KPMG has appointed a UK law firm to advise it on the administration of Patisserie Valerie, months after the café chain became embroiled in a scandal over accounting irregularities. Gateley, led by Birmingham restructuring partner Daniel French and Manchester partner Stuart Tait, is working with the Big Four accountant on the process. Patisserie Holdings confirmed yesterday that it has […]
The Reignite Academy, a programme aimed at bringing former City lawyers who have been out of the workplace back into the fold, has finalised its first intake, with 10 women signing on to work across four different firms. The women have a diverse range of experiences and range from those who have taken a complete […]
Slaughter and May and Herbert Smith Freehills have been replaced by Clifford Chance and Addleshaw Goddard on The Financial Services Compensation Scheme’s (FSCS) revamped £12.6m panel. The FSCS, the UK’s statutory compensation scheme for customers of authorised financial services firms, has appointed eight firms for a four-year term on its latest legal panel, which is divided into three […]
Simmons & Simmons is recruiting for new roles to bring its Bristol base to a headcount of over 200, following its move into a new, larger office. This week, the firm moved into a new office in Finzels Reach from its former base in Temple Quay, increasing its office space from 16,000 to 27,000 sq ft. […]
A total of 16 lawyers from Ince & Co’s Hamburg office are to join Clyde & Co, nearly a year after the latter announced it was launching in the German city. The team are joining four former Ince partners, who made the same move to Clydes in February 2018. However, the quartet are understood to […]
There is both relief and nervousness in the upper management floors. Relief that 2018 turned out to be a year in which law firms were busier and more profitable than ever, and yet an inescapable feeling that financial stability could be jeopardised by two things: the prospect of a no-deal Brexit and a possible recession […]
Allen & Overy (A&O) has made two senior appointments to its advanced delivery unit in an attempt to coordinate efforts among the firm’s multiple innovation groups. Senior banking partner Andrew Trahair will serve as head of advanced delivery, a unit tasked with developing resourcing strategy and technologies to reboot innovation at the 130-year-old firm. The […]
The anti-harassment movement appears to have empowered lawyers to share their concerns and seek help.
FTSE 100 insurance giant Aviva is preparing to review its legal roster, six years after last undertaking a comprehensive analysis of its panel arrangements. The company, which will launch the review in the first quarter of this year, decided a traditional review was not necessary in 2016 and instead ran a ‘desktop review’ of its roster, […]
Morrison & Foerster is set to recruit another partner from Reed Smith to help with the launch of its London real estate practice, The Lawyer understands. Private equity real estate partner Luke Mines will join partner Oliver s’Jacob at MoFo as the firm’s first two City real estate lawyers. s’Jacob’s move was announced last week. The […]
Linklaters is the second magic circle firm to report its most recent gender pay gap figures, containing statistics on ethnicity for the first time as well as improvements in its bonus pay. With regards to the gender pay gap. Linklaters’ entire UK workforce, including equity partners, are paid on average 61 per cent less than […]
Provider Elevate has purchased in-house consulting and tech company Yerra Solutions, the fourth acquisition to be made by the alternative legal services provider in under three months. The move allows Elevate to expand its offering for clients in the financial service sector. Founded in Basel, Switzerland, around the same time Elevate was first launched, Yerra Solutions […]
Japanese firm Hitachi has suspended its £20bn nuclear power plant project in Anglesey, a construction deal that had been overseen by magic circle firm Clifford Chance and Burges Salmon. A Clifford Chance team led by partner Nigel Howorth, who works on areas including planning, energy and environment, was involved as an advisor to Horizon Nuclear […]
Latham & Watkins is one of the heavy hitting City firms that have been ushered in to advise on the next chapter of New Look’s restructuring saga, following the arrival of Sidley Austin’s Yen Sum last year. Sum, who moved to Latham after a short spell at Sidley in 2018, won a place for the bondholders […]
Herbert Smith Freehills and Morgan Lewis & Bockius are representing a consortium in its rescue of troubled Flybe Airways for £2.2m. The consortium is formed by Connect Airways, a joint venture company owned by Cyrus funds, Stobart Aviation and Virgin Atlantic. Morgan Lewis partner Georgia Quenby has been leading for Connect and Cyrus, along with […]
Following his involvement as one of the 30+ speakers at our recent Managing Risk and Litigation conference, Jenner & Block’s co-chair of international arbitration Charlie Lightfoot talks to The Lawyer about amends to the UK’s Arbitration Act, the most common drafting error of arbitration clauses and trends emerging in international arbitration. Some commentators have suggested […]
Mirroring a claim already filed by the firm in New York, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan is battling six major banks in London over allegations that they conspired to manipulate the foreign exchange market. Quinn is the first firm to file a charge on these grounds in Europe. London co-head of competition litigation Boris Bronfentrinker has filed […]
Jenner & Block partner Jason Yardley, one of the 30+ speakers at last year’s Managing Risk and Litigation conference, talks to The Lawyer about the newly established commercial courts across Europe and their potential impact on English Commercial Courts, and whether costs will have a greater impact on London as a preferred forum for international disputes. Will […]
What a week for Allen & Overy. On Monday it emerged that its one-time managing partner contender Michael Castle is heading to Deloitte to lead its UK legal arm. It took the accountancy firm long enough to get their man: it is nigh on a year since The Lawyer reported it had kicked off its search. […]
Happy New Year. The Speed Read is back for 2019 and those who took an extended Christmas break will find, as they slope back into the office wiping the last crumbs of mince pie from their mouths, that a number of interesting developments have already taken place in the legal world this year. Those lawyers whose […]
