In the run-up to Christmas it’s not hard to see why firms are already starting to look ahead to try to raise their games for 2013. And as the flurry of hires in recent weeks shows, many firms are choosing to cast their gaze in-house in a bid to bolster their offerings. Earlier this week […]
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer could be dragged into an investigation of the deal that created the controversial multibillion coal group Bumi. Bumi’s Indonesian investors and its co-founder Nat Rothschild, who helped bring the company to London, have been locked in a vicious and public dispute over governance of the company since the autumn of 2012. In […]
Duane Morris has opened in Palo Alto, California with the addition of former K&L Gates IP litigation partner Karineh Khachatourian, who becomes managing partner of the new office. K&L Gates associate Patrick Salceda is also joining Duane Morris’ new Palo Alto office. The Silicon Valley launch is aimed at helping Duane Morris provide a more […]
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, Clifford Chance, King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) and Shearman & Sterling were among the advisers on China Machinery Engineering Corporation’s (CMEC) HK$3.9bn (£240m) IPO in Hong Kong. CMEC is a Beijing-headquartered, state-owned engineering, procurement and construction contractor in the power sector with operations across the world. For its IPO, the […]
Hogan Lovells has promoted 24 new partners in offices across Europe, Asia, the Middle East and the US. The number is lower than last year, when 36 lawyers were added to the partnership (3 January 2012). However, it takes the number of partners at the international firm to more than 800. Five of the partner […]
Advisers working on the US bankruptcy of Dewey & LeBoeuf have racked up fees of more than $14m (£8.6m), according to new filings. Dewey’s bankruptcy counsel Togut Segal & Segal billed more than any other consultant since the US firm collapsed last May, putting in a request for fees totalling $4.71m (£2.9m). This includes legal […]
Outgoing Bar Council chairman Michael Todd QC has returned to full-time practice as head of Erskine Chambers. The 2012 chair was replaced by last year’s vice-chair, Lincoln House Chambers’ Maura McGowan QC, for 2013. Company law set Erskine has also announced the addition of silks Peter Arden QC from Enterprise Chambers and Raquel Agnello QC […]
The holiday season and new year are a favourite time for law firm marketers capitalising on people’s misery. At around this time every year, email inboxes at The Lawyer fill with messages from divorce specialists reminding us that more couples split in January than at any other time – the seventh of the month is […]
SJ Berwin has appointed former Dechert London managing partner Steven Fogel as a non-executive director on its partnership board. Fogel was senior partner of legacy Titmuss Sainer and led the firm through its merger with US firm Dechert in 2000, becoming head of the combined outfit’s City base. He retired from Dechert’s partnership in June […]
The former chief executive of volume firm Minster Law is behind the latest ABS start-up to gain SRA approval. Brilliant Law, which is led by ex-Minster Law CEO Matthew Briggs with MandellCorporate director David Mandell as head of legal practice, finance and administration, plans to offer SMEs and micro-SMEs a ‘pay as you go’ menu […]
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled that claims against the UK Government by Chagos Islanders are inadmissible, seven years after the case was filed. The Chagossians, represented by Clifford Chance consultant Richard Gifford and Brick Court Chambers’ David Anderson QC and Maya Lester, filed the claim in their ongoing attempt to return […]
An Allen & Overy (A&O) report has warned that office banter could cost UK businesses as much as £292bn in tribunal claims in 2013. A&O asked more than 1,000 office workers whether they could easily draw the line between “banter and bullying” for the report and found that 80 per cent thought they could. But […]