US energy law specialist Bracewell & Giuliani’s desire for a pole position in UK shale is fuelling a boost of its City operations Things can move fast in the energy sector. In 2011 shale gas drilling at three exploratory wells near Blackpool sparked a couple of minor earthquakes and a moratorium on exploration in the […]
The grandest lawyers you meet as a legal journalist are almost always from New York, usually from firms that fetishise oak panelling and corner offices. Meeting Rudy Giuliani, however, was a surprisingly unstuffy experience; even his security detail cracked the odd smile. Giuliani, who most of us know better as the former Mayor of New […]
Silk appointments slipped to an all time low last week with just 84 being appointed in the 2012/13 round. The 183 applicants are required to fill in a tough 70-page application pack, no mean feat. The Lawyer quizzes five successful applicants on why they chose to become silk and who helped them become a top […]
SRA tells LSB what it thinks of being criticised over plodding ABS process Waiting is one of life’s hardships, so says Lemony Snicket, a character in children’s book The Reptile Room. This may strike a chord with firms in the slow-moving queue for an alternative business structure (ABS) licence. So is it a Series of […]
After 25 years Bristol-born Osborne Clarke calls London office home Osborne Clarke (OC) long had to ward off accusations that, as a Bristol firm, it was underweight in the City and had little chance of competing with upper mid-market corporate beasts with HQs firmly in the Square Mile. But lateral hires, running at around 10 […]
FTSE 100 property giant warms to more formal way of instructing firms Being a FTSE 100 company without a general counsel says much about British Land (BL), one of the UK’s largest property companies. Rival Land Securities is only about 30 per cent bigger by market capitalisation but has a full-blown in-house legal team with […]
John Raimbach is the director of finance at Goodman Derrick. He was previously the business and finance manager for international capital markets at Allen & Overy and, before that, chief finance officer at Baker & McKenzie Tell us a bit about your background? I have been around the block a few times and have […]
Can Mayer Brown stem the flow of staff after disappointing results? Last week The Lawyer compared US firms’ financial results with a ballooning cake. This week, that cake looked more like a collapsed chocolate fondant. Mayer Brown played the part of the gooey bit in the middle, with both partner profits and turnover sliding to […]
Lord Sumption’s assertion that to be the best, lawyers should not study law, is gaining acceptance among law firms Around 40 per cent of lawyers now come from a non-law background and the demand for a legal career from career changers or other graduates shows no sign of slowing. Academic knowledge is not the only […]
Clifford Chance again tops the global project finance rankings by deal value. It’s been a pretty rotten time for the sector, but events such as the Arab Spring are giving things a push It is a bit of a stretch to say that completing 47 transactions worth $36.3bn (£24bn) in a year is slim pickings, […]
Defamation Makudi v Triesman. [2013] EWHC 142 (QB). Tugendhat J. 1 February 2013 Evidence of corrupt practices in regard to the bid for the 2018 World Cup given by an MP to a select committee was covered by absolute privilege and discussions he held with counsel appointed by the FA, and counsel’s subsequent reports, were […]
Statutory test for rights of light will not make dispute outcomes any more predictable than they are now The Law Commission has done what most people thought it would not – propose the abolition of future prescriptive rights of light. But, just how radical are the proposals? The commission’s report (8 June 2011) recommended replacing […]