Links advises PwC in Lehman administration

Linklaters has bagged the instruction advising four PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) partners on the administration of Lehman Brothers International Europe.

New York-based Weil Gotshal & Manges is handling Lehman's Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in the USA, led by partner Harvey Miller.

The deal is being led by Linklaters head of restructuring and insolvency Tony Bugg (pictured) and restructuring partner Richard Holden, and corporate partners Matthew Middleditch and David Ereira.

It is understood that most banks are also seeking advice from their legal advisers on their position in the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

Of particular interest is whether other banks can terminate various credit derivative contracts, to which Lehman Bros is acting as a counter-party. Lehman is the seventh largest derivatives counter party, according to a survey by financial ratings agency Fitch ratings last year.

Lehman Brothers, the principal UK trading company in the Lehman group, was placed into administration this morning, together with three other group companies.

PwC partners Mike Jervis, Tony Lomas, Steven Pearson and Dan Schwarzmann PwC have been appointed as joint administrators to wind down the business.

The fall of Lehman Brothers comes just six months after the bank extended its UK panel to include Simmons & Simmons. Other panel firms likely to be hit include Allen & Overy, Lovells, Ashurst, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Linklaters and Weil Gotshal & Manges.

One partner at a City firm said: “These are uncertain times we're living in - I think you get certain seminal days in your career, like 9/11 or the Big Bang. Today in shock terms is huge, seeing a bank like Lehman go under.”

The Bank of England has drafted in the restructuring team at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer to advise on the UK regulatory aspects of the deal, while Lovells has taken the lead for the Financial Services Authority.

For more on this story, see our Wall St woes blog.