30 April 2001
The Lawyer
A View from Jersey
The Channel Islands of Jersey and Guernsey, with a track record of more than 30 years as reputable finance centres, were included on a list of harmful tax regimes produced by the OECD, alongside less regulated offshore jurisdictions, such as those in the Caribbean. It may seem a paradox, therefore, that while centres such as Bermuda and Cayman have been successful in removing themselves from the list, the Channel Islands have yet to do so, and there are interesting reasons for this course ...
A&O battles Linklaters on Singapore MTN deals
Allen & Overy (A&O) is launching a battle with Linklaters & Alliance in Singapore to handle domestic medium-term note (MTN) programmes under Singapore law.
A&O top of PFI league tables
A&O jumps from fourth to first place in six months; eversheds beats city firms to top spot for number of signed PFI deals
A&O wins insolvency partners in New York
Allen & Overy's (A&O) New York office is hiring two insolvency partners from Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft, providing the firm with a restructuring capability in New York for the first time.
Armageddon
For Lovells, the adviser to the liquidator Deloitte & Touche, it was the beginning of a process that would mean 10 years of pushing legal boundaries. Indeed, it was only last month that the firm successfully won the chance to put the Bank of England in the witness box for the first time in its 300-year history.Lovells had to get involved with 64 countries and somehow thrash out agreements between hundreds of creditors and dozens of branches to try to get to the bottom of ...
Bar talk
It is not surprising that in the face of Sir Elton John & ors v Price Waterhouse & ors, the media have made much of Sir Elton's distaste for "men in suits", his propensity to buy flowers, his alleged "betrayal" by his manager and former lover, and now the auction of his cars. But are there any lessons in this case which the legal profession should take note of?What this case highlights is a shift in culture and approach to litigation ...
Beachcroft IP head goes to Field Fisher
Beachcroft Wansbroughs has lost its head of intellectual property (IP) and an assistant to Field Fisher Waterhouse.
Berrymans' Leeds construction team quits six months after Liverpool loss
Berrymans Lace Mawer has been hit by the departure of its Leeds-based construction team to Irwin Mitchell.
Berwin Leighton leads the way in Govt work
Berwin Leighton is the leading external supplier of legal services to Government departments, according to a National Audit Office survey.
Brief encounter: Anthony collins solicitors
Next year's president of the Law Society will be Anthony Collins. The licensing specialist founded Anthony Collins Solicitors 27 years ago, where he is now senior partner. Then it was just Collins himself and a secretary, whereas today there are 160 people working for the Birmingham-based firm, 17 of whom are partners, with a further two being promoted on 1 May.One of those is Helen Tucker, currently an associate in the housing litigation team. ...
Case book Judgments
Amoco (UK) Exploration Co & ors v (1) Teesside Gas Transportation Ltd (2) Imperial Chemcial Industries Plc & ors (4/4/01) HLLords: Bingham, Hoffmann, Hope, Hobhouse and ScottCase related to the construction of an agreement for the transportation of natural gas from the North Sea to Teesside. Herbert Smith instructed Gordon Pollock QC of Essex Court Chambers and David Unwin QC of 7 Stone Buildings for the appellants.
Case studies
Claim against the Bank of AmericaCase: A claim for over $4bn (£2.8bn) alleging that the manner in which the Bank of America divested itself of its founding 25 per cent stake in BCCI between 1978 and 1980 was fraudulent because it knew about the fraudulent and imprudent manner in which BCCI's business was being run.Progress: Trial to be heard in the High Court in 2002.Lawyers: Lovells for the liquidators, with Richard Sheldon QC (3-4 South ...
CC hires insurance ace from CGNU
Clifford Chance has recruited Ian MacDonald, group legal counsel at CGNU, to its global financial institutions group.
CC in U-turn over newly-qualifieds' pay
Clifford Chance has done an about turn on salary levels and decided to increase pay for newly-qualified lawyers to £50,000.
Challenger international
Challenger International appointed Herbert Smith's James Barnes for its first UK property acquisition on a recommendation from its main legal adviser, Australian firm Mallesons Stephen Jacques. Mallesons' London office head Tim Blue acts for Challenger in the UK, but the firm does not have a property capability in London.
Cornell to focus on partner values
In the first interview since being elected, CC's future CEO tells the lawyer his plans for the firm
Corporate
Benfield Greig Group, the London reinsurance broker, buys US rival EW Blanch Holdings for £123m. Benfield Greig advised by Debevoise & Plimpton (Andrew Sommer) and Ashurst Morris Crisp (Jeremy Hill). EW Blanch advised by Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson.
