Joshua Freedman

Josh worked for The Lawyer from May 2011 to July 2013, becoming the magazine’s City editor in 2012.

London
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Legal fees outstripped by bankers’ earnings on public takeovers

Legal fees on UK public M&A are dwarfed by those paid to investment bankers on the same deals, with lawyers billing up to 70 per cent less on takeovers during the first half of 2013, according to research by The Lawyer.  Legal fees from 18 public offers from January to the end of June were […]

Battle
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Lawyers vs bankers

Bankers stand head and shoulders above lawyers in the M&A fee stakes but growing deal complexity means the gap is closing If there is one example that best explains why banks charge so much more than lawyers on M&A it is William Hill and GVC Holdings’ acquisition of Sportingbet (see box).  Exhibit one of our […]

William Hill

Legal fees plummet to £26m in quiet first half for public M&A

Legal fees on public M&A in the UK fell to just £26.1m in the first six months of 2013 after a relatively buoyant 2012, according to research by The Lawyer. In total 18 takeover offers for publicly listed companies were made between January and the end of June, with fees on individual deals ranging from […]

Vitale

Olswang, Reed Smith and Simmons among candidates for YouView panel

Internet TV service YouView is set to launch its first formal panel of external lawyers by the autumn, under a year after hiring a new legal chief from Virgin Media. Toni Vitale, who joined the business in January as head of legal and company secretary, has sent out papers in recent weeks ahead of a […]

Byron Jacobson Lotus Fact Federation against Copyright Theft

Copyright theft fighter FACT installs Lotus IP lawyer as first GC

The Federation Against Copyright Theft (Fact) has taken on Group Lotus in-house lawyer Byron Jacobson as its first permanent general counsel. Jacobson, who was an IP lawyer at the car maker, joined Fact on 1 May to run its legal function, which previously relied on external advisers such as Wiggin, Russell-Cooke and Belfast’s Edwards & […]

Barclays

Change in the air for Barclays panel

Barclays is on the brink of a big change in the way it uses outside advisers What exactly is Barclays going to do with its lawyers? CEO Antony Jenkins’ Transform programme is bound to lead to deep spending cuts affecting law firm fees, but it looks as though the bank is going to go much […]

palo alto

FFW and OC: near as dammit to a merger

 How close can you get without actually merging? Ask FFW and OC There is no suggestion of corporate stalking here, but there are some eye-catching things going on between Field Fisher Waterhouse (FFW) and Osborne Clarke (OC). First it was the launch in Palo Alto that got people wondering. FFW opened its representative office there […]

Vitale

YouView head of legal: Vitale statistics

From a blank screen to being in hundreds of thousands of homes in a year, YouView is a catch-up TV phenomenon, as proud legal boss Toni Vitale is keen to emphasise He might have to compete with Lord Alan Sugar, but Toni Vitale is a smashing brand ambassador for YouView, the subscription-free catch-up service that […]

Clifford Chance revenue drops 2.5 per cent as PEP slips to £1m

Clifford Chance has posted a 2.5 per cent drop in revenue for the 2012/13 financial year against a 9 per cent drop in average profit per equity partner (PEP). The firm has become the last of the magic circle to announce its headline figures for the year ending 30 April after Allen & Overy, Freshfields […]

Shanghai

FFW enters Asia through Shanghai tie-up under new Swiss Verein

Field Fisher Waterhouse (FFW) has sealed a Chinese tie-up that gives the firm its first major outpost in Asia and ramps up its capacity for fast international expansion through a newly launched Swiss Verein. The firm’s combination with Shanghai’s Ryser & Associates goes live today (8 July) and sees FFW merge its branding and some […]

David Walker

Latham opposite Slaughters in first Carlyle role since key CC hire

Latham & Watkins and Slaughter and May have taken the lead roles on Carlyle Group’s acquisition of global packaging supplier Chesapeake, marking Latham’s first deal for the trophy private equity client since hiring relationship partner David Walker from Clifford Chance earlier this year. Walker led for the the US buyout group alongside finance partners Dominic Newcomb […]