Pharmaceuticals and healthcare

News

Bech-Bruun loses three partners to Nordic rivals

Bech-Bruun has lost a handful partners to rival firms, with Norwegian-headquartered firm Schjødt and big five rival Gorrissen Federspiel both profiting from the exits. Litigation partners Søren Lundsgaard and Arianne Svardal-Stelmer will join Schjødt in the firm’s most substantial disputes expansion of its 18-month old Copenhagen office. The pair joined Bech-Bruun in a merger between […]

Emma Levin

Mental healthcare provider OneBright hires first GC

UK mental healthcare provider OneBright has hired it first general counsel to support the expanding organisation. Emma Levin has been hired to take on the inaugural role, making the move from her current position as head of legal EV Europe at payment company Fleetcor on 8 January 2024. Levin began her career as a trainee […]

biotechnology

Latham and Skadden lead on £4.6bn Abcam acquisition

Advisers from Latham & Watkins and Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom have led on US conglomerate Danaher Corporation’s recent acquisition of Cambridge-based life science innovator Abcam in a $5.7bn transaction. Since Abcam’s AIM delisting in December 2022, Latham is understood to have been working closely with the company’s executive board as it faced calls […]

Corporate partner rejoins Stephenson Harwood after two years

A corporate partner who left Stephenson Harwood as part of a three-partner team in 2021 is moving back to her former firm. Karima Hudson, a corporate specialist, is leaving Taylor Wessing to rejoin Stephenson Harwood. She made the move alongside Andrew Edge and Andrew McClean in March 2021. All three partners have broad corporate practices, with […]

NHS

NHS cuts five firms from commercial panel

NHS Commercial Solutions is continuing to streamline its legal services framework, appointing 18 firms to its latest roster. Bevan Brittan, Clyde & Co, DAC Beachcroft, Hill Dickinson and Trowers & Hamlins have all been reappointed to the procurement organisation’s panel, while Ashfords, TLT, Weightmans and Womble Bond Dickinson have been newly appointed. Elsewhere, Addleshaw Goddard, […]

Analysis

Metro Bank

Hogan Lovells and Pinsents lead as NatWest buys Metro Bank portfolio

Hogan Lovells and Pinsent Masons have scored roles on a deal that will see NatWest purchase nearly £2.5bn worth of Metro Bank’s residential mortgage portfolio. The two firms are the latest to get involved in recent transactional efforts made by Metro Bank to bolster its finances and manage potential risks to its clients and shareholders. […]

Knights returns to merger mode to snap up West Midlands firm

Listed firm Knights has acquired the West Midlands firm Thursfields in a deal worth £12.5m as it aims to enter another period of rapid growth. Knights has been a prolific acquirer of mid-market law firms over the past decade, with Langleys (£17.7m), Shulmans (£17.6m),  Keebles (£12.6m), ASB (£12.5m) and Coffin Mew (£11.3m) among its most […]

Olympics

Spotlight: On your marks, get set, litigate

Millions of people around the world will tune in to the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics in Paris this evening. With both the Olympics and Paralympics set to dominate headlines over the coming weeks, we climb to the top of the 10-meter platform for a deep dive into one of the firms that specialises […]

BDB Pitmans prioritises US firms for network launch

BDB Pitmans is throwing its entire weight into finding mid-market US firms to join its soon-to-be-launched international network, Broadfield. The Lawyer understands there is space in the proposed network for multiple US firms with BDB Pitmans managing partner John Hutchinson describing the UK and US as “starting points” for its grand plan. The firm announced […]

Tobacco, cigarette

PZ Cussons GC joins tobacco business

British healthcare company PZ Cussons has lost its general counsel to tobacco business Imperial Brands. Kevin Massie is making the move to the owner of the Lambert & Butler, Rizla and Golden Virginia brands after four years of leading the legal, governance and compliance function. In a LinkedIn post, he wrote: “I will soon be […]

Live Webinar: AI Updates

One year after GenAI tools have revolutionised the way we think about AI and how the legal sector operates, we delve into how legal AI tools are addressing client challenges and explore the industry’s response to AI-related concerns. Join this webinar to hear the panel discuss: • What impact has GenAI had on the legal […]

TLT boosts turnover by 12 per cent

TLT’s transition into national firm territory has been solidified after the firm posted a 12 per cent revenue rise from £157m to £174m. It has been a year of expansion for TLT, with the firm moving into Birmingham for the first time after taking a team of 10 from Shoosmiths. That group hire has helped […]

Jane Stewart

Slaughters innovation pro departs firm

Slaughter and May’s head of legal operations is set to depart the firm after 19 years. Jane Stewart has been with Slaughters her entire career, spanning numerous roles. She joined the firm in 2005 as a trainee solicitor, qualifying into the corporate finance team as an associate in 2007. After spending nearly 10 years as […]

Featured Briefings

Registration of medicines in the Eurasian Economic Union

At the Pharmaceutical Forum of the EAEU and CIS countries held in Moscow in late February 2018, the Director of the Department of Technical Regulation and Accreditation of the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEС) said that the full-scale work on registration of medicines using the unified information system of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) will start […]

Revolutionising Africa’s healthcare system

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 […]