Corporate
So Clifford Chance is targeting corporate finance, which raises the obvious questions of why and how. Clearly, lots of strategy meetings telling partners they have to do more corporate finance is not going to change the face of the M&A market. If you've got any partners who don't know that if you cross-sell you get more deals, then you've gone wrong somewhere.
Dentons appoints Asia senior partner
Denton Wilde Sapte has strengthened its commitment to Asia with the appointment of its London corporate head to the new role of Asia senior partner, based at the firm's Hong Kong office.
DLA beefs up aviation in Asia and South America
DLA is continuing to strengthen its practice in Asia as it recruits an aviation partner in Hong Kong.
Dorsey gives technology a boost with Virginia office
Minneapolis firm Dorsey & Whitney is opening an office in North Virginia, near Washington DC, to service the growing high-technology community there.
Eversheds boosts City private equity
Eversheds is continuing its push on private equity by relocating its second top corporate partner from Leeds to the City.
Expansys
Halliwell Landau has acted for Manchester-based Expansys since it was founded in July 1998 and is its main legal adviser. The technology company's acquisition of internet retailer 21store.com for around £250,000 is characteristic of the consolidation underway in the sector. Expansys already had a competing retail operation and is keen to add the recognised brand of one of the early movers in internet retailing.
Family fortunes
What a shambles. Last month the Thyssen trial - the most expensive in legal history - collapsed when the judge resigned after not securing a better pay package. Since then, the whole thing has descended into bitter recriminations. Such angst, together with the sad death of defendant counsel 52 year-old Trevor Philipson QC (who himself had replaced Nicholas Patten QC) may lead one to wonder if the whole Thyssen litigation is jinxed.At the moment the knives are out, as those ...
Former Biddle chief quits after losing out in merger
Pinsent Curtis Biddle's celebrated corporate partner Martin Winter has snubbed the newly-merged firm for Taylor Joynson Garrett.
France Telecom legal chief joins B&M to launch team
France Telecom is losing its general counsel to the Paris office of international law firm Baker & McKenzie.
Immigration rights
On 6 March 2001 the European Court of Human Rights found that the UK's proposed expulsion of a "bogus" Tanzanian asylum seeker to Tanzania would violate the European Convention on Human Rights. The court found that the UK's assessment of the risk of torture to the asylum seeker was inadequate and his return unsafe. It was ruled that the applicant, Said Mohammed Hilal, was not a bogus asylum seeker but genuinely in need of protection.This is ...
It's hard to be humble
Eversheds' new Manchester office is open and ready for business, and the firm is feeling just a little bit pleased with itself.Not only was the competition to find a name for the building a roaring success, with the inspired "Eversheds House" the victor, but the firm has decided to issue a guide on how you and your firm could also have such fantastic accommodation. ...
ITN appoints first head of compliance
ITN has hired John Battle as its first in-house head of compliance.
Land of the ghee
Globalisation is all very well for the Clifford Chancers of this world, but not that easy for everyone. Take the Wilkes Partnership's Andrew Yendole. He is planning to travel across the US in three weeks to spread the word (not about the strength of his Midlands-based firm, but English cuisine) and raise some money for charity.And how is he going to raise this money? By cooking the locals a good old English dinner to encourage the Yanks to dig deep. The one ...
Leader
This could be the most explosive issue Clifford Chance has had to deal with yet, and its US partners are terrified. The major topic - the only topic - at the New York office right now is the impending restructuring of the equity.
Letters
Quality should countThe following is a personal view. The fact that the Lord Chancellor has yet again overlooked the employed bar when awarding QCs clearly hurts the credibility of what is a good quality mark.The employed bar provides quality advocacy in the written form like many top self-employed chancery barristers. For example, an employed barrister who is head of a legal department in a merchant bank brings in money to the UK and should be praised by ...
Linklaters-De Brauw marriage falls apart
De Brauw's refusal to cut 'non-core' work leads to merger meltdown; Dutch firm left vulnerable to raids
Lovells scores hat trick for AutoLogic
Lovells has pulled off a hat trick of deals for longstanding client AutoLogic Holdings and coordinated them all to be announced together.
Masons gets corporate capability in Scotland
Masons has hired its first corporate partner in Scotland from leading Scottish firm Dickson Minto.
