28 January 2002
The Lawyer
A Reading of convenience
One of The Lawyer's news-hounds was deeply impressed last week by the selling techniques of one Christopher Avery, managing partner of Reading firm Pitmans. Over lunch at Knightsbridge trattoria San Lorenzo, Avery spied property tycoon John Beckwith a few tables away. Not perturbed by Beckwith's newly elevated status (he was knighted in the New Year's Honours List for his services to youth sport), Avery stopped off for a quick chat on the way out. San Lorenzo… John ...
A&O trumpets capture of Norton Rose's acquisition finance team
As Norton Rose's group is left in tatters, The Lawyer asks: what was the real motive behind A&O's recent hiring spree?
Addleshaws represents Met Office on new headquarters
Addleshaw Booth & Co has advised on its first project for the Met Office opposite Ashurst Morris Crisp, which is acting for development consortium Stratus Integrated Services.The £80m project to construct new headquarters for the Met Office, part of the Ministry of Defence (MoD), is now underway and scheduled for completion in the summer of 2003. The scheme is one of the first non-financed ...
Allen & Gledhill beats global Goliaths to lead Asian M&A
Singaporean firm Allen & Gledhill has topped the rankings for Asian M&A, beating off competition from UK, US and Australian firms
Andersen Legal loses govt client after Enron
The Enron debacle has resulted in Andersen Legal's Indian member firm Hariani & Co losing the government of the Indian state of Maharashtra as a client
Bar talk
During Lovells' march up the long greasy pole, its litigators have often talked about its so-called 'international success'.Now, with half the firm's lawyers based outside London, Lovells is embarking on a period of consolidation, restructuring enlarged departments and revisiting its management structures. It is hoped this will enhance the firm's clout and establish it as a truly international firm. The exact nature of any restructuring will be known after ...
BASF picks Cleary for EC fine appeal
German Chemicals giant BASF is to appeal against the European Commission's landmark €296m (£182.7m) fine over the company's involvement in a price-rigging cartel
Beachcrofts wins loss of chance case
Beachcroft Wansbroughs has successfully defended a firm of solicitors against a 'loss of chance' claim, which it believes could herald a shift in the courts' treatment of cases of this sort.Hatswell v Goldbergs was brought about after Goldbergs failed to start clinical negligence proceedings against its client's doctor in time, leading the client to sue his lawyers for the lost chance of compensation.The claim was dismissed from the Court of Appeal after ...
Bird & Bird lands Arthur Andersen tax lawyers
Bird & Bird's office in The Hague has taken on two tax specialists from Arthur Andersen
Bond Pearce beats MoD in landmark immunity case
Soldiers given the right to claim damages; hundreds more claims expected
BPBU creates solicitor panel
The Bar Pro Bono Unit (BPBU) has set up a solicitors' panel for barristers' pro bono clients who do not have a solicitor
Brabner Chaffe Street
The end of Chaffe Street marked a new beginning for Brabners
Brobeck regains Latham partner
Latham & Watkins has lost partner Craig Andrews to Brobeck Phleger & Harrison after just four months
CC partners cash in on new loan facility
CC shakes up global cash management with £150m loan from Barclays and Citibank
Comment
John Vickers showed the UK this week that no company can afford to be caught napping on competition law. The Office of Fair Trading's (OFT) response to Napp Pharmaceutical's appeal was unequivocal - the regulator turned down Herbert Smith's client on virtually every point of substance and procedure. The OFT, with its first successful appeal tribunal now under its belt and super-complaints up its sleeve, has sent out a wake-up call to UK businesses.In truth, it may ...
Cooley Godward sued by MP3.com
US firm Cooley Godward has been hit by a malpractice suit demanding more than $175m (£122.5m) in damages
DAC gains £700,000 for superbike hopeful
Davies Arnold Cooper has secured a £700,000 payout for motorcyclist Robert Dunlop as compensation for the injuries from an accident at the Isle of Man TT in 1994.The superbike rider told the High Court that the crash, which was caused by a faulty motorbike wheel, had robbed him of the chance to succeed as world champion.Dunlop originally pitched his claim against his former racing team Medd Racing, the wheel manufacturers and its UK supplier, at £1.4m.Alison ...
Deal of the week - BT/IPVALUE
Pinsent Curtis advises BT on patent protection plan
Deals summary
Ashurst Morris Crisp (Richard Vernon) advised Hemingway Properties on the £15.2m sale of an investment portfolio of five properties to Eagle Star Life Assurance Company. Addleshaw Booth & Co (Dean Copley) advised Eagle Star.Rowe & Maw (James Black) advised the Lattice Group Pension Scheme on the £24m disposal of a large supermarket and petrol station occupied by Sainsbury's ...
Deals summary
Field Fisher Waterhouse (Jon Fife, Teruo Kato) advised the Nippon Synthetic Chemical Industry on its project to establish a $95m (£66.5m) chemical plant in the UK. BP, which will construct the chemicals site, was advised by Linklaters (Kirsty Corkum).Rowe & Maw (Richard Page, Fiona ...
