‘There is no end point’: Dentons’ expansion continues with US outfit McKenna Long and White & Case Budapest team

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Having already announced a mammoth combination with Chinese firm Dacheng under a Swiss verein structure this year, Dentons bolstered both its US and CEE capabilities last month by combining with Atlanta-based McKenna Long & Aldridge and hiring a 50-strong team from the Budapest office of White & Case.

Dentons had been scoping the market for a US combination for some time, and previously attempted to tie-up with McKenna Long in 2013 – though that was unsuccessful after partners at both firms rejected the move. This time, Dentons chief executive Elliott Portnoy said events ran more smoothly than had been widely reported. ‘The conversation moved with substantial speed; in 2013 we weren’t able to bring it to a final closure. It’s common for them to begin and unfold over a number of years but fade before a deal can be done. You need a high level of alignment around strategy.’

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Q&A: Dechert’s Miriam González Durántez on how City firms missed a trick on EU law, the WTO legacy and ‘Inspiring Women’

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Miriam González Durántez’s profile is sky-high. She’s one of the most successful EU lawyers in the City, has persuaded over 15,000 women to volunteer for her Inspiring Women campaign and is the wife of Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg. In an interview with Tom Moore she argues that the EU is undervalued in the City and how law can smash its glass ceilings.


Your practice is something of a rarity outside Brussels. Why have City law firms neglected EU law?

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Clifford Chance German practice suffers further partner exits

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Magic Circle firm Clifford Chance (CC) has seen multiple partner exits from its German operations in recent weeks with longstanding capital markets partner Markus Pfüller and trademark head Thorsten Vormann becoming the latest, leaving for SZA Schilling, Zutt & Anschütz and K&L Gates respectively.

Reasons suggested for the exodus, which has already seen at least nine lawyers leave including eight partners, point towards a long-term cultural and strategic divide between CC and the German firm it merged with in 2000, Pünder, Volhard, Weber & Axster. One partner at the firm says: ‘The majority of partners came from the 2000 merger with Pünder. There was a difference in culture and since the merger, things improved day-to-day but not on the general standing of what kind of clients we want to advise and where they come from. That has never been solved or overcome.’

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The £637m bet – Slater & Gordon on its daring play in UK’s personal injury market

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Michael West talks to the Australian PI giant about its eventful Quindell acquisition

After over three months of intensive due diligence that saw Slater & Gordon (S&G) reconstruct the accounts of Quindell’s Professional Services Division (PSD) following accusations of dubious accounting, both sides agreed a £637m deal, which is expected to close this month, that will see S&G acquire the division and bolster its share of the UK’s highly competitive £2.5bn personal injury (PI) market.

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A&O, Freshfields and Slaughters land key roles on biggest-ever all-UK deal

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Shell offers £47bn for BG Group

The proposed £47bn acquisition of BG Group by fellow energy major Shell saw a trio of Magic Circle firms land leading roles, as Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Slaughter and May and Allen & Overy (A&O) advising on what constitutes the largest UK-to-UK deal ever.

Slaughters is acting for Shell, supported by Cravath, Swaine & Moore on US corporate law and allied firm De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek on Dutch aspects of the deal. Corporate partners Roland Turnill, Hywel Davies and Rebecca Cousin are leading Slaughters’ team, which Turnill told Legal Business started ‘working in earnest’ on the transaction as far back as Christmas. Finance partner Matthew Tobin is also working on the deal alongside tax specialist Steve Edge, competition partners Bertrand Louveaux and Jordan Ellison and pensions and employment partners Jonathan Fenn and Roland Doughty.

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Heavyweight US trio advises on €15.6bn Alcatel takeover

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Three US law firms – Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, Latham & Watkins and Sullivan & Cromwell – leveraged long-term relationships with key corporate clients last month, seeing them land lead roles on Nokia’s bid to take over Alcatel-Lucent.

Skadden is advising longstanding client Nokia on the tie-up that values its French rival at €15.6bn and will create a technology giant worth more than €40bn. The team is led by London-based global transactions co-head Scott Simpson; Paris-based Armand Grumberg, who heads the firm’s European M&A practice; and London corporate partner Michal Berkner.

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Deal watch: Corporate activity in April 2015

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GE RESTRUCTURING BRINGS IN RAFT OF ADVISERS

A host of firms picked up work on General Electric (GE)’s restructuring, fielding large cross-border teams as the industrial giant sold $26.5bn of real estate assets and announced it would divest most of GE Capital’s other holdings. Hogan Lovells led for GE on the real estate sale, with buyers The Blackstone Group and Wells Fargo represented by Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and Dechert respectively.

Weil, Gotshal & Manges is advising GE on the wider restructuring, which will return up to $90bn to shareholders, alongside Sullivan & Cromwell and Davis Polk & Wardwell.

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Headlines and hype but less substance despite foreign firms’ push into Asia disputes market

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Tony Lin argues that Asia’s small and politicised litigation market won’t deliver on the hopes many international law firms are pinning on it

Asia dispute resolution is happening. At least that’s what one might surmise from recent moves in the market out here in Hong Kong. In the past few months, New York’s Debevoise & Plimpton recruited litigation heavyweight Mark Johnson from Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF), while O’Melveny & Myers hired Denis Brock from King & Wood Mallesons. Several other UK and American law firms have relocated experienced disputes partners to the region.

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Bakers to practise Chinese law through Shanghai joint venture

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Baker & McKenzie last month gained permission to practise local law in China through a joint operation with FenXun Partners.

The firm achieved the entry through a first-of-its-kind joint venture with local firm FenXun in the Shanghai free trade zone. Founded in 2009, FenXun, which is focused on providing corporate and finance advice, currently has offices in both Beijing and Shanghai, and has around 20 lawyers, including five partners.

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EY Law agrees new alliance as Asia-Pacific growth continues

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Making good on its continued efforts to grow its Asia-Pacific presence, EY Law recently announced an alliance with South Korean firm Apex Legal.

Based in Gangnam in central Seoul, the 55-lawyer practice has become a member of EY’s network in a bid to align the giant’s advisory and legal businesses throughout the region, and as part of a greater agenda to build a 200-strong team of lawyers spanning key commercial centres throughout Asia-Pacific.

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