Landwell’s global legal network has been given a deadline of 30th June by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) this year to stop working for PriceWaterhouseCoopers’ (PwC) SEC registered audit clients. The firm’s German practice Heussen (previously PriceWaterhouseCoopers Veltins) is to quit the network almost two months short of this date on 6 May. […]
Latham & Watkins has poached two financial regulatory partners for its Washington DC office from Mayer Brown Rowe & Maw. Brian Smith and Timothy Keehan join Latham as partners 12 years after the pair joined Mayer Brown from Stroock Stroock & Lavan. The team provides a variety of financial institutions, banks and credit card firms […]
Sullivan & Cromwell’s snub of regular client Vodafone has resulted in the US firm backing the winning horse in the race to acquire AT&T Wireless. Cingular Wireless has won the auction of AT&T Wireless with a $41bn bid. Cingular is a joint venture between BellSouth and SBC Communications. Sullivan & Cromwell advised SBC Communications and […]
US firm Townsend and Townsend and Crew is to merge with litigation boutique Legal Strategies Group (LSG). Six partners and a total of 12 lawyers will join the San Francisco branch of Townsend, a 150-lawyer IP and litigation practice, which also has offices in Seattle, Denver, Palo Alto, San Diego and Walnut Creek, California. “This […]
Allens Arthur Robinson has once again proved it is the top choice for major sporting events, having won the coveted role of official law firm to the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games. The firm won the role from a host of other law firms, and will advise alongside the Games’ in-house legal team. Chairman of the […]
It’s heartwarming to think that £400-an-hour corporate finance lawyers haven’t spent a slow 18 months playing with their executive toys. Simmons & Simmons’ corporate department used the downturn to help out pioneering broker Collins Stewart on its now famous accelerated initial public offering (IPO) procedure. (For those of you who rush straight through the business […]
Hextalls is continuing its attack on the London market, with the hire of Beachcroft Wansbrough’s insurance litigation partner Dominic Dennis-Browne to head the firm’s professional indemnity department. Dennis-Browne specialises in defending claims against a number of professions including solicitors, with particular expertise in claims involving dishonesty. The role of head of professional indemnity has been […]
Howard Kennedy continues to beef up its media department with the hire of another Hammonds partner. Justin Stephenson joins the eight-strong media team headed by his former Hammonds colleague Brian Eagles. Stephenson is a banking lawyer who specialises in media finance. He will work predominantly for the film and music industries and will lend a […]
A judge made the case for tougher laws governing illegal motorists after being forced to cut his own sentence in the controversial case of an asylum seeker who failed to stop after he ran over and killed a nine-year-old boy.
Dutch heavyweight De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek is poised to raid the Amsterdam tax team of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. De Brauw is to vote this week on whether to hire senior tax partner Dick Hofland, an international tax and structured finance specialist, along with a junior partner. It is also considering hiring Paul Sleurink, another tax […]
The creation of a Community Patent Court with EU jurisdiction has been formally proposed by the European Commission in its bid to harmonise and simplify EU intellectual property protection. If ministers approve the idea, it could ultimately end the current system whereby national and European patents are challenged in national courts, which sometimes leads to […]
Ciba Specialty Chemicals has recruited the European general counsel of Eastman Kodak to head its legal function in its Basle head office in Switzerland. Thomas Koch joins Ciba as its new head of law and environment and as secretary to the board. He replaces Hans-Ulrich Müller, who is retiring. Müller joined Ciba in 1990. Ciba […]