Eight years after opening an office in one of Europe’s biggest legal services market, Berwin Leighton Paisner is set to cut back its Paris offering leaving only a liaison outpost with the exit of its French head, partner Antoine-Audoin Maggiar.
Continue reading “Berwin Leighton Paisner scales back Paris office as French head leaves”
It’s stated so often but never questioned: everywhere you turn, in-house lawyers pay tribute to the holy grail of ‘being commercial’. But, as I will argue, such an approach raises substantive and troubling questions regarding the influence on the ethical compass that is supposed to be an in-house lawyer’s most important tool.
Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) announced its management successor in Singapore, while Kirkland and Ellis, and Hogan Lovells made partner exchanges in Hong Kong.
US firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges continues to boost its global finance practice with the hire of Ashurst banking partner Damian Ridealgh in New York.
Continue reading “Weil boosts finance practice with Ashurst hire in New York”
Litigation partner Denis Brock, who headed Clifford Chance’s Asian disputes practice for nine years, has swapped King & Wood Mallesons for US firm O’Melveny & Myers.
Linklaters has appointed its third London head of corporate this year, with Stuart Bedford stepping up to lead its City offering following Sarah Wiggins’ switch to global head of client sectors just two months into the role.
Continue reading “Linklaters names Stuart Bedford as London head of corporate”
Welcome to the second of our new series the Friday Edit in which we take an informal look back at the week’s more interesting events and put a little context on current events in the commercial law game.
The run of consolidation in the US national market continues with Dallas-bred Locke Lord and Boston’s Edwards Wildman this week announcing plans to merge, forming a $675m practice that would sit just outside the top 50 of the Global 100.
Market developments around the region continue apace: in the Dominican Republic, where the recent tie-up between Squire Saunders and Patton Boggs will be particularly felt (the former Squire Sanders, Peña Prieto & Gamundi was a key market player), further movement has seen the departures of Marielle Garrigó and Fabiola Medina (from Pellerano & Herrera and Medina Rizek, respectively), to establish new firm Medina Garrigó.
Allen & Overy (A&O), Travers Smith and Pinsent Masons have all secured leading roles advising on Lloyds Banking Group’s £400m sale of Doncaster-based homebuilder Keepmoat to private equity houses Sun Capital and TDR Capital, as the part-nationalised lender continues to dispose of its non-core assets.
Baker Botts was defeated again in the long-running Yukos saga as Covington & Burling succeed in having a Russian jurisdictional challenge dismissed by a Swedish court.
Continue reading “Covington and Baker Botts act as Yukos minority shareholders defeat Russia”
McDermott Will & Emery and CMS Hasche Sigle have won the lead roles in advising Telefónica Deutschland’s €3.62bn rights offering to help finance the acquisition of E-Plus Group from KPN.
Mishcon de Reya has been instructed by BSGR, a Guernsey-registered mining group controlled by Israeli billionaire Beny Steinmetz, in a $5bn lawsuit against Guinea after the West African country withdrew a concession to mine one of world’s largest deposits of iron ore due to allegations of widespread bribery.
Continue reading “Mishcon and Orrick act as BSGR launches $5bn arbitration against Guinea”
Top ten global firm Kirkland & Ellis continues to build its Asia offering hiring Hogan Lovells head of restructuring in Asia, partner Neil McDonald, in Hong Kong.
Continue reading “Hogan Lovells loses Asia restructuring head Neil McDonald in Hong Kong”
Rarely, even in the conservative game of law, has so necessary a measure been so long avoided until the status quo became so laughably, farcically untenable. The move is for major law firms to start articulating public benchmarks for their proportion of female partners – corporate speak for the series of concrete targets announced this year to stem the huge outflow of talented women from the profession.
Continue reading “Comment: Women in law – A belated bandwagon, but still welcome”
PwC Legal has hired McDermott Will & Emery City-based corporate partner Mark Crofskey in a bid to boost its UK legal arm’s M&A team. Expected to join the accountancy giant next month, Crofskey will work in PwC Legal’s M&A practice alongside corporate partner Alistair Hogarth in leading a team. Continue reading “PwC Legal makes City corporate push with McDermott partner hire”
Financial services boutique BuckleySandler is set to launch its first international office as it expands its global financial crimes practice.
Within a week of hiring high-yield partner Jonathan Bloom from Ropes & Gray, Jones Day has expanded its securitisation capability in London with former Clifford Chance (CC) partner Neil Hamilton joining the firm.
Iberian leader Uría Menéndez has elevated its offering in Latin America and acquired a 30% stake in the merger of its best friend firms and national heavyweights, Philippi and Prietocarrizosa, in a union the firm says is a ‘major milestone’ in its international strategy to consolidate its commitment in the region.
Last year, delivering our annual results issue, Legal Business remarked that the age of turbulence facing law firms since the 2008 banking crisis was far from over. And so it has proved. Despite all the talk of returning confidence, and clear evidence of recovery in the UK economy, it’s still choppy out there. Stripping out another year of consolidation, the numbers are a little better than 2013 but that’s about it.
Continue reading “Comment: LB100 – Statistically speaking, you may not need a bigger boat”
