The EU is to sign a controversial extradition deal with the US, with the agreement being approved by the EU Justice and Home Affairs Council, despite concerns raised by the European Parliament. Its text should be initialled at the EU-US summit on 25 June in Washington DC. It covers mutual legal assistance, including the exchange […]
Publicis, the French advertising company, has ditched Herbert Smith in favour of Clifford Chance in its battle for Cordiant Communications. Publicis’ switch has emerged just as Cordiant’s board confirmed that it has recommended a bid from Sir Martin Sorrell’s WPP. Publicis, together with US hedge fund Cerberus, has been trying to push Cordiant into administration. […]
Herbert Smith has set up joint working groups with its alliance firms Gleiss Lutz and Stibbe in areas such as M&A, capital markets, private equity and litigation. The groups will pitch for potential new clients. The firm has seconded its first London partner, corporate lawyer Philip Talboys, to Gleiss to coordinate the joint initiatives. Talboys […]
He may know a lot about wallpaper, but former Lord Chancellor Derry Irvine is no engineer.But having recently resigned, at least Irvine will not have to deal with the possibility that the new Commercial Court, planned to be built on the site of the Queen’s Building in the Royal Courts of Justice (RCJ), could fall […]
Ashurst Morris Crisp’s relationship with British Telecom (BT) was bedevilled by a row over fees prior to the firm’s exit from BT’s panel, The Lawyer can reveal. The firm advised BT on its massive £2.3bn property outsourcing in 2001. It is understood that a problem with Scottish stamp duty meant that the deal was not […]
A £1.4m negligence claim against Bircham Dyson Bell brought by Frizzell Financial Services has been dropped just weeks before the case was due to go to court. The case was due to start on 7 July, but three days after witness statements were exchanged earlier this month, Frizzell withdrew its claim. The financial services company […]
Robert Griffiths QC of 4-5 Gray’s Inn Square has beaten off several rivals to become counsel to the inquiry investigating a proposal to make the South Downs one of only two national parks to be established in the past 50 years. Although his title is counsel to the inquiry, Griffiths is officially acting for the […]
Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson has been hit by the departure of its highly-rated head of structured finance and securitisation. Laurence Isaacson, who has been a partner at Fried Frank since 1997, is leaving for Ernst & Young-associated firm McKee Nelson, taking with him partner Andrew Kwok. He will join McKee Nelson on Wednesday […]
Clydes beats the City with Iraqi launch as it stakes key claim to lucrative post-war reconstruction Clyde & Co is set to be the first UK firm into Iraq since the cessation of hostilities last month. The firm has established an exclusive cooperation agreement with prominent Baghdad practice Numan Shakir Numan, one of Iraq’s largest […]
In a move which underlines the firm’s growing flexibility on fees, Slaughter and May is not charging the Prudential for helping draw up its best-practice guidelines for outsourcing. The firm hopes the loss leader will put it in pole position for future outsourcing projects with the financial services giant. Slaughters has advised the Prudential for […]
Following the UK Government’s rejection of proposals by a House of Commons select committee that it should legislate on privacy, a judge in New Zealand has asked the New Zealand parliament to create a new privacy law. In the case of Hosking v Runting, involving unauthorised pictures that were taken of a New Zealand TV […]
In a damaging email blunder, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has revealed limited partnership promotion prospects for associates in the London project finance department. In an emailed memo intended for project finance partners, but mistakenly sent out to assistants, the firm set out the business case for growth of the department. Sources at Freshfields said that some […]