Two years after the Takeover Code transparency rejig, we ask if firms are feeling the benefit, and comb through recent M&A fees In September 2013 M&A lawyers sailed past a significant marker – it was precisely two years since the disclosure rules in the City Code on Takeover and Mergers (known as the Takeover Code) […]
Is increased competition between firms starting a price war? Last week I interviewed BLP managing partner Neville Eisenberg. Much of the conversation was about the firm’s difficult year in 2012/13 and what it was considering in terms of strategy and process. But perhaps the most eye-catching assertion Eisenberg made was that BLP’s life has been […]
Suspicion of strains at Private Eye adviser Davenport Lyons, as tie-up dream fades If Private Eye devoted an issue to one of its advisers, Davenport Lyons, the cover caption might pose the question: “Marry me?” to Shakespeare. But there’s more to this than meets the, er, eye. This is not a caricature of the sonnet […]
BLP’s Eisenberg blames PEP slump on not-so-magical undercutting For Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) managing partner Neville Eisenberg, one of the most frustrating things is not the extraordinary 40 per cent slump in PEP in 2012/13 or the 20-odd partner departures over 18 months, but undercutting by major City firms on pitches. “One of the things […]
Move of the week The co-head of Herbert Smith Freehills’ advocacy unit Murray Rosen QC has retired from the firm to return to the bar. His resignation comes weeks after the firm hired Maitland Chambers silk Tom Leech QC. Rosen had acted for legacy Herbert Smith more than 50 times before he launched the unit […]
A dispatch from the front line of change as our Hot 100 leaders talk mergers, PI pressures, and pay and recruitment In association with Pick a term – transformation, evolution, consolidation, shakedown. Whichever degree of dramatic intonation you choose, the reality is that the legal profession is seeing profound change – and managing and […]
Employment and political reforms, and a programme of privatisation could ease Italy’s and its legal market’s way through these punishing times Italy is continuing to battle through turbulent economic waters. The recession hit the Mediterranean nation hard, with Italy reportedly the most debt-laden country in the EU after Greece. The legal market has felt the […]
R&R makes some of the best-known ice cream brands around and it’s growing fast, with GC Francesca Yardley keeping a cool eye on progress What is the best thing about working in-house? Better hours? More variety? Control? How about four litres of free ice cream per week written into your contract, the first taste of […]
The revised public M&A process is encouraging lawyers and clients to work more closely, and get more imaginative about how legal work is paid for What are the merits and demerits of changes to the Takeover Code regarding naming and put-up-or-shut-up (PUSU) disclosure requirements and deal protection measures? Mark Bardell, partner, Herbert Smith Freehills: The […]