8 September 2003
The Lawyer
Addleshaw Goddard in capital structure rejig
Contribution change calls for extra £100K from many partners
Anarchy in the high court?
Expect a very different line-up at next year's Inns of Court Ball. Luminaries from pop's illustrious past, including Midge Ure and The Fine Young Cannibals, might have stolen top billing at its revival earlier this year, but the bar boasts a musical pedigree all its own. And Tulkinghorn feels obliged to draw it to the attention of the event's organisers.Take 3/4 South Square's Paul Cooklin, a man who drives his band, Cruel But Fair, with his stirring bass and catchy keyboard sounds. ...
Ashursts' Madrid office gets new boss
Ashurst Morris Crisp corporate partner Stephen Fox has become managing partner of the firm's Madrid office.
Blackett Hart & Pratt consumes Winskells
North East firm Blackett Hart & Pratt has merged with Newcastle's Winskell & Winskell. The founding partner's grandsons Robin and Michael Winskell will become a partner and a consultant at the merged firm.
Bond Pearce opens new London office
Bond Pearce has launched a permanent London office on the back of its growing strength in the insurance sector.
Brunei telecoms regulator picks Rajah & Tann
Singapore firm Rajah & Tann has fought off competition from firms from the UK, Australia and Malaysia to win a tender to advise Brunei's new telecoms regulator. The Authority for Infocommunications Technology Industry of Brunei has instructed Rajah & Tann to formulate a strategic plan for the licensing and ongoing monitoring of telecoms players in the region.
CC co-head of private funds quits for client post
Clifford Chance has lost co-head of private funds Stephen Ross to the asset management arm of client Man Group, a global provider of alternative investment products. Jason Glover, who currently shares the role, will head private funds when Ross leaves to join Man Investments as global head of legal structuring and corporate finance in December. First revealed on www.thelawyer.com/lawyernews 2 September
CLS and job centres team up to fight 'social marginalisation'
The Community Legal Service (CLS) plans to work with job centres to target social exclusion and provide legal advice to the needy.
Compo crazy
Pity the accident care specialist staff at RAC Legal Services. The chaps at the RAC, those who deal with claims following an accident, have compiled a list of the oddest requests they have received.
Cooley Godward faces probe over fatal car accident
Cooley Godward faces the prospect of sharing liability for the death of a teenager struck by a car driven by one of its associates, Legal Times reports.
Credit Suisse thwarts Ozannes in employment dispute
The Guernsey branch of Credit Suisse has won a case against Channel Islands law firm Ozannes, preventing it from representing a former senior executive of the bank in an unfair dismissal claim against his former employers.
DLA targets Central and Eastern Europe with Austrian merger
DLA is taking a massive step into Central and Eastern Europe by way of an imminent merger with Austrian firm Weiss-Tessbach.As of 1 October, Weiss-Tessbach, which has seven offices throughout Austria and Central and Eastern Europe, will be fully integrated into the DLA partnership.The move will give DLA an extensive foothold in the region, with offices in Bratislava, Budapest, Prague, Sarajevo, Salzburg, Vienna and Zagreb. “Over 50 per cent of our practice is based ...
DLA's regulatory group in FSA hire
DLA has hired high-profile Financial Services Authority (FSA) lawyer Helen Marshall as the firm's regulatory group continues its policy of recruiting only from regulators.
Dorsey boosts Japan with corporate capture
Dorsey & Whitney has continued its Asian expansion with the hire of Japanese corporate finance lawyer Takashi Suzuki.
Eversheds corporate in new French push with Paris raid
Eversheds corporate in new French push with Paris raid" /Eversheds is continuing to ramp up its presence in France, hiring a corporate finance partner from Paris firm Latournerie Wolfrom & Associés and relocating a real estate partner from Leeds.
Ex-Landwell equity partner settles on Beachcrofts
Former Landwell equity partner Nigel Frudd has joined Beachcroft Wansbroughs. Frudd, whose c.v. includes stints as legal and strategy director at Rothschild’s European group and group legal director at Scottish Amicable, spent around a year at Landwell...
