Risk adviser Willis Group has appointed Travelers’ senior vice president and general counsel Matthew Furman as global general counsel in its New York office. Furman will report to chief executive Dominic Casserley. He replaces Adam Rosman, who moved to First Data Corporation as general counsel in October last year. Casserley said Furman’s appointment will help the […]
US firm Foran Glennon Palandech Ponzi & Rudloff is planning to launch a London office through the hire of two Locke Lord lawyers, partner Gavin Coull and consultant Damian Cleary. Both lawyers specialise in insurance and reinsurance, and joined Locke Lord in 2012 from Steptoe & Johnson, where they were both partners (29 May 2012). […]
Shoosmiths has confirmed plans to convert to an all equity partnership structure from 1 May, with eight per cent of the firm’s partners opting out of the new one-tier partnership. A total of 76 of the firm’s partners opted to become members of the LLP as fixed share equity partners. Shoosmiths will have an equity […]
Former Leeds United managing director David Haigh has instructed Stephenson Harwood to bring a case against his former employers and Gibson Dunn & Crutcher partner Peter Gray, alleging they engaged in human trafficking to lure him to Dubai, where he is now in prison. Haigh, who was also GFH general counsel, has been imprisoned in […]
US firms have matched and exceeded the rates charged by their magic circle counterparts for the first time in 2015, with work-hungry partners charging up to £900 per hour and newly qualified lawyers up to £400. Partners in top US firms are charging between £700 and £900 an hour, with the rates at the top […]
DLA Piper has confirmed its second office in Saudi Arabia will open in Jeddah this year, with plans to launch a third by the end of 2015. The firm announced its second Middle East base will be headed by legal director Rakesh Bassi, who joined from Clifford Chance last year. The proposed third office will […]
Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) has hired its first female partner in Germany, K&L Gates banking and finance partner Julia Müller. Müller, who was based in K&L Gates’ Frankfurt office, had been at the firm for almost three years, having joined from White & Case in 2012 where she was a partner for 10 years. When […]
Fieldfisher is facing a €120,000 (£86,000) unfair dismissal claim brought by a former secretary in its Paris office, who claims that she was assaulted by the firm’s office managing partner on the day of her dismissal. There was a preliminary hearing in the case before an employment tribunal in Paris on Monday (13 April) with […]
This year’s European Managing Partner of the Year, Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners’ chairman Dimitry Afanasiev, opens up about the challenges affecting Russia and Ukraine. Over the last two decades the Russian legal market has become one of the most competitive in the world, with international firms piling in in the early 1990s following the […]
White & Case’s Budapest office is joining Dentons next month in a major boost for the expanding firm’s Central & Eastern European (CEE) operations. The entirety of the 50-strong office, including local partners, associates and other staff is moving to Dentons on 3 May, including partners Rob Irving, Edward Keller and István Réczicza. The move […]
Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom and Sullivan & Cromwell have taken the lead roles on Nokia’s €15.6bn (£11.2bn) acquisition of French telecoms company Alcatel-Lucent, announced this morning. Skadden is advising Nokia alongside Finnish firm Roschier, while Sullivan & Cromwell has picked up the legal work for Alcatel-Lucent on the deal. Latham & Watkins is […]
Chadbourne & Parke has recruited corporate partner Andrei Baev from Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) as its new Moscow managing partner. Baev will split his time between London and Moscow, as he has done previously. He joined BLP in late 2011 from Allen & Overy and spent the past three years working both from the UK and […]