5 February 2007

DLA Piper boosts its northern lights

DLA Piper has become quite a one for the grand statement in recent years, and today’s 66 promotions to the partnership was heralded with some fanfare. Sixty six is indeed some haul. Clifford Chance only promoted 30 associates to the partnership last year. But headline figures can be deceiving. The firm promoted 17 associates in […]

Parr lights up A&O with Imperial US deal

Allen & Overy (A&O) represented longstanding client Imperial Tobacco on its first US acquisition, the $1.9bn (£974m) cash offer for Commonwealth Brands. Kentucky-based Commonwealth, currently owned by Houchens Industries, is the US’s fourth-largest cigarette manufacturer with revenues last year of £89m. Its cigarette brands include USA Gold and Sonoma. Imperial, meanwhile, is the fourth-largest tobacco […]

Clydes drafted into footy shirt class action

Consumer organisation Which? has instructed Clyde & Co on the class action it is threatening to bring against JJB Sports in front of the Competition Appeals Tribunal (CAT), the first of its kind. Which? wants to sue JJB on behalf of people who bought replica England and Manchester United football shirts between 2000 and 2001. […]

DLA Piper makes 66 new partners

DLA Piper has promoted 66 to its partnership globally, taking the firm’s total partnership above 1,200. The firm has added 39 new partners in the US with the remaining 27 spread across Europe and Asia. London was the most heavily promoted office with 10 new partners. They came in the finance (3), litigation (2), real […]

CC boosts property with transatlantic swoop

Clifford Chance has moved to bolster its real estate practice with the hire of a Canadian partner with close links to property developer Paul Reichmann. Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg corporate and commercial real estate partner Fiona Kelly is to relocate from New York to London to join Clifford Chance. Apart from her links to […]

Slaughters scoops £1.9bn buses deal

Slaughter and May has scooped a mandate to advise bus giant FirstGroup on the £1.9bn acquisition of Laidlaw, America’s biggest operator of yellow school buses. The deal, which was announced this morning (9 February), is FirstGroup’s second foray into the US. The group entered the US in 1999 ago with the £540m acqusition of school […]

Lovells rejects lockstep overhaul

Lovells partners have shunned plans to make further changes to the firm’s partner remuneration system designed to reward exceptional performers. After taking soundings from partners, Lovells’ partnership council has decided against recommending radical changes to the firm’s lockstep. Instead it plans to put forward just one proposal, which will allow lateral hires to have their […]

Gibson Dunn scoops Mayer Brown rainmaker

Gibson Dunn & Crutcher has poached a corporate partner for its New York office from transatlantic rival Mayer Brown Rowe & Maw (MBRM). William Candelaria has particular expertise in M&A, private equity and capital markets, with a focus on Latin America. His clients include TV Azteca and Grupo Elektra as well as a selection of […]

Ashurst’s and Norton Rose’s Middle East role reversal

Ashurst‘s raid on Norton Rose‘s crumbling Middle East practice illustrates perfectly two firms moving in opposite directions. Last year Ashurst overtook Norton Rose in The Lawyer UK 100 for the first time, with its revenue reaching £214m compared with Norton Rose’s £210m. Scroll back five years and the firms had roughly comparable profit per equity […]

Profit up 21 per cent at White & Case

White & Case has joined the flurry of US-based firms reporting robust financial results for 2006, with gross revenue up 13 per cent. The Wall Street firm’s posted global gross turnover of $1.185bn (£644m) during the 2006 financial year, up 13 per cent on the previous year’s result of $1,046bn (£574.7m). The firm’s average profit […]

Finers steps in to bat against ‘racist’ ICC

Controversial cricket umpire Darrell Hair has instructed Finers Stephens Innocent to bring his allegations of racial discrimination against the sport’s governing body and Pakistani authority. Finers head of sports law Daniel Marks has written to both the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and International Cricket Council (ICC) to bring an employment tribunal case. A statement from […]

Latham raids Howrey for Brussels team

Latham & Watkins has raided US rival Howrey for two competition partners from its Brussels office. Howard Rosenblatt and Bruno Lebrun will both join Latham’s Brussels office as partners, taking partner headcount in the Brussels competition team to nine. Howrey is one of the few US firms widely considered to have expertise in EU competition […]