29 June 2009

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Weil Gotshal takes starring role in Trafalgar Square public art project

Weil Gotshal & Manges has advised the artist Antony Gormley on the groundbreaking Fourth Plinth project in Trafalgar Square. The live installation, which will allow 2,400 members of the public to have their hour of fame on the vacant fourth plinth over a period of 100 days, kicks off today. Private equity partner Marco Compagnoni […]

Addleshaws PEP down a third as revenues dip by 11 per cent

Addleshaw Goddard has brought in £173.3m for 2008-09, a drop in fee income of 11 per cent from the previous financial year. Paul Devitt The firm also announced a drop in profit per equity partner of 31 per cent from £586,000 last year to £405,000 this year. The corporate division brought in £32m – a […]

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Edwin Coe turnover edges up, profit drops by 20 per cent

Edwin Coe has seen average profit per equity partner (PEP) drop nearly 20 per cent during the last year. The litigation specialist increased its turnover by six per cent, with revenues rising from £13m to £13.8m in the 2008/09 financial year. But PEP fell from £456,000 to £368,000 in a year of rapid expansion for […]

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DLA Kuwait, Bahrain head to quit

The office managing partner of DLA Piper’s Kuwait and Bahrain offices – Alex Saleh – is to leave the firm. Alex Saleh Saleh, who launched the Kuwaiti office in October 2008 through a joint venture with Al Wagayan Al Awadhi & Al Saif ( 13 October 2008) and the Bahraini office earlier this month (1 […]

Emerald ire

Ireland’s law firms are up in arms after Arthur Cox won arguably more than its fair share of recession-related roles, with some pointing accusing fingers at the firm’s cosy relationship with the government. Tom Phillips reports Dublin is seething with angry banking lawyers. They are angry because the workbook at Arthur Cox reads like a […]

Hard nut to craic

The Irish legal market is notoriously hard for foreign firms to break into. But this hasn’t stopped some from trying. Margaret Taylor reports   For firms keen on international expansion, Asia and Africa are the current destinations of choice. Which is why it made sense when Beachcroft announced a joint venture with Indian firm Khaitan […]

Ashurst lands banks role on Slovakian PPP project

Ashurst has won the instruction to help a 12-strong banking consortium reach financial close on the R1 Expressway, Slovakia’s first-ever road PPP project. The firm has been briefed by a consortium that includes the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development and commercial entities on a deal to finance the 30-year e1bn (£850m) project. One source […]

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Norton Rose-Deacons merger: UK firm pinpoints Asia without diluting profit

Norton Rose, which last Tuesday won Law Firm of the Year at The Lawyer Awards, announced a tie-up with Australian firm Deacons the same day in a bid to jumpstart its Asia expansion plans. Peter Martyr It will be one of the few unions between a UK and an Australian firm. However, Norton Rose chief […]

SRA bristles as Law Society puts new chairman in place

The recent appointment of Charles Plant – a former Herbert Smith litigation partner and member of the Legal ­Services Consultative Panel – as the next chair of the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) (TheLawyer.com, 22 June) will pique the interest of many – apparently including those at the SRA. “Oh yes, we hear we have a […]

Loss adjustment

With leveraged finance hit hard by the credit crunch, Stuart Brinkworth considers what’s in store for the beleagured sector  There is no doubt that the last two years have been the ­toughest in living memory for the leveraged finance market. Problems first began in the summer of 2007 with the onset of the ­credit […]

The hedge row

With hedge fund managers under scrutiny and regulation inevitable, the industry needs to practise effective self-regulation. Lord_Myners Not for the first time is it reported that Brook Street and St James’s are ­reverberating to the sound of expensive luggage being packed. Hedge fund managers are retreating to the more congenial surroundings of Zurich and elsewhere to carry out […]

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The claim drain

In light of the Financial Ombudsman Service’s annual review, Michael Isaacs examines the dubious practices employed by some claims management companies The latest annual review from the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) into personal finance disputes has ­confirmed what many banks have been experiencing for some time – namely, that a very high ­proportion of claims (26 per […]