Herbert Smith Freehills has landed a blow on Magic Circle firm Freshfields with the hire of the firm’s former co-head of energy and natural resources Dirk Hamann as the Anglo-Australian firm looks to build out its German offices.
The largest drug retailer in the US, Walgreens, has instructed Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz and Magic Circle firm Allen & Overy to handle its full combination with Nottingham-based chemist Alliance Boots.
Berwin Leighton Paisner arbitration partner Amir Ghaffari has switched to Vinson & Elkins as the firm looks to gear up for an International Chamber of Commerce arbitration over the standoff between contractors and authorities concerning a historic expansion of the Panama Canal.
In what becomes the second multibillion dollar award against Russia in the space of a week, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasburg has ruled that the country must pay 50,000 Yukos shareholders €1.9bn ($2.5bn) for unlawful tax penalties and disproportionate enforcement in the run up to the oil company’s bankruptcy.
The UK Court of Appeal has ruled that investment fund Sebastian Holdings must pay Germany’s Deutsche Bank $243m after losing a case at the High Court last year, or risk its appeal being struck out.
A London team at Covington & Burling led by corporate partner Lucinda Osborne advised AstraZeneca on a potential $2.1bn deal to purchase Spanish healthcare group Almirall’s respiratory unit in a move that sees the company add to its pipeline of asthma products.
Following a period of upheaval that has seen Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) exit a number of non-performing senior lawyers, the top 20 firm is considering changes to its partnership deed to make it easier to manage partners out.
Reed Smith’s recently elected managing partner, Sandy Thomas, has had his recommendations for a senior management reshuffle, which rotates nearly half the team, approved by the firm’s partnership.
Top 20 UK firm Simmons & Simmons is set to expand in Saudi Arabia through the opening of a new office in the country’s capital, Riyadh, by alliance firm Hammad & Al-Mehdar.
Russia has been ordered to pay $50.08bn to the majority shareholders in Yukos Oil Company, once Russia’s largest oil producer, by an arbitral tribunal sitting in The Hague under the auspices of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA).