“No-one’s interested in KWM any more,” we’re confidently told by, er… lots of former KWM partners. This comes as news to us, as our analysis of what happened to the trainees who had to be rescued from the smoking ruins of King & Wood Mallesons’ UK operation is our most-read article of the month to […]
The arrival of Hodge Malek QC and Hefin Rees QC last year are evidence of a bounceback by 3VB after Sonia Tolaney QC’s high-profile defection
Barristers from sets including Red Lion Chambers, Brick Court and 3 Verulam Buildings are among the 108 new QCs to be announced today, while lawyers have also made silk from Allen & Overy and White & Case. There will be 108 new QCs this year, with the female percentage in this year’s round reaching at […]
4 Pump Court silk Alexander Gunning QC has joined magic circle chambers One Essex Court in a key boost to the set’s arbitration group. Gunning was first called to the Bar in 1994, taking silk six years ago with a practice focused heavily on international arbitration, as well as commercial in the energy, insurance, construction […]
Baker McKenzie is rolling out a compliance benchmarking tool to help clients improve their response to sharper regulation worldwide, as new research shows negligence in the attitude of the world’s biggest companies. Launched one year ago as a UK-focused product, Connected Compliance was originally born out of a survey of more than 500 British multinational companies. […]
Big Four accountancy firm KPMG has extended its legal services network to Hong Kong, targeting a headcount of 20 lawyers for its newly-established legal outfit in the region. The new firm called SF Lawyers is being set up by former Harneys counsel Shirley Fu, who started her professional services career with KPMG back in Australia in 2004. […]
Gowling WLG’s Monaco office has been acquired by an advisory firm, nearly two decades after legacy firm Lawrence Graham launched private client-focused operations in the principality. The office has been acquired by advisory firm Maitland, with the new entity being renamed as Maitland Advisory (Monaco). It will be led by former Gowling partner Peter Walford, who will now […]
Litigation boutique Signature has launched its second overseas office with two lawyers from Hogan Lovells, including its former head of Paris disputes. The firm has hired Hogan Lovells partner Thomas Rouhette to establish a three-partner site in the French capital. Rouhette had been head of litigation at the international firm and is joined by Hogan […]
Dechert’s former Dubai co-managing partner Gavin Watson has left the firm for Pillsbury, where he will work as a partner in its London office. Watson has relocated from the Middle East to London, with a focus on cross-border corporate transactions in the oil and gas space. He joined Dechert in 2012 from defunct firm Dewey & […]
Lawyers from the top European firms will converge on Grosvenor House on Tuesday 19th March 2019, for The Lawyer European Awards – an unrivalled celebration of excellence across the Continent. The shortlist, published today, spans firms large and small, from European giants to specialist boutiques. Last year Danish firm Kromann Reumert was crowned European Law […]
Technological advances are, at best, patchy in this part of the world, but some practices have plans to make up the ground
The countries are set to become major players on the world stage, with big investments on the horizon. But there are hurdles to overcome.
An unstable Middle East has led several international firms to downsize, creating opportunities for local leaders
Arthur Cox has taken on a double hire, including Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer’s former global aviation head, to bolster its aviation team. Partners Rob Murphy and Laura Cunningham, two Freshfields alumni, have moved from London to join the Irish firm’s Dublin office. Murphy joins as co-chair of Arthur Cox’s aviation team, returning to private practice after a year as chief […]
Mishcon de Reya has moved to fill a gap left by its former head of white collar crime and investigation Alison Levitt QC by hiring Kingsley Napley criminal litigation partner Johanna Walsh. Walsh will join the firm on 4 February having previously worked at DLA Piper and litigation boutique Peters & Peters with a focus […]
Reed Smith’s head of private equity real estate, Oliver s’Jacob has left to join US counterpart Morrison & Foerster as its first real estate partner in London. s’Jacob becomes MoFo’s first and only real estate partner in London, following on from the arrival in late 2017 of partner Florian Ehrich, who joined to build out the real […]
In what has already been a busy January for Kirkland & Ellis‘s City operations, the firm is gearing up to hire another new lateral from Weil Gotshal & Manges. The Lawyer understands that Weil’s most senior tax lawyer in London, David Irvine, has resigned for Kirkland. Irvine started his career at Deloitte in Australia as a tax […]
Plugging a gap in its leveraged finance offering in the City, Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson has secured a new partner in London from Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy. Neil Caddy has been a partner at Milbank for over six years, joining in 2012 from Mayer Brown. His practice focuses on leveraged financing and restructuring, […]
Clifford Chance has ramped up recruitment efforts in Luxembourg with a second partner hire so far this year, taking on magic circle rival Linklaters’ funds partner Emmanuel-Frédéric Henrion this time. Henrion joins Clifford Chance as a partner in the investment funds practice in Luxembourg. This is the firm’s second lateral partner hire in the European […]
Partners continue to trickle out of DWF ahead of its proposed £1bn IPO, with the latest two leavers being snapped up by Fieldfisher. Iain Thomas and Christian Francis are to join Fieldfisher’s real estate finance practice. Thomas led the real estate practice at DWF, where he has been since 2014. He was previously a partner at […]
Deloitte Legal has ended its nine-month long search for a leader of its new UK legal arm, with the appointment of a new managing partner from Allen & Overy. The role, which for months was believed to have targeted a general counsel, has by contrast fallen to A&O banking partner Michael Castle, who has spent […]
DWF former City funds head Lorraine Reader is to join DLA Piper’s real estate team, just months after news of DWF’s intended IPO broke in June last year.
