There are three things that keep City managing partners awake at night. First, the US firms. Second, tech and New Law. And third, Brexit. This week saw all three issues in the spotlight. The extent of US firms’ growth in London was shown by the unveiled City 50, The Lawyer’s ranking of US and UK […]
CVC Capital Partners has acquired a majority stake in alternative legal services provider UnitedLex in what is believed to be the largest investment in the legal market ever at $500m. UnitedLex CEO Dan Reed led negotiations in-house. The Lawyer can reveal that CVC was advised by a White & Case team led by New York-based partner […]
Orrick, Latham & Watkins and Fenwick & West have taken the lead advising on luxury online retailer FarFetch‘s IPO on the New York Stock Exchange. Latham & Watkins is advising FarFetch, with a capital markets team led by New York partners Marc Jaffe and Ian Schuman, and London partner Joshua Kiernan. Orrick is acting for a […]
GSK’s assistant general counsel talks to The Lawyer about the steps she takes to avoid disappointment in the mentor-mentee relationship.
Former Allen & Overy (A&O) head of intellectual property Nicola Dagg was leading on 75 per cent of the firm’s cases in the sector before the announcement of her high-profile move to US firm Kirkland & Ellis earlier this year, data from The Lawyer can reveal. Data gathered for The Lawyer Litigation Tracker Q2 shows that of the firm’s four […]
Flexible lawyering service Lawyers On Demand (LOD) has laid out its plans for significant growth in the US with hopes that it will become the provider’s biggest market in the next “few years”. In a bid to further its ambitions in the US, LOD co-founder John Knox relocated to the North Eastern state of Connecticut […]
Slaughter and May has the highest revenue per lawyer (RPL) of the UK’s top 100 largest firms this year. At £900,000, the firm’s RPL is also the third highest in the top 200. Only Bott & Co (ranked 153rd in the UK 200) and Drydensfairfax Solicitors (ranked 196) are higher. For 2018, any firm wishing […]
The former Serious Fraud Office (SFO) case controller for its high-profile battle with the Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation (ENRC) has resurfaced as a partner at a US firm which only launched in London earlier this year. John Gibson has joined Cohen & Gresser’s London office – which opened in May – to launch the firm’s […]
Clyde & Co is set to provide legal services to a new consortium of banks and traders launching a blockchain-based platform to digitalise commodities trading processes. Komgo SA is a new Switzerland-based partnership that brings together powerhouse banks and stakeholders in the oil industry, including ABN AMRO, BNP Paribas, Citi, Crédit Agricole Group, Gunvor, ING, Koch […]
Linklaters, Hogan Lovells and Norton Rose Fulbright have sealed the construction of Triton Knoll, a major offshore wind farm which will provide 800,000 households with renewable energy. Led by projects partner Richard Coar and energy partner John Pickett, Linklaters acted for Triton Knoll on the project financing work. The pair were supported by counsel Andrew Penfold and […]
Davis Polk & Wardwell and Linklaters have advised on the simplification of Unilever corporate structure, in which its Dutch and UK entities have been merged to create one listed holding company. As a result, Unilever’s UK business will join with the Dutch entity to create New Unilever NV. The company will be listed in three jurisdictions; […]
Clifford Chance, Eversheds Sutherland, Gowling WLG and Kirkland & Ellis have advised on the £1.5bn sale of Network Rail’s commercial estate to private equity giants Blackstone Property Partners and Telereal Trillium – the biggest investment programme in the railway since Victorian times. Clifford Chance and Eversheds both acted for Network Rail in its sale of a portfolio comprised […]
A Russian billionaire being sued by a former business partner has failed in his attempts to not have the details of a worldwide freezing order (WFO) on assets worth up to $350m disclosed to the claimant in a recent High Court judgment. Fishing magnate Vitaly Orlov, advised by Macfarlanes head of fraud James Popperwell, is […]
The Russian bank Sberbank has opted to swap South Square’s Barry Issacs QC and Alexander Riddiford for Brick Court super silk Mark Howard QC and junior Laura Newton for its Court of Appeal hearing in October. Howard and Newton will now be instructed by Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson partner Justin Michaelson for the […]
Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan has secured victory for Ukraine in a long-running stand-off between the nation and Russia over the terms of a $3bn bond. The case was heard in the Court of Appeal last week, with the decision overturning a previous one made by the now-retired Mr Justice Blair – brother of former Prime […]
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer restructuring partner Nick Segal is switching private practice for the Bar, taking on a new role at Erskine Chambers. Segal is set to join the chambers as a barrister in September, after he has been successfully admitted to the Bar. Segal joined Freshfields in 2006 on his return to the UK from […]
The Criminal Bar Association (CBA)’s feud with the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has ended with 51.55 per cent of members voting to accept the £15m offer that was put to them two weeks ago. The offer was accepted through a slim majority voting in favour of the reforms with an 85 per cent turnout from […]
