Hammonds’ chief of international projects and finance William Abraham has resigned in a last-ditch attempt to get the firm to refocus its global strategy. The firm is holding emergency talks with Abraham next week to address his concerns. “The firm wasn’t addressing Abraham’s concerns that his international practice had been sidelined following its strategy review […]
Quadrant Chambers has raided 4-5 Gray’s Inn Square for a trio of barristers as it ramps up its banking and financial services practice for the expected influx of work following the credit crunch. The set has recruited derivatives specialist Tom O’Riordan, who, before joining 4-5 Gray’s Inn, worked as external counsel for Cadwalader Wickersham & […]
Linklaters has axed its Cologne office, the birthplace of German legacy firm Oppenhoff & Rädler, which Linklaters merged with in 2001. Only around 10 of Linklaters’ 26 Cologne partners and counsel have agreed to set sail 25 miles upriver for the city of Düsseldorf to launch a new office for their firm. The rest are […]
US firm Howrey is shaking up its London office, as the firm seeks to raise its profile in the City. The firm is ramping up its London antitrust practice, transferring key partners from Brussels to its UK base as part of a wider restructuring. European antitrust head and co-managing partner for Brussels Trevor Soames said: […]
US reinsurance giant RGA International has hired RiverStone Management general counsel and company secretary Catherine Regan as international legal counsel. Regan will take responsibility for legal matters relating to Europe, South Africa and India, reporting to US-based RGA assistant general counsel Bill Hutton. She will be based in St Louis and work with a global […]
Clyde & Co has recruited LeBoeuf Lamb Greene & MacRae partner Michael Knoerzer in New York to spearhead the firm’s assault on the US insurance and reinsurance market. Clydes’ two US offices, in New York and Los Angeles have so far concentrated on aviation and aerospace as a result of the firm taking on partners […]
Allen & Overy (A&O) and Clifford Chance have maintained their lead in announced European M&A deals during the first three-quarters of the year, despite an alarming slump in deal volume during the last quarter. In European deals completed, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer came top with almost $240bn (£117.1bn) worth of transactions, in front of A&O, Clifford […]
McDermott Will & Emery has reversed the flow of high-level departures in its London office by hiring a partner for its employment team. Vanessa Morgan will join McDermott from Allen & Overy, where she was senior counsel. Morgan’s arrival will take the London employment team to four partners, including team head Alison Wetherfield and office […]
UK domain name registrar Nominet is considering changes to its dispute resolution policy that could see it reduce fees by more than two-thirds for its expert decision service. An expert decision costs the claimant £750, whether the claim is contested or not. But now Nominet is considering lowering that fee to £200 if the other […]
Monckton Chambers has scored a European Court of Justice (ECJ) victory for a group of mobile phone traders who got caught up in a carousel fraud that cost UK Companies billions of pounds. The ECJ ruled that mobile phone trader Teleos, along with 14 other companies that bought mobile phones in the UK and sold […]
Bircham Dyson Bell is representing Nottingham City Council in its bid to introduce the first workplace parking space levy in the UK. The firm’s head of major projects Robbie Owen is working alongside partner Nick Evans and associate Tom Henderson to draw up proposals aimed at cutting congestion in the city. The firm has a […]
Herbert Smith played a key role in ensuring the employees of tube contractor Metronet did not miss out on pension benefits when the company went into administration. Partner Roderick Morton advised Metronet and Transport for London (TfL), which stepped in to take responsibility for the pension scheme until a new contractor is found. Morton explained […]