Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi launches first EMEA panel

Posted on |

Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ (BTMU) has announced its first-ever panel for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), with eight leading City firms appointed after a process described as ‘extremely competitive’.

Allen & Overy (A&O), Linklaters and Ashurst won places, alongside Berwin Leighton Paisner, Hogan Lovells, Norton Rose Fulbright, Slaughter and May, and White & Case.

BTMU has also created a separate, confidential transactional panel on which the preferred firms have won a place, alongside ‘other market-leading firms in a range of different practice areas’, which the bank would not disclose.

Born of a merger between the Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi and UFJ Bank in 2006, BTMU approached a number of firms to apply for the panel, with an initial deadline of September.

Continue reading “Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi launches first EMEA panel”

BG Group slims down legal roster to three

Posted on |

For a FTSE 100 company operating in 20 countries, BG Group’s panel of four law firms was already slim, but it just got slimmer, with news last month that Allen & Overy (A&O) and Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) have been dropped in favour of Clifford Chance (CC), which wins a place alongside incumbents CMS Cameron McKenna and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.

The appointment of the firms – which will offer full-service advice to the energy giant – came into effect on 1 November and follows a relatively short pitch process, which began in September.

Continue reading “BG Group slims down legal roster to three”

Life During Law: Marco Compagnoni

Posted on |

I’m a forward-looking type of guy. Looking back on your career is something you do when you’re retiring. At the bright chickeny age of 50 it’s not the right time to be looking back. In a traditional English law firm, when you come to 50 there’s this unspoken thing of ‘when are you going to go?’ It’s sort of like granny sitting in the corner. In a US firm nobody thinks you know anything until you’re at least 50.

Management is not my thing. I’m more interested in the clients and doing the work. Triangulating complicated personalities and mucking about in committees is not my thing. Continue reading “Life During Law: Marco Compagnoni”

Slaughters teams up with Carillion law venture to cut costs for bluechip clients

Posted on |

As general counsel (GCs) push their advisers to think more innovatively about costs savings, Slaughter and May has begun offering the services of Carillion’s new low-cost legal arm to its own clients, including a recent transaction for key client Vodafone.

The Magic Circle firm, which is one of Carillion’s lead corporate panel advisers, offered Vodafone the option to use Newcastle-based Carillion Advice Services (CAS) on an undisclosed deal, which included a customer contract exercise.

Continue reading “Slaughters teams up with Carillion law venture to cut costs for bluechip clients”

Bristol tussle over Simmons’ hire of Mahrie Webb from Burges Salmon

Posted on |

Negotiations are still underway between Burges Salmon and Simmons & Simmons over the start date of funds partners Mahrie Webb, who in May became the City practice’s fourth hire to its low-cost Bristol office.

Simmons launched the South West base in September last year with the hire of financial services litigation partners Tim Boyce and Ed Crosse from Osborne Clarke.

However, Webb has yet to join and it is understood that Burges Salmon initially tried to hold the highly regarded funds lawyer to two years gardening leave but that figure may be reduced to a year.

Continue reading “Bristol tussle over Simmons’ hire of Mahrie Webb from Burges Salmon”

Pannone presses for S&G deal in wake of failed Cobbetts bid

Posted on |

Having previously pursued a merger with the now defunct Cobbetts (as it turned out, a lucky reprieve), Pannone’s current discussions with Australian-listed Slater & Gordon (S&G) are seeing talks over which parts of the Manchester-based firm’s diverse business will be included in any deal.

With the firm effectively split into four limbs: its commercial arm; the private client, clinical negligence and personal injury business; its white label service Affinity; and Connect2Law network, discussions are ongoing as to whether the latter two divisions fit with S&G’s model.

Continue reading “Pannone presses for S&G deal in wake of failed Cobbetts bid”

Ashurst says ‘no’ to Geffen for chairman in surprise election result

Posted on |

A popular long-term board member with the social skills needed to pull together a newly-merged transcontinental firm, Ashurst’s October announcement that dispute resolution partner Ben Tidswell has been elected chairman, is nonetheless a shock defeat for incumbent firm head Charlie Geffen.

In a simple ‘one partner, one vote’ election, the emergence of Ashurst Australia’s competition and consumer protection partner Peter Armitage as a contender for the top job had turned the election into a three-horse race.

However, Geffen, whose current senior partner title was subsumed by the new chairman role after newly-merged Ashurst Australia revised its corporate strategy in July, was widely expected to be re-elected.

Continue reading “Ashurst says ‘no’ to Geffen for chairman in surprise election result”

Linklaters’ private equity ambitions dealt a blow by departures

Posted on |

Linklaters’ now decade-long effort to carve a credible position in the private equity market has been dealt a serious blow as co-heads Ian Bagshaw and Richard Youle leave to join White & Case.

The long-term friends, having started their careers together at Eversheds, had to build the Magic Circle firm’s private equity practice largely from scratch after the departure of Graham White and Raymond McKeeve in 2006 for Kirkland & Ellis.

Youle, who joined the firm in 2001 from SJ Berwin (becoming a partner in 2006), and Bagshaw, who moved across from Clifford Chance in 2007, are credited with building a dedicated team of lawyers whose buyout expertise is supplemented by strong banking, restructuring and high-yield capabilities.

Continue reading “Linklaters’ private equity ambitions dealt a blow by departures”

Strategy review sets expansive course as Mayer Brown aims to galvanise its business

Posted on |

Eight months in the making, Mayer Brown’s revamped international strategy will now see the US law firm re-group around its large international clients and allocate significant resource to providing a more joined up global service in which London is forecast to be key.

The new strategy, put together by the 1,536-lawyer firm’s 12-strong partnership board and eight-member management committee, will see Mayer Brown focus on strengthening its US strongholds in Washington DC, New York and Chicago, as well as its 85-partner London site and Hong Kong office, which launched in 2006 and now houses 170 lawyers, of which 60 are partners. Continue reading “Strategy review sets expansive course as Mayer Brown aims to galvanise its business”

Homeward bound: Burke hands Freshfields’ reins to Aitman as he leaves for Boston-based ArcLight Capital

Posted on |

‘I’ve held a number of management roles in the firm, which, together with having recently chaired our supervisory body, should help me take on the new role and ensure a smooth transition,’ says Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer’s new global managing partner David Aitman, as he steps into the sizeable shoes of veteran Ted Burke, following his recent decision to stand down.

Aitman was said to be the standout candidate, having previously chaired Freshfields’ partnership election committee and currently acting as senior elected member of the partnership council.

The competition partner, who will stand as managing partner until the role goes to a vote in 2015, will come off the council to avoid a conflict of interest as a vote on his replacement takes place at the end of this year.

Continue reading “Homeward bound: Burke hands Freshfields’ reins to Aitman as he leaves for Boston-based ArcLight Capital”