Deals summary
Denton Wilde Sapte (Matthew Harvey, Jeremy Cohen) advised GE Capital on a framework agreement for its European Equipment Finance to become the primary equipment financing provider for Xerox customers in France and Germany. Xerox advised by Lovells.Hengeler Mueller advised Franz Haniel & Cie on its first exchangeable bond issue worth f280m (£173.14m). The bonds are exchangeable into shares in GEHE Aktiengesellschaft. Joint lead managers were Deutsche Bank and Merrill ...
Dechert shows off fine figures
Dechert's London office has recorded a turnover of £45.5m for its first full financial year following its transatlantic merger in July 2000
Dentons signs up Czech member
Denton Wilde Sapte has sewn up its Central European coverage with an alliance in the Czech Republic and a three-way merger of its Austrian allied firm
DLA fills London role with KLegal capture
DLA has taken on the director of KLegal's competition and regulatory policy group Rob Murray
Efficiency drive sees DAC close Newcastle office
Davies Arnold Cooper (DAC) is to close its Newcastle office with effect from 31 January
EU competition breach sparks damages claim
In the first action of its kind, a UK court will hear a case claiming damages for breaches of EC competition law
Fairmays leaves Bahrain
Fairmays is pulling out of its ill-fated Bahrain office at the end of March, following a sharp downturn in work since the events of 11 September
Firm footing
Insurance costs and other considerations are now prompting firms to employ individuals purely to oversee risk and efficiency. John Verry asks: should you appoint a risk manager?
First Bahamian firm launches in London
Lennox Paton is the first Bahamian law firm to open an office in London
Freshfields mourns loss of Harald Voss
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer partner Harald Voss has died of a stroke, aged 62
Haarmanns lures key privatisation partner from Lovells
Lovells Boesebeck Droste is losing a key partner and privatisation rainmaker to independent German firm Haarmann Hemmelrath & Partner
Hammonds win sparks new law on cost payment
Fresh law has been thrown up in a professional negligence claim against Ham-mond Suddards Edge that is now subject to appeal
Hewitsons' investment unit links with Birketts
Regional law firms Hewitson Becke + Shaw and Birketts have brought their investment units together to create a new company
It's just shirk, shirk, shirk
The hunt is on to find which City firm is home to a woman lawyer quoted on Radio 4 last week.The Today programme featured a survey of working hours in the City, but the macho red-eyed brigade had their cover blown by this woman. She told the programme that most of the sleepless nights were only for show. "Whenever anyone asks how you are, you have to say you're shattered," she said. "You can't ever say you're fine." She also told the nation that everyone actually ...
Job fears as Eversheds shuts down Home2Home
Eversheds is shutting its Manchester-based residential conveyancing unit Home2Home, after deciding to stop residential conveyancing
Kramer set to fight Kenyan corruption
Stephen Kramer QC, head of specialist crime set 1 Hare Court, has been appointed as legal adviser to the Risk Advisory Group in its campaign for the Kenyan government against corruption
Labour speeds growth of Govt legal system by 1,000 per cent
The rate of growth in the Government legal system has increased by almost 1,000 per cent since New Labour's rise to power
Land of the three
Sullivan & Cromwell, Davis Polk and Simpson Thacher may be doing well in Europe, but is this merely due to their link-ups with the investment banks? Caroline Davies reports
Law Society to decide if Bahl inquiry is necessary
The Law Society is holding a special general meeting on 31 January on whether to set up an independent inquiry into the Kamlesh Bahl affair
Liable to catch on
After the initial excitement, enthusiasm for LLPs has dwindled. But after Withers announced it was about to take the leap, Jon Robins asks: who will be next?
Linklaters scores victory for Fulham
Linklaters has successfully steered Fulham Football Club through a judicial review brought by residents unhappy with the club's plans to expand its stadium.Angry residents first raised a legal challenge to the proposals in May 2001, after John Prescott, the then Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions, refused to call the football club's planning application ...
Linklaters wins real estate client double
Bradford & Bingley in cost-cutting review as Dresdner picks its long-term adviser
Linlaters opens Portuguese office
Linklaters is to launch an office in Portugal, enabling it to target clients across the whole Iberian Peninsula
Lupton Fawcett lawyers take stand in Donnygate
Solicitors called as witnesses as public figures come under scrutiny for corruption
Manches votes out traditional lockstep
Manches has overhauled its management structure and its equity partner remuneration scheme
McDermott hires Shearman partner
International growth strategy lures corporate ace Klein
Meditation's what you need
Jones Day - what image does that name conjure up? Tulkinghorn would have said hard-edged, thrusting dealmaker types, but now he is not so sure.It seems the smell of patchouli oil wafts around the offices and partners spend their spare moments weaving friendship bracelets for one another. Chairs are out and beanbags are in, with partners taking on clients on the strength of their aura. At least, ...
