Clifford Chance’s associated Italian tax boutique Vitali Romagnoli Piccardi e Associati has dumped the magic circle firm in favour of a deal with flourishing Italian firm Gianni Origoni Grippo & Partners. Vitali is in the process of negotiating its exit from its deal with Clifford Chance and hopes to have terminated its exclusive alliance with […]
Shell has drafted in Cravath Swaine & Moore to fight off claims by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) – although the firm helped write the report that led to the regulator’s probe in the first place. Cravath, the embattled energy company’s long-term legal adviser, co-wrote the memorandum that forced Shell to establish ‘Project Rockford’ […]
Simmons & Simmons last week announced that it is on a profits drive, setting a global profits per partner (PPP) target of £400,000 in 2004-05. The City firm has a mountain to climb given that average PPP in 2002-03 was just £300,000 and will be at best flat this year. But Simmons has two new […]
US firm Shaw Pittman has finally managed to secure a new partner in London as it seeks to recover from the raids that decimated the firm’s UK office in 2003. Nabarro Nathanson technology, media and telecoms partner Andrew Smith will be reunited with Shaw Pittman’s London managing partner Alistair Maughan, who worked with Smith when […]
Weil Gotshal & Manges has dumped client New York City just months before its high-profile trial against more than 40 gun-makers and distributors after citing potential client conflicts. The firm, which accepted the case two years ago on a pro bono basis, pulled out of representing the city in March. Richard Davis, the Weil Gotshal […]
Last week Italy, next week Sweden: Osborne Clarke (OC) is barrelling around Europe with all the grace of a gap-year backpacker. Here’s a box ticked in Italy with Abbatescianni e Associati, and we’re already looking forward to the rows and flouncing in two years’ time. And here’s a box almost ticked in Sweden – another […]
J Sainsbury is gearing up for a major overhaul of its property panel following the appointment of its first in-house property lawyer. The supermarket is hoping that hiring Katherine Kinch from Clifford Chance will help it slash its legal work which is usually outsourced to legal advisers. Consequently, Sainsbury’s is planning to review its existing […]
Alstom general counsel Andrew Hibbert will leave the French industrial giant this July following a disagreement with chief financial officer Phillipe Jaffre over what should be disclosed in Securities and Exchange Commission filings. The respected Hibbert has been replaced by Donna Vitter, who was previously general counsel of Alstom’s power division. Hibbert declined to confirm […]
Lovells has dropped out of a case in the US Supreme Court against the might of George Bush’s legal team because of a disagreement with leading English QCs over how their arguments – concerning the US President’s treatment of Guantanamo Bay detainees – should be presented. One senior source said Lovells’ New York office ceased […]
Legal fees involving the rescue of MCI look set to exceed $100m (£56.6bn) after the telecoms group, formerly known as WorldCom, this week emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Since the group filed for bankruptcy in July 2002, the company is estimated to have spent between $800m (£449.5m) and $1bn (£56m) on lawyers, accountants and consultants. […]
Recovering Dutch supermarket group Ahold last year shelled out €170m (£114.2m) in advisory fees, with the lion’s share going to White & Case, De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek and Wilmer Cutler & Pickering. The Dutch group revealed the massive fees in its full-year results for 2003, which also included €80m (£53.7m) spent on banking costs as […]
Blake Lapthorn Linnell has lost its leading corporate rainmaker, at the same time as the firm announces the axing of its three-lawyer children and education team. Sean Wright, whose clients include Zurich, will join Shoosmiths on 4 May and will divide his time between the Southampton and Reading offices. Meanwhile, Blake Lapthorn’s Fareham-based children and […]