Practice Areas

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Karp Diem: Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison

Come 1 January, Paul Weiss Rifkind ­Wharton & Garrison litigator Brad Karp will take on a major challenge.  Come ;1 ;January, Paul Weiss Rifkind ­Wharton & Garrison litigator Brad Karp will take on a major challenge. ; As ­chairman-elect of the firm, Karp, who will succeed tax partner Alfred Youngwood, the chair since 1999, will inherit one […]

Litigation: Before the storm

Way back at the beginning of August, the head of ­lit­igation at one of New York’s most prestigious law firms admitted that litigation levels ­during the ­calendar year 2008 were “not hugely up so far”. Then September ­happened. Way back at the beginning of August, the head of ­lit­igation at one of New York’s most […]

Bevan Brittan hooks up with Kent Council

Bevan Brittan is set to launch a groundbreaking partnership with Kent County Council’s (KCC) legal team to target work from the healthcare sector. The firm is teaming up with the council’s lawyers to offer the full range of legal services to NHS trusts. Under the scheme KCC Legal will handle volume work such as property, […]

Matrix grows to 60-barrister outfit

Matrix Chambers has passed the 60-barrister mark with the hire of four new members as the former Director of Public Prosecutions Sir Ken Macdonald QC returns to the set. The new members include Farrer & Co competition ­specialist Christopher Brown and Furnival Chambers’ Mark Summers, who practises in serious crime, anti-terrorism and extradition. The trio […]

Covington, Fulbright to review Bush’s DoJ

Covington & Burling and Fulbright & Jaworski are among the firms appointed by President-elect Barack Obama to review investigations shelved during the Republican administration. Obama selected Covington partner Eric Holder and Fulbright partner Richard Smith to join his transition team to look into the Department of Justice (DoJ) during George W Bush’s time in office. […]

Opinion: Privacy rulings don’t jeopardise investigative reporting

Daily Mail boss Paul Dacre accused Mr Justice Eady of imposing a privacy law on the UK’s press. As a former journalist, now solicitor, I believe Dacre is off on a frolic of his own. In his recent headline-grabbing speech Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre launched a stinging attack on Mr Justice Eady, ­accusing him […]

Mathys & Squire opens Manchester outpost

Patent and trademark attorney firm Mathys & Squire has launched a Manchester office with the hire of two directors from rival firm William A Shepherd & Son. Mathys & Squire has brought on board trademark specialists Gary Johnston and Robert Hawley for the start-up operation. The firm’s senior partner Peter Garratt and chemical patent partner […]

iLaw adds lawyer number 10 to roster

Start-up IP boutique iLaw now employs 10 lawyers ­following the hire of former DLA Piper ­commercial lawyer Rachel Laurent. Laurent specialises in commercial reputation management for media clients, as well as IP and technology matters. Since qualifying at Clifford Chance in 1993, she has worked in-house at the National Grid as well as at DLA […]

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Employment: Rights on the money

­The Court of Appeal’s rulings in a series of recent equal pay cases may force the Government and other employers to rewrite their policy documents. The decision of the Court of Appeal in Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council v Bainbridge and Ors (2008) and Surtees and Ors v Middlesbrough Council (2008) (The Lawyer, 29 July) […]

Employment: Tupe or not Tupe?

Firms that swooped for individuals previously employed in Heller Ehrman’s London office run a minimal legal risk under Tupe. But the picture for groups of employees isn’t quite so straightforward, warn Ann Bevitt and Suzanne Horne. While relatively small-scale redundancy exercises continue apace across law firms on both a covert and public level, the recent […]

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Clintons, Withers, line up for £2.4bn Ecclestone divorce

Clintons’ star family lawyer Liz Vernon is to go up against Withers partner Mark Harper in the Ecclestone divorce, set to produce the largest divorce settlement in UK legal history. Clintons’ star family lawyer Liz Vernon (pictured) is to go up against Withers partner Mark Harper in the Ecclestone divorce, set to produce the largest […]

One Brick Court faces Ugly dispute

One Brick Court and Russell Jones & Walker have been instructed by 9-12 Bell Yard barrister Constance Briscoe in her defence against libel allegations brought by her mother. Briscoe’s mother Carmen Briscoe-Mitchell has sued her daughter and publishers Hodder & Stoughton for libel over Briscoe’s 2006 memoirs of her childhood called Ugly. Briscoe’s mother said […]