US firm Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman has been left with just one full-time partner in its London office after a raid by Bird & Bird. The UK firm has hired corporate partner Simon Fielder, who has a practice focused on AIM and corporate work for clients in the technology industry. Fielder said: “I was really […]
Nominet, the operator of the .uk internet domain, is looking for 10 IP and internet specialists to join its dispute resolution panel as it looks to cope with the growing number of domain name disputes. The experts will act as judges on domain name disputes. Nominet senior legal counsel Nick Wenban Smith said: “It’s four […]
CMS Cameron McKenna’s new head of immigration is to be followed to the firm by her former team from Reed Smith. Caron Pope, Reed Smith’s former UK head of immigration, is taking her associate Deirdre Murphy and two paralegals with her to Camerons. The departures mean that Reed Smith is left with just one London […]
New York firm Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft has launched an IP practice, raiding IP firm Morgan & Finnegan for a trio of senior lawyers. The initial raid is the first step as the firm looks to roll out an IP practice across all of its offices, which include London and Beijing. Partner Christopher Hughes joins […]
The French arm of Reed Smith, Reed Smith Rambaud Charot, has raided Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer to boost its Paris real estate practice. Freshfields counsel Vincent Lassalle joins the firm as a partner, bringing with him US-qualified senior associate Stéphanie Chalanset-Moulié. The hire continues Reed Smith’s European expansion, which has seen the firm bolster its German […]
Linklaters has retained private equity client Montagu for a £276m deal that sees insurance intermediary Towergate acquire software broker Open International despite the departures of the firm’s key contact partners. Montagu has been a client of the magic circle firm since Linklaters advised HSBC on the sale of its 80 per cent interest in Montagu […]
Allen & Overy (A&O) and US firm LeBoeuf Lamb Greene & MacRae have secured the $486.4m (£243.87m) disposal of Newfield Exploration Company’s UK subsidiary to Centrica, the UK’s biggest energy supplier. The deal sees Centrica take an 85 per cent stake in the Grove gas field, which started production this summer, as well as an […]
LG has cemented its relationship with investment bank Arbuthnott, representing it in its position as nominated adviser on three separate AIM deals. The firm advised the bank in connection with Ragusa’s £173m reverse takeover of the Argentinean electricity, oil and gas and hydro assets of Ketsal, Integra Investment and Andes Oil, together with its associated […]
Travers Smith has won a key client in the expanding carbon trading market with a mandate to steer it through an innovative arrangement with Deutsche Bank. Travers, which along with Sullivan & Cromwell and Isle of Man-headquartered Cains advised exchange operator Climate Exchange on the deal, was gifted the instruction from two separate recommendations from […]
Allen & Overy (A&O) has scored an Employment Appeals Tribunal (EAT) victory against HSBC’s former senior banker, who claimed he was discriminated against for being gay. Peter Lewis, HSBC’s former head of global equities, claimed the bank had mishandled an investigation into allegations of gross misconduct because of his sexual orientation. A colleague, known only […]
Baker & McKenzie has advised Management Consulting Group (MCG) on its $125m (£62.02m) proposed merger with global management consulting firm Kurt Salmon Associates. The latter has turned to Paul Hastings Janofsky & Walker for advice. The Bakers team was led by London corporate partner Tim Sheddick and his Chicago-based counterpart Edward West, with banking and […]
Scottish firm Burness has won a new client in the shape of the Irvine Bay Urban Regeneration Company (URC). This is the sixth URC the firm has worked with in Scotland. One of the first projects the firm, led by partner Stephen Phillips, will oversee for Irvine Bay is the development of Irvine Harbourside. Burness […]