17 December 2001

2001 – The legal market’s Review of the Year

The year began with Pinsent Curtis merging with Biddle, a decent merger, but as The Lawyer pointed out, its announcement was a tad over-spun. “Oh, puh-lease. When Pinsent Curtis Biddle press-released its merger last week, it all sounded so plausible. Great fit, bolstering London, big push on private equity, blah blah blah. And then Julian […]

Opinion

A recent judgment of the European Court of First Instance (Corus UK Ltd Commission, 10 October 2001) has confirmed the European Commission’s (EC) obligation to pay interest on fines required to be repaid following a successful appeal against a decision of the EC in competition cases. The proceedings also brought to light the existence of […]

Taking its place in history

But surely the prize for the grandest Christmas effort should go to Theodore Goddard, which has sent out a loose-leaf calendar in a CD case reminding us of world-shaking events of the last ten decades.1926: first television transmission sent by John Logie Baird1948: the NHS is formed1953: Hillary and Tensing conquer Everest1969: Neil Armstrong steps […]

Stop yankin' my chain

At this time of year, it has been observed that many singletons start a determined hunt for a partner to give them, a) an excuse not to attend endless mince pie parties, and b) something which isn’t a woolly jumper for Christmas.Tulkinghorn is sure the same holds true for those lonely law firms that have […]

What a card

It’s that time of year again, when you hear from people of whom you have absolutely no recollection and who have signed their name so illegibly that any chance of recollection is impossible. Tulkinghorn was delighted to hear from ‘Aruba’ and ‘Mmmmony’, and hopes that they will be in touch again soon.Christmas also seems to […]

Lawrence Graham in L&R property instruction

Lawrence Graham acted for London & Regional (L&R) on its £215m acquisition of JP Morgan Chase Bank’s 47.5 per cent stake in its own building. JP Morgan, which has now become a tenant in the property it used to half own, was represented by Linklaters. Theodore Goddard advised the Royal Bank of Scotland, which arranged […]

Legal education

Review of the year Legal education entered into uncharted territory this year with the September launch of the bespoke City Legal Practice Course (LPC) at three hand-picked higher education institutions across the country. Born out of a unique collaboration between eight large City firms, the City LPC is intended to provide students with the corporate […]

Hunton gets energy boost from Texas firm

US firm Hunton & Williams has boosted its presence in the US South West by merging with Texas-based Worsham Forsythe & Wooldridge. The firms will come together formally at the beginning of next year in a move that sees Hunton expand to more than 850 lawyers.Hunton managing partner Thurston Moore commented: “We’ve worked closely with […]

Shadow conspiracy

Henri Brandman, the lawyer who acts for Denise Van Outen and Jim Davidson, has just realised that he is a celebrity solicitor in both senses of the words.For years, Brandman has been vaguely aware of the same cars circling his West End firm, but assumed the drivers to be neighbours. In actual fact, the immediate […]

The Leader Column

It can’t be said often enough: mid-sized firms are not dead. For a decade it’s been fashionable to predict their demise (medium-sized bad, global doubleplusgood), yet despite everything, clients seem to like them.Conventional wisdom has it that mid-sized firms will be squeezed in a downturn by the global firms on one side and niche firms […]

Taking the hiss

Is the right to privacy going too far? First it was Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones, but now…An engineering consultancy was recently prosecuted for allegedly damaging a smooth snake habitat (no, nothing to do with the legal profession). Following the works, an injured smooth snake was found and whisked off to a vet for round-the-clock […]

Breaking news: Chaffe Street merges with Brabners

Manchester firm Chaffe Street has shrunk from sixteen partners to just six and is merging with Liverpool based Brabners. Three Chaffe Street insolvency partners, Shan Spencer, Pater Samekh and Martin Keates, are signed up to join DLA. Corporate partner Richard Hepworth has left for Manchester firm Cobbetts. In October 2001 four partners, Chris Lumsden, Anna […]