6 December 2010

Change at the top for Latham in Moscow as managing partner calls it a day

Latham & Watkins Moscow managing partner Mark Banovich is leaving the firm, to be replaced by M&A partner Christopher Allen. Banovich, a securities lawyer, will withdraw from the firm’s partnership at the end of the year and return to the US, where he has no plans to return to practice. “My plan is that I don’t have […]

Musat picks up Garrigues’ Romania team as Spanish giant makes Poland CEE HQ

Garrigues’ Bucharest team is set to join Romanian firm Musat & Asociatii after the Spanish firm announced it would be cutting the office loose at the end of the year. A team of at least four lawyers, including ­Garrigues Bucharest office managing partner Mihai Mares, will join Musat on 1 January, according to the local firm’s co-managing partner Mona […]

1

Links study reveals higher than average ‘out’ LGB staff

Around 20 per cent of gay and lesbian staff at ­Linklaters are not ’out’ in the workplace, according to a survey the firm has ­conducted among City staff. Of those who are not out, 13 per cent are open about their sexuality outside the firm. However, the study among 600 employees also found that 97 […]

Mark Dawkins
3

UK-Germany face-off looms at Simmons as Dawkins abdicates

Simmons & Simmons managing partner Mark Dawkins will not be standing for re-election when his term comes to an end next April. As tipped by The Lawyer last month (1 November), the head of the firm’s international financial markets practice Jeremy Hoyland is understood to have put his name forward to run the firm. The […]

6

Treasury picks A&O over Slaughters on Irish bailout

Pressure on Treasury to make procurement process transparent sees go-to firm sidelined Slaughter and May has lost out on the mandate to advise the Government on its £3.2bn loan to Ireland, with Allen & Overy (A&O) securing the deal in a surprise move by the Treasury. Slaughters has been ­widely seen as having a lock on high-end […]

1

Top 10 cases of 2010

In January The Lawyer highlighted the cases to keep an eye on in the litigation sector this year. Here’s what happened… It is boom time for the ­litigation sector, with the number and value of cases being heard by the High Court on the rise. As we near the end of 2010 it is time […]

Courting confidentiality

The question of legal privilege has come up several times in UK courts in recent months. Colin Hutton and Gemma Lampert dissect the decisions. In the UK the past 12 months have seen legal professional privilege and without prejudice protection stand strong, even where the case for divulging communications has been apparently compelling. In Europe, […]

Davina Garrod

Work Life Quiz: Davina Garrod, Bingham McCutchen

What was your first-ever job? Lifeguard. I developed a quality tan. What was your worst ­experience as a trainee?   Spending days at a smelly sewage farm in my first seat (environmental law). Where’s the best place to go if you want to find out what’s really going on in the office? Talk to the […]

Chris Hutchings

On the move

Chris Hutchings, co-founder of M Law, has joined specialist West End media firm ­Hamlins as a partner in its entertainment, media and IP department.  Move of the week The hire is aimed at developing the media side of the firm’s business. In his new role Hutchings has already won instructions from a number of […]

Slaughters, Simpson, Olswang bag Chrysalis gig

Olswang, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and Slaughter and May took the lead roles on the £107m buyout of music publisher Chrysalis to BMG, a joint venture established two years ago between German media group Bertelsmann and US private equity house KKR. Corporate partners Mark Bertram and Tony Waller led the Olswang team acting for Chrysalis on […]

1

Hammonds wins spot on Sheffield Wednesday buy

Hammonds corporate partner David Hull has landed another major football mandate, advising former Portsmouth and Leicester City owner Milan Mandaric on the purchase of Sheffield Wednesday. The club was bought for a nominal £1, with the buyer also assuming £26m worth of debt, which includes a settlement of around £7m with the Co-operative Bank and five other […]

James Forsyth

TLT City insolvency team brought in as Barclays calls time on Balls Bros

TLT Solicitors’ London corporate recovery and insolvency practice has won one of its biggest mandates to date after being instructed by the administrators of bar owner Balls Brothers. Practice head James Forsyth is leading the 10-lawyer team acting for administrators Nick Cropper, Peter Holder and Stuart Mackeller at restructuring expert Zolfo Cooper. They were brought […]