3 November 2003
The Lawyer
3 Verulam Buildings loses Birch to arbitration
3 Verulam Buildings barrister Elizabeth Birch has pulled out of court work to focus entirely on sitting as an arbitrator and mediator. One of the first to qualify as a mediator in 1995, she will continue to receive work through her old chambers. Her practice has focused largely on maritime law, information technology, insurance and energy work.
4-ward thinking
As controller of legal and compliance for Channel 4, arguably the UK's most innovative television channel, Jan Tomalin is used to living life on the edge. Alex Wade reports
A&O set for LLP conversion by end of financial year
Allen & Overy is set to become the first magic circle firm to convert to a UK limited liability partnership (LLP).
Access to justice hampered by court inefficiencies
Inefficient administration in court offices is hampering access to justice, according to the findings of the latest Law Society survey.
B&M conflict sees Linklaters De Bandt score Belgacom IPO
Linklaters De Bandt score Belgacom IPO" /Linklaters De Bandt has muscled in on the consortium of advisers picked for Europe's biggest stock market flotation in three years, after Baker & McKenzie was conflicted.
Battle of the sects
The truth about the rise of the national firm can now be revealed. Forget your FTSE 100 and say "pooh" to profits (who needs them when you have spiritual enlightenment?). The reality of the ever-growing juggernauts of law is that they are religious sects led by zen-like gurus.
California screaming
Clifford Chance's California business saved New York's blushes this year, all thanks to former Brobeck partners Jim Burns and Michael Torpey. Is it time for Tower Snow to step aside? By Dearbail Jordan
Caymans hits foreign lawyers with seven-year practice limit
The Cayman Islands government looks set to bow to pressure from young attorneys seeking to reduce the number of foreign lawyers working on the Caribbean island.
CC set to cash in on Safeway's £3m pot
Clifford Chance is in line to earn the bulk of a £3m jackpot of advisory fees that Safeway has set aside for its long-running takeover battle.
CC, Dentons hand Deloittes £30m bill
Clifford Chance and Denton Wilde Sapte have billed Deloitte & Touche Singapore more than £30m for representing the big four accountancy firm in the Barings Singapore litigation.
Cleary makes shock Cologne launch
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton is set to shake the German legal market by opening its second regional office in Cologne.
Clifford Chance ramps up Padua with Carnelutti haul
Clifford Chance is sending out a clear signal of its commitment to Italy post-Grimaldi by hiring the partner in charge of Carnelutti’s Padua office and four other lawyers.
Cobbetts merges with Fox Brooks Marshall
Acqusitive Northern firm Cobbetts has taken over niche Manchester firm Fox Brooks Marshall and hired a further two partners from national firms.
Dechert hikes securities in NY wooing tactic
Dechert is continuing to hire big-name players in the US securities industry as it pursues a policy of boosting its appeal to potential New York merger partners.
Delphi gets attached to Rambe
Swedish firm Delphi & Co is set to merge with niche life sciences firm Rambe Legal Consultants early next year.
Dentons' Blakeley steps down from management
Denton Wilde Sapte deputy chief executive Steven Blakeley has stood down from his management position to return to full time fee-earning.
Discrimination policies get short shrift from employers
Survey shows only 22 per cent of companies prepared for forthcoming age discrimination legislation
Disgraced former Lawrence Graham partner faces extradition
Police are one step further to bringing disgraced former Lawrence Graham partner Michael Fielding back to the United Kingdom.
DLA boosts transport practice
DLA has poached Richards Butler partner Andrew Herring to bolster the firm's growing transport team.
Do departures herald a rocky road ahead for Jones Day?
Emma Vere-Jones on how Gouldens' merger with Jones Day has affected the real estate group
Exit of Wragges' telecoms head stalls growth
Wragge & Co's ambition to bolster its London office has suffered a major setback following the news that firmwide telecoms head Clive Douglas is set to part company with the firm.
Finland's Roschier signs up with ius laboris alliance
Employment law alliance ius laboris has expanded into Finland with the addition of Finnish firm Roschier Holmberg, taking the total number of firms in the alliance to 20.
Firm profile: MLM Solicitors
Senior partner Nigel Morgan has a passionate view of MLM Solicitors. The Cardiff firm may not be the biggest in the area, but Morgan enthuses that it is going from strength to strength. "We meet a need for fast, efficient advice at competitive prices," he boasts. "We punch above our weight and have established a reputation as a niche commercial practice."
