TL 10 February 2014

China

ChinaLaw: a tale of dynasties

Many top Chinese firms are confronting their first succession issues as their founders prepare to step down. Can they build the right frameworks to ensure a strong generational transition? Over the past two years many Chinese law firms have celebrated their 20th anniversaries. King & Wood Mallesons’ (KWM) China arm and Zhong Lun, two of the […]

Cat Griffiths index

New leaders, new styles

After a decade of phenomenal growth, Chinese law firms are now having to confront the issue of succession. It’s a touchy subject but some of the top firms have been quietly grappling with it, as our Asia editor Yun Kriegler reveals in our cover story this week. Jun He, best known in the West for […]

telecoms

Deals round-up January 2014: Battle of the broadbands

Lawyers used up their minutes on the latest instalment of the Vodafone/Liberty telecoms struggle in January, while football deals also featured strongly It may be chilly outside, but things certainly hotted up in January between old telecoms rivals Liberty Global and Vodafone. The pair, which have been gradually buying their way across the European telecoms […]

Harris

When will Hogan Lovell’s investment pay off?

It’s time to finally start showing some financial growth The buzzword was resilience when Hogan Lovells co-CEO David Harris was last asked about the firm’s lack of growth three years into the Lovells and Hogan & Hartson merger. It was no terrible thing, he argued, to have static results in a tough market. But something […]

Simon Levine

DLA-Team gets a new leader

Meet Simon Levine – the ‘switched-on guy’ destined to take the co-CEO role  Who is Simon Levine? The man taking over from Sir Nigel Knowles as DLA Piper co-CEO may not have the same level of entrepreneurial bombast as his predecessor, at least according to some sources, but word is he is the right man […]

Channel4Index

​Moves: 10 February 2014

Move of the week Channel 4 has promoted its head of legal and compliance Prash Naik to the new position of general counsel. Naik, who celebrates his 20th year at the broadcaster this year, has taken on the general counsel position following a number of internal changes. He will now report to Channel 4’s head […]

legal aid

Regional bar: Commerce raiders

The regions might stand shoulder-to-shoulder with London on criminal justice issues but there is everything to fight for when it comes to commercial work The regional bar’s most pressing preoccupation at the moment is the fate of the criminal justice system. The combination of already low pay for criminal advocates, further cuts to legal aid […]

Israel

​Israel: Break up shake-up

Legislation intended to loosen the stranglehold of a few conglomerates on the economy is set to trigger a surge in sell-offs and overseas interest Israel’s economy has often been described as monopolistic but until now nothing has been done to tackle the problem. In December 2013 the Knesset (Israeli parliament) passed a law intended to […]

istanbul turkey

​Turkey: Looking South

Dogged by corruption and political instability, Turkey has seen a fall-off in its foreign M&A lifeblood. But there is potential in closer ties with Iran Protestors eager for political change have stirred up a degree of nervousness in Turkey over the past year but the legal market managed to stay solid, with strong interest from […]

Di Tommaso

Unilever Italy GC Giulia di Tommaso

Giulia di Tommaso at Unilever Italy epitomises the changing face of Continental in-housers, as companies recognise the strategic value that lawyers can bring The development of the in-house market in Europe is lagging behind that of the UK’s. While European general counsel are gradually gaining influence, many do not yet have the clout of their […]