The Lawyer
1 December 2008
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‘Conduct unbefitting’ claim levelled as Beresfords tribunal is extended
1-Dec-2008
The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal hearing against Jim Beresford of Doncaster-based Beresfords Solicitors has been adjourned due to the case proving more technical than expected.
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500 sue Collyer-Bristow in lit funding first
1-Dec-2008
Collyer-Bristow is facing a £50m legal battle brought by more than 500 investors in schemes drafted by the firm’s former company commercial chief John Bailey.
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A&L and Arthur Cox act on Ryanair's Aer Lingus bid
1-Dec-2008
Irish firms A&L Goodbody and Arthur Cox have reprised their roles for Ryanair and Aer Lingus respectively as the former prepares to make another attempt to buy the latter.
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A&O remains top adviser to HBOS
1-Dec-2008
Allen & Overy (A&O) has cemented its relationship with HBOS, according to the latest Hemscott tables, which rank law firms by the number of FTSE100 clients on their books.
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Accusations stall Lincolnshire hire
1-Dec-2008
The appointment of a new legal chief for Lincolnshire County Council’s pioneering in-house practice has been thrown into doubt by allegations from a former colleague.
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Addleshaws boosts India push with key hire
1-Dec-2008
Addleshaw Goddard has brought in a former Wragge & Co partner to help develop a network of Indian relationship firms.
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Ashurst moves staff into energy and transport team
1-Dec-2008
Ashurst has redeployed three corporate and three finance junior associates to its energy, transport and infrastructure (ETI) team as the transactional side of its business has slowed down.
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Bakers acts on launch of green private equity fund
5-Dec-2008
Baker & McKenzie has won a mandate to help set up a $5bn (£3.4bn) eco-friendly private equity fund run by former Man Group chief executive Stanley Fink.
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Bird & Bird seals Singapore association
2-Dec-2008
Bird & Bird has entered into an association with Singapore firm Alban Tay Mahtani & de Silva (ATMD), due to take effect from 1 January 2009.
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Bryan Cave launches first French office
2-Dec-2008
Bryan Cave has officially launched its Paris branch, following a three-partner raid on Dechert in July.
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Central Europe Special Report: Close courters
1-Dec-2008
As international firms turn their attention to Asia and the Middle East, their Viennese counterparts have increased their efforts in Central and Eastern Europe. By Chris Crowe
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Central Europe Special Report: Czechered careering
1-Dec-2008
Czech Republic government work may not be as thick on the ground nowadays, but with increased entrepreneurialism and a rise in PPPs, there’s still plenty of deals to chase.
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Central Europe Special Report: Hungary for success
1-Dec-2008
Hungary’s domestic law firms are seizing the chance to attract the best clients locally in the wake of their larger international counterparts’ exodus. By Nicola Laver
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Christie's GC to create formal legal panel
5-Dec-2008
Christie's general counsel Nick Deeming has begun constructing the auction house's first legal panel and has written to a number of firms inviting them to tender.
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Class action is one big headache, says Which?
1-Dec-2008
The only consumer body able to bring class actions in the UK has slammed the system for being costly, time-consuming and offering little reward.
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Cleary, Dewey, Milbank cut associate bonuses
4-Dec-2008
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, Dewey & LeBoeuf and Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy have matched the new market rate for year-end associate bonuses.
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Clifford Chance loses fourth US litigator this week
2-Dec-2008
Clifford Chance has suffered its fourth litigation defection in New York in days.
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Clifford Chance US hit by triple partner departure
2-Dec-2008
Clifford Chance's US litigation practice has been hit by the defection of three partners just weeks after losing a partner duo to Bingham McCutchen.
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CMS alliance trio join forces in Moscow
2-Dec-2008
CMS Cameron McKenna has signed an agreement with two other members of the CMS alliance to merge their operations in Moscow.
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Conyers Dill forges ahead with global expansion plans as Brazil office opens
1-Dec-2008
Offshore firm Conyers Dill & Pearman is launching in Brazil following an upsurge in investment flowing in and out of the country.
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Davis Polk cuts associate bonuses
2-Dec-2008
Davis Polk & Wardwell has followed the lead of US rivals Cravath Swaine & Moore and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett by halving its bonus payouts for 2008.
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Death of former Freshfields MD was suicide
3-Dec-2008
Former Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer managing director Kirk Stephenson committed suicide by jumping in front of a train, an inquest has concluded.
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DLA Piper partner quits equity
1-Dec-2008
DLA Piper private equity partner Andrew Holt is leaving the firm’s equity to become a consultant in its Manchester office.
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DLA to shed 40 jobs across UK offices
2-Dec-2008
DLA Piper has launched a redundancy consultation that could lead to up to 40 job losses across its UK offices.
