23 April 2001

The butcher boy

Hextall Erskine senior partner John Bundy fell into law by accident. But the chance stops there- purposefulness has been his driving force ever since

Legal Widow

I took Subjudice to aqua aerobics with me the other day, and she had a good laugh while we hoofed our way through an underwater Living la Vida Loca. Before the music started and we had to concentrate to avoid drowning, we all swished our way to the side of the pool to collect our […]

Technology, Media and telecoms

Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver and Pearson Television form independent production company Fresh Productions. Jamie Oliver and Pearson advised by Denton Wilde Sapte (Tara Donovan, Neil Vickers). Elderstreet Capital Partners makes £3.2m investment in Cataloga; first round backers Kennet Capital also make investment. Cataloga advised by Kemp & Co (Lucy Vernall). Elderstreet Capital and Kennet advised […]

Real Estate and Projects

Compass sells Regent Palace and Strand Palace, Cumberland Hotels, Posthouse Hotels and Heritage Hotels for an aggregate value of £1.3bn. Compass Group advised by Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (James Davis) and Paisner & Co (David Levy, Rachel Phillips). London & Regional Properties, purchaser of Regent Palace and Strand Palace, advised by Lawrence Graham (Michael Fielding). Grand […]

The Leader column

Spring is in the air, the sap is rising, and so are the salaries: it’s budget time. Up until last year, the annual round of pay reviews for assistants was seen as routine. But then SJ Berwin and Clifford Chance raised the stakes. This was no poor-us defensive response to the US firms – it […]

Brief encounter: mills & reeve

The Cambridge department of Mills & Reeve is very pleased with itself. With 25 of the company’s 60 partners and 125 of the 260 solicitors, it earns around 50 per cent of the firm’s total £25m turnover. The branches in Norwich, Birmingham and London have got a bit of catching up to do. Even so, […]

Prime time Talking

Primus Telecommunications is certainly in its prime and promises greater things for the future, as it expands into Europe in the unusual position of being a telecoms company in credit, its legal needs are growing along with its global reach. Kelly Harrison reports If you happen to have been in the Warwickshire countryside recently you […]

Etiquette

Even with the not insignificant influence of globalisation and liberalisation, there is still a basic etiquette that needs to be followed in Japan. Non-domestic lawyers are forgiven much, but must at the very least appear to be trying. Tardiness If you are late, you are untrustworthy. It is as simple as that. Seating plan The […]

UK firms in Tokyo

Allen & Overy (joint venture with Akatsuki International Law Office) Partner in charge: Thomas Brown Practice areas: project finance, structured finance (including securitisation), capital markets The office was established 1988. Clients of the two-partner office include Jexim, IBJ, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Nomura Securities, Merrill Lynch and the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. Like most firms, […]

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East side story

Asia as a whole is going through some momentous changes: last year, Singapore allowed foreign firms to form joint ventures with local counterparts to provide domestic advice for the first time; China is overhauling its attitude to outsiders as part of its accession to the World Trade Organisation; and countries previously deemed low money-spinners such […]

Specialising in stupidity

Tulkinghorn must thank the anonymous caller who last week rang to complain about The Lawyer’s use of language. No, our reporters have not been caught in the City bad-mouthing all and sundry, spraying abusive graffiti on the walls of Clifford Chance, or leaving drunken messages on senior partners’ voicemails. Absolutely not. So what gross libel […]

Last Leipzig Gaedertz partners find homes

KPMG Treuhand & Goerdeler and Haarmann Hemmelrath & Partner have recruited the last partners to quit the defunct Leipzig office of Gaedertz. Corporate lawyer Peter Krüger, who set up Gaedertz’s Leipzig office in 1990, has joined the German member firm of KLegal International as its Leipzig head. Gaedertz associate Falk Hoffmann, a specialist in administrative […]