A recommendation from the magic circle has awarded Kendall Freeman a new client in the guise of Germany’s Ergo Group subsidiary Victoria Seguros. Kendall Freeman, which was formed in March out of the insurance and litigation groups from the now defunct DJ Freeman, won the client after Allen & Overy (A&O) put its name forward. […]
Allen & Overy (A&O) and Linklaters are awaiting a decision by the Italian competition authority that will determine which firm will grab the lion’s share of the work advising British American Tobacco (BAT) on its takeover of Italy’s Ente Tabbacchi Italiano (ETI). The completion of the deal, a hard-fought contest between three consortiums, depends on […]
DLA and Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) have landed new clients after both firms acted on the inaugural acquisition by Active Asset Investment Management (aAIM), the recently formed property investment company backed by Sir Alex Ferguson.DLA advised aAIM, which purchased Marks & Spencer’s (M&S) flagship City development 70 Gracechurch St from insurance group XL Capital for […]
Barlow Lyde & Gilbert has scored its largest corporate deal this year, acting for long-term client Swedish industrial company Trelleborg on its £495m acquisition of the Polymer Sealing Solutions business from Smiths Group.Trelleborg bought the business after winning an auction, which saw Montagu Private Equity, US conglomerate Eaton and Swedish rival SKF in the running.Barlows […]
The Government has proposed time limits on legal aid immigration work, heralding it as an attempt to improve quality. But Alison Stanley says it’s all about the money On 5 June 2003, a bombshell was dropped on legal aid immigration lawyers. The Lord Chancellor’s Department (now the Department for Constitutional Affairs) published a consultation paper […]
Home Office lawyers are critical to the Government’s new initiative on unfounded asylum applications, says the Home Office Immigration Team When the Home Secretary makes statements about ‘fat cat’ lawyers and dodgy immigration lawyers milking the system, he is not talking about the lawyers who advise on immigration in his own office. There are 13 […]
Do the astronomical wages of footballers justify their lack of control over their choice of employer? Sean Dempsey examines the current legal situation facing the next David Beckham The average employee is relatively free to move between employers. Footballers are not so lucky, but in the past decade, their salaries have risen to a point […]
The High Court’s ignorance of popular culture was highlighted again by Confetti Records v Warner Music. Stephen Gare and David Harmsworth warn of the potential pitfalls in record deals ‘Court says rap is a foreign language!’ screamed the headlines – making Mr Justice Lewison look like a judge in need of a jukebox jury. His […]
Real Madrid’s capture of David Beckham highlights a thorny issue that the English judiciary has had to thrash out – ‘image rights’. The commercial and legal logic of David Beckham’s move to Real Madrid has the potential to confound both seasoned observers of the game and lawyers alike.In particular, there are two such issues that […]
The Government is hoping to dig itself out of a hole with its new £30K NHS redress scheme. But will victims of negligence get short changed? In the fanfare surrounding the unveiling of the Government’s proposals for a new system of handling clinical negligence claims last month – and the accompanying media umbrage about the […]
Eversheds (Martin Letza, Rachel Eccleston, David Tilly) advised Iron Mountain Europe on its acquisition of the records and information management services business of Hays for £200m. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer acted for Hays. Ricksons Solicitors (John Hartup) represented management consultancy and training business Morgan Kai and the training, consulting and research company Mitre Group in relation to its […]
Helen Power explains why RBS’s decision to harmonise rates across the board is bad news for lawyers Apparently the London headquarters of the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) strictly enforces a Zen-like bare desk policy for its staff. Everyone is expected to leave surfaces totally clear when they go home at night.But RBS’s minimalist aesthetic […]