Explain yourself
Australia is tightening up on the regulatory aspects of businesses listed there, but as Richard Lustig reports, the new regime is being shaped by those to whom it applies
Ex-securities association top-dog joins Dechert
Dechert has hired former senior vice-president and general counsel of the Securities Industry Association to its Washington DC office. Stuart Kaswell (left) will head the firm's broker-dealer practice, drawing on his experience as a leading advocate for the securities industry. He is set to join the firm in mid-September.
Family bar welcomes appointment of children’s champion
The family bar welcomed the appointment of an independent children’s commissioner, but called for a boost in resources in the courts to speed up cases.
Finance deals round-up
CMS Cameron McKenna (Andrew Ivison) advised Barclays, Abbey National Treasury Services, Bank of America and Bank of Scotland, the lead arrangers on a £600m bond refinancing of a credit facility. The facility was underwritten in 2001 for the Airline Group's acquisition of the Government's 46 per cent interest in National Air Traffic Services. MBIA Assurance, represented by Allen & Overy, guaranteed the ...
Finers bags Baglioni Hotels as client
Finers Stephens Innocent has won Baglioni Hotels as a client, as the luxury Italian hotel chain makes its first foray into the UK market.
Firm Profile: Barnetts
It is fair to say that Merseyside firm Barnetts is pleased with its recent move to a new £3m purpose-built office which is an impressive 20,000sq ft.
Freshfields builds on Dutch CVC affiliation
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer is developing its relationship with CVC Capital Partners by exploiting its local contacts with the Dutch arm of the private equity house.
Freshfields set to get hands 'dirty' with private equity drive
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer's London office is making a serious push for private equity work after years of being viewed by the market as a minor player.
German front
Gerhard Wegen is the perfect international face for Gleiss Lutz's corporate team, but don't expect him to adopt too many English habits. By Helen Power
Govt plans to cap asylum advice attacked by the profession
Immigration lawyers hit out at the Government’s plans to cap publicly-funded advice to asylum seekers at a maximum five hours of initial legal advice, as responses were submitted to the Department for Constitutional Affairs last week.
Govt’s pro bono promises prove empty
This was meant to be the year that pro bono "went mainstream". At least, that was how one enthusiastic advocate, Terence Black, managing director of BAE Systems Capital and vice-chair of the Solicitors Pro Bono Group, put it when he spoke to The Lawyer in June as the second National Pro Bono Week kicked off.
Grapevine
Is this the community spirit one should expect from regional lawyers? We asked one senior partner at a top regional firm about his firm's pro bono effort. His response was: "My personal view is that our lawyers are busy people working for the firm's paying clients. When they're not working for clients, we like them to have a life outside work. Pro bono can give you tunnel vision and can burn you out. People work hard enough for money."
Green light given for September 11 law suits against airlines
American and United Airlines, aviation security companies, and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey had a duty of care to those who were injured, killed or suffered property damages as a result of the September 11 hijackings, a Manhattan federal judge ruled on Tuesday (9 September).
HBOS latest win for Matthew Arnold as it scoops a place on five banking panels
A recent push into banking by Matthew Arnold & Baldwin has seen the Watford firm win places on five banking panels - the latest that of HBOS.
Heller Ehrman wins out in race to woo VLG
West Coast firm Heller Ehrman White & McAuliffe has emerged the victor in the three-way race to merge with Venture Law Group (VLG). Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe and Morrison & Foerster were both courting VLG, but Heller Ehrman has walked away with a merger deal with the firm. Heller ...
Herbert Smith finance team wraps up ANZ instruction
Herbert Smith's fledgling finance department has received a major boost after completing the firm's first deal for ANZ Investment Bank.
James Chapman hires Hill Dickinson fraud ace
Manchester's James Chapman & Co has appointed Hill Dickinson partner Alison Hart to launch a dedicated fraud unit. Hart specialises in insurance fraud and policy disputes. One of her most high-profile cases was the £4.5m fraudulent claim made by Lord Brocket, who alleged the theft of four classic cars. He was jailed and sentenced to a five-year prison term. First revealed on www.thelawyer.com/lawyer ...
Leader
It seems like a wizard wheeze, but you can't help wondering exactly how committed Freshfields is to this private equity lark.
Legal Widow
The Lawyer came home cheering the other night after they announced that the disastrous experiment known as 'open plan' was over and that proper office walls would be going back up.
