A boon for Global London firms on big-ticket buyouts as US investors target hot tech assets

A boon for Global London firms on big-ticket buyouts as US investors target hot tech assets

The take-private market has cooled after a prolonged spree of deals across Europe but US investors have continued to pile cash into non-domestic assets, with Kirkland & Ellis, Latham & Watkins, Baker McKenzie and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett all commanding lead roles on multi-billion-dollar transactions with a tech flavour in recent weeks. Blackstone’s proposed $3bn …

Deal View: Freshfields silences critics with four-piece Cleary team but can it keep up the pressure on Wall St?

Deal View: Freshfields silences critics with four-piece Cleary team but can it keep up the pressure on Wall St?

‘Supercharging it’ and ‘pretty wild’ are not superlatives usually cropping up on your average conference call with Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. If the conversation with Ethan Klingsberg (pictured), the Wall Street M&A star that led a four-partner team exit from Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, was not very Freshfields, Edward Braham’s unrestrained enthusiasm for the hires …

‘Dynamic and excellent’: A&O chooses Johannesburg for second cost-saving hub as Steptoe launches in Hong Kong with CC pair

‘Dynamic and excellent’: A&O chooses Johannesburg for second cost-saving hub as Steptoe launches in Hong Kong with CC pair

Allen & Overy has built on the success of its Belfast cost-saving centre with the launch of another in Johannesburg as Steptoe and Johnson has forayed into Hong Kong with the hire of a Clifford Chance (CC) team. Set to open its doors in the first half of 2020, A&O’s Johannesburg Legal Services Centre (LSC) is hoped …

Ballheimer announces surprise retirement as A&O leadership race heats up

Ballheimer announces surprise retirement as A&O leadership race heats up

As the Allen & Overy (A&O) leadership elections heat up, managing partner Andrew Ballheimer has announced his retirement from the firm at the end of his current term on 30 April 2020. The surprise move comes in the month the City giant is to announce the list of contenders for senior partner and managing partner and …

Weil makes up four in the City as women dominate global promotions for the first time

Weil makes up four in the City as women dominate global promotions for the first time

In an industry struggling to make good on long-held promises to achieve diversity at the partnership level, Weil, Gotshal & Manges has gone against the grain by making up more women than men to partner for the first time in its latest round. The firm promoted 16 globally, of which nine new partners were women …

New solicitor code ushers in tougher duties on profession and moves to boost freelance lawyers

New solicitor code ushers in tougher duties on profession and moves to boost freelance lawyers

A profession having to get used to increasingly robust regulatory oversight will have more on its plate from this week with the launch of the new rulebook from the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). The new Standards and Regulations (STaRs) came into force on Monday (25 September), ushering in new reporting obligations on solicitors and much-trailed …

Mayer Brown makes up three in the City in 27-strong global partner promotion round

Mayer Brown makes up three in the City in 27-strong global partner promotion round

Mayer Brown has promoted three lawyers to partner in London in a scaled back round that saw 27 partners minted globally. The firm has been more conservative in its promotions across the board than last year, when it promoted four in London as part of a round that saw 34 made partner globally. As with last …

Freshfields recruits Linklaters’ alternative legal services head as chief operating officer

Freshfields recruits Linklaters’ alternative legal services head as chief operating officer

Linklaters’ global head of alternative legal services has quit just months into his role to become chief operating officer at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. Mark Higgs (pictured), the former head of Ashurst Advance who was hired by Linklaters in April to spearhead its flexible lawyering platform, Re:link, is joining Freshfields in December. He had been chief …

Goodwin makes good on Taylor Wessing hires with Cambridge office opening

Goodwin makes good on Taylor Wessing hires with Cambridge office opening

The expansive Goodwin has leveraged its recent four-strong band of life sciences and technology laterals from Taylor Wessing to open a new office in the UK’s innovation hub, Cambridge. The move follows Goodwin’s hire of a Taylor Wessing team including Malcolm Bates, David Mardle, Tim Worden and Adrian Rainey as part of its strategy to build …

Partner promotions: Cleary bypasses the City as Ropes again makes up just one in London

Partner promotions: Cleary bypasses the City as Ropes again makes up just one in London

Despite previously denying claims that the firm is retrenching in London, Ropes & Gray has promoted just one new partner in the City as part of a 16-strong round while Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton has neglected its London arm entirely. The promotion of Elizabeth Todd to partner in Ropes’ City private equity transactions practice …