DLA Piper has installed Chinese walls in its litigation group after BlackBerry maker Research in Motion (Rim) instructed Allen & Overy (A&O) to seek an injunction against the firm. DLA Piper has installed Chinese walls in its litigation group after BlackBerry maker Research in Motion (Rim) instructed Allen & Overy (A&O) to seek an injunction […]
As part of my determination to ensure that the justice system is as open and transparent as possible – and therefore accountable to the people it serves – media organisations will for the first time be able to attend proceedings of all the family courts as of Monday (27 April). Jack Straw The media has […]
Avanti Communications Group has appointed Patrick Willcocks to the newly-created role of general counsel. David Williams Willcocks joins the broadband satellite company from Electronic Data Systems, where he was a senior attorney responsible for the negotiation of outsourcing contracts with UK Government and commercial organisations. Most recently he worked on an $1bn data centre outsourcing […]
Candover Investments, the listed-arm of the UK private equity group, has appointed its first general counsel, hiring Philip Price from hedge fund SRM Global. Price, who was chief executive officer of SRM during its legal action against the British Government over the collapse of Northern Rock, started work this month. He has previously held in-house […]
Linklaters is quids in. At the end of a case that could have seen the firm paying $55m (£37m) damages to Baltic telecoms company Levicom the firm has been ordered to pay just £5 in nominal damages (see blog). The timing of the case could not have been worse for the firm, which is going […]
A duo of US firms has won lead roles on the State of Qatar’s recent $3bn (£2bn) sovereign bond issuance. Latham & Watkins partners Bill Voge in London and Doha-based Craig Stoehr advised Qatar on the deal, which was its first sovereign bond issuance since 2000. The firm has a longstanding relationship with the Qatari government, having advised on its […]
Hausfeld has reached a settlement with three individuals who sought to strike out the UK portion of a settlement reached in the US courts. In February 2008 Hausfeld’s legacy firm, Cohen Milstein Hausfeld & Co, reached a settlement in a US price-fixing class action brought against British Airways and Virgin Atlantic (TheLawyer.com, 15 February 2008). The […]
SJ Berwin is understood to be advising property company British Land on its potential sale of a 50 per cent stake in its £2.5bn Broadgate office estate in the City of London. While British Land has used firms including Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in the past, it is understood that on this occasion it has turned […]
Drinks maker Britvic has renegotiated its £300m banking facility, with Allen & Overy (A&O) and Linklaters winning key mandates. Linklaters, led by banking partner Philip Spittal, represented longstanding client Britvic. A&O edged out Clifford Chance to act for the six lending banks – Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC, Bank of Ireland, Lloyds and Fortis. […]
Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy has launched a commercial litigation practice in London, hiring DLA Piper partner Julian Stait to handle technology disputes. Stait, a former head of technology, media and communications (TMC) at DLA Piper, will work in Milbank’s two-partner IT and outsourcing team. Milbank now has 13 partners in London under European managing partner […]
Mills & Reeve is facing a professional negligence claim after the advice it gave to a company chief executive allegedly resulted in the businessman’s daughters paying a £1.3m inheritance tax bill. It is alleged that the firm advised Christopher Swain on a management buyout of telecoms company Swains International when he was having surgery in […]
Nabarro is piloting a low-cost alternative to disputes after developing a conflict avoidance system for clients. Gerard Khoshnaw The conflict avoidance audit involves a review of internal procedures with heads of key client departments, a training programme for management and staff on possible pitfalls and preparation of a risk management report to the organisation’s board. Nabarro head of commercial disputes […]