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has offered the Criminal Bar Association (CBA) £15m as the government entity seeks to end the increasingly tense standoff between the two bodies. The deal is said to be an entirely new investment and will include an £8m cash injection for barristers who have lost money through a change in […]
Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman has become the latest US firm to review its operations in the Middle East, closing two offices in the region. The firm has shut its doors in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, the latter office opening in the second quarter of 2017. The decision follows the departure of Pillsbury’s Middle Eastern co-head […]
Ashurst has expanded its Ashurst Advance team with the opening of a global delivery centre (GDC) in Brisbane, its second after the launch of its Glasgow office in 2013. The GDC will extend the firm’s legal analyst model on home turf within the APAC region, where Ashurst has five Australian offices following its merger with Blake […]
Volkswagen (VW) is facing a new €9bn (£8.1bn) claim from roughly 4,000 shareholders in light of the company’s emissions scandal. Despite the fact that the automobile giant is a key client of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, giving a number of instructions in Germany, VW is instead instructing German firm SZA Schilling Zutt & Anschutz on the matter. The […]
Mayer Brown has lost a five-lawyer real estate and finance team to Dechert’s Paris office, as the recruitment market continues to heat up in the French capital. Dechert partner Privat Vigand is leading the team’s move to Dechert, along with four associates – Guenaëlle Taroni, Antoine Periat, Fanny Roiena and Pauline Keller. Vigand has been at […]
A new bilingual legal tech platform has been launched in China that could save lawyers “lost in translation” and boost foreign investment going into and out of the country. Supported by Beijing officials and a pool of international law firms, beta trials are underway to test docQbot, a cloud-based contract bot said to draft quality […]
French hospitality giant Sodexo has named a trio of firms to handle work across its European business,The Lawyer has learned.
Communication between member firms is crucially important to the modern network business model. How is legal tech helping them push that to the max?
Lawyers see the increasing flexibility of fund structuring in the country as a big draw in light of the Brexit vote
With growth in London far from reliable for law firms, is it time for Europe to take more of a leading role?
Mayer Brown has added former Nabarro partner Simon Rose to its tax practice in London, nearly a year after the departure of its lead City partner to Gibson Dunn & Crutcher. Rose joins Mayer Brown as its third tax partner in London. He started his career at SJ Berwin in 1994, working there until leaving to […]
Over a year into its Scottish merger, Addleshaw Goddard has lost a ten-strong private client team to independent firm Morton Fraser. The head of Addleshaw’s private client team in Edinburgh, Gregor Mitchell, will move across to Morton Fraser, alongside legal director Euan Fleming and a team of eight consultants, solicitors, paralegals and executive assistants. The defection comes […]
Slaughter and May has finally confirmed it has hired former Serious Fraud Office (SFO) director David Green QC as a senior consultant. Sources had claimed conflict issues were causing a hold up in the firm’s high-profile hire, but Slaughters has said Green will not work on matters in which he was involved while at the SFO. Green’s […]
Orrick’s City office has offered partnership to two private equity lawyers from Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy to bolster the firm’s efforts in this area. James Connor and Daniel Wayte join from Simpson Thacher and Milbank respectively, and have been brought in to add bench-strength to Orrick’s London private equity practice and add […]
Baker Botts has snagged a corporate partner from Morgan Lewis & Bockius’ London office, three weeks after the latter brought in a trio of M&A partners from Herbert Smith Freehills to boost operations. David Ramm is joining Baker Botts after four years as a partner at Morgan Lewis. He moved over to the firm in 2014 […]
Sidley Austin‘s spate of exits continues in the capital, with capital markets partner Noel Hughes the latest to take on a new role at US firm Vinson & Elkins. Noel Hughes joined Sidley Austin as a partner in 2016, after a four-year spell as an associate at Paul Hastings. Prior to this, he was an […]
Osborne Clarke has added two new partners to its City employment team, including DWF’s national head of employment Andrew Chamberlain. Chamberlain joined DWF in 2014 after nearly two decades at Addleshaw Goddard. In his practice, he advises FTSE 100 employers on processes such as services agreements and termination. He also covers employment nuances in M&A […]
Baker McKenzie has lured back former partner Matthew Dening, months after he stood down from his role as Sidley Austin’s London office head, The Lawyer can reveal. It is 14 years since Dening left Bakers for Sidley; Dening trained, worked and was promoted at Bakers in 2001 where he became a member of its derivatives team. […]
