Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer’s senior management team has emphasised its commitment to client work by pledging that all partners in management positions will spend a significant proportion of their time on fee-earning. New senior partner Will Lawes and executive partner Stephan Eilers are both understood to want to dedicate up to half their time to fee-earning. […]
It’s not quite “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…” but two Northern wannabe legal market Jedis have made a decent stab at being Star Wars-style revolutionaries from distant outposts. “In an office in Ellesmere Port a solicitor and a computer expert have devised a unique way of providing legal advice on […]
As Howrey’s European teams quit over IP conflicts of interest, a fault line between the US and Europe is emerging. Can Hogan Lovells and Baker & McKenzie bridge the gap? Conflicts of interest have always generated headaches for law firms, but US firm Howrey needed a family-sized pack of paracetamol last year when conflicts were […]
Field Fisher Waterhouse (FFW) has advised the Azerbaijan government on the launch of its first communications satellite. The FFW team was led by partner John Worthy, who joined the firm from SNR Denton legacy firm Denton Wilde Sapte in July 2010. The contract was awarded to French company Arianespace, which will supply the Ariane 5ECA […]
Butcher Burns and former Vertex Law partner Stuart Butler-Gallie bagged the leading roles on the takeover of League One’s Charlton Athletic by a consortium led by former Newcastle United vice-president Tony Jimenez. The Central London firm took the mandate for the new owners courtesy of an existing private client relationship with Jimenez. Butler-Gallie, the founder […]
Herbert Smith and Linklaters have advised on the sale of one of the properties in the beleaguered White Tower portfolio. Carlyle European Real Estate Partners III, assisted by Herbert Smith real estate partner Simon Price, sold 60 Victoria Embankment to JPMorgan for an undisclosed amount less than six months after buying it. The 420,000sq ft […]
Washington DC firm Covington & Burling is continuing its strategy of bringing former government prosecutors in-house with the hire of Robert Amaee, head of the anti-corruption and proceeds of crime units at the SFO. As Covington’s London anti-bribery and anti-corruption practice leader John Rupp puts it, the imminent arrival of the UK Bribery Act and […]
US firm on track to mirror its core domestic strengths at London outpost. This year’s US law firm financial reporting season is yet to get into gear, but already there are indications that one firm at least will post some belting results for 2010. Well, to be more precise, one office within a US firm’s […]
French lawyers are rejecting the international firm model in favour of a more traditional boutique approach. The New Year has seen the establishment of several independent firms in Paris. Former Linklaters partner Michel Frieh has merged his boutique Frieh & Associés with Bouhénic Baudin & Associés, founded in 2008 by Pierre-Alain Bouhénic, formerly a partner at Weil […]
Matthew Arnold & Baldwin (MAB) managing partner Iain Donaldson says his firm began preparing for the current litigation boom long before the recession. “Litigation was quite clearly the place to be,” he says. “It was screechingly obvious to us.” Contentious work makes up half of MAB’s turnover, a further 24 per cent is contributed by […]
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer will drop the names of its German legacy firms within a decade, according to new executive partner Stephan Eilers. The former global tax chief for the magic circle firm officially took up his new role at the beginning of the year as part of a three-pronged management team with incoming senior partner Will Lawes and […]
Devereux Chambers has expanded its tax practice with the arrival of Jonathan Fisher QC from 23 Essex Street. It is a rare addition for Devereux, which has spent much of the past two years building up its non-legal expertise with the hire of chief executive Beverly Landais from Baker & McKenzie (The Lawyer, 21 May […]