Firms left hanging as Standard Chartered delays panel decisions
Having announced its global panel in August, Standard Chartered Bank is now keeping firms worldwide on tenterhooks as they await the results of the regional panel reviews.
Fladgates takes client to court for unpaid fees
Fladgate Fielder is suing client Andrew McLeod-Ross for more than £100,000 in a dispute over allegedly unpaid fees. In an action brought by head of litigation Simon Jeremy Ekins, the firm is also suing Edward Benyon after he stood as guarantor for McLeod-Ross's fees. McLeod-Ross owed a total of £83,492.45 for work after being sent seven invoices for professional services, and according to the ...
Fladgates takes Jeffrey Green Russell property partner
Fladgate Fielder has hired property partner Mark Saunders from Jeffrey Green Russell’s seven-partner property group.
Flexible trend
The Government's 'softly softly' approach to introducing flexible working rights for employees seems to be a success.
Forest bumf
First it was a Christmas card. Now, with Halloween behind us and the blue touch paper about to be lit on Bonfire Night, the inescapable truth is that the festive season is almost here again. More proof, should it be required, came this week in the form of a flyer from the thesps at Addleshaw Goddard. It heralds the first panto of the season, Robin Hood (or, as it quips, "how I learned to love living ...
Freshfields defends dual role on Allianz-Beiersdorf disposal
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer is advising one of the buyers and the target in one of the biggest and most complex mergers in Germany this year.
George Davies's football seminars see employment practice score new clients
Manchester firm George Davies Solicitors has won a host of new employment work after launching a scheme to help football clubs nationwide with employment issues.
Government proposes £100m RCJ modernisation programme
The Government is embarking on a controversial £100m scheme to modernise and restructure the Royal Courts of Justice (RCJ) using a private finance initiative (PFI) and heightened court fees, with no new public money earmarked for the project.
Grapevine
It's always the quiet ones you have to watch. After 10 years in Germany, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton has not only scooped one of the country's pre-eminent antitrust partners, Linklaters Oppenhoff & Radler's Dirk Schroeder, but has also decided to...
Hard evidence
If you're a verbose litigator in London, the worst that's likely to happen is that the judge will nod off. Alternatively, if it's Judge Jacob, he might launch into a well-earned tirade about fees.
Hard labour
Will the EOC investigation into discrimination against pregnant women help those most in need, or will it just add to the legal minefield? Jessica Learmond-Criqui reports
Human rights campaigners: terrorist ruling amounts to a ‘perversion of justice’
The ruling in which 10 terrorist suspects interned under the Government’s emergency powers lost their appeals last week amounted to “a perversion of justice”, according to human rights campaigners.
ING global panel crushes Herbert Smith and Stibbe's alliance hopes
Herbert Smith has been thwarted on a key premise of its alliance with Stibbe, after failing to win a place on the global panel of ING.
Jones Day benefits from IBM volte-face
IBM has appointed Jones Day Gouldens as a corporate and commercial adviser in a move that signals a radical shift in the technology giant's legal strategy.
Law reformers consider ‘muddled’ provocation law
The defence of provocation, whereby a killer is convicted of the lesser offence of manslaughter rather than murder, was so beset by “moral and theoretical difficulties” that it should be scrapped, claimed the Law Commission last week.
Leader
It might be predictable, but the bar is quite right to defend one of its fundamental principles of practice - the cab-rank rule. The trouble is that the real issue at the heart of the dispute between Fleet Street's finest and the libel bar is conflicts.
Lee & Pembertons targets family law with Hamlins partner
London private client specialist Lee & Pembertons has gained Hamlins partner and head of family Rosemary Carter.
Legal Widow
The Lawyer's search for a new TV at the cheapest possible price led us to a backstreet warehouse in an evil part of town; too poor for charity shops, and the smartest window displays belonged to the solicitors. "In trouble with the police?" enquired the neat writing on the glass. "24-hour call out. Arrests, provocation, suspicion. We'll be there."
Lend Lease strategy rethink sees London grow in stature
Australia's largest property developer Lend Lease is ramping up its London legal function due to the wholesale reorganisation of its business.
Libel bar fights back against newspapers' demands
A row has erupted over proposals from a group of in-house media lawyers to stop instructed barristers from acting against them.
