London & Regional (L&R) is suing Lawrence Graham for almost £30m over a deal that it is claimed was bungled by Michael Fielding, the former partner who fled the country after allegedly taking £2m from L&R’s account. The claim relates to L&R’s purchase of a property portfolio from airport operator TBI. One condition of the […]
Arnold & Porter has continued its assault on the Brussels market with the hire of five lawyers to its competition team. The associates join the firm’s four Brussels partners, taking to nine the number of lawyers in the office. The Washington DC-based firm launched its Brussels outpost in August 2003 with the hire of the […]
Allen & Overy is to transfer its two-lawyer Albanian office to its Austrian ally Wolf Theiss, after deciding that the office no longer fitted with the magic circle firm’s strategy.A&O had inherited the Tirana office when it merged with Italian firm Brosio Casati e Associati in 1998. It had initially been established to serve the […]
Clifford Chance’s US practice has been hit with its second partner loss in less than a week, as its co-leader of the banking and financial restructuring group departs. Robert Finley, the former managing partner of the pre-merger Clifford Chance New York office, is leaving for King & Spalding. The announcement of his departure comes just […]
US firm Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe has swooped for Alan D’Ambrosio, a former senior partner of Winston & Strawn. D’Ambrosio joins the firm as a partner in Orrick’s New York corporate practice. His practice will focus on IT and outsourcing and European corporate work. D’Ambrosio’s European experience has mainly been advising French and Italian companies […]
Osborne Clarke has launched a property practice in Thames Valley with the transfer of senior associate Andrew Clayton from the Bristol office. The firm already has corporate, banking, commercial and employment practices in the region. Clayton will initially handle all property matters in the Thames Valley on his own, however the firm is looking to […]
In an interview with CNBC TV this week, Ely Place silk Jonathan Goldberg QC announced the ambition of his client, Asil Nadir, to become the president of Northern Cyprus. As you’ll remember, Nadir founded the Polly Peck empire, which collapsed spectacularly in the early 1990s. He escaped prosecution by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) by […]
French firm Gide Loyrette Nouel has signalled its commitment to London after securing 12,000 ft of permanent office space at landmark building CityPoint. The firm has made the most of the favourable market, as it is understood that it has negotiated a 14-month rent free period and rent of £45 per sq ft. Gide declined […]
Wragge & Co has won out against the Treasury Solicitor’s department in a bizarre dispute over the Napster domain name. The UK’s internet names organisation Nominet has ruled that the Treasury Solicitor department held an abusive registration of the domain name www.napster.co.uk. Napster was the world’s first popular music file-sharing system but was shut down […]
Delayed cash collection and insufficient credit checks are continuing to blight UK law firms, according to research by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). The accountancy firm’s annual “Financial Management in Law Firms” survey reveals that 84 per cent of respondents, that included 47 of the top 100 UK firms, are taking on average 60 days to collect fees. […]
Speechly Bircham has picked up its second lateral this year after recruiting a former Mayer Brown Rowe & Maw (MBR&M) construction partner. David Gwillim recently joined Speechly Bircham after spending over five years at MBR&M. Prior to Gwillim’s arrival at Speechly Bircham, Hammonds former Birmingham head of finance Chris Harlowe began work at the firm. […]
Irwin Mitchell’s fledgling Newcastle office has taken on additional space at its Grey Street premises. The 10-lawyer operation already occupies 2,000 sq ft at Gainsborough House and the firm is taking a further 5,175 sq ft of first floor office space from managing landlord Sanderson Weatherall. John Davis, head of Irwin Mitchell’s Newcastle office, said: […]