What was your first-ever job? Working as an auxiliary nurse in a mental hospital. What was your worst experience as a trainee? Going to a court hearing that I was told was uncontested to be met by a QC with a team of 10 other lawyers. Where’s the best place to go if you want […]
Gibson Dunn & Crutcher has announced that Jeff Roberts will join the firm as a partner. Move of the week Roberts, who will join the firm’s London office from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, where he was a partner, will continue to focus his corporate law practice on international public and private M&A, private equity and equity […]
In the jungle, the legal jungle, Angus McCullough works tonight… Wimoweh a-wimoweh…. This isn’t Tulkinghorn’s favourite song, you understand. But a tribute to Angus McCullough, the barrister who was awarded silk at the end of last month (26 February), is fully merited. McCullough is perhaps the only silk in the country who could genuinely list […]
As legal director at the OFT Consumer Market Group, Jason Freeman is the man leading the charge in the battle for consumers’ rights. By James Swift It is not every lawyer who gets to leave the office at the end of the day knowing they have made the world a better place. Sure, sealing a […]
David Pyatt doesn’t get to meet his audience too much. The principal French horn player of the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) tends to spend his life shuttling between rehearsal rooms and the Barbican concert hall. But Baker & McKenzie’s role as pro bono legal adviser to the LSO and sponsor of the French horn chair […]
As Ashurst’s time in Delhi comes to a close, the firm’s India group head Richard Gubbins remains optimistic about the future for foreign lawyers in the country ”As far as Ashurst is concerned, I’m very happy with where we are today,” says the firm’s India group head Richard Gubbins. For a lawyer who has just shut down an office […]
With the public sector becoming a political battleground, Kent legal chief Geoff Wild argues that its lawyers should get radical. So why don’t his rivals agree? On first impressions there is something unassuming about Geoff Wild, director of law and governance at Kent County Council. A well-mannered air, combined with his commercial bent, suggests he would not be out […]
Advisers bet on hedging as trustees, employers go all-out to cut risk. By Margaret Taylor It is a morbid life being a pensions lawyer. You spend years helping clients deal with massive deficits, then, when an exciting new development happens in the industry, your focus shifts to taking a punt on how long it will […]
The court of Appeal (CoA) has halved the fine imposed on National Grid by Ofgem, the gas and electricity authority. The watchdog fined National Grid £41.6m after it found the multimillion-pound contracts struck by National Grid with suppliers in 2002 when the metering market was opened to competition harmed new entrants’ ability to compete and acted against […]
Fasken Martineau has won mandates on two AIM IPOs as well as secondary fundraising, amid signs that the junior market may finally be emerging from its two-year hibernation. The firm acted for oil and gas exploration company Kea Petroleum on its £6m share issue, while a second Fasken team advised Oxford Nutrascience Group on a […]
Allen & Overy (A&O) and Travers Smith have continued to reap the benefit of the upturn in private equity buyouts after acting on the sale of swine flu soap manufacturer Deb Group. Travers Smith, led by corporate partner Paul Dolman, acted for the seller, Barclays Private Equity (BPE), on a deal valued at £325m. Tax […]
Magic circle duo Clifford Chance and Linklaters have landed prime roles in the hostile takeover bid for VT Group by rival Babcock International. Clifford Chance is acting for engineering support group Babcock, with corporate partners Guy Norman and Lee Coney in London supported by New York M&A partner Ben Sibbett. Competition partner Greg Olsen is advising on […]