Licensed to bill
Richards Butler’s Michael Skrein is used to hobnobbing with celebrities. Kathryn Hobbs meets the man who really knows how to treat a girl
Luxembourg, France and Belgium face EU fines
France, Belgium and Luxembourg face huge fines for breaking a deadline to implement the EU free establishment directive An opinion by the Advocate General in the case against France was recently issued and a judgment is due shortly.The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has heard cases relating to the three states for failing to adopt […]
Green Property uses hybrid structure
Allen & Overy (A&O) and Clifford Chance advised opposite each other on the E1bn (£642m) take private of Green Property. An A&O team led by global head of banking David Morley advised Merrill Lynch International and Bank of Scotland Group in relation to the senior debt aspects of the management buyout (MBO) of Green Property […]
Legal Widow
It’s been the week of school sports days, which generally means cheering on puffing children, a consolation visit to McDonald’s and that unconvincing speech on how it’s taking part that matters. Deminimus, however, has been studying Montaigne and Carlyle in history (my goodness, whatever happened to Motte and Bailey Castles and the spinning jenny?) and […]
The Leader Column
The signs were always there. When Hammonds senior partner Chris Jones was being interviewed about his firm’s year-end figures, he suddenly came out with something rather pointed about the firm’s corporate recovery and insolvency group, which he admitted had not performed as strongly as had been expected. “The market for insolvency was interesting,” he told […]
Family business
Tulkinghorn is convinced that the law is an affliction affecting the mind, body and soul, and has uncovered evidence of this in the private client department at Charles Russell where, spookily enough, two first cousins sit just two desks apart and have chosen to specialise in the same area.David Long, head of Charles Russell’s private […]
Opinion
The depolarisation debate is vital to retail financial services. It looks set to alter radically how financial services are offered and consumed. It is a revolution of regulation, unsurpassed in recent history.Solicitors are aware that such a sea change may have a big impact on their own businesses, but will also create significant opportunities, which […]
Bar talk
In the world of the conditional fee agreement (CFA), and in the words of Oliver Hardy (as in Laurel), “another fine mess” has occurred A recent case funded partly under a CFA has left Allen & Overy (A&O) and its counsel somewhat out of pocket, thanks to an array of errors on the wording of […]
Storming the Pennines
Leeds firms have revolutionised the legal market in the North of England, both at home and more recently in extending their influence across the Pennines into Manchester Almost all the major national firms, several with origins in Leeds, now have a presence in both cities, leading to speculation on the convergence of the two markets, […]
40 King Street aims for Leeds expansion
Manchester set continues to hire for regional growth; other chambers to follow Manchester-based 40 King Street Chambers is targeting Leeds for further growth, according to chief executive Colin Wardale.The chancery and commercial chambers, headed by Andrew Gilbart QC, has already recruited two new barristers to its Leeds annexe at 5 Park Place, bringing the total […]
Al Fayed to appeal ‘cash for questions’ ruling
Mohamed Al Fayed will appeal a decision of the Court of Appeal, which found that the financial backers of former Tory MP Neil Hamilton were not liable to pay Al Fayed’s costs, despite his victory in the ‘cash for questions’ libel action DJ Freeman chief executive Laurence Harris, who is acting on behalf of Al […]
Beachcroft Wansbroughs takes Bradford Lift work
Beachcroft Wansbroughs’ Leeds office is to provide legal advice to the Bradford City NHS Local Improvement Finance Trust (Lift) scheme, expected to be the first of several such initiatives in the Leeds region in the coming months Lift is a new strategy for delivering integrated care services. The aim, in support of the NHS Plan, […]