Energy run: Clifford Chance advises Shell on series of major M&A deals

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Clifford Chance (CC) has secured a run of major mandates for Royal Dutch Shell including last week’s A$2.9bn ($2.6bn) agreement to sell the global energy giant’s Australia downstream businesses to Vitol and the sale of a number of businesses in Italy to affiliates of Kuwait Petroleum International. The Vitol deal, which was announced on 21 February, saw …

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Countdown: HMRC’s LLP tax changes to go ahead in April

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The controversial debate over taxation of limited liability partnerships (LLPs) has reached a decisive stage as changes are scheduled to press ahead on 6 April, while individuals have been allocated more time to contribute capital, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) announced late last Friday (21 February). Having long been accused of unfairly treating all partnerships …

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Brazilian hat trick – NRF launches third Latin America office with hire of BP’s Andrew Haynes

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Norton Rose Fulbright (NRF) is to expand its Latin American footprint as it today (19 February) announces the launch of an office in Rio de Janeiro and the hire of BP’s global corporate assistant general counsel Andrew Haynes as office co-head. The new office in Brazil, which will be also be run by current head of …

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Showing its teeth: SFO charges Barclays trio over Libor as watchdog publishes new deferred prosecution code

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In a move emphasising the increasing efforts of the Serious Fraud Office to overhaul its image, the body announced on Monday (18 February) that it had launched proceedings against three former Barclays employees over allegations they ‘conspired to defraud’ over the benchmark interest rate, Libor. Charges against Peter Johnson, Jonathan Mathew and Stylianos Contogoulas relate …

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FTSE 100 leadership: BG Group’s Vinter takes over as head of GC100 as Centrica’s Dawson steps down

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Recognised as a heavyweight among in-house advisory and lobbying groups, BG Group’s general counsel (GC) Graham Vinter has taken over as chair of the GC100 group, which brings together the most senior legal representatives from over 80 of the UK’s FTSE 100. Vinter, who succeeds fellow energy giant Centrica’s GC and company secretary Grant Dawson, …

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Redundancy watch 2014: Ince & Co announces consultation over 16 jobs

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While the last few months have not brought with them the level of job cuts first feared at the start of 2013, when the rash of City redundancies at one stage looked to approach 2009 levels, Ince & Co has today (13 February) confirmed that it has entered a redundancy consultation in respect of sixteen staff, …

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Partner exits: NRF corporate partner Cathy Pitt and head of climate change Hobley move on

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Top 10 LB100 firm Norton Rose Fulbright (NRF) has said goodbye to two further senior partner departures as longstanding London-based corporate finance partner Cathy Pitt last month (January) moved to CMS Cameron McKenna to head up its investment management funds group, while the firm’s global head of sustainability and climate change Anthony Hobley left to …

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In-house: MasterCard appoints new GC; UBS regulatory chief exits for Gibson Dunn; and HSBC hires Cleary partner

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The start of the year has seen much lateral movement both in-house and out, with MasterCard naming Tim Murphy as general counsel and chief franchise officer as incumbent Noah Hanft retires from the company. Meanwhile, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher announced the hire of the former Americas general counsel and global head of investigations at UBS, …

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LLP latest: Speechly points to owed client fees for fall in profits as Ashurst and Hill Dicks also post profit drop

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Private-client focused Speechly Bircham has become one of the latest LB100 firm to post its limited liability partnership (LLP) accounts at Companies House, blaming its near-double digit drop in profits on fees due from one client despite overall cash collection having improved. The top 60 firm, which revealed a broadly flat revenue, down 0.9% to £57m …

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