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FFW in jobs consultation with 175 support staff
1-Dec-2008
Field Fisher Waterhouse (FFW) has launched the largest redundancy consultation of the UK legal market so far, after starting talks with 175 support staff in London.
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Fourth partner quits Cadwalader since summer cuts
3-Dec-2008
Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft has suffered its fourth partner defection since it was forced to lay off 96 lawyers during the summer.
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Goldman restructuring head rejoins Kirkland
1-Dec-2008
Goldman Sachs restructuring supremo James Sprayregen has shocked the New York legal market with a return to his former law firm, Kirkland & Ellis.
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Guardian legal chief jumps ship to Ofcom
1-Dec-2008
The Guardian newspaper has lost its head of legal Nuala Cosgrove to media regulator Ofcom.
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Herbert Smith's German ally shuts in Central Europe
2-Dec-2008
Herbert Smith ally Gleiss Lutz has pulled out of the Czech Republic and Poland, with Austrian firm Schoenherr taking over its offices.
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Herbies faces taxing times
1-Dec-2008
What a difference a month can make.
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India’s FoxMandal opens two new India bases
1-Dec-2008
Indian firm FoxMandal Little (FML) has continued its expansion, opening two new Indian offices.
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In-housers at E.ON retrain as mediators
1-Dec-2008
Energy company E.ON is rolling out an in-house mediation service to resolve disputes between its hundreds of subsidiaries as well as external businesses.
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Judge slams ‘dopey’ McGrigors in Reid case
1-Dec-2008
Mr Justice Mann has accused Scottish firm McGrigors of “dopiness” in the advice it gave to Reid Minty founder Andrew Reid in a High Court dispute with former employees.
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Knowing your outplace
4-Dec-2008
As redundancy packages go, that offered by Nabarro to the 22 staff currently in consultation is on the good side of average.
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Latham entrusts Dubai to London partner
1-Dec-2008
Latham & Watkins has shaken up its Middle East management structure – replacing its regional partner Rindala Beydoun in favour of London partner Bryant Edwards.
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Lloyd-Jones keeps top job at Blake Lapthorn
1-Dec-2008
Blake Lapthorn has re-elected its senior partner Jonathan Lloyd-Jones for a further three-year term.
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Mayer Brown, Wachtell lead in Chevy Chase sale
4-Dec-2008
Latham & Watkins, Mayer Brown and Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz have snared key roles advising on US bank Capital One’s acquisition of Chevy Chase Bank.
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Mishcon kicks off redundancy review
2-Dec-2008
Mishcon de Reya has become the latest firm to launch redundancy talks with staff.
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Moves Roundup: 1 December 2008
2-Dec-2008
Simon Pritchard, senior director of mergers at the Office of Fair Trading, will move to Allen & Overy at the beginning of next year, becoming a partner in the antitrust practice.
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Number of High Court IP cases rockets 83 per cent
1-Dec-2008
Intellectual property (IP) disputes in the High Court have shot up by 83 per cent in the past year as businesses move to protect their IP rights in the downturn.
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O2 slashes panel to two firms as GC quits
3-Dec-2008
Mobile phone company O2 has completed a radical overhaul of its legal function that has seen general counsel Justine Campbell leave the company and Clifford Chance and Herbert Smith appointed as sole advisers in Europe.
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Opinion: Insurers and third-party funders should work together
1-Dec-2008
It may be thought that there is an uneasy relationship between after-the-event insurance and third-party funding, but my experiences have shown this is not the case.
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Osborne Clarke makes nine redundant
4-Dec-2008
Osborne Clarke is to make eight fee earners and one member of support staff redundant.
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Outer Temple pushes ahead with Middle East strategy
1-Dec-2008
Outer Temple Chambers has recruited a Saudi-qualified lawyer to practise as a barrister in the UK.
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Partner deed lies at heart of Hammonds profits dispute
1-Dec-2008
When is a former partner still a partner? This is the key question that Mr Justice Warren has the hard task of answering.
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Profit dip forces Herbies into £50m tax U-turn
1-Dec-2008
Firm tears up tax year deferral plan in response to bleak predictions for the year ahead.
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Property Special Report: Blind rates
1-Dec-2008
The Government’s taxing of buildings left empty is not having the desired effect of filling the premises and has instead created more dangerous buildings, a loss of jobs and a disincentive on the part of developers. By Lee Nuttall
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Property Special Report: Eco down
1-Dec-2008
The Government’s attempts to fast-track its so-called eco-town planning procedures have hit an impasse. Simon Ricketts reports
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Proskauer Rose makes 60 redundancies
5-Dec-2008
Proskauer Rose has become the latest US firm to announce layoffs, shedding 35 associates and 25 support staff.