LJ Brooke appointed president of Court of Appeal’s civil division
Lord Justice Brooke has succeeded Lord Justice Simon Brown as president of the civil division of the Court of Appeal.Judge Brooke was appointed a judge of the Queen’s Bench Division in 1988. Between 1993 and 1995 he served as chairman of the Law Commission prior to his promotion to the position of Lord Justice in the Court of Appeal in 1996. His latest appointment was made by Lord Falconer, the Lord Chancellor.
McDermott gains Italian foothold with Carnelutti
Chicago-firm McDermott Will & Emery has broken with its international strategy by taking over 20-partner Italian firm Carnelutti.
Minters’ Paul Weiss raid prompts further growth in Asia
Minter Ellison has continued its expansion in Asia. The Australian firm has hired Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison partner Fred Kinmonth to head its corporate and commercial team in the region.Kinmonth has been a partner with Paul Weiss since 1998, but is probably better known for the years he spent as the managing director of Peregrine Capital. Prior to Peregrine, he was the managing partner of Herbert Smith’s Hong Kong office.While at Paul Weiss, Kinmonth advised ...
Mirror image
Although Australia is more liberal when it comes to allowing ‘freedom of contract’ on takeover applications, Marie McDonald says that many areas of M&A are echoing UK codes of practice
Misys hires ex-Cable & Wireless general counsel
Misys, the global software products and solutions group, has hired the former group general counsel of Cable & Wireless. Dan Fitz will join Misys as general counsel and company secretary on 20 October.
Nagging doubts
Lawyers for horse racing organisations are outraged by the OFT's investigation into the sector. Jon Robins canvasses opinions on both sides
Nelsons licensing team joins Poppleston Allen
Niche licensing firm Poppleston Allen has hired Nelsons licensing partner David Lucas and his team. Tim Hastings, Nelsons chief executive, said: "Licensing accounts for a very small part of our turnover. We feel clients' interests are best served if we concentrate on other strengths."
New Liberty director vows to fight high street spies
The civil rights group Liberty is to set up a unit to monitor the use of radio frequency identification (RFI) technology by supermarket giants such as Marks & Spencer (M&S) and Tesco. In particular, the use of tiny microchips, the size of a grain of sand, that are inserted into the packaging of goods or sown into the labels of clothes.
Northern fights
Northern & Shell's further incursion into the newspaper market is keeping the publisher's head of legal affairs at the cutting edge of intellectual property law. Naomi Rovnick reports
NSW Senator vows to give female barristers more govt work
New South Wales Senator Helen Coonan has vowed to fight discrimination by giving more government legal work to women. The pledge follows a survey of female barristers in Victoria revealed that female barristers were only involved in 13.8 per cent of court appearances, despite making up 18.6 per cent of the total number of barristers.Speaking to the Women Lawyers’ Association of New South Wales, Coonan, the minister for revenue and assistant treasurer, said she would be prepared ...
Opinion
Firms like PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) are seeing a surge of solvent liquidation activity at the moment, with three trends driving the simplification of groups’ ownership structures. Some clients are motivated by corporate governance concerns; many are cost-cutting; others are establishing a Societas Europaea (SE).
Paul Hastings hire kick-starts new Shanghai base
Paul Hastings Janofsky & Walker is the latest firm to open a second office in China after nabbing Jones Day's Shanghai partner-in-charge and a real estate funds specialist from Morgan Stanley.
RBS to slash up to £40m in legal spend
The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is planning to slash its legal spend, currently estimated to be £150m annually, by 25 per cent in its current online panel review, The Lawyer can reveal.
Recruitment Shanghai-style
One of Tulkinghorn's scribes unwittingly found herself being interviewed for a job at Lovells the other day, despite the fact that she has absolutely no plans to leave The Lawyer.Upon arriving at Lovells' reception to interview one of the firm's partners, the scribe was instantly ushered into a meeting room by a man she didn't know from Adam. He was accompanied by a person who appeared to be a recruitment consultant.Assuming the partner had decided to bring along some extra ...
