Allen & Overy and Wragge & Co have been dumped as primary advisers to BT, following a major review of the telecoms giant’s legal panel. It is understood BT’s key general advisers – Linklaters, Bird & Bird and Addleshaw Goddard – have retained their spot on the panel along with its main Scottish adviser Henderson […]
Bird & Bird has swooped on Loyens & Loeff in Brussels, hiring IP/IT and media practice head Benoit Van Asbroeck. Van Asbroeck joins with two senior assistants Edwige Cottenie and Laurent Masson. He specialises in IT outsourcing and contractual disputes, but also has experience in copyright, trade mark and licensing matters with an emphasis on […]
Simmons & Simmons has announced former managing partner David Dickinson will take the reigns from Janet Gaymer as senior partner. Dickinson, the current head of the international banking group, will take up the new role on 1 July. He won the majority support of the partnership on a manifesto based on delivering the firm’s strategy […]
CMS Cameron McKenna, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Pinsent Masons all landed roles on the biggest Private Finance Initiative (PFI) accommodation contract in the UK advising a Carillion-led consortium. The £8bn Allenby/Connaught project was awarded to the consortium by the Ministry of Defence for the redevelopment of barracks at Aldershot and garrisons on Salisbury plain. The […]
Allen & Overy (A&O), Ashurst, Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson and Herbert Smith are celebrating after advising on NTL’s £962.4m ($1.62bn) recommended takeover of Virgin Mobile. The cash offer of 372p per share, or a mixture of cash and shares, will be implemented by way of a scheme of arrangement and is scheduled to […]
Allen & Overy has announced 33 partner promotions – the highest number of associates ever to have been promoted at the firm. The new partners, effective from 1 May, cover a range of practice areas with 14 promotions from the global banking group, 10 from the global corporate group, four from the global ICM group, […]
Boston firm Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo has launched in Palo Alto, taking over patent filing boutique Reed Intellectual Property Law Group. The acquisition is part of a push into California, with Mintz Levin planning to bolster its office in Los Angeles. Mintz Levin’s move follows that of other Boston-based firms such as […]
Clifford Chance has continued its management shake-up confirming the appointment of Chris Perrin and David Harkness to the firm’s management team. The appointments, which will take effect from 1 May, follow the completion of a partnership vote for the two roles which were created after the position of chief operating officer was split to create […]
Forty-three of London’s biggest law firms have handed the City of London Law Society a mandate to be their representational and campaigning body. The 43 firms unanimously voted last week (30 March) to make the CLLS its official spokesperson. In effect it will act as City law firms’ trade union, a representative voice on issues […]
Reed Smith and Richards Butler have today announced that they have signed a letter of intent to complete a full merger by 1 January, 2007. Merger negotiations have reached an advanced stage with votes by both partnerships scheduled for the end of May, subject to due diligence. The merger is set to create a new […]
The Law Society has hit back at one of its harshest critics the Legal Services Ombudsman and the Legal Services Complaints Commissioner Zahida Manzoor. The leadership of the Law Society has united and taken the unprecedented step of issuing a press release rounding on Manzoor, who said that “The Law Society itself is letting down […]
Linklaters has revamped its its senior governance body by adding two new members to its international board. Marc Harvey and Michael Kent have been elected to the board as Asia and London corporate representatives respectively with effect from 1 May 2006. They replace Michael Cutting and Tony Grundy who step down after one term. Robert […]