Legal Business

Freshfields loses City aviation finance team as exits continue

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Finance Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer‘s aviation finance team is to depart for Holland & Knight following the exit of London’s sole aviation finance partner Rob Murphy.

Murphy, who serves as the firm’s global head of asset finance team and is co-head of its aviation sector group will exit at the end of this year to join China Development Bank’s aircraft leasing unit CDB Aviation Lease Finance as its general counsel and chief operating officer.

Freshfields aviation finance counsel William Coleman and senior associate Victoria Koob will be made up to partner in the move to Holland & Knight. The duo will be joined by three more associates from Freshfields; Laurence Long, Fabio Miceli and Rachel Thomasen.

The departure follows a ‘recalibration’ of Freshfields’ finance practice last year, which saw leveraged finance split into its own team, giving the department four groups.

The shake-up also led to a modest narrowing of the practice with two more City finance partners set to retire at the end of the financial year.

The firm has also put finance partners on its second lockstep, a model brought in some years ago. Those partners from Freshfields’ finance practice now join partners in Japan and Germany, and practices such as IP and employment on the second ladder, which runs from 10-30 points and sits alongside the traditional 17.5-50-point ladder. Freshfields finance head Simon Johnson won’t say how many partners are on this separate structure, but says it is ‘it is used very sparingly’.

Kirkland & Ellis returned to Freshfields in December for another finance recruit, taking Jonathan Birks after taking star partner Michael Steele in 2015. Other recent exits from Freshfields finance team include real estate specialist Jeffrey Rubinoff, who announced his move to White & Case in July 2016 and Ian Frost who quit for Vinson & Elkins in February.

madeleine.farman@legalease.co.uk

Read more: ‘Recasting finance at Freshfields: high ambition married with gently lowered expectations’

Legal Business

Freshfields and A&O latest in the Magic Circle to post spring trainee retention rates, keeping on 84% and 82% respectively

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Trainee retention Allen & OveryFreshfields Bruckhaus DeringerSimmons & Simmons

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Allen & Overy (A&O) have both kept on 31 members of their spring trainee intake, with retention rates of 84% and 82% respectively.

Freshfields will keep 84% of its group of 37 trainees – 31 offers were made to the cohort with all agreeing to stay on as newly-qualified (NQ) lawyers. The rate is up slightly on last year’s spring retention figure of 82% when the firm again kept on 31 trainees out of a group of 38. The firm offered 33 of 38, or 87%, of its trainees places.

Also posting its trainee retention figures this month is A&O which posted a spring retention rate of 82%, compared to a rate of 91% this time last year. The Magic Circle firm held on to 31 applicants after 32 of the group of 36 received offers from a cohort of 38.

The results follow Slaughter and May’s 100% retention of its trainees, keeping all 25 due to qualify in March. Slaughter and May, Freshfields and A&O have outshined Clifford Chance (CC) which has kept on just 31 of its 46 trainees or 67% of its cohort. CC had 43 out of 46 apply for a contract, it made 33 offers and retained 31. Comparatively, CC retained 91% of its trainees in spring 2015, and 80% in spring 2016.

Meanwhile, Simmons & Simmons claims an 80% retention rate, offering 12 trainees in its spring cohort an NQ role. The firm said 14 out of 15 applied for a position, 12 offers were made and accepted.

This time last year, the firm announced nine trainees had gone through the qualification round while it later emerged there were actually 13 trainees on the intake, which gave Simmons a lower intake rate of 54%, rather than that declared of 78%.

madeleine.farman@legalease.co.uk

 

Legal Business

Ashurst Paris corporate team chooses Freshfields as Magic Circle firm reinvigorates offering

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Corporate AshurstFreshfields Bruckhaus Deringer

Madeleine Farman on a rare team move between London-based international players

In one of the most significant team hires between major City players for some time, a group of five Paris corporate partners – collectively responsible for a book of business worth £8m – is moving from Ashurst to Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.

Legal Business

News in brief – March 2017

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Legal mergers Eversheds SutherlandFieldfisherFreshfields Bruckhaus DeringerHogan Lovells

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.

 

Legal Business

Freshfields and Linklaters take spots as GIC and Hellman win bid for Allfunds Bank

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Corporate Freshfields Bruckhaus DeringerLinklaters

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Ropes & Gray, Linklaters and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett have all won roles advising on the €1.8bn sale of Allfunds Bank to private equity house Hellman & Friedman and Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC.

