Hunton & Williams has boosted its competition practice, snaring two new partners for its Brussels office. Michael Rosenthal, a former associate from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, has joined the firm as a competition partner. John Martin has rejoined Hunton & Williams as a competition partner after serving as a senior trial counsel at the US Federal […]
Teacher Stern Selby’s Graham Shear has turned to the internet in a search for witnesses to support footballer Ashley Cole’s libel claim against The News of the World and The Sun. Shear filed a claim on Cole’s behalf at the end of February following the publication of articles alleging that two unnamed Premiership footballers had […]
Linklaters telecoms specialist Tim Schwarz is to replace Christopher Millard as global head of the firm’s technology, media and telecoms group, effective 1 May 2006. Millard, best known for his expertise in data protection, has been head of the TMT group since 2002 and plans to resume a purely fee-earning role. Linklaters scored a major […]
Clifford Chance and Latham & Watkins have advised a six-strong private equity consortium on its EUR7.5bn recommended cash offer for media giant VNU. AlpInvest, Blackstone, Carlyle, Hellman & Friedman, Kohlberg Kravis & Roberts and Thomas H. Lee had their offer accepted by VNU yesterday following a meeting of the company’s supervisory board. Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, […]
Norton Rose is losing its former global head of dispute resolution Peter Rees to the London office of Debevoise & Plimpton. Rees, a one-time chief executive candidate, is expected to join Debevoise by the end of April. The dispute resolution specialist, who is particularly known for construction, engineering and energy disputes, will head the firm’s […]
The US East Coast associate pay war has spread from New York to Philadelphia, with the city’s leading firms all raising newly-qualified salaries. Philadelphia-based national Saul Ewing increased first-year pay to $125,000 (£71,600) in all its offices bar Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, reflecting a $10,000 (£5,700) hike on all associate salaries. The firm matches rival Philadelphia-based firm […]
BlackBerry manufacturer Research in Motion (RIM) finally bowed to NTP’s demands, striking a $612.5 million licensing deal with the Virginia-based patent holders. NTP had sued RIM for patent infringement, and threatened to close the BlackBerry network if RIM did not settle. Judge James Spencer, of the Eastern District of Virginia, held the final hearing on […]
Eversheds has raided Pinsent Masons’ Manchester office for a five-lawyer corporate team including two partners. Simon Masters and Hannah Kendrick join Eversheds along with one associate and two assistant solicitors. The news comes just a week after Cobbetts hired Pinsents Manchester private equity partner Paul Johnson and three lawyers, and further dents the firm’s North […]
Slaughter and May has retained its corporate crown despite falling victim to the frenzy of takeovers of UK companies during the past three months. According to research conducted by Hemscott Group, Slaughters advises more FTSE 100 companies than any of the magic circle firms. Slaughters acts for 28 FTSE 100 clients, followed by Freshfields and […]
Eversheds has dropped out of the Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work For list, plummeting from 63rd place last year. The firm was one of several large law firms to disappear from this year’s list, with other casualties including Simmons & Simmons (86th in 2005) and CMS Cameron McKenna (87th last year). The result […]
Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson and Sullivan & Cromwell have scooped the lead roles on the mammoth $67bn merger between US telecoms companies AT&T and BellSouth. However, elite New York M&A boutique Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz appears to have lost out on a role after AT&T, a Wachtell client of many years, was […]
White & Case has won the mandate to advise the bank consortium funding Linde’s £8bn takeover of BOC. Banking partners Christopher Kandel, Mike Goetz and Frankfurt partner Stephen Hodgson are acting for Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank, Dresdner Bank, Morgan Stanley and Royal Bank of Scotland. The banks are providing the credit facility for the acquisition. The […]