Sanjay Prashar Executive head of legal and democratic services London Borough of Sutton Sutton’s legal panel is part of a wider consortium led by the London Borough of Bromley and set up in 2010. Around 26 firms provide counsel for various outer London boroughs, the Corporation of London and five district councils in Kent.
After a year of significant legal market consolidation in 2012, do you think we will see more mergers involving UK law firms this year? If so, what kind of deals are most likely, and why?
SJ Berwin announced the opening of its twelth office in Luxembourg at the start of the year, in what was described as an ‘obvious’ choice of jurisdiction for the firm given the strength of its European fund formation practice. The firm launched its office through the hire of two new partners: former Allen & Overy …
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The ongoing battle over what was to become of Russian oil joint venture (JV) TNK-BP finally concluded at the end of 2012, in one of the largest M&A deals of the year. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton and Linklaters all played lead roles on TNK-BP’s multibillion-dollar sale to Russian …
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The bonus, not the pay rise, was how companies rewarded the efforts of their general counsel (GC) in 2012. This reflects a changing rewards system for GCs, and caution from the managers who employ them. These are the findings from two recent studies on wages for in-house lawyers. The first survey from UK employment research …
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With the Financial Services Authority (FSA) issuing a record £300m of total fines in the UK in 2012, up from £65.5m in 2011, litigation teams in the City are predicting a further surge in banking litigation in 2013 thanks to the Libor scandal. Barclays’ fine of £59.9m in June was dwarfed by UBS’ £160m fine …
Continue reading “No let up for Libor claims as FSA issues record fines”
RPC has beefed up its corporate practice with the hire of three of Wragge & Co’s heavyweight partners as it targets more mid-sized deals for the largest FTSE 100 and 250 companies and multinational businesses. The City Domestic firm hired Wragges’ former managing partner Richard Haywood and corporate head Maurice Dwyer. The duo joined fellow …
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Panel reviews are a cut-throat business these days, even for firms like SNR Denton and Slaughter and May. The duo was recently evicted from the Land Securities legal panel after a year-long review by group general counsel and company secretary Adrian de Souza. It seems not even the big hitters are immune to facing the …
Land Securities has appointed Herbert Smith Freehills and Hogan Lovells to its revamped legal panel following a year-long review that ended in January. The largest commercial property company in the UK now has nine external law firms on its roster. Group general counsel and company secretary Adrian de Souza has organised his law firms into …
Continue reading “Herbies and Hogan Lovells win places on Land Securities panel”
Two features this month focus on firms that have dusted themselves down and have come back fighting. For markedly different reasons, both Clifford Chance and Bristows have returned from positions of perceived weakness to enjoy something of a renaissance post-economic crisis. In 2012 Clifford Chance was one of the stronger performers in a UK Global …