Both Hellman and GIC will pick up the Spanish funds platform which has over €265bn assets under administration globally covering 51,000 funds from 541 fund managers. Allfunds has over 530 institutional clients, including commercial banks, private banks and insurance companies from 38 different countries.

Major shareholders Santander and Intesa Sanpaolo will sell their stakes in Allfunds as part of the deal. The remaining 25% will be sold by Warburg Pincus and General Atlantic as part of an agreement reached with Santander in November.

Slaughter and May has continued to advise Santander alongside its best friend Uria Menendez with a team led by the Magic Circle firm’s corporate partner Michael Corbett as well as Uria Menendez M&A partners Antonio Herrera and Stephen Hess. Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton M&A partner Simon Jay led a team advising Warburg Pincus and General Atlantic.

Linklaters advised Intesa Sanpaolo on the sale of its stake. The Magic Circle firm’s team included partners Victor Manchado with Giovanni Pedersoli in Madrid and Ben Rodham in London.

Freshfields and Ropes & Gray acted as legal counsel to Hellman & Friedman while Simpson advised GIC.

Freshfields’ cross border team included corporate partners David Higgins (pictured), Tim Wilmot, David Rouch and Madrid office head David Franco.

Higgins told Legal Business: ‘We expect there to be more non-core disposals from financial institutions. Regulators have become more comfortable with private equity and financial investors owning regulated businesses. That should be good for deal opportunities in the sector.’

Ropes took a spot acting on financing aspects of the deal with a team led by global co-head of finance Jane Rogers and Matt Cox, who was recruited from Freshfields back in 2010.

Recent deals Freshfields has worked on for Hellman include the 2012 acquisition of Wood Mackenzie, a deal which valued the energy research and consultancy business at £1.1bn. The firm also acted as Hellman took a controlling stake in Italian software firm TeamSystem in late 2015.

madeleine.farman@legalease.co.uk

Read more in: ‘The M&A Report: Private equity offers the clients for all seasons’


 

 


Legal Business

Freshfields, Slaughters and Maclays act as Standard Life absorbs rival for £3.8bn

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Corporate Freshfields Bruckhaus DeringerMaclay Murray & SpensSlaughter and May

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Slaughter and May and Maclay Murray & Spens have won roles on Standard Life and Aberdeen Asset Management’s £3.8bn merger.

The companies confirmed the terms of the all-share deal which will create the UK’s largest asset manager with £660bn in assets under management.

Co-head of financial institutions Claire Wills (pictured) and London head Julian Long led the Freshfields team advising Aberdeen Asset Management. Long term adviser Maclays’ head of financial services Guy Norfolk also advised the investment management group.

Standard Life’s team on the transaction was led by group general counsel Rushad Abadan supported by its head of general counsel’s office Sara De Busk and legal counsel Benjamin Brust. The firm also turned to a Slaughters team led by corporate finance partner Jonathan Marks and head of M&A Roland Turnill.

The Magic Circle firm has previously advised on Standard Life’s return of around £1.75bn to shareholders in 2015, its disposal of its Canadian business to The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company for a reported £4bn and its acquisition of Ignis Asset Management for £390m.

Corporate partners Marks, Craig Cleaver and tax partner Gareth Miles are regular advisers to Standard Life.

Last year Standard Life confirmed it had added two firms to its real estate panel following the Ignis acquisition, with Maples Teesdale and Shepherd & Wedderburn joining CMS Cameron McKenna, Herbert Smith Freehills and Addleshaw Goddard.

This is not the first time Slaughters has advised Standard Life with Freshfields and Maclays on the other side. Barclays turned to a Freshfields team including Wills in 2009 for its £226m acquisition of Standard Life’s banking arm. Maclays advised Barclays on Scottish law matters. Slaughters Cleaver was among the team advising Standard Life.

In January it emerged Wills advised Tesco on its £3.7bn merger with Booker Group, the UK’s biggest food wholesaler, alongside corporate partner Stephen Hewes and antitrust partners Alastair Chapman and Deirdre Trapp.

madeleine.farman@legalease.co.uk

Read more: ‘The M&A Report’


Legal Business

Freshfields, Mishcon and White & Case up for the top prize as shortlist unveiled for 20th Legal Business Awards

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Freshfields Bruckhaus DeringerMishcon de ReyaWhite & Case

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Mishcon de Reya and White & Case are among the firms competing to be named Law Firm of the Year at this year’s Legal Business Awards.

