The generation game – Linklaters makes Italian corporate play with veteran rainmaker Casati

The generation game – Linklaters makes Italian corporate play with veteran rainmaker Casati

It is well known that Italian law firms owe much of their fortunes to a small group of veteran rainmakers when it comes to M&A work. In a market still dominated by elder statesmen and their decades-long connections with the country’s top corporates, 69-year-old Roberto Casati leaving Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton to join Linklaters is one of the most significant lateral moves in the country for years.

In a bid by the international giant to expand beyond its finance and capital markets focus into mainstream corporate, Linklaters drafted a waiver to its partnership terms to allow Casati to join the firm at the top of its equity ladder, a deal worth around £2m annually. Continue reading “The generation game – Linklaters makes Italian corporate play with veteran rainmaker Casati”

Come together – Bakers unites UK and EMEA under single profit pool but Germany and France stay out

Come together – Bakers unites UK and EMEA under single profit pool but Germany and France stay out

Integration has long been one of the key issues for Baker McKenzie, a firm with heritage as a franchise and a long fight against the much-loathed ‘McFirm’ tag. A sign that things are changing came in February, when Legal Business reported that the firm is to bring London and eight of its offices in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) into one profit pool – a landmark step towards full financial integration in the region.

Global antitrust chief Fiona Carlin has been elected to lead the integrated business, uniting 1,000 lawyers in the City, Brussels, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Madrid, Barcelona, Johannesburg, Bahrain and Qatar. Continue reading “Come together – Bakers unites UK and EMEA under single profit pool but Germany and France stay out”

Dealwatch: International elite face off in European and transatlantic mega transactions

Dealwatch: International elite face off in European and transatlantic mega transactions
  • Latham & Watkins advised Global Infrastructure Partners on the €1.94bn buyout of Italian railway operator Italo-Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori. London partner David Walker (pictured), Italy managing partner Antonio Coletti and Milan partners Stefano Sciolla and Giovanni Sandicchi all advised the US investor as it acquired 100% of the group. Slaughter and May’s Italian ally BonelliErede advised the seller, under the leadership of partners Carlo Montagna and Elena Busson.
  • Further north, Baker McKenzie, Clifford Chance (CC) and Allen & Overy (A&O) have all advised on the $6.6bn acquisition of Danish phone carrier TDC by a consortium that includes Australian infrastructure giant Macquarie, as well as three local pension funds. Bakers
    London corporate partners Tim Sheddick and James Thompson advised long-term client Macquarie. CC advised the consortium on debt financing. A&O London partner Jonathan Brownson spearheaded the team acting on behalf of the lenders, alongside partners Matt Moore and Jake Keaveny.

Continue reading “Dealwatch: International elite face off in European and transatlantic mega transactions”

Life during law: Richard Youle, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom

Life during law: Richard Youle, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom

When I moved to Hull from Sheffield at five my next-door neighbour was a just-born, [Linklaters partner] Alex Woodward – Woodie. A very good friend. Our mums and dads are very good friends. Went to the same schools, drank in the same pubs.

Woodie is super-smart, so he got a training contract at Linklaters, whereas I trained at Stamp Jackson & Procter in Hull. Continue reading “Life during law: Richard Youle, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom”

The Legal 500 UK Awards 2018

The Legal 500 UK Awards 2018

The Legal 500 UK Awards 2018 recognises and rewards the very best of the best across the legal industry. We pride ourselves on the thorough, in-depth research we carry out in order to produce our rankings of firms and sets in the UK. This leaves us in a unique position to be able to identify the teams who warrant particular recognition.

Lifetime achievement/services to the in-house profession winners

Continue reading “The Legal 500 UK Awards 2018”

Evolutionary forces – US body for legal ops hits Europe as new breed of client emerges

Evolutionary forces – US body for legal ops hits Europe as new breed of client emerges

Disruption looms as James Wood reports on first European conference for CLOC

Richard Susskind must have lost count of the number of times he has spoken about the future of law, but in his introductory remarks to the 2018 CLOC EMEA Institute gathering in London he seemed cheerfully off balance. Many of the concepts Susskind has prophesied are now realities at large US companies and even sceptics would concede that the emergence of sophisticated legal operations teams feels like a decisive shift for the industry.

Continue reading “Evolutionary forces – US body for legal ops hits Europe as new breed of client emerges”

Can Freshfields limit the damage as Kirkland tempts PE heavyweight with $10m transfer?

Can Freshfields limit the damage as Kirkland tempts PE heavyweight with $10m transfer?

Nathalie Tidman assesses the fallout as M&A veteran quits an unsettled City giant

Even for a market grown blithe to big-name M&A partners quitting for the dollar, Kirkland & Ellis’s recruitment of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer’s David Higgins just before Christmas sent a jolt. Continue reading “Can Freshfields limit the damage as Kirkland tempts PE heavyweight with $10m transfer?”

Cadwalader takes multiple hits in London as Milbank and Brown Rudnick swoop in

Cadwalader takes multiple hits in London as Milbank and Brown Rudnick swoop in

It has been an expansive start of the year in terms of partner hires for a group of finance-focused US shops with tight London operations.

First Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft’s City restructuring practice was decimated by the departure of four partners to Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy, led by global financial restructuring co-chair Yushan Ng, with Jacqueline Ingram, Karen McMaster and Sinjini Saha following him. McMaster and Ingram had already followed Ng in changing firms in 2013 from Linklaters, where they were associates. Saha was made partner when she joined Cadwalader from Simpson Thacher & Bartlett in 2015.

Continue reading “Cadwalader takes multiple hits in London as Milbank and Brown Rudnick swoop in”