15 September 2003

DLA raids Bogaert in Belgian tech push

Troubled Belgian firm Bogaert & Vandemeulebroeke has lost a large proportion of its IT and telecoms team to DLA, including department head Patrick Van Eecke. The departures come after the firm removed itself from the Landwell network in June because of changes to legislation due to take effect in October, which place severe restrictions on […]

Camerons closes in Washington DC

CMS Cameron McKenna has decided to close its last US outpost in Washington DC after radically downsizing the office in July this year. CMS managing partner Dick Tyler told The Lawyer: “At the time we’d hoped to be able to restructure the office around the projects team servicing one particular piece of work. But we […]

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Former Osborne Clarke corporate head launches new firm

The former head of Osborne Clarke’s Bristol corporate practice has launched a niche firm of corporate lawyers. Bruce Roxburgh, who left Osborne Clarke in February, has launched Roxburgh and Milkins LLP with a senior corporate lawyer from Osborne Clarke, Jason Milkins.The two of them have been close colleagues for many years and share a number […]

Zurich slashes panel in half

Zurich has cut its English and Welsh legal panel in half after a three-month review.The 14 successful firms, from an original list of 28, were informed last week. The insurer has moved from having five legal panels for the separate areas of its business to creating one central panel.In Scotland the insurer has dropped three […]

Deacons and White & Case await judgment as court battle concludes

The controversial action by Deacons against White & Case and two of its former partners finally concluded in the Hong Kong High Court yesterday (18 September).The parties are now waiting for Deputy Judge Gill’s decision, which is expected to be announced next month.As revealed by The Lawyer (8 July 2002), White & Case became embroiled […]

Browne Jacobson makes four assistants redundant

Midlands-based Browne Jacobson has made four assistants in its business services department redundant. The firm’s managing partner Brian Smith confirmed the redundancies and blamed the economic downturn for the move.Of the assistants who are affected, one is London-based and three are located in Nottingham.This is the first time lawyers at Browne Jacobson have been made […]

Debevoise boosts London finance group with A&O hire

Debevoise & Plimpton’s London office is ramping up its finance practice by taking on a former Allen & Overy (A&O) partner.Peter Hockless, who practised at A&O for 24 years, 15 as a partner, before leaving three months ago, is set to join Debevoise on Monday (22 September), where he will lead the office’s finance group. […]

B&M merges North American profit centres

Baker & McKenzie has transformed its North American business model in an attempt to offer a more harmonised service.The firm’s individual offices were previously independent profit centres with independent compensation systems, an approach that often provoked scorn from competitors.The radical overhaul sees the full integration of all the office profit centres and the implementation of […]

Larry Sonsini offered top job at NYSE

The New York Stock Exchange has asked Larry Sonsini, the longstanding chairman of West Coast firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, to take over its scandal-rocked board of directors as interim chairman, The Recorder reports. As of late Wednesday, Sonsini, a member of the NYSE board, had not accepted. However, a law firm spokeswoman confirmed […]

Grapevine

First DLA, now Salans: for the second time in seven days, a law firm is making a massive move into Central Europe through merger. Last week https://www.thelawyer.com/lawyernews revealed DLA’s deal with Austrian firm Weiss Tessbach, which delivered a substantial Central and Eastern European presence. This week we can report that Salans is set to be […]

Salans swoops for A&G network

Salans is poised to take on five of Altheimer & Gray’s remaining offices, giving the firm a presence in four new Central and Eastern European jurisdictions and its first office in Asia. The acquisition of the new offices in Prague, Bucharest, Bratislava and Istanbul will take Salans’ number of Eastern European offices to 10. It […]

Freshfields steps in to defend Eton against OFT

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has come to the aid of top public school Eton in connection with an Office of Fair Trading (OFT) cartel investigation.Eton and Winchester College, which is being advised by Farrer & Co partner David Smellie, are being investigated by the OFT for allegedly fixing their fees.The Lawyer understands that both schools have […]