The last word – Eurovision
To mark our inaugural Euro Elite report, management at leading independent firms give us their market views CO-OPERATION IS KEY ‘Some international firms have been more open to co-operating with domestic Italian firms; others have not. The first category has been more successful.’ Francesco Gianni, founding partner, Gianni, Origoni, Grippo, Cappelli & Partners
News in brief – June 2016
ADDLESHAWS IN MERGER TALKS WITH US FIRM Addleshaw Goddard has turned to the US for a potential merger, having entered into talks with Virginia-based Hunton & Williams. The US firm had revenues of $528m in 2015, while Addleshaws made £193m in 2014/15.
Deal watch: Corporate activity in May 2016
SULLIVANS AND WACHTELL ADVISE ON $62m BAYER DEAL Sullivan & Cromwell, Allen & Overy (A&O), and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz all won roles as healthcare and agriculture company Bayer placed a bid to acquire agricultural company Monsanto for $62bn in May. Sullivans and A&O are acting for Bayer on M&A and financing matters respectively, …
Continue reading “Deal watch: Corporate activity in May 2016”
The last word – Charlie says
In response to an opinion piece from Gibson Dunn’s Charlie Geffen in our last issue, we ask management if firms must decide whether they are advisory or legal process driven US PITCH ‘Geffen is right, but I wonder if he would have said it if he’d been at his old firm [Ashurst] as it’s …
News in brief – May 2016
FRESHFIELDS PLANS VANCOUVER HUB After launching a nearshoring office in Manchester, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer is planning to open another outpost in Vancouver, Canada. The office is set to cover a range of business services roles. The firm is looking to hire at least 20 legal services employees to launch the office.
Deal watch: Corporate activity in April 2016
FORSTERS AND SLAUGHTERS LEAD ON TATA STEEL SELL OFF Forsters and Slaughter and May acted on Greybull Capital’s rescue deal to buy Tata Steel’s European long products business, which includes the Scunthorpe steel works employing 3,500 people. Slaughters advised Tata, while Forsters acted for family office Greybull.
Sophisticated spending – Managing the costs of high-stakes litigation
Foreword The rate of change affecting litigation costs is alarming when the rumours and policy proposals are conflated with the concrete developments. If Sir Rupert Jackson had his way, the burden of court-mandated budgeting in cases up to £10m, itself relatively new, would soon be alleviated at the lower end by fixed costs. That lower …
Continue reading “Sophisticated spending – Managing the costs of high-stakes litigation”
Middle Eastern resilience
JLegal’s Richard McLerie discusses the region’s legal market. Over the past 12 months, the region has endured a period punctuated by numerous challenges, principle among which is arguably the depression in oil prices and the ongoing danger posed by militant groups destabilising significant areas of the region. The wider ramifications of these factors cannot be …
Key legislative developments in the UAE
Afridi & Angell’s James Bowden highlights four of the latest legal updates. In the past year the UAE saw an unusual number of important legislative developments. For this feature, we have picked a few of the key developments to summarise briefly. This is by no means exhaustive.