31 October 2011

Will Waldron QC

Work Life Quiz: Will Waldron QC, Exchange Chambers

What was your first-ever job? I was a programme ­assistant at Radio City in Liverpool. What was your worst ­experience as a pupil? Being made to wear my wig and gown a long time before I was “on my feet”, thus looking and feeling like a spare part most of the time. Where’s the best […]

ON THE MOVE

Eversheds has appointed Richard Lewis as a partner in its London M&A practice. Move of the week   Lewis joins from Hogan Lovells, where he has been a partner since 2001. He has worked on a wide spectrum of transactions, covering life sciences, financial institutions and ­industrial sectors. His clients include ­international pharmaceutical companies and […]

Eversheds man’s work-life balance

Eversheds’ Chrxistmas party will have a circus theme this year. Sidestepping the obvious jokes about certain partners being clowns anyway, for one employee at the firm the big top surroundings really will be a familiar sight. Stephen Thompson is a management consultant at Eversheds Consulting, but before joining the firm in May he spent four […]

Linklaters snares first fundraising role for Cinven

Linklaters’ funds team has secured its first key role on a fundraising for private equity house Cinven after winning the client from Ashurst. Linklaters partner Jonathan de Lance-Holmes snatched the relationship off Ashurst partner Jeremy Sheldon last year (The Lawyer, 20 June 2011). The magic circle firm is advising on Cinven’s e5bn (£4.35bn) fundraising. Cinven is […]

A&O’s National Grid panel win pays off

Allen & Overy (A&O) acted on its first instruction for National Grid since its appointment to the power giant’s revamped legal panel earlier this year. The magic circle firm snatched the mandate on the sale of National Grid’s meter reading and installation business OnStream to Macquarie Bank. The utility company said it was selling OnStream […]

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Linklaters gets together with Malaysian firm on Aabar deal

Linklaters has worked alongside Malaysian firm Rahmat Lim & Partners to provide advice on Abu Dhabi-based Aabar ­Investments PJS’s $1.9bn (£1.19bn) acquisition of a 24.9 per cent stake in Malaysia’s RHB Capital. Linklaters Abu Dhabi partner Nick Garland and his team advised seller Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB). Singapore-based Allen & Gledhill’s Malaysian ­associate firm Rahmat Lim, led […]

Ashurst and Cleary win Iceland roles off back of existing clients

Ashurst, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton and ­Linklaters are understood to be among the firms to win roles on the bidding process for frozen food operator ­Iceland Foods – leveraging off their relationships with supermarkets, private ­equity houses and the failed Icelandic banks. Linklaters is believed to be advising Icelandic bank Landsbanki, which is planning to […]

Seven-year campaign pays off as Hong Kong prepares to pass LLP legislation

Hong Kong law firms will soon be able to convert to limited-liability partnerships (LLP) following a seven-year campaign by the legal profession. Hong Kong Secretary for Justice Wong Yan-lung announced the imminent change during a speech at the 9th Chinese Lawyers Forum held in Qingdao, a seaside city in China’s ­Shandong province. “Hong Kong will […]

Desfilis & McGowan

Many independent French law firms last the ­lifespans of their founders before breaking up, with partners joining rivals or founding boutiques. Desfilis & McGowan is a little different. Although it bears the name of two current partners, José Desfilis and Aline McGowan, it can trace its history back to 1920. It was in that year […]

Memery Crystal holds fast to top AIM ranking

Memery Crystal has retained its position as the top firm for the number of Aim-­listed clients, holding on to the position it won for the for the first time the ­previous quarter. The firm increased its client count from 47 for the three months to the end of June to 50 for the past three […]

Andrew Shaw

Opinion: Litigation is a byproduct of the economic crisis

This time last year leading economists started voicing their opinions that the worst effects of the 2008 credit crunch were over and that a fragile recovery was beginning to take root. That optimism now seems to have been misplaced. Not only have we seen further bank bailouts, but fear now stalks the markets about any […]