From October this year the Supreme Court will replace the House of Lords as the highest court in England and Wales. The ;12 ;Law ;Lords, headed by Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, will become the first justices of the Supreme Court ;when ;the ;new institution is inaugurated. It is due to open at the former […]
Allen & Overy’s (A&O) wide-reaching internal restructuring was triggered by an unexpectedly sharp downturn at the beginning of this year, according to managing partner Wim Dejonghe. Last week the firm announced ;a ;£44m restructuring that will see it cut 47 partners and 200 fee-earners, spin off its private client business and freeze billing rates at […]
Litigation heavyweight finds success being the tortoise rather than the hare. There are not many law firm chairmen who could truthfully make the following statement right now: “Our hope is that 2009, like 2008, will be a strong year.” Then again, there are not many international firms like the one Brad Karp heads: Paul Weiss […]
LG corporate recovery partner Tom Withyman advised the buyer of troubled high-street retailer Adams Childrenswear at the end of its administration process. LG ;had ;previously worked with Adams’ former owner John Shannon, an Irish businessman who bought the retailer out of administration two years ago and who has now bought the business back for a […]
Mishcon de Reya has scored a rare criminal conviction from an IP case, securing a jail sentence on behalf of Microsoft against a parallel importer. The decision marks the end of an IP litigation that started five years ago, when Microsoft first took action against Itac, a company run by Barry Omesuh. Mishcons contentious IP […]
London’s position as a leading arbitration centre has been dealt a blow following an MFB Solicitors victory in the European Court of Justice (ECJ). The ECJ ruling in West Tankers Inc v RAS Riunione Adriatica di Sicurta SpA & ors (2009) states that English courts cannot stop legal proceedings in another EU member state, even […]
The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) is looking to cut firms from its legal panel. The Nuclear Decommissioning ;Authority (NDA) is revamping its legal panel before the multibillion-pound decommissioning of the first fleet of civil nuclear plants and experimental and ;research sites ;in Dorset and Oxfordshire. The government body, which currently operates three rosters of advisers, wants […]
Land Securities has turned to stalwart adviser Slaughter and May for advice on its £755.7m rights issue. Slaughters has a longstanding relationship with the property giant and recently advised it on the £444m sale of Land Securities Trillium to Telereal (9 January). On the rights issue, the Slaughters team was led by corporate partner Gavin […]
A judge has slammed Fox Hayes and its former managing partner in a Court of Appeal victory for the Financial Services Authority (FSA). The court overturned an earlier Financial Services and Markets Tribunal decision, which had in turn overturned an FSA decision that found Fox Hayes had been negligent when it gave advice in relation […]
The only lead counsel on the Buncefield litigation who was not a QC has been awarded silk in this year’s round of QC appointments. Philip Edey (pictured), a member of 20 Essex St, was one of the youngest to put in a successful application and was appointed silk after only 15 years call. He is […]
Italian energy company Eni drew entirely on its in-house legal team when disposing of EUR 4.7bn (£4.18bn) worth of subsidiaries, amid a plan to drastically cut its future legal spend. Eni restructured its legal department late last year to operate along geographical lines and the company aims to reduce its external legal spend by 20 […]
Allen & Overy (A&O) has beefed up its US restructuring group after hiring lawyers from Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft and King & Spalding. Angela Somers joins as special counsel from Cadwalader, where she worked in the New York-based restructuring group representing debtors, official creditors and equity committees and other parties in Chapter 11 filings. Former […]