Buried in the small print and missed by many in the hullabaloo surrounding the launch of the new UK National Crime Agency (a rebranded roll up of existing crime law enforcement in the UK) are proposals to significantly overhaul the UK approach to dealing with bribery and corruption announced by the UK Home Secretary Theresa May. …
Earlier this week, Chris Grayling MP, Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor, delivered his speech to the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester. Like the speech of Sadiq Khan MP at the Labour Party Conference, Grayling’s speech was short. He opened by referring to a story in the Daily Mail about several young men …
Continue reading “Guest post: Grayling’s conference speech – main points and some reflections”
‘Historically, what killed Ashurst’s mergers has been apathy. Latham, Fried Frank, Clifford Chance – people were apathetic.’ So recalls one former veteran of the City firm. As Legal Business goes to press Ashurst is finally about to vote on a transformative merger with its Australian partner. But even two years since the firm agreed a …
Continue reading “The air of unreality – can the big deal deliver for Ashurst?”
. Part 1 – Buy side stories Part 2 – Through their paces Part 3 – Time and money Part 4 – The Last Word
Lloyds privatisation Slaughter and May and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer led the line in September advising Lloyds Banking Group on the first stage of its privatisation after being taken over by the taxpayer during the financial crisis in 2008. Slaughters, led by capital markets partner Nilufer von Bismarck, is advising UK Financial Investments on HM Treasury’s …
Continue reading “Deal watch: September sees significant rise in deal activity”
Canvassed for our annual in-house survey, general counsel at some of the UK’s leading companies give their perspective on risk, fees and the future of law Keep it in the family ‘As part of our evolution over the past five years, we are also doing more internally, particularly focusing on transactions that do not proceed …
. LB100 – The age of turbulence LB100 – Wind swept LB100 – The second 50: Scattered in the wind LB100 – The Five Year View: Riders on the Storm LB100 – Core Stats LB100 – main table LB100 – Profitability Revealed LB100 – Partner Earnings LB100 – Methodology LB100 – The Last Word: Eyes …
I’ve spent the last two days at the QualitySolicitors conference in Manchester. I was invited to chair the opening session of the event and stayed to listen to the rest. This was on the basis that I would not report on product development that was discussed but is not yet in the public domain, so …
Continue reading “Guest blog: Do you heart QualitySolicitors?”
‘We have some 68 cases on our books at present, including matters under development in our intelligence section; these include eight Bribery Act projects. We have also charged our first offences under the Bribery Act 2010.’ said David Green speaking at the Cambridge Economic Symposium [on 2 September]. The SFO may have laid its first …
In the decade prior to the collapse of Lehman Brothers, an excess of work masked the corrosive effect to law firms from competition with increasingly sophisticated and growing in-house legal departments (C&I teams). Post-Lehman, the economic downturn has exposed significant structural challenges to overstaffed law firms, which have been ruthlessly exploited by C&I to decisively …
Continue reading “Comment: Why the in-house triumph over law firms may prove short-lived”
