Ashurst braces for £55m fit-out hit as City office move looms

Firm prepares to sub-let up to 40% of new London headquarters

As Ashurst partners digest a year of tumbling profits and turnover, delayed profit distributions and a rising number of senior exits, the firm faces an estimated £55m cost to fit out its new Spitalfields office.

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Olswang exits continue as merger claims swirl around TMT player

More than 30 partners have left the firm in the last 18 months

Having emerged as one of the worst performers in the Legal Business 100 last month and strongly touted to be in the market for a merger, September saw further departures from Olswang, adding to a steady stream of exits in recent months.

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‘Good financial prudence’: Dentons’ European arm makes cash call

Partners asked for between €6m and €7m to cut debt.

The European arm of Dentons has made a capital call on partners to raise an additional €6m to €7m in a move to cut bank debt, described by European chief executive Tomasz Dabrowski as ‘good financial prudence’.

European partners – excluding the UK which operates as a separate legal entity – have each been asked to contribute up to €100,000 extra over a two-year period.

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De Bie restructures Royal Mail legal team as she settles into group GC post

Royal Mail’s group general counsel (GC) Maaike de Bie has led an overhaul of the postal service’s legal team after taking the top job in April.

De Bie, who previously served as deputy GC and acting group GC, has restructured the team of 30 lawyers into bigger groups, moving away from siloed specialisms such as property or pensions.

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Contenders step forward as race for Squires European head begins

Longstanding leader Crossley set to retire at year end

Frontrunners have emerged in the contest to become the new Europe and Middle East managing partner at Squire Patton Boggs, after longstanding leader Peter Crossley confirmed his retirement in September.

Two senior partners have been touted internally and externally as favourites for the role: London managing partner Robert Weekes and EMEA global corporate chair Jane Haxby.

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The rise of the machines: Slaughters latest to join rush to embrace artificial intelligence

Matthew Field reports on the latest from Global 100 players in legal tech

Long regarded as the most conservative of City law’s elite players, Slaughter and May has entered the artificial intelligence (AI) game with new intelligent M&A software Luminance.

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Freshfields and Baker Botts take pole position on F1 sell off

Over 100 lawyers involved as PE firm sells sport to Liberty Media

Just six months a partner, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer’s Charles Hayes has led the firm’s team advising Formula One Group (F1) and CVC Capital Partners on the £6.4bn sale of F1 to Liberty Media Corporation, advised by Baker Botts.

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The IT crowd: Travers, Kirkland and Freshfields team up on $8.8bn Micro Focus/HPE deal

Travers Smith and Kirkland & Ellis last month teamed up to advise UK tech firm Micro Focus on its $8.8bn acquisition of Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)’s software business.

In a deal primarily structured under Delaware law, Travers head of corporate Spencer Summerfield advised Micro Focus alongside corporate partner Jon Reddington on English law. Kirkland fielded a team led by New York corporate partners William Sorabella, David Feirstein and John Kupiec.

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