3 April 2000

Quote of the week

“He used to get drunk at parties and they decided this was the sort of person they should have.” – Management consultant Alan Hodgart on how one firm decided on its new partners.

Scuffle of the week

Phil Collins v his former backing singers. Fresh from his Oscars triumph Collins has launched a case against Louis Satterfield and Rahmlee Davis, former members of Earth, Wind and Fire, to recoup royalties. Collins claims that the two should only have been paid royalties for the five tracks on a live album that the pair […]

Projects

Simmons & Simmons advised United Arab Emirates Offsets Group (UOG) on a strategic partnership with oil companies Enron and Elf for the implementation of UOG’s Dolfin Initiative. Simmons head of corporate and energy Jerry Walter led a team of nine on the deal. Enron was advised by Vinson & Elkins. Elf was advised in-house and […]

Vulture culture

The High Court postmortem of the collapse of the UK’s oldest bank, Barings, will be a public spectacle with high stakes and complex issues, but will there be implications for legal firms or is it just a case of the vultures picking the bare bones of a bank that fell from grace? Abigail Townsend reports. […]

Property

SJ Berwin represented Delancey Estates in its £3.5m per annum letting of its office development on Manchester Square, London W1, to ICI. The 20-year lease will be reviewed every five years. SJ Berwin property partner Martin Wright led the team on the deal. Field Fisher Waterhouse acted for ICI.

Property

Lawrence Graham represented Legal & General Assurance Society in its £22.5m purchase of Cardiff’s Port Road Retail Park from Standard Life Investments. Property partner Richard Miles and planning solicitor John Palmer advised on the deal. Addleshaw Booth & Co acted for Standard Life.

Confronting vistas of liability

John Powell QC writes from Hong Kong on the ever-changing coastline of the international professional negligence scene. Occasional acquaintance with the world’s major time zone centres – Hong Kong, Tokyo, London and New York – confirms that we live in a world dominated by professionals. Their magnificent multi-storey edifices are the castles and palaces of […]

Legal Widow

The Lawyer is banking on the kids to come up with a killer dotcom concept. They are obviously so much better at spending money than he is at earning it that he figures they will know by instinct how to suck the disposable income of the UK’s 5 to 15-year-olds out of their piggy banks […]

Perrin’s View

The news that Hammond Suddards is to spend £1m through Team Saatchi to develop its image will no doubt be viewed as yet another giant evolutionary leap for lawyerkind. After all, spending a million notes on a marketing campaign is not something you see every day in this business. Judging from the preview, the campaign […]

Right to Reply

I am writing in respect of the coverage in relation to the recent Board elections at Davies Arnold Cooper (The Lawyer, 27 March). As the person who is responsible for having ended what you describe in your editorial column as Nick Sinfield’s “reign of terror”, I believe I am well placed to comment on the […]

Will fair pay give a fair criminal trial?

As prosecutors look forward to more pay, John Cooper says they already have too much power. John Cooper is a barrister at 3 Gray’s Inn Square. So prosecutors are going to be paid the same as defence barristers. Whether this means defence barristers are to take a pay cut to get down to the level […]

Will some things never change?

The profession is modernising fast. Often reluctantly, sometimes resignedly, management, conditions, practices and reward structures are being dragged into the 21st Century. But there are still pockets of esoteric legal rituals and practices that stubbornly refuse to change. Even in the ultra-modern, high-tech business world of the City law firm some things are still done […]