Merger gives birth to top five Belgian firm
Belgium has a new independent law firm following the merger of Huysmans Trenité Van Doorne and De Bauw & Maeyaert
Minute minder
Predicted to follow in the footsteps of Amazon.com and make a profit, lastminute.com may feel that the only way is up. Naomi Rovnick talks to global legal counsel David Hickson
Mis-Claridge of justice
Tulkinghorn is rather fond of Claridges Hotel, as it is where he did most of his courting of Mrs Tulkinghorn. What he likes most is its timelessness - the place doesn't seem to have changed since the days when Tulkinghorn was a young buck.And it is not just in décor that Claridges has stayed the same, but also in social mores. Two of Tulkinghorn's female scouts were recently treating DLA managing partner Nigel Knowles to an extremely delicious lunch at the new Gordon ...
Nelsons construction dept suffers exodus
A sizeable chunk of Nottingham-based firm Nelsons' construction team has departed for local rival Browne Jacobson
Norton Rose in Greek success
Norton Rose is the latest law firm to be given approval by a Greek bar to register its operations as a branch office
Opinion
At the risk of appearing alar-mist, the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) impacts on every type of business and a failure to appreciate its import may lead to criminal convictions. The act came into force on 1 March 2000 and replaced the Data Protection Act 1984, the Access to Personal Files Act 1987 and some of the Access to Health Records Act 1990. Its impact has been minimised to date due to complex transitional arrangements, but those transitional arrangements ceased on 24 October ...
Pillsbury cuts first year salaries as technology downturn impacts
San Francisco-based Pillsbury Winthrop has sliced $10,000 (£7,000) off its salary for first year associates
Risk and the public sector
It is unsurprising that risk management is attaining as high a priority in publicly funded undertakings as it is in the private sector
Rowe & Maw poised to vote on Mayer Brown merger
Rowe & Maw awaits results of US vote; London set to gain three board positions
Separated at birth
This week's separated at birth has left members of The Lawyer team quite freaked out. Readers will be familiar with the youthful looks of associate editor extraordinaire Matheu 'Doogie Howser' Swallow, who confounds millions by being able to hold down a responsible job despite the fact that he is clearly only about 14. Still, The Lawyer staff has now rumbled the wunderkid's secret. He has clearly done a deal with the devil, and while his office persona remains eternally ...
Slaughters bolsters Heath Lambert lead adviser role
Slaughter and May is set to advise Heath Lambert if the insurance broker goes ahead with its proposed flotation later this year. The instruction would confirm the firm's position as Heath Lambert's main corporate adviser.The broker was formed through the merger of CE Heath and Lambert Fench-urch in December 1999, with Slaughters acting for Lambert and
Solicitors Pro Bono Group goes for national coverage with Leeds project
The Solicitors Pro Bono Group (SPBG) has set up a pro bono scheme in Leeds as part of a long-term plan to extend its national reach
Speechlys helps PA share its profits
Speechly Bircham has completed an unusual major restructuring transaction for longstanding client PA Consulting Group.PA, a management, systems and technology consulting company, instructed Speechlys corporate partner Tom Shaw to help develop a structure to ensure the fair allocation of gains from its investments in venture activities to its employees.The transaction marked the further ...
Tackling the hard cases
The London Legal League has kicked off its spring season, but this time the great and the good of the legal profession have to face a new contender. Yes, Tulkinghorn has instructed his younger and more nimble assistants to take on the might of the legal profession.Tulkinghorn's protégés took to the field for the first round of matches last week and exceeded all expectations. Four games and four victories, with only one goal conceded, and now sitting pretty in second ...
The IT factor
IT has opened many doors, but contractual problems are rife. Nick Holland reports on the potholes and safety nets
The Leader Column
The tensions brought about by Anglo-German mergers were highlighted once again this week when the high-profile privitisation partner Werner Michael Waldeck announced that he was leaving Lovells Boesebeck Droste and taking his practice to Haarmann Hemmalrath.Top of the list of reasons for his departure is his criticism of the spirit of Lovells since the merger. Apparently, he dislikes the firm's lack of entrepreneurship and is moving to Haarmanns because of its individualistic ...
The Wright stuff
Untempted by the spoils of crime, SFO director Rosalind Wright's only regret is the lack of resources stopping her from catching more criminals
Weil Gotshal gets go-ahead for Singapore fling
Weil Gotshal & Manges has received regulatory clearance from the Singaporean authorities, which clears a path for it to form a joint venture with strategic partner Rajah & Tann
White & Case takes on M&A trio
White & Case Feddersen is expanding its corporate practice as it takes on an M&A team in its Hamburg office
Woodgate lawyer scrutinised by OSS
The Office for the Supervision of Solicitors (OSS) is investigating complaints against Peter McCormick, senior partner of Leeds firm McCormicks and Manchester firm Freeman & Co
