The march of US advisers into the City’s disputes scene continues with Latham & Watkins today (16 January) announcing the hire of two litigation partners from Hogan Lovells. The London-based partners, Jon Holland and Andrea Monks, focus on financial services litigation and related regulatory work, two of the most in-demand practices areas currently.
Ropes & Gray has hired Clifford Chance white-collar crime partner Judith Seddon as co-head of its London international risk practice in a move designed to bolster its English-qualified litigation firepower. Seddon (pictured) will co-lead the seven-strong team alongside Amanda Raad, a US-trained partner who moved over from the US some four years ago to establish its …
With Allen & Overy (A&O) comfortably leading its peer group in the 2016/17 reporting season, the release of its full accounts was always going to look rosy. As it is, the City giant’s limited liability partnership (LLP) filing demonstrates just how good business has been for its c-suite, partners, staff and the tax man with forex …
Continue reading “A&O awash with cash as £48m forex boost offsets soaring staff costs”
Hogan Lovells has made up five partners in London as part of a New Year promotions round that ushered in 31 new partners globally. The London promotions include Alex Harrison, finance partner in Infrastructure, energy, resources and projects and corporate partner Jeremy Pickles in the firm’s investment funds team.
Slaughter and May corporate luminary Nilufer von Bismarck has been awarded an OBE in the Queen’s New Year’s honours list for services to financial services. Von Bismarck (pictured), who is a corporate partner and head of the magic circle firm’s financial institutions group and equity capital markets, told Legal Business that the gong came ‘totally …
Continue reading “‘Totally out of the blue’: Slaughters’ von Bismarck awarded New Year OBE”
Nathalie Tidman assesses the Magic Circle firm’s high-stakes partnership shake-up ‘Freshfields has overhauled its partnership for two reasons – to mollify restive partners in leveraged finance and private equity – and to make it moderately easier to recruit in the US,’ notes one former partner. ‘It’s insufficient for both of these purposes.’
Travers Smith, one of Bridgepoint’s go-to firms, has sealed another mandate in the form of the private equity (PE) house’s acquisition of a raft of UK Burger King franchises. The mid-market deal saw Travers advise its longstanding client, while Macfarlanes – itself no stranger to Bridgepoint – advised the management buy-in team. The acquisition from …
Continue reading “Travers’ grip on Bridgepoint challenged as it wins Burger King franchise buyout”
My father was in the Ministry of Defence. There was a naval base in Singapore. Our family moved there when I was a baby. Left on a boat and arrived three-and-a-half weeks later. Singapore was pre-independence – a low-rise post-colonial town. Now you can stand on the waterfront and see skyscrapers for miles. I trained …
‘Since Stephen Lloyd joined Allen & Overy (A&O) its star has definitely risen in the world of private equity,’ says one rival partner. As wringing any non-contemptuous words from rivals in the thrusting world of leveraged finance is hard, this view counts as high praise. The team had a bumper couple of years after Lloyd …
Continue reading “Deal view: A&O does private equity – faint praise confounded but a plateau lurks”
‘Restructuring types will tell you the market’s just about to take off. It’s all going to hell in a handcart – catastrophe just around the corner,’ says Peter Baldwin, partner and co-head of Ropes & Gray’s special situations practice. Baldwin’s comments, of course, carry more than a hint of irony as hardened insolvency practitioners have …
Continue reading “Waiting for Carney – hard times and hard choices for restructuring counsel”