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Rawlinson Butler
1-Dec-2008
Rawlison Butler is not a firm that likes to splash its cash.
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Reed Smith to shed 11 City associate jobs
4-Dec-2008
Reed Smith has launched a redundancy consultation in the UK with 11 associate jobs under threat.
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Right Russian: Pavel Klimov, Unisys
1-Dec-2008
When Pavel Klimov embarked on his career in communist Russia he had few options open to him. Now he is a globetrotting lawyer in charge of Unisys’ Emea legal team.
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RJW: Hiring?
2-Dec-2008
It is refreshing to learn that while many firms are wielding the big redundancy axe, there are still firms that are trying to buck the trend and anticipate measured growth during the recession.
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Seisler quits Europe job after Lovells poll defeat
1-Dec-2008
Lovells Continental Europe head Harald Seisler has stepped down from the role after running an unsuccessful campaign to become firmwide managing partner.
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SFO faces £10m legal bill on collapsed pharma investigation
4-Dec-2008
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) could face a £10m legal bill following the collapse of its £25m, six-year investigation into alleged price fixing by drug manufacturers.
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Shearman & Sterling beefs up Abu Dhabi by 10
1-Dec-2008
Shearman & Sterling has embarked on a major expansion of its Middle Eastern practice, transferring three partners and seven associates to its Abu Dhabi office.
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Short-term switches, long-term damage?
1-Dec-2008
Over the last two months a raft of firms have used their resources flexibly to save on recruitment fees and prevent redundancies.
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Simpson Thacher promotes two in London
2-Dec-2008
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett has made up two corporate finance lawyers in London in its latest round of partnership promotions.
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Slaughters, SJ Berwin advise in BA-Qantas merger
2-Dec-2008
Slaughter and May and SJ Berwin have profited from their longstanding ties with British Airways (BA) and Qantas, advising the two respective airlines on their proposed merger.
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Special report: Central Europe
1-Dec-2008
Still a hotbed of financial activity, Central European law firms are placed in and around an emerging market that has much to offer lawyers.
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Special report: Getting real about property
1-Dec-2008
Dr Johnson famously said that the prospect of hanging concentrates a man’s mind wonderfully. It can equally be said that the prospect of an economic recession concentrates the legal adviser’s mind wonderfully. Or at least it should do. So how should property lawyers approach their work in the current climate?
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Special report: Property
1-Dec-2008
Real estate is one of the sectors worst affected by the economic downturn. But the difficulties of the market have inevitably brought new opportunities and challenges for real estate lawyers as they stick by their clients.
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Stephenson Harwood lawyer killed in Mumbai
1-Dec-2008
Stephenson Harwood is grieving for colleague Lo Hwei Yen, a lawyer at the firm's Singapore office who lost her life in the Mumbai terror attacks.
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Switzerland Special Report: Crisis? What crisis?
1-Dec-2008
As some European lawyers fret about where their next instruction is coming from, their Swiss colleagues are busy burning the midnight oil.
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Tough climate prompts generational shift among top private equity lawyers
1-Dec-2008
Firms experience a changing of the guard as key partners move on or into management.
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Transatlantic litigation: In hot dispute
1-Dec-2008
UK litigators at US firms are overwhelmed with credit crunch-related disputes, but do any of them have a truly transatlantic practice?
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Travers cuts jobs in real estate and corporate
3-Dec-2008
Travers Smith has become the latest firm to make redundancies, shedding four associates across its real estate and corporate groups.
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Tulkinghorn: A bum note, no Cannes do and too latte for regrets
1-Dec-2008
Tulkinghorn’s lip curtains are twitching. It must be the end of Movember, the month in which his scribes grew moustaches to raise money for prostate cancer. It’s been a long, arduous slog but the results speak for themselves. Tulkinghorn doffs his cap in the direction of those who supported his moustache-growing freaks.
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UK and US firms win Singapore licences
5-Dec-2008
Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, Herbert Smith, Latham & Watkins, Norton Rose, and White & Case win right to practise local law in SIngapore.
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White & Case unveils new management structure
3-Dec-2008
White & Case has revamped its management structure for the second time in two years, electing new practice and regional group heads.
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Wolseley slims down panel to two firms
1-Dec-2008
Building materials supplier Wolseley has revamped its UK legal panel, retaining only Addleshaw Goddard and Eversheds for all its legal needs.
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Work-Life Quiz: Julian James Clark, Holman Fenwick Willan
1-Dec-2008
Who would you least like to be stuck in a lift with and why?A sabre-toothed tiger – three guesses why.