In a rare move for a US firm in London, Kirkland & Ellis has hired a professional support lawyer as a partner to drive growth in its increasingly busy restructuring practice. Kate Stephenson joins Kirkland as a partner, having worked at Weil Gotshal & Manges for four years as a PSL in the restructuring team. […]
White & Case has hired an in-houser from the Royal Bank of Scotland’s legal team, as the US firm continues to add to its litigation practice in the City. RBS’ litigation head Laura Durrant will join White & Case‘s London office as a partner. She leaves her role as head of litigation and investigations at RBS […]
Shearman & Sterling has hired Deutsche Bank’s former co-general counsel Simon Dodds to its London office, after he left the bank earlier this year. Dodds joins Shearman’s financial institutions advisory and regulatory practice as of counsel. He was in-house at the bank for nearly two decades, having been appointed to the role of UK and […]
One of Schillings’ most senior privacy partners has left the firm to launch a new boutique offering with his former colleague. Chris Scott will form the new venture Himsworth Scott with a former senior associate of Schillings Matt Himsworth, who left the firm in 2012. The pair will be joined by a third lawyer at […]
By Rob MacAdam With clients expecting more efficiency, transparency and value from their lawyers, it’s time for law firms to re-engineer their legal service delivery into real competitive advantage. In this video, Rob MacAdam, Director of Legal Solutions, identifies six elements that make up the anatomy of a legal matter, and discusses what improvements can be […]
By Gwendoline Davies, Claire Acklam Anyone involved in the conduct of litigation will be aware that the ‘overriding objective’, at rule 1.1 (1) of the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR), requires cases to be dealt with “justly and at proportionate cost”. Unfortunately, the question of what is proportionate continues to cause confusion and dispute. In this latest […]
By Susana Almeida Lopes Women represent 50% of the working population and are as much or more educated and qualified as men are. However, the problem of gender diversity (or lack of it), especially in top positions in organisations, is a persistent societal problem, and there are (many) studies that, if concrete measures are not taken, […]
By Emma Lusty It is a common misconception that a franchise network with a high level of resales is a bad sign. In fact, a healthy resale market is a good sign. It means that franchisees are able to build up profitable businesses which can be sold to recover a return on their initial investment and […]
By Daniel Gera, Dorottya Gindl Gender equality may be a core EU principle, but it will not become a reality without effective legal action. To meet the EU objective of reaching a 75% employment rate for both men and women by 2020, the European Commission aims to change the existing legal framework. Thus, the European […]
By Luca van Silfhout, Patrick Vettenburg A number of goods and services, listed in an annex to the Dutch VAT Act, qualify for the reduced VAT rate (instead of the regular VAT rate of currently 21%). Among these goods and services are: qualifying medicines, first-aid type supplies such as bandages and qualifying medical aids such […]
By Paul M. Murphy, Mark McAuley Overview: The United States seems to be raising the bar for International Development Finance with the proposed BUILD Act. Through the proposed creation of a new U.S. Government institution, the International Development Finance Corporation, the US looks to create a new paradigm for the developing world – in direct response to […]
The technology we increasingly rely on every day such as phones, tablets and personal computers are made up of different components. These components and other parts are made using raw materials that can be found in countries all over the world. Materials including aluminium, lithium and cobalt have been listed by the World Bank as […]
By Ajay Bhargava, Arvind Kumar Ray, Karan Gupta In the recent case of Modi-Mundipharma Private Limited v Union of India & Ors., (Writ Petition (Civil) No. 11802 of 2016), the High Court of Delhi (Court) has clarified that incremental innovation or novel drug delivery systems like lipid / liposomal formulations, sustained release, controlled release, etc. should […]
By Sagardeep Rathi, Pranjal Prateek, Ebaad Khan In a case connected to the Competition Commission of India’s (CCI) cartel investigation in the conveyor belt market, an appellate bench of the Delhi High Court (Court) (LPA 607/2016; Judgment dated 24 May 2018) has confirmed a single judge bench judgment of the Court (WP(C) 11411 of 2015; Judgment […]
Last year, the UK was named the least productive European nation in the G7 and latest figures suggest that things have not improved; in fact, some claim these productivity challenges are one of the biggest economic threats facing Britain. At the same time, the intense and constant pace of change caused by the digital era […]
By David Asker Key considerations when lending money We’ve looked at some of the key questions you should be asking if you are thinking of lending money. The first consideration you need to make is: can you afford to lend them the sum they need? And if so, when will you need the money repaid […]