Opinion
So the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has done it - £3.2m. Nice one, Johnnie Vickers. I let out a little shriek of delight when I heard. Not that I have anything against Napp Pharmaceuticals (which received the whopping fine). In fact, I had never heard of it before it made this unfortunate leap into the limelight [Napp is to appeal the OFT's decision, The Lawyer, 23 April 2001]. No - the reason for my unseemly show of pleasure goes way back.In ...
Osborne Clarke hires two share scheme partners
Osborne Clarke OWA's pensions and incentives team has hired a new partner and an assistant as the team loses a partner to Wragge & Co.
Osborne Clarke leads the way in 2001's first technology IPO
Osborne Clarke has pulled off its first technology initial public offering (IPO) on the main London stock market this year, in what is believed to be the first new listing by an IT company of 2001.
Osborne Westphalen Alliance splits
The Osborne Westphalen Alliance (OWA) will cease to exist following a breakdown in relations between German firm Graf von Westphalen and Osborne Clarke.
Outmoded laws? Never
Calling all lawyers: the BBC is researching a light-hearted programme on arcane and unusual laws in the British Isles and needs your help.It is interested in any old laws that are curious, outlandish, endearing, strangely enlightening or just plain dated. These might be old regional oddities or modern classics, such as European directives that just simply do not translate. You know the sort of thing. In Hereford, for example, you can shoot ...
Paul Rhodes quits Hammonds
The highly-rated head of Hammond Suddards Edge's national insolvency and corporate recovery practice is retiring.
PepsiCo
Davis Polk & Wardwell has advised PepsiCo for several years, particularly in relation to corporate and tax matters. It also advised Pepsico on the $2.3bn (£1.6bn) initial public offering of its bottle business last year.
Perkins Coie expands in China with Beijing office
Seattle firm Perkins Coie is ramping up its China capability by adding a Beijing office.
Real Estate and Projects
Hammerson sells Senator House, London EC2, to Australian pension fund Challenger International for £86m. Hammerson advised by Nabarro Nathanson (James Madden). Challenger International advised by Herbert Smith (James Barnes).
Regional partner promotions round-up
Addleshaw Booth & CoRob Holmes, Yunus Seedat, Jim Tully (corporate finance); Charles Jagger (property litigation); James Whittaker, Michael Lowry (intellectual property (IP)); Nancy McGuire (construction); Jenny Cromack (secure direct); Sally Butt (finance litigation); James Preece (commercial and insurance litigation); Rob Riley (employment); Rachel Tunnicliffe (trusts and tax); Philip Way (family)Bond PearceStephen Pierce, ...
Rules of engagement
"Time longer than rope" may describe the lackadaisical lifestyle of the Caribbean jurisdictions, but there has been nothing lackadaisical about the legislative response to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) initiatives. A June deadline is fast approaching for both the Harmful Tax Competition initiative and the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in relation to anti-money laundering. There are those in both the onshore and offshore world who believe that ...
Sex lines, MPs and barristers
Speaking of lawyers in the news, does anyone remember a certain Mr Jerry Hayes?Hayes is the former MP for Harlow, star of a late-night TV show with that lovely man James Whale, as well as hosting a sex phone-in. Hayes is also a barrister (kinky sex and barristers - for some reason that sounds familiar to Tulkinghorn), a profession to which he has returned following the loss of his seat in Parliament. He is now a tenant at Leeds footballer Lee Bowyer's ...
Shearmans ramps up white collar practice
Shearman & Sterling is expanding its international white collar crime practice by taking on Connecticut's top federal prosecutor for the New York office.
Sidley and Brown & Wood in Euro drive
US firms Sidley & Austin and Brown & Wood are planning a dramatic European expansion following their decision to merge.
Singapore slingbacks
If the Honourable Michael Beloff QC wasn't getting enough stick already for regressing on his "present intention" to join set-of-spin Matrix Chambers for his former home at Blackstone, he is now getting it in the neck for his dress sense.In a recent interview The Times, (20 April) Beloff's so-called friend Jeffrey Archer named Beloff as the public figure he pitied for his lack of taste.There are those who would say that Beloff deserved ...
