Leading UK biotechnology company Protherics has called on Ashurst as it embarks on takeover talks. The company saw its share price leap 44 per cent after announcing it had received several approaches from unnamed parties. Any deal would have to value Protherics at more than its market price of around £130m. Ashurst corporate partners Andrew […]
Simmons & Simmons has continued its strategy of hiring magic circle associates as partners with the addition of Marc Thorley from Clifford Chance. Thorley, who is currently on secondment to Barclays, will join the Simmons partnership this autumn, leaving Clifford Chance after eight and a half years. Simmons litigation chief Colin ;Passmore ;hailed Thorley as […]
CMS Cameron McKenna managing partner Duncan Weston has revealed plans to unite financial reporting across the CMS network. While Weston has yet to persuade the European members of the network to come on board, if the proposal is agreed the nine CMS firms will report turnover and profit as if they were a single organisation. […]
Exeter-based Ashfords is considering a radical plan to add on a property development arm once UK regulations allow it to seek external investment. The firm is examining a range of options related to external investment that have been created by the introduction of the Legal Services Act. Among these is a plan to bring together […]
Clifford Chance is advising the British Bankers’ Association (BBA) on its review of the governance of the London interbank offered rate (Libor) Partner Habib Motani is leading the team advising the BBA on proposed changes, which include altering the definition and application of Libor. In June this year the BBA issued a consultation document and […]
Collins Stewart, the UK’s largest stockbroker, has called on Rosenblatt Solicitors as it considers a multi-million-pound takeover bid. The group, which has seen income from its capital markets business plummet, has announced it is in talks with an unnamed company. Potential bidders include Japanese bank Nomura, which uses Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, and Australia’s Macquarie, which […]
CMS Cameron McKenna’s fledgling Ukraine office has won an instruction from start-up airline Wizz Air Ukraine. The ;firm ;saw ;off Chadbourne & Parke, Wizz Air’s other legal adviser in Ukraine, to act on the leasing of the company’s first aircraft, an Airbus A230-200. The company leasing the aircraft, General Electric Commercial ;Aviation Services, turned to […]
Denton Wilde Sapte has marked its tenth year advising the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) by acting on the £300m sale of the UK media rights to matches between 2010 and 2013. BSkyB and Five have retained broadcast rights for English cricket, while Welsh language channel S4C will offer live coverage of Glamorgan County […]
Where is the best place for a woman to get a divorce? London of course, the divorce capital of the world. ‘Forum shopping’, as it is known in family law circles, creates a myriad of problems for all parties involved in the divorce process. Legal costs are reaching new heights as the number of marriages […]
The EU’s efforts to reduce forum shopping for divorce cases – and potentially curtail the UK’s status as the top choice – has in reality created a minefield of legislation. It is not just Bond Street that is attracting shoppers to London. The UK capital’s courts are a hot destination too. Why? Because for divorcing […]
Teething problems with the implementation of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 are defeating the legislation’s admirable objectives, argues Fiona Smith The Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) came into force during 2007. It provides a rigorous environment within which the affairs of those who become mentally incapacitated are managed. The act aims, among other things, to […]
Clifford Chance has significantly bolstered its Indian group with the hire of a capital markets partner from top Indian firm Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh A. Shroff & Co. Rahul Guptan, who was based in Amarchand’s Mumbai office, will join Clifford Chance’s Singapore office as a partner. Clifford Chance global managing partner David Childs said: […]