Scottish & Newcastle
Lovells cements Nomura relationship with S&N, Center Parcs instructions
Scottish Executive selects first legal panel
DLA, CMS Cameron McKenna and Masons are among the 12 firms that have won places on the Scottish Executive’s first ever legal panel.The relationship between the Scottish Executive and the panel firms is set out in a framework arrangement, which allows firms to compete for work, including debt recovery, employment, large-scale voluntary transfers and procurement. The framework arrangement will be in place ...
Shaw Pittman raids PwC for six tax lawyers
Washington DC-based outsourcing specialist Shaw Pittman has scooped up six tax attorneys from PricewaterhouseCoopers. Michael Solomon and Elizabeth Askey will join as partners, William Warren and James Ramsey as senior counsel and Regina Staudacher and Eric Lucas as associates. It brings the number of tax lawyers in the firm's DC office to more than 30. They will focus on tax controversy work, including litigation, high-level strategic planning, international tax and tax policy services.
Shearman on France Telecom's Orange bid
Shearman & Sterling is advising longstanding client France Telecom on its e7.1bn (£4.5bn) bid to take full control of Orange. It is the only adviser to be playing a role in both jurisdictions in the combined French and UK offer.
Shearman’s Tokyo head jumps ship for Linklaters
Linklaters has raided Shearman & Sterling’s Tokyo office, hiring its managing partner David Deck.
Silk quits 4 Paper Bldgs for Four New Square
Professional negligence silk Patrick Lawrence QC is joining Justin Fenwick QC's Four New Square from rival set 4 Paper Buildings.
Slaughters suffers nuclear strike-out
Herbert Smith wins billion-pound DTI cleanup; Slaughters victim of political fallout
St Philips' expansion costs tenants £700K
St Philips Chambers is raising £700,000 from its 140-plus tenants to fund the set's continuing expansion.
Stewarts launches in Leeds
Personal injury and clinical negligence firm Stewarts has opened a Leeds office. The new office, headed by partner Daniel Herman, will focus on representing claimants in catastrophic injury matters. It includes an independent living adviser who will provide advice to clients on disability issues.
Taylor Woodrow sidelines Norton Rose for Slaughters
Acquisitive builder Taylor Woodrow has overlooked its historic plc adviser Norton Rose to appoint Slaughter and May on its agreed takeover of Wilson Connolly for £480m in cash and shares.
The mezzanine note: how to keep everyone happy
Have Ashursts and Latham helped give birth to the ultimate high-yield vehicle? By Catrin Griffiths
The Reit stuff
The advantages introduced by the Code on Real Estate Investment Trusts is likely to stir up a whole new market in Hong Kong. Tom Lennox reports on the new investment tool
The right man for the job
News reaches us that another famous name in the history of the dotcom boom (ah, how far away those days seem now) has bitten the dust.
There's no such thing as a free lunch, says Deacons
The two partners at the centre of the ongoing litigation between Deacons and White & Case used a lunch paid for by their old firm to lure key client Standard Chartered to White & Case, the Hong Kong High Court has been told.
'Trouble ahead' as lawyers predict collapse in industrial relations
As union bosses talk of frustration with Government policy and the likelihood of industrial action to come at the TUC conference in Brighton this week, recent research by law firm DLA into the deterioration of UK industrial relations makes for an interesting read.
Tussles in Brussels: the US firms just keep on coming
A slow year in the European city fails to dissuade Gibson Dunn from launching
Weil Gotshal faces homeless truths with free Crisis advice
Pro bono & community action
WR Berkley targets UK law firms for professional indemnity drive
US super-investor William Berkley has become the first major new entrant into solicitors' professional indemnity (PI) insurance since law firms have been able to buy their insurance on the open market.
Wragges and Burges Salmon scoop roles on Stonehenge public inquiry
Burges Salmon and Wragge & Co have both scooped major roles on next year's high-profile public inquiry into controversial plans to divert 2km of trunk road underneath Stonehenge.
Yahoo general counsel quits
Yahoo Inc has lost its company secretary and general counsel Jon Sobel to San Francisco-based Folger Levin & Kahn.
Yang Sing looks to Addleshaw Goddard
Addleshaw Goddard has acted for the first time for the brothers behind Manchester's renowned Chinese restaurant Yang Sing, on the sale of its readymade Canton-ese meals business to a new company due to float on AIM today (8 September).
