermuda has always been a step ahead on regulatory standards, but despite stringent rules, the island remains a haven in today's tough economic climate. Warren Cabral reports
Twelve-year anomaly in Guernsey law overturned
A bizarre anomaly in Guernsey in which winning parties' costs awards were linked to fixed rates set 12 years ago has been removed
US firms clamour for role in Conseco Chapter 11 filing
US law firms have swooped on the $6.5bn (£4bn) bankruptcy of US financial services company Conseco, the third largest Chapter 11 ever to be filed, after Enron and WorldCom.Kirkland & Ellis has taken the lead role as counsel to Conseco, with high-profile Chicago bankruptcy expert James Sprayregen leading the team.Davis Polk & Wardwell, acting for the lead unsecured creditor Bank of America, and Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson, acting for ...
Viberts partners rail against dishonesty charge
The Head of the Jersey Bar, the Bâtonnier, has made a representation to the Royal Court alleging that two Viberts partners, including the firm's managing partner and assistant Bâtonnier Rose Colley, misused client funds
Wembley final for football shirt price-riggers
In a significant U-turn, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has agreed to hold a joint oral hearing as part of its high-profile inquiry into football shirt price-rigging
Winston merger opens up San Fran
Chicago's Winston & Strawn has acquired a San Francisco office and boosted its restructuring coverage after merging with Murphy Sheneman Julian & Rogers