Also shortlisted in the flagship category for the awards, which take place at Grosvenor House Hotel on 23 March, are Clyde & Co, Osborne Clarke and Stewarts Law.

The full shortlists, revealed below, will see high-calibre law firms, in-house teams and individuals competing across 24 categories, including 12 practice area awards at the 20th year of the Legal Business Awards.

The finalists for the coveted In-House Team of the Year award are Anheuser-Busch InBev, Barclays, Crown Estate, Sellafield, Shell and Virgin Media.

City giants Linklaters, Clifford Chance and Travers Smith are among the firms fighting it out to be named Corporate Team of the Year. In the Dispute Resolution category, Boies, Schiller & Flexner, Stewarts Law and Mayer Brown are among those in contention. In private equity, one of the most in-demand strategic practices areas in the Square Mile in recent years, the shortlist includes Freshfields, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and Baker McKenzie.

With American law firms securing an increasing share of high-end work in the City, Latham & Watkins, Goodwin Procter, and Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan are among the shortlist for US Law Firm of the Year in what will be one of the most competitive categories of the night.

The winners, which will be unveiled at the gala ceremony with a 1,000 guests hosted by journalist and broadcaster Alastair Stewart, are decided by an independent judging panel of senior general counsel.

This year’s panel comprises: Nilema Bhakta-Jones, group legal director of Ascential Group; Claire Chapman, general counsel (GC) and company secretary of Daily Mail and General Trust; Kate Cheetham, general counsel at Lloyds Banking Group; Kirsty Cooper, group GC and company secretary at Aviva; Claire Debney, director of legal strategy at Shire; Chris Fowler, GC UK Commercial for BT; FT GC Dan Guildford; Geoffrey Timms, GC and company secretary at Legal & General Group; Zoopla Property Group GC Ned Staple; Nigel Paterson, general counsel at Dixons Carphone; Nyeem Syed, assistant GC, financial & risk at Thomson Reuters; and Tony Williams of Jomati.

Major winners last year, included Pinsent Masons, which was named Law Firm of the Year and Herbert Smith Freehills, which won the Dispute Resolution Team of the Year award, while Skyscanner walked away with the in-house prize.

mark.mcateer@legalease.co.uk

Click here for more information or email ben.lawless@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business Awards 2017: The full shortlist

