18 March 2002

Competition partner

Oh, those canny clerks. Tulkinghorn never fails to be impressed at their ingenuity, particularly when it comes to getting invited to the most exclusive party of the year, The Lawyer’s own Hot 100 bash, taking place tonight (18 March).Head of 20 Essex Street and one of this year’s chosen ones Iain Milligan QC and his […]

Legal Widow

They have a new clear desk policy at the Lawyer’s office, and he has had to free his cubicle of all the games and gadgets that gave meaning to his working days. Gone is the radio-controlled Zeppelin, which he can fly round the office and into the back of his colleagues’ heads; gone the foam […]

Commercial break

The Commercial Court is under constant attack. Jon Robins asks whether the critics have been too quick to see only the bad side “Totally antiquated and rather shabby”, “third world” and “a public disgrace” are just some of the harsh – but fair – phrases bandied about by lawyers concerning the Commercial Court over the […]

Can eat, will eat

Tulkinghorn has just heard of the most marvellous wheeze: eat your fill and support a children’s charity at the same time. The Variety Club of Great Britain is holding a celebrity chef gastronomic evening on Tuesday 16 April for lawyers and their clients. Normally, Tulkinghorn is happy with Mrs Tulkinghorn’s pork chops, but he feels […]

Keeping the faith

Among the stormy seas of recent corporate events, the ‘good faith’ section of the Marine Insurance Act 1906 has been making waves of its own. Joanna Goldsworthy reports Commercial events of 2001 were dominated by several high-profile corporate collapses, including Railtrack, Equitable Life, Independent Insurance and, most spectacularly of all, Enron.The issues raised by these […]

Called to account

Five Statham Gill Davies partners made an average of £700,000 each when Tenon bought out the firm. But with the Tenon share price on the slide, is it a workable model in the long term? Helen Power reports The only thing lawyers generally like to be shown by accountants is how to fill in a […]

TJG helps to create domestic giant via Marconi acquisition

Taylor Joynson Garrett has advised Italian company Merloni Elettrodomestici on its acquisition of 50 per cent of UK domestic appliance manufacturer GDA from Marconi for l195.5m (£120.8m). The remaining 50 per cent is owned by General Electric (GE).Merloni, whose primary brands are Ariston and Indesit, is a new client for Taylor Joynson and the firm […]

Deals summary

Berwin Leighton Paisner (Simon Pollock) acted for the Numerica Group on its £30m acquisition of the non-audit business of Leicester-based accountants Pole Arnold. Pole Arnold represented by Eversheds’ Nottingham office. Field Fisher Waterhouse (Nicholas Thompsell) advised the Hearts of Oak Insurance Group on the disposal of its administration and investment operations to the Liverpool Victoria […]

Buchanan London suffers new losses as US partner duo quits

The London office of US firm Buchanan Ingersoll has lost its permanent resident US partners Jerome Mansmann and John Muolo have left the embattled London office for Reed Smith Warner Cranston. Pittsburgh rival Reed Smith has also scooped Buchanan’s Dublin-based administrator Noel Daly to set up an Irish presence for the firm.Mansmann will split his […]

Clarification

Following an article last week entitled ‘Orchards furthers NY plan by doubling partner count’ it has been brought to our attention that Patrick Heffernan was not a senior partner in the Halliwell Landau London office. In addition, the London office is down by only one partner compared to six months ago, which is accounted for […]

New Chancery Bar Association rules speed up CFAs

The Chancery Bar Association (CBA) has redrafted its conditional fee arrangement (CFA) rules in an effort to save time and to save clients’ money Less contentious elements of CFA contracts will no longer have to be subject to renegotiation during each case as they have become standardised into an all-embracing new set of terms and […]

BLP scoops Brack Capital

Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) has pulled in Brack Capital Real Estate as a client, thanks to Benelux firm Loyens & Loeff BLP is acting for the Brack Capital consortium on its j1.46bn (£906m) offer for the Haslemere Group.A team led by tax partner John Overs is advising on the UK tax and related UK corporate […]