Barclays lost 44 lawyers in its legal team over 2023, almost four times the average number of leavers across the UK’s top banks. The banks with the second highest number of leavers is tied between HSBC and NatWest, with 12 lawyer exits each, according to indicative data. On the other end of the scale, Royal […]
Two Swiss powerhouses have collaborated to offer their in-house legal teams a two-way secondment programme. Private bank UBS and insurer Zurich Insurance have agreed to swap two secondees each for a three-month placement. Intakes happen in the spring and autumn of each year, meaning that four secondment swaps occur per year. The programme is spearheaded […]
European bank Société Générale has lost its general counsel after 17 years at the business. Sarah Linstead has announced that she has left the bank for financial services firm TP ICAP as general counsel for EMEA. Lindsay Sides, chief operating officer in the London legal department at Société Générale, has stepped up to fill the […]
Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom has hired another finance partner from Linklaters in London. The US firm has snapped up financial regulation partner Sebastian Barling, who has spent the last 12 years at the magic circle firm. He was promoted to partner in 2018. Before his time at Linklaters, Barling spent several years at […]
EasyGroup takes on “brand thieves” again in new suit EasyGroup, the owning group of budget airline EasyJet, has filed a part 7 “passing off and trade marks claim” in the Intellectual Property List, continuing its long-running campaign against what it calls “brand thieves”. Stephenson Harwood has been called in to represent EasyGroup in this latest […]
Santander has cut its UK panel by five following the bank’s latest review of its roster. Originally a panel of 19, the roster of firms has been cut to 14. Firms that have made the cut include Slaughter and May and Allen & Overy, as well as Hogan Lovells and Addleshaw Goddard. A source told […]
Kirkland & Ellis has swiped another partner from Allen & Overy, just one month ahead of the magic circle firm’s tie-up with Shearman & Sterling. Vanessa Xu is making the move to Kirkland, having spent the entirety of her 17-year career at A&O. She was made partner in 2017. A leveraged and acquisition finance partner, […]
Ward McKimm, Shearman & Sterling’s European and Middle East regional managing partner, is leaving the firm less than two months before its Allen & Overy tie-up goes live. A statement from Shearman and McKimm read: “Shearman & Sterling and Ward McKimm jointly confirm that, after a nearly-30 year career as a leading high-yield and leveraged […]
A member of Allen & Overy’s City finance team is set to leave the firm for Kirkland & Ellis, having joined the magic circle firm over a year ago. Capital markets specialist Marwa Elborai is making the move to Kirkland. She joined A&O in January 2023 having moved across from Shearman & Sterling after 16 […]
Slaughter and May and Clifford Chance have lined up for Nationwide’s proposed acquisition of Virgin Money UK. Slaughters partner David Watkins acted for the buyer, Nationwide. Meanwhile Clifford Chance acted for Virgin Money. The team is being led by partners Katherine Moir and David Pudge, with support from employment partners Sonia Gilbert and Chinwe Odimba-Chapman, […]
Payment platform Zilch has recruited its new general counsel from Revolut. Amy Sandys will assume her first general counsel role at Zilch, after working as head of legal, corporate, at the banking app company. The new general counsel will take over from Natalie Salunke, who left the business in January 2024. Salunke joined Zilch in […]
The latest in an ongoing series of partner losses for the magic circle firm, Linklaters’ co-head of leveraged finance is poised to move to Gibson Dunn & Crutcher. David Irvine is set to join the US firm’s London team just three years after returning to Linklaters. Irvine had spent the first 14 years of his […]