Real estate partner David Cox has become the third partner to leave White & Case’s London office so far this year as he joins King & Spalding. Cox left White & Case following a 15-year stint, having served as head of real estate and real estate finance in London between 2003 and 2014. He joins […]
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer’s Adrian Maguire is understood to be joining his former boss David Higgins at Kirkland & Ellis, over a year after the US firm made a concerted push to expand its corporate credentials in the City.
Pinsent Masons is to open its third office in Germany, hiring partners from a number of different firms for its latest international launch in Frankfurt. The office will be its third location in Germany, after Munich and Düsseldorf, and will focus on the technology, energy and real estate sectors. The founding team have been recruited from […]
This Law transposes the Directive (EU) 2016/680 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by competent authorities for the purpose of the prevention, investigation, detection or prosecution of criminal offences or the execution of criminal penalties, and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Council Framework […]
Carey Olsen Starting Point Guides are intended as a general introduction and guide to different aspects of Jersey employment law. They are a summary of the most important issues that we come across and very much an edited highlights of these…
The Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 (MB Act) was amended vide the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017 (2017 Amendment) to grant certain additional benefits to eligible women employees. As part of the 2017 Amendment, the provision of a crèche facility was made effective from 1 July 2017 as a mandatory requirement for every establishment with 50 […]
Leasing of aircrafts is a prevalent market practice in the aviation industry, and all existing airline operators in India have currently leased a significant number of aircrafts in their fleet. In fact, a sizeable debt in the books of these operators is in connection with such leasehold arrangements. Insolvency proceedings in India, including the aviation […]
By David Manda, Ruth Ormrod The Supreme Court has confirmed, in the case of S Franses Ltd v Cavendish Hotel (London) Ltd that a landlord cannot oppose a tenant’s right to renew its tenancy on the grounds of redevelopment or reconstruction if there would be no intention to carry out the proposed works should the tenant vacate voluntarily. Walker […]
By Jeanette Burgess, Louise Power Jeanette Burgess and Louise Power explain the Committee of Advertising Practice’s imminent ban on harmful gender stereotyping and offer their practical advice for financial services clients. What is changing, and why? We reported last year that the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) planned to introduce new rules banning harmful gender stereotyping in advertising. […]
By Manuel Ritt-Huemer Now that the British parliament has rejected the Brexit deal in a vote last week, fears of a lawless exit of the UK from the EU are growing daily. In anticipation of this no-longer-unlikely scenario, the Austrian government is preparing for a “hard Brexit”. How did we get here? As it stands, the […]
By Sara Khalil, Andreas Natterer Austria has a civil law system; the codification of the main civil law provisions (the Austrian Civil Code (ABGB)) includes core concepts of contract law and dates back more than 200 years. The Austrian Civil Code governs legal relationships between consumers as well as consumers and companies. Similarly, the Austrian Commercial […]
By Alexandra Barbu, Theodor Artenie, Anamaria Tocaci Below we list the main provisions of Law 30/2019 amending Government Emergency Ordinance 25/2018. Corporate income tax The Registry of Non-profit Organisations and Religious Institutions will be published on the website of the National Agency for Fiscal Administration (ANAF) (the “Registry”). Inclusion in the Registry of entities that benefit from sponsorships is a […]
Recently, BCLP hosted an informative round table discussion with panellists Michael Mills and Richard Seabrook of Neota Logic alongside Catherine Bamford of BamLegal. Use cases, opportunities and best practices for enabling legal self-service in an enterprise environment were discussed with an audience of corporate legal and compliance professionals. Here are some of the most interesting […]
Bermuda has historically flown beneath the radar when it comes to promoting itself as the ideal location for the establishment of a family office. There are likely a number of reasons for this but one is that Bermuda was often chosen as a domicile for trusts or for the location of a physical family office […]
By Robert Breedon, Jocelyn S Paulley AI, machine learning, deep learning, neural networks – call it what you like, there’s a lot of excitement about the ability of software to analyse a lot of data, spot patterns, learn (sometimes independently) and to make conclusions and produce insights that are entirely new. t is not unusual […]
