Baker & McKenzie has opened an Austrian office following a merger with local 21-lawyer firm Kerres & Diwok.The two founding partners of the Austrian firm, Dr Christoph Kerres and Georg Diwok, have joined Baker & McKenzie’s international partnership. The office will also have two local partners.Baker & McKenzie’s executive chairman Christine Lagarde said the merger […]
Nabarro Nathanson’s former head of property is leaving private practice to launch a new property business. Well-known industry figure Geoffrey Lander is leaving the law to team up with Jonathan Edwards, the founder and managing director of corporate real estate consultancy Jonathan Edwards.Their new venture, known as Tricore Equity Partners LLP, will act as principal […]
A unique dispute in which a petition for reduction of Marconi’s share capital in a company was challenged has resulted in a settlement between clients of Norton Rose, Allen & Overy (A&O) and Ashurst Morris Crisp. The compromise means Marconi, represented by A&O, is due a repayment of £41m from a joint venture company, Ultramast, […]
The UK Patent Office is to shift some of its patent application work to its Danish equivalent in a move to speed up the progress of its caseload. The Danish Patent and Trademark Office will handle around 750 UK patent applications over the next two years following an agreement signed last week. The move is […]
The last remnants of Brobeck Phleger & Harrison are finally disappearing after Paul Hastings Janofsky & Walker hired 41 lawyers.Ten partners will join Paul Hastings, including intellectual property partner Doug Olson who was a member of Brobeck’s nine-strong policy committee. The haul spans three locations: San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco. As a result […]
Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft played a key role in negotiations with British Energy on behalf of bondholders in the stricken nuclear power generating company. A restructuring package was agreed on 14 February, just in time for the Government’s deadline. Cadwalader partners Andrew Wilkinson and Matthew Williams led the negotiating team for the bondholders. The UK’s […]
Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson has elected new co-managing partners as it teeters on the brink of a potential merger with Ashurst Morris Crisp.Valerie Ford Jacobs, head of the firm’s capital markets group, and corporate partner Paul Reinstein will replace the current incumbents Peter Cobb and Michael Rauch from 1 March.The move is the […]
Clifford Chance is taking the next step in strengthening its New York presence by consolidating its three Midtown offices under one roof.The firm’s Manhattan-based lawyers are set to move to the Deutsche Bank Building by May 2004, where the lease covers 380,000 sq ft or 14 floors within the 29 floor building. The move is […]
Eversheds has appointed its first managing partner with sole responsibility for Paris. Head of operations Colin Brown will take on the new role which previously came under the remit of London managing partner Michael Brown. The decision to appoint a separate managing partner for Paris follows the rapid expansion of the office. Eversheds doubled its […]
Manchester firm Cobbetts is in preliminary talks with Birmingham-based Lee Crowder about developing a tie-up. The two firms have not decided whether to enter full blown merger negotiations but The Lawyer understands that the prospect of a merger is being discussed. At the moment, only a select number of partners from each firm are involved […]
Dewey Ballantine has closed its first deal for the Republic of Croatia’s government. The firm advised on its client’s e282m (£190m) financing for the first and second phases of a motorway project. Jonathan Simpson, a projects partner at Dewey who led the deal, got the work after acting for the government at his previous firm, […]
Four South African law firms will be the big winners in a storm that has erupted over last year’s liquidation of Johannesburg-based company Retail Apparel Group (RAG) Werksmans, Sonnenberg Hoffman & Galmobik, Stanley Rothbort, and Brian Kahn are advising the various parties in an inquiry into the liquidation of the company in May last year. […]