TMT Team of the Year

Bristows

Cooley

DLA Piper

Powell Gilbert

Reed Smith

Simmons & Simmons

Finance Team of the Year

CMS Cameron McKenna

Herbert Smith Freehills

Linklaters

Paul Hastings

Ropes & Gray

Simmons & Simmons

International Arbitration Team of the Year

Baker McKenzie

Boies, Schiller & Flexner

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom

Three Crowns

Weil, Gotshal & Manges

Restructuring Team of the Year

Allen & Overy

Ashurst

Bond Dickinson

Clifford Chance

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton

Paul Hastings

White & Case

Competition Team of the Year

Allen & Overy

Ashurst

Bristows

Herbert Smith Freehills

Mishcon de Reya

Travers Smith

Energy and Infrastructure Team of the Year

Burges Salmon

CMS Cameron McKenna

DLA Piper

Pinsent Masons

Shearman & Sterling

Sullivan & Cromwell

Commercial Litigation Team of the Year

Boies, Schiller & Flexner

Charles Russell Speechlys

Clyde & Co

Mayer Brown

Stewarts Law

Weil, Gotshal & Manges

Private Client Team of the Year

Charles Russell Speechlys

Harbottle & Lewis

Irwin Mitchell

McDermott Will & Emery

Stephenson Harwood

Withers

Insurance Team of the Year

Bond Dickinson

DAC Beachcroft

DLA Piper

Eversheds

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom

TLT

Corporate Team of the Year

Clifford Chance

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer

Linklaters

Shearman & Sterling

Slaughter and May

Travers Smith

Weil, Gotshal & Manges

Private Equity Team of the Year

Baker McKenzie

Clifford Chance

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher

Hogan Lovells

Norton Rose Fulbright

Real Estate Team of the Year

Berwin Leighton Paisner

Gowling WLG

Hogan Lovells

Macfarlanes

Norton Rose Fulbright

Reed Smith

White & Case

Boutique Law Firm of the Year

Candey

Humphries Kerstetter

Powell Gilbert

Sacker & Partners

Signature Litigation

Three Crowns

Lawyer of the Year

Maurice Allen, DLA Piper

Peter Crossley, Squire Patton Boggs

Jo Hickman, Public Law Project

Sue Millar, Stephenson Harwood

Frances Murphy, Slaughter and May

Mark Rawlinson, Morgan Stanley

Joanne Wheeler, Bird & Bird

CSR Programme of the Year

Bond Dickinson

CMS Cameron McKenna

Dechert

Dentons

Gowling WLG

Hogan Lovells

International Firm of the Year

Garrigues

Gómez-Acebo & Pombo

Magnusson

Mason Hayes & Curran

Noerr

Vieira de Almeida

Wolf Theiss

Rising Star In-House Counsel of the Year

Edward Anderson, Sainsbury’s

Julia Boyle, Telefónica

Jonathan Cope, RSA Group

Ahsan Gulabkhan, Virgin Atlantic Airways

Craig Harris, British American Tobacco

Sarah Rosser, Vodafone

In-House Team of the Year

Anheuser-Busch InBev

Barclays

Crown Estate

Sellafield

Shell

Virgin Media

Management Partner of the Year

Tim Eyles, Taylor Wessing

Richard Foley, Pinsent Masons

John Joyce, Addleshaw Goddard

Charles Martin, Macfarlanes

Mark Rigotti and Sonya Leydecker, Herbert Smith Freehills

John Westwell, Foot Anstey

US Law Firm of the Year

Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson

Goodwin Procter

Latham & Watkins

Paul Hastings

Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan

Sidley Austin

Sullivan & Cromwell

Legal Innovator of the Year

Allen & Overy

Axiom

Dentons

Lawyers On Demand

Pinsent Masons

RPC

Vodafone

Legal Technology Team of the Year

Addleshaw Goddard

Linklaters

Mishcon de Reya

Riverview Law

Simmons & Simmons

Taylor Wessing

National/Regional Firm of the Year

Brodies

DMH Stallard

Freeths

Harper Macleod

Mills & Reeve

TLT

Law Firm of the Year

Clyde & Co

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer

Mishcon de Reya

Osborne Clarke

Stewarts Law

White & Case

Legal Business

Stepping in: Freshfields corporate partner Richards moves to Rio Tinto legal team

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In-house Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer corporate partner Philip Richards has been seconded to head up Rio Tinto’s legal team following the axing of legal and regulatory affairs group executive Debra Valentine (pictured).

Valentine’s contract was terminated by Rio Tinto in November after she had previously notified the company of her intention to retire in May 2017. The mining firm has been caught up in a scandal which also saw the mining company axe senior executive Alan Davies. An investigation found a $10.5m payment was paid to a consultant related to an African iron ore project in Guinea.

Rio Tinto confirmed Richards has been fulfilling the role of chief legal counsel since December after chief financial officer Chris Lynch had temporarily taken accountability for the corporate legal and regulatory affairs function in November. At that time Rio Tinto confirmed the recruitment process for a new chief legal counsel had commenced.

London-based Richards focuses on mergers and acquisitions, governance and other corporate advisory and transactional work for a wide range of financial sector clients, in particular with banking insurance/reinsurance, and financial infrastructure clients, as well as for private equity investors. He has previously established and led Freshfields’ financial institutions group and co-headed the firm’s Italian offices while based in Milan.

Richards has advised the London Stock Exchange group on its acquisition of a majority interest in LCH Clearnet, of the remainder of the shares in FTSE and on its proposed merger with the Toronto Stock Exchange. He has also advised Swiss Re on its acquisition of the UK business of Metlife and Evercore Partners on its acquisition of The Lexicon Partnership for about £86m.

Rio Tinto has not been a major client of Freshfields. The Magic Circle firm advised Canadian aluminium company Alcan on EU competition work during its acquisition by Rio Tinto for $34bn.