Linklaters Europe under siege from US vultures
Magic circle firms suffers more key partner defections as Weil and Cleary strike
Linklaters NY head takes up new post with Thelen Reid
Linklaters has bid a succinct farewell to the former head of its New York office upon her Manhattan transfer to Thelen Reid & Priest.
Linklaters' Singapore venture gets new boss
Kevin Wong (left) has taken over from Andrew Roberts as managing partner of Linklaters' Singapore office and as co-chairman of the Linklaters-Allen & Gledhill joint law venture. Roberts is returning to London after four years in charge in Singapore. Wong, a Singaporean, has been with Linklaters for over 13 years. First revealed on www.thelawyer.com 30 October
Mace & Jones hires HR specialist
North West employment firm Mace & Jones has exp-anded its specialist HR consultancy with the hire of HR consultant Vince Housecroft.
Martineaus faces double rent problem
Martineau Johnson could be hit by a rent liability of an estimated £4m if it fails to find new tenants for its current headquarters, which the firm vacates in July 2004.
Matthew Arnold wins Orbain work from its 'inside man'
Matthew Arnold & Baldwin (MAB) has advised former Allen & Overy (A&O) client Orbain on its recent refinancing following Orbain's secondment of MAB partner Steve Janes as a part-time in-house counsel.
Mayer Brown makes double hire in Paris to bolster pan-European real estate
Mayer Brown makes double hire in Paris to bolster pan-European real estate" /Mayer Brown Rowe & Maw has scooped a highly-rated and well-known real estate figure from Clifford Chance's Paris office as part of a strategy to build ...
McDermott faces up to malpractice claim
A legal malpractice claim against McDermott Will & Emery can proceed to trial due to an opinion letter the firm provided to the plaintiff, an investor in one of its clients. The Manhattan Supreme Court rejected the firm's plea for dismissal for lack of privity with the plaintiff, an investment partnership headed by ex-lawyer Ilan Reich. First revealed on www.thelawyer.com 29 October
Memery Crystal to fight £4m negligence claim
Memery Crystal has been hauled into the High Court by a former property client with a £4m negligence claim against the firm.
MPs call for rethink on capping asylum advice at five hours
There was a collective sigh of relief from immigration law practitioners last week when MPs rapped ministers’ knuckles over plans to reduce costs by capping legal aid asylum advice at five hours. It comes as little surprise.
Nabarros favourite for Pubmaster sale
Nabarro Nathanson looks set to steer Pubmaster through a sale to a rival trade bidder, possibly Punch Taverns, as Pubmaster's private equity owners look for an exit for their investment.
Napster is back – and this time it’s legal
The song-swapping internet service Napster that terrorised the music industry was relaunched last week after a two-year enforced absence, this time in a new law-abiding format.
New criminal offence of ‘phoning while driving’
A ban on the use of mobile phones in cars was announced last week, with fines of up to £1,000 for those that disobey the rules.
New family protocol to speed up childcare cases
The Government promised to cut down delays in childcare cases with the launch of a new judicial protocol last week. According to the Department for Constitutional Affairs, the ‘Protocol for Judicial Case Management in Public Law Children Act Cases’ was “the centrepiece” of the Government’s programme to reduce unnecessary delays in Children Act cases that normally last almost a year.
Newborn's Weil Gotshal move pays off in spades
Steve Newborn, the last of the Clifford Chance 'super-pointers', will be paid £1.5m a year at his new home, Weil Gotshal & Manges.
Newly-qualified retention rates take hammering
September's newly-qualified lawyers have been hit hard by a dramatic fall in retention rates. Research by The Lawyer's sister publication Lawyer 2B shows that retention figures in some firms tumbled as much as 40 per cent.
Northern Ireland Law Soc denies conflicts
The Law Society of Northern Ireland has hit back at claims made in Parliament that it is "shot through with conflicts", following its handling of a complaint against a solicitor.
Opinion
A recent report in The Lawyer (29 September) regarding Clifford Chance's compensation review highlighted just how difficult it can be to require partners to retire or move out of the equity. A number of factors have combined to bring these issues to the top of the agenda for many law firms.
Pinsents loses property partner to Birmingham rival
Pinsents property partner Alex Jones has quit to join the Birmingham office of DLA.
Pro bono & community action: Freethcartwright gives succour in medical negligence travesty
Four years after the death of their daughter in a Leeds hospital, the Khan family has won the right to participate in an independent inquiry into her treatment, thanks to Freethcartwright partner Paul Balen.
