Hammond Suddards has amassed a team of senior bankers, accountants, lawyers and other professionals to form Hammonds Business Support, a new service for small and medium-sized enterprises. The new service is an independent arm of the national firm and aims to help troubled companies develop and implement turnaround strategies and encourage lenders and creditors to […]
A Freehill Hollingdale & Page partner – currently suing two French partners over allegations that he got up close and personal with one of their associates – is leaving the Australian firm. Stephen Stern has left Freehills Melbourne office to set up his own niche trade practices law and intellectual property firm following a disagreement […]
The Lord Chancellor is to crack down on newspaper payments made to witnesses in criminal cases, he announced yesterday. Lord Irvine has pledged to introduce legislation to prohibit such chequebook journalism as soon as parliamentary time can be found for it. He cited the case of pop star Gary Glitter who was found not guilty […]
A Baker & McKenzie banking and finance partner is joining Goldman Sachs International as senior derivatives counsel. David Green, who joins the investment bank in January, is the second partner Baker & McKenzie has lost to a client this year . The firm’s London office lost partner Graham Allan to client Cisco earlier this year. […]
Browne Jacobson’s former senior partner, Neville Radcliffe, has joined 36-partner Nottingham firm, Nelsons as a partner. A personal injury specialist, Radcliffe spent nearly 40 years with Browne Jacobson and became senior partner in 1990. He resigned and joined Flint Bishop & Barnett in Derby in 1995. Since qualifying, he has worked solely in the litigation […]
The Scottish legal system is on the verge of total chaos today as a court appeal decides whether every decision made by temporary sheriffs in the last 22 years is invalid. The temporary sheriffs – recently made redundant following an appeal court ruling that they contravene the European Convention on Human Rights, introduced in Scotland […]
New Jersey’s third largest law firm, Pitney Hardin Kipp & Szuch has taken over the niche intellectual property firm in Manhattan, Kane Dalsimer Sullivan & Levy. Pitney Hardin’s management committee chairman says the 160-lawyer firm’s acquisition of the eight-lawyer practice is the first of a series of expansion plans being considered. The merger comes just […]
Javelin star, Fatima Whitbread has won undisclosed damages from the BBC over defamatory comments made about her on comedy show, They Think It’s All Over. Whitbread’s lawyer, Graham Atkins, an associate with Campbell Hooper, secured damages and an apology from the BBC in an out of court settlement. The action arose after two of the […]
The Lord Chancellor has frozen lawyers’ fees for criminal legal aid work in the magistrates’ court for the fourth year in a row. Lord Irvine also warned yesterday that payments made to barristers may be slashed, claiming they are “excessive” compared with those made to other publicly-funded professionals. He says: “I am considering whether fees […]
Allen & Overy has been selected by the Department of Justice to advise the Government of Hong Kong (special administrative region) on the landmark merger of the stock exchange, the futures exchange and the three clearing houses. Corporate partner, Michael Liu leads a team of eight lawyers from A&O’s Hong Kong office on the deal […]
Clifford Chance is being sued for £54 million – one of the highest claims ever faced by a UK practice – in a row over a Chinese power plant deal. The £54 million writ, which will be heard in London’s High Court, claims Clifford Chance acted negligently when it drafted a contract for the consortium […]
Euro-Link for Lawyers, the international association of law firms, with 44 practices in 24 countries, has made a number of changes to its management structure. Steuart Howie of Russel & Aitken, Edinburgh, becomes President; Philippe Bedard of Juris Audit International, Paris, Vice President; Chris Mitchell of Cartwrights, Bristol, Secretary and Paul Sillis of Collyer-Bristow, London, […]