Magic Circle rival Linklaters has been a longstanding adviser to Rio Tinto acting for the mining company on its $40bn acquisition of Alcan, its takeover approach from Australian rival BHP Billiton for $147bn and its $15.2bn rights issue.

madeleine.farman@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Goodwin returns to Freshfields for New York litigation hires

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Strategic recruitment Freshfields Bruckhaus DeringerGoodwin Procter

Goodwin Procter has returned to Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer‘s New York offering for the second time this year, taking on financial litigation partner Gabrielle Gould.

Counsel Samuel Rubin also joins Goodwin’s commercial and financial litigation practice in New York, having been a senior associate at the Magic Circle firm.

The move follows Goodwin’s hire of Freshfields securities and commercial litigation partner Marshall Fishman in January who becomes the firm’s head of its New York commercial and financial litigation practice.

Gould and Rubin represent global financial institutions, private equity firms, corporations and individuals in sophisticated securities and commercial litigation matters.

Before moving to Freshfields in 2010 Gould was counsel at Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel. Recent Goodwin joiner Fishman also joined Freshfields from Kramer in the same year.

Co-chair of Goodwin’s financial industry practice Thomas Hefferon said: ‘With Gabi and Sam on board alongside Marshall and our established, national team of financial industry litigators, we are continuing to make significant strides in expanding Goodwin’s commercial and financial services litigation practice in New York.’

Freshfields bulked up its US platform in November with the hire of corporate partner Aly El Hamamsy from Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft. But the Magic Circle firm suffered a blow, losing its executive partner and litigation Michael Lacovara to Latham & Watkins in June last year. Lacovara managed the firm’s global business services functions, and was responsible for the firm’s operating model and enhancement of its operational efficiency and client-service delivery.

Freshfields absorbed Lacovara’s exit by splitting his management roles between the three remaining members of its global leadership: Chris Pugh, Edward Braham and Stephan Eilers.

madeleine.farman@legalease.co.uk

Read more: ‘When will the US become a land of opportunity for Freshfields?’

Legal Business

Revolving doors: DLA Piper pensions partners exit as Freshfields loses Paris real estate head

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Strategic recruitment DLA PiperFreshfields Bruckhaus Deringer

In a big week for lateral recruitment, a two partner pensions team has quit DLA Piper‘s Leeds office, while Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer‘s Paris real estate head has left for a US firm. Meanwhile, Dechert and Debevoise & Plimpton have made key hires.

While Freshfields made a major play in Paris earlier this month with a five partner private equity team from Ashurst, it has suffered the loss of its real estate head from the same office. Erwan Le Douce-Bercot will move to Jones Day to run its French real estate team, bringing associates Flavia Poujade, Solène Maulard and Alix Pallier.

Boutique firm ARC Pensions Law has opened a new office in Leeds with a double partner hire from DLA Piper. Leeds partners Kate Payne and Vikki Massarano will lead ARC’s new five lawyer office, alongside legal director Max Ballard and senior associates Nigel Jones and Robert Walker.

ARC senior partner Anna Rogers said: ‘We’re extremely fortunate to be joined at ARC by Kate Payne and Vikki Massarano, two very experienced and highly regarded pensions partners, together with most of their team.

Meanwhile, DAC Beachcroft will make two legal directors from Clyde & Co partners at the firm when they move in March this year. Legal directors Michelle Traxler and Tom Walshaw move along with four other partners from Clydes which DAC announced in November. The duo join David Knapp, Danielle Singer, John Goodman and Nigel Adams as part of DAC Beachcroft’s claims solution group in London.

Focusing internationally, Debevoise has hired private funds lawyer Patricia Volhard to operate out of the firm’s Frankfurt and London offices.

Previously of German outfit Pöllath + Partners, Volhard has experience in advising private funds on a range of regulatory issues. Fluent in German, French and English, Volhard is permitted to practice in Germany and France.

Chair of Debevoise’ global investment management/funds group, Erica Berthou, said: ‘The arrival of Patricia as a leader of our European funds regulatory work strengthens our global funds regulatory platform, giving us a true heavy hitter in mainland Europe to add to our UK and US teams. We believe it puts us in a unique position in terms of what we can offer clients in this space.’

Closer to home, Dechert has strengthened its Dublin office with the hire of financial services partner Jeff Mackey from Dillon Eustace. Mackey’s practice focuses on the establishment and authorization of investment funds.

Mackey added: ‘I’m certain my clients will benefit from the international presence of the firm and I’m glad to contribute to the firm’s growth.’

tom.baker@legalease.co.uk