Online March 2014

Simon Catt

Catt, Simon

Simon Catt has been advising on all aspects of commercial real estate for more than 30 years. He has particular expertise in commercial landlord and tenant; acting for developers and investors as well as numerous occupiers in the retail, office, media and industrial sectors. Catt has significant experience in real estate finance as well as […]

Vac scheme holiday
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Get ahead, get a decent vac scheme

Vacation schemes used to be such simple affairs.  Students would go through a basic application process and, if successful, spend a fairly relaxed week or two getting to know the firm and shadowing its trainees – at work and down the pub. Hopefully they’d be of decent quality, and like enough of what they saw […]

Yun Kriegler

Elite ‘red circle’ firms Zhong Lun and Jun He plot merger

Back in September 2013, The Lawyer has predicted that there would be a new wave of domestic consolidation among Chinese firms resulting in the emergence of a new look ‘red circle’. Last week, revelations that two of China’s elite firms, Jun He and Zhong Lun, are mulling a possible merger, got the legal market talking. […]

Boohoo

TLT and Pannone Corporate among firms appointed to inaugural Boohoo.com panel

DLA Piper, Addleshaw Goddard, Pannone Corporate and TLT have been appointed to the first-ever legal panel installed by online fashion retailer Boohoo.com in the wake of its £560m IPO. Pannone Corporate, which also advised the retailer on its IPO, has been enlisted to advise on IP, corporate, commercial and dispute resolution matters. The firm retained the […]

Eversheds comments on Littlewoods’ High Court victory over £1.2bn VAT claim

Littlewoods has been successful in its High Court VAT claim worth more than £1.2bn. The case is a landmark VAT case on whether taxpayers should be paid compound rather than simple interest by HMRC on any overpayments of VAT that they make. Giles Salmond, head of indirect taxes and tax dispute resolution at Eversheds, has […]

Walker Morris set to hold employment breakfast seminar in Leeds

Walker Morris will hold the first of its new programme of employment breakfast seminars in Leeds on 7 April 2014. The seminar will cover key developments over the last six months with a focus on: ‘need to know’ recent changes including ACAS early conciliation, financial penalties for employers and practical implications of case law developments; […]

No5 Chambers’ Ian Bridge successfully defends in substantial long-running fraud

Ian Bridge, a specialist fraud practitioner from No5 Chambers, has successfully defended a North Wales business man who found himself facing eight separate allegations of fraud on his company, which at the time was indebted to the Natwest Bank. According to No5 Chambers, although the business was solvent it was referred to the RBS global […]

No5 Chambers representes boxing manager who had licence withdrawn by board

Sports law experts at No5 Chambers have been instructed to represent a respected boxing manager whose licence was recently withdrawn by the British Boxing Board of Control. Barristers Philip Williams and Rupert Beloff are representing Bruce Baker, chairman of the Professional Boxing Promoters Association (PBPA), along with David Young, the barrister who has been leading them in the recent British […]

Freshfields
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Freshfields super-dealmaker O’Brien retires – to do more deals

After 30 years in the City, you might think that a corporate partner would want to put his or her feet up. This is not the case  at Freshfields.  Over the last six months no fewer than four high-profile partners have landed plum roles outside the magic circle firm. First came former managing partner Ted […]

No5 Chambers comments on fee reduction in respect of VHCC and litigator fees

David Mason QC, head of No5 Chambers’ criminal group, has said that the government has suspended the introduction of proposed cuts to fees in the Crown Court and that he is deeply concerned about the persistent stance of reducing fees in respect of VHCC fees and litigators’ fees. Mason said: ‘The efforts to fight the […]

Natalie Stanton

DLA Piper and DWF building bridges

Isn’t it great when a plan comes together? After almost a decade of hard work, a raft of firms has finally managed to reach financial close on the Mersey Gateway Project – solidifying plans for a shiny new toll bridge linking Runcorn and Widnes. DLA Piper, Ashurst, DWF and Freshfields were among the firms to […]