RCJ to receive £100m facelift
The Government wants to use a private finance initiative and a hike in court fees to pay for a £100m reorganisation and modernisation of the civil courts.
Real estate deals round-up
Burges Salmon (Mark Paterson) advised the Ministry of Defence (MoD) on the largest PFI defence contract to close in the UK. Under the £2.5bn Skynet 5 Private Finance Initiative, Paradigm Secure Communications, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS), will deliver secure military satellite communications services to the MoD over 15 years.
Separated at birth
Tulkinghorn has discovered an amazing fact about John Cleese: he walked through a gateway into a third dimension while filming Clockwise in 1985 only to re-emerge in 2003 at Lovells, just in time to fight the firm's partnership elections. Cleese, who runs a highy-rated corporate insurance practice at Lovells, has made it through to the final round of voting, where he will need all his slapstick charms to beat corporate heavyweight Hugh Nineham and incumbent Andrew Walker. Cleese's alter ...
Serle Court chief exec does a flit to M&S
Helena Miles, Serle Court Chambers' first chief executive, is to leave the set at the end of the year for a new role at Marks & Spencer, where she will be head of business efficiency. Head of chambers Lord Neill of Bladen QC said: "Serle Court was one of the first sets of chambers to appoint a chief executive. We believe our working lives have been transformed by this decision and we intend to continue to manage our business in this way. We're actively seeking a new chief executive ...
Sidley tax shelter head gets marching orders
Sidley Austin Brown & Wood has fired the controversial head of its tax shelter practice for breaches of fiduciary duty and violations of the partnership agreement. The dismissed partner, RJ Ruble, was among the nation's leading providers of opinion letters blessing tax shelters for corporations and wealthy individuals, some of whom have since sued the firm. The Internal Revenue Service sued Sidley ...
Staying powers
The Government’s initiative to confound illegal workers could prove a hindrance to those who choose to do it legally. Nicola Tiffen reports
Steeles jumps on LLP bandwagon
Norwich-based Steeles has become the latest law firm to convert to a limited liability partnership (LLP).
Stephenson Harwood tracks Porter’s millions
A Stephenson Harwood team acting for Westminster Council has emerged victorious in its battle to uncover millions of pounds of assets belonging to Dame Shirley Porter, the council’s former leader who was fined £37m last year for gerrymandering in the 1980s.
Stricken Martineaus stakes profit recovery on management rejig
As partners vote with their feet, Husnara Begum asks how the new leadership will turn the firm around
The dotcom don
Liam McNeive was at the forefront of the dotcom boom - he even beat Napster to the off. Matt Byrne asks what he's doing now the bubble's burst
The truth about friction
Andrew Chamberlain investigates the role of the 'eight-week rule' in the Friction Dynamics dispute
The way we work
The Information & Consultation Directive, due in 2005, has been heralded as one of the most significant pieces of employment legislation ever introduced in the UK. John Clinch and Fraser Younson go head-to-head to offer their views on what it will mean for unions and employers
Torys boosts New York office with tax hire
Canadian and US firm Torys has hired the tax head of Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg.
Wallace lures Gordon Dadds trio
Wallace & Partners, a niche Central London firm, has continued its expansion with a two-partner raid on Gordon Dadds. Simon Edwards and Jackie Boot, along with legal executive Jonathan Wood, have joined Wallace's commercial property team. The firm has grown from six to 11 partners in the space of just seven months.
White & Case advances on City's capital markets elite
White & Case advances on City's capital markets elite" /White & Case is throwing down the gauntlet to the City's leading capital markets players after securing its eleventh new hire of the year.
White & Case challenges Hong Kong court ruling
White & Case intends to appeal against a recent Hong Kong high court ruling that it behaved illegally when hiring a Deacons restructuring team.
White & Case makes double hire
White & Case Feddersen has taken on two new partners in its Frankfurt office - one from Baker & McKenzie and the other from SJ Berwin.
Wilkie Farr laterals signal compliance push
Willkie Farr & Gallagher is spearheading a move into the compliance field after scooping two partners from Foley & Lardner.
Winners emerge from RBS panel review
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has at long last concluded its convoluted panel review.
Withy King nabs Masons litigation partner
Former Masons partner Andrew Kearney has quit for Bath and Wiltshire firm Withy King Solicitors. Kearney was a litigation partner in Masons' construction and engineering group. The number of partners at Withy King now stands at 25. First revealed on www.thelawyer.com 29 October