Skadden Arps bags first German partner
Sterzinger quits Lovells in Frankfurt; spearheads Skadden's corporate push
Table
Suppliers of professional services to Government depts 1999-2000 (expenditure £m)PricewaterhouseCoopers #69.8Ernst & Young #30.6PA Consulting #13.5AEA Technology #8.3Centeral Office of Information #7.5Deloitte & Touche #6.0Logica #5.4McKinsey #5.1Treasury Solicitor #4.9Hedra #4.8Capita #3.4DSS Solicitors #3.3Berwin Leighton ...
Technology, Media and telecoms
A consortium of UK institutional property owners, including British Land and Canary Wharf, team up with Marconi and Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Equity Funding to invest £15m in broadband service provider HighSpeed Office. The consortium and Morgan Stanley advised by Linklaters & Alliance (Andrew Brackfield). HighSpeed Office advised by Bird
Ten faces of bcci
Peter Horrocks, LovellsHorrocks was the lead partner for Lovells acting for the liquidators from the moment the bank went down until his retirement in 1998. He was largely responsible for scooping the work for Lovells as he had worked closely with Deloitte & Touche previously, and he was the firm's man in Abu Dhabi for the first crucial months after the collapse. He was instrumental in finalising the plea agreement reached between the liquidators and the US authorities, ...
The legal teams
The Baron's legal team (plaintiffs):Counsel: Lead is Michael Crystal QC, head of chambers at 3-4 South Square and Wilberforce Chambers' Robert Ham QC. Junior counsel is David Alexander from 3-4 South Square.Bermudian attorneys: Jerome Dill and Geoffrey Bell QC (senior counsel), assisted by Arabella di Lorio and Kristine Mueller, all of Appleby Spurling & Kempe.
The Lotus Elite
Forced redundancies from Lotus' engineering side are not holding the company back. Julia Eldred talks to head of legal John Messent about keeping the company healthy and on the road to continued success- and how he combines PR and legal roles.
The man behind the liquidation
Brian Smouha, lead liquidator at Deloitte & ToucheSpeak to those who worked both with him and against him and you will be hard pressed to find anyone involved in the BCCI liquidation with a bad word to say about Brian Smouha. The man from Deloitte & Touche, then Touche Ross, appointed to run the liquidation in 1991 is variously described as "the great hero of the story" and "the personality that would always stand out".He resigned from the liquidation in 1997 ...
The social worker
LeBoeuf's James Johnson loves the London life but after six years he is looking forward to returning to New York, despite the different working style
Three key agreements
BCCI Pooling AgreementBCCI Holdings in Luxembourg had two operating subsidiaries - BCCI SA in Luxembourg and BCCI Overseas in Grand Cayman - and it had more branches in the UK than in any other country.This agreement provided that all the BCCI companies pooled their assets and said that they would relinquish any claims against each other and pay all their creditors on the same basis. The intermingling of BCCI SA and BCCI Holdings was such that it could have taken ...
Timeline
1980: Thyssen Junior is appointed as chairman of the TBG Partners' supervisory board18 April 1983: The Baron and his son Georg set up a Bermuda-based continuity trust as an ownership vehicle for the family empireSeptember 1983: Georg Thyssen becomes chief executive of TBGJanuary 1997: A writ is issued by two plaintiffs, the Baron and LRT Trustee (PVT) and legal wrangles ensue, heard by Mr Justice Richard Ground
united biscuits
Weil Gotshal & Manges advised the sponsors when a group of investors including Nabisco, Cinven, Paribas Affaires Industrielles and DE Capital Partners bought United Biscuits for £1.3bn in April last year. So it was natural that the New York law firm advised United Biscuits on its bond offer and unsurprising that it will now continue to handle US-related high-yield work for the company.
Walker Morris goes head-to-head with Hammonds on DPA product
Leeds-based Walker Morris is battling it out with Hammond Suddards Edge in a pricing battle over the firms' Data Protection Act (DPA) products.
WATFORD ELECTRONICS AND SANDERSON response
I read with great interest and some surprise 'Bar Talk' in the 2 April issue of The Lawyer.The article painted a rosy picture of a secure future for software suppliers, their liability safely protected by standard limitation clauses.Unfortunately, the article appears to have overlooked some significant aspects of the Court of Appeal's decision.The main reason that the appeal was successful was that Lord Justice Chadwick came ...
Weil Gotshal Frankfurt wins four partners
US firm Weil Gotshal & Manges' Frankfurt office has recruited one of Germany's most prominent private equity rainmakers from German firm Beiten Burkhardt Mittl & Wegener.
