Average revenue per lawyer (RPL) at the 50-largest US firms in the UK has broken through the $1m mark for the first time, The Lawyer can reveal, with average RPL rising by 8 per cent from $953,000 to a new record of $1.03m. The entry into The Lawyer’s US Top 50 2019 report this year of […]
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and DLA Piper are working together on Arcadia’s company voluntary arrangement (CVA), as Philip Green embarks on a plan to rescue the business. Freshfields’ restructuring partners Neil Golding and Adam Gallagher are leading for Arcadia, as its chair Philip Green plans the closure of 23 UK stores, including Topshop, Dorothy Perkins, Miss […]
A High Court judge has ordered a former client of Linklaters to pay back two years worth of unpaid legal fees to the magic circle firm. Documents seen by The Lawyer reveal that geosciences business Neos is said to have ignored three invoices between 2016 and 2018, at which point it was issued with a […]
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has won a first-time mandate from the Trainline for its listing on the London Stock Exchange. The mandate for the company was won by Freshfields partners Mark Austin and Doug Smith, a familiar pairing in equity capital markets circles. Last September, they were both on call for Funding Circle on its IPO, […]
The EV Network (EVN), a specialist in electric vehicle charging infrastructure, has appointed a former Addleshaw Goddard partner as its first general counsel. Simon Courie moves in-house to EVN after a 20-year career in private practice. He was formerly an infrastructure, projects and energy lawyer at Addleshaw Goddard, making partner in 2015. He joined the […]
British Steel is the latest UK business to be placed into compulsory liquidation, with a number of law firms pitching into advise on matters related to the insolvency. It was revealed today that EY will act as special mangers on the liquidation, bringing in Clifford Chance partner Philip Hertz and Iain White for advice. The […]
Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom is one of three firms advising on Pret a Manger’s purchase of rival food chain EAT. The Skadden team was led by London corporate partners Richard Youle, Katja Butler and Linda Davies, who represented Pret and its owner JAB Holding. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer partner Alex Potter, advised on antitrust […]
Over the past two years, a number of firms pledged to invest in new technology as part of a transformation journey around how legal services are delivered. At The Lawyer’s GC Strategy Summit in Alicante, Spain, two Norton Rose Fulbright delegates opened up on how change has been embedded into the texture of the firm, […]
There are eight firms in the running for this year’s Energy and Infrastructure prize at The Lawyer Awards, in association with Travelers. Here are the deals that merited them a place on the shortlist. Norton Rose Fulbright saw through the financing of innogy SE’s £2bn 860MW Triton Knoll Wind Farm. As one of the world’s […]
An Essex Court silk has ordered Taylor Wessing to review a slew of documents relating to a family’s personal data in the latest development in a six-year long lawsuit. The firm will now be required to review a host of paper documents linked to a dispute over several trusts in the Bahamas, as well as […]
In its second high-profile mandate from KPMG this year, Gateley is advising as Jamie Oliver’s restaurant business collapses into administration. Gateley restructuring partner Dan French is leading the team from Birmingham. Jamie Oliver’s restaurant business is the latest eatery to fall under hard times in a challenging market for high street retail chains. KPMG has […]
Two months after Orrick’s City corporate head Anthony Riley quit for Winston & Strawn, a former colleague of his has made the same move to launch Winston’s UK tax practice. Winston has hired Orrick’s London tax group head Ed Denny. Denny, a former Norton Rose lawyer who joined Orrick as a partner in October 2014 […]
The stakes are high for ex-A&O partner Michael Castle, the man tasked with helping Deloitte make a big splash in an increasingly crowded market. Deloitte is late to the party, and arriving fashionably late can generate high expectations and interest.
There are eight firms in the running for this year’s Funds Team of the Year prize at The Lawyer Awards. Here are the deals that merited them a place on the shortlist.
More than three-quarters of firms carried debt during 2017/18 to fund expansion, but overall levels are low, reveals The Lawyer’s UK 200: Operational Health Check report.
