Office launches follow team hire from Troutman earlier this year
Clyde & Co continues to look for opportunities to expand in the US following the opening of new Chicago and Washington DC offices, after taking on a team of ten lawyers from Global 100 firm Troutman Sanders at the end of January.
It has already been a headline-grabbing start to the year for DLA Piper’s finance team. The firm turned heads with the decision to bring in serial entrepreneur Maurice Allen as a consultant, swiftly followed with a leadership change, as it was announced Leeds managing partner Sarah Day will head up the UK finance practice, with Martin Bartlam (pictured) promoted to international head of finance and projects.
While historically known for mid-market deal finance and classic volume work for retail banking clients, in recent years DLA has striven to push the practice up the value chain, particularly in the structured debt arena. The practice, which currently makes up 17% of UK turnover, including projects, has been a target for investment for years.
FRESHFIELDS SIGNS 20-YEAR LEASE ON NEW HQ
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has signed a pre-let agreement on a 20-year lease in February to move from existing premises in Fleet Street to 100 Bishopsgate in 2021. The Magic Circle firm will reduce its London real estate by roughly a third when it takes out 255,000 sq ft of office space.
SLAUGHTERS TAKES LEAD ON PHARMA MEGA DEAL
Slaughter and May has acted opposite Cravath, Swaine & Moore as Johnson & Johnson made a $30bn offer to buy Swiss-based biopharma company Actelion Pharmaceuticals earlier this year. Slaughters advised along with Zürich-based Niederer Kraft & Frey and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz for the takeover target, as Cravath advised Johnson.
Continue reading “Deal watch: Corporate activity in March 2017”
Madeleine Farman and Victoria Young sit down with Europe chair David Evans (pictured) to discuss laterals, integration and the next steps in the region
After its recent haul of new hires, it is hard to believe Goodwin Procter’s 119-lawyer offering in Europe began in 2011 with one partner, a telephone and a desk in London. Europe chair David Evans joined Goodwin after a 26-year stint at Ashurst, where he had served as a board member. One month later he was followed by colleague Samantha Lake Coghlan, a real estate funds partner. It was nearly a year before they gained their next lateral partner, Linklaters’ global co-head of real estate Joe Conder.
I’ve enjoyed every minute as a barrister and a judge. Two careers. I’ve been privileged.
I didn’t want to be a lawyer. Even when I went to Oxford I didn’t know. I thrashed around, then stumbled into the Bar. I wanted to do something in the real world. My father was always starry-eyed about the Bar. I suspect that came into it too.
Continue reading “Life during law: Lord Dyson, 39 Essex Chambers”
Madeleine Farman and Victoria Young ask the firm’s leaders about growth in the City.
Ropes & Gray’s rapid growth in London is an ascent which any newcomer would aspire to. Although the Boston firm was late to the party when it officially opened in 2010, its sole European base has enjoyed an impressive upward trajectory. Revenue was up by almost a third in 2015 to $83m, a successful result on the back of a 30% increase in 2014 when City turnover was $64m. Continue reading “One man band: Can Ropes & Gray maintain the momentum without Allen?”
Royal Dutch Shell has implemented a rule that all new legal matters must be priced using ‘appropriate’ fee arrangements (AFAs), following the oil major’s most recent panel review in April 2016.
AFAs, which include capped fees, fixed fees and contingency fees, have been in place for all litigation work since June 2014, but now apply to all legal matters. In addition, every piece of work will be put out to tender to three or more panel firms.
Addleshaw Goddard managing partner John Joyce is to stand for re-election for a second term beginning May 2017, it was revealed at the end of November as partners at the firm voted to acquire HBJ Gateley’s three Scottish offices in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Joyce, who was appointed into the role in May 2014 for a three-year term, is hoping to serve another four years as managing partner, following recent changes to the firm’s partnership deed that extended the terms of both managing partner and senior partner by a year.
Continue reading “Joyce stands for re-election as Addleshaw partners vote through Scottish merger”
Legacy SJ Berwin on the brink as global managing partner stands down
Persistent troubles at King & Wood Mallesons’ (KWM) beleaguered European arm came to a head in November as the partnership, which is carrying more than £30m in debt, failed to get a deal over the line to recapitalise its business. As Legal Business went to press, the firm was assessing its options for a merger or pre-pack administration deal. It was understood that a shortlist of potential suitors had been drawn up.