Sports boutiques have been springing up in recent years at a rate of knots. As deal values rise in the apparently ceilingless world of TV rights, Linklaters has now decided to enter an arena that in many lawyers’ minds has hitherto been dominated by boutiques such as Centrefield, Northridge Law and Hamlins. Linklaters’ characterisation of […]
The Lawyer’s recent roundtable focused on understanding and complying with the new regulatory challenges from the FCA
2018 was another year of big-name moves, with US firms showing no signs of winding down their ambitions to grow in the City
There’s a shift occurring in the corporate teams of the UK’s most prominent public M&A shops. And for once, it’s got nothing to do with the US firms. Slaughter and May is to lose its golden boys of M&A – William Underhill and Nigel Boardman – at the end of this financial year, while it […]
The pre-Christmas and pre-Brexit rush has hit the City. Investors and lawyers alike are pushing through deals, trying to get projects away, and a glut of companies have been attempting to take their offerings public. The market has, in fact, seen so much activity over the last few months that it caused a bottleneck. Now, […]
Cyber security is now a board-level item of technology spend, but increasingly firms are investing in tools that price more accurately.
Partners at DLA Piper have three days left to put their names forward to run against Simon Levine in the managing partner elections.
The news that Ince & Co is in merger talks has been trailed for months, but most of the City chatter linked it to other EC3 firms.
Now Gordon Dadds is in the frame, the firm’s New Law mindset could be exactly what Ince needs.
Over the weekend, nearly two years of tussling for UK media giant Sky came to an end when Comcast’s £30bn bid trumped 21st Century Fox.
But while magic circle firms maintain only they can act on big-ticket M&A, the variety of advisers on call was striking. Here’s what we learned.
By James Webb Despite 2018 being a very tough year for many in the food and drink industry, according to research compiled by Grant Thornton, M&A and private equity deal activity in the sector remained steady with a fall of just 2.8% compared to 2017. This is supported by our experience during the period where […]
By Alan Corcoran, Charlotte Walker The closure of a school prior to its sale meant the use for which the land had originally been given had ceased and so the proceeds of sale did not belong to the local authority. This was the decision in Rittson-Thomas v Oxfordshire County Council, which concerned the redevelopment of a […]
Have you ever considered using fiduciary management services? Does your scheme have a fiduciary manager? Are you considering appointing or replacing a fiduciary manager? If so, you should already be considering the implications of the Competition and Markets Authority’s final report into the investment consultants market. The new requirements arise from concerns around the operation of the […]
By Trudy Feaster-Gee, Richard Jaques, Richard Butterworth The Competition and Markets Authority is due to begin an in-depth market investigation into the UK funeral sector in the New Year. This will involve a detailed review and scrutiny of the sector and include many of its key players. On 29 November 2018, the CMA announced in an interim report […]
By Simon Clark, Gawain Moore In Gertner v CFL Finance Ltd [2018] the Court of Appeal found that there had been a material irregularity at the creditors’ meeting convened to consider the debtor’s IVA proposals. The lender’s breach of the good faith principle between creditors was sufficient to revoke the IVA on grounds of material irregularity.
By Valentina Falicheva A notable trend since Bitcoin gained its popularity has been an incredible rise in the interest in the technology behind Bitcoin known as Blockchain, which is the “thing” which allows cryptocurrencies to function. Some statistics indicate that the global blockchain market is expected to be worth $20 billion in 2024! In this article, […]
By Fergus Charlton On 24 July, the government released the long-anticipated revised National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). Setting the emphasis on building new homes, Secretary of State for Communities, the Rt Hon James Brokenshire MP said: “Fundamental to building the homes our country needs is ensuring that our planning system is fit for the future.” […]
For decades, Germany has been one of the biggest foreign investors in the UK. While the British love to talk about their ‘special relationship’ with the United States, there is now every chance that, in a post-Brexit world, Germany will become the UK’s new priority…
By Robert Breedon, Tom Gray, Elwin Morgan Africa’s healthcare is in the midst of an innovation revolution that, as PwC say, “…is transforming Africa’s economic potential, creating new target markets and unprecedented consumer choice”. This innovation revolution is powered in part by traditional methods of funding human capital development in areas such as development and […]
18% of businesses say fines would put them at risk of insolvency Some 55% of UK small businesses are still not familiar with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) despite its introduction being now less than a year away…
By Daniel Wood The Supreme Court has handed down judgment in the high-profile case of MT Højgaard v E.ON Climate & Renewables. The Supreme Court has overturned the Court of Appeal’s decision and – in so doing – has provided useful clarification in respect of various important principles… …In this decision, the Supreme Court was willing […]
…Head 80 of the General Scheme states that where a controller or processor is fined and does not appeal a decision to the Data Protection Commission, then the Commission will apply to the Circuit Court for confirmation of the fine. The Head goes on to state that the Circuit Court must then confirm the fine […]
