Deals Yearbook 2022: Sally Wokes, Slaughter and May – partner since 2015

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Deals Yearbook 2022: Sally Wokes, Slaughter and May – partner since 2015

Why did you decide to become an M&A lawyer? Was there anyone in particular who inspired you early on in your career?
I unexpectedly fell in love with it in my first seat at the firm. It was the boom before the bust of 2005, and I found the pace and energy of what was happening in the group a huge draw. Ancillary to that, I have to say Melissa Fogarty, who was my first supervisor, and who has now gone on to be the co-head of London corporate at Clifford Chance. Continue reading “Deals Yearbook 2022: Sally Wokes, Slaughter and May – partner since 2015”

Legal 500 analysis – is the Magic Circle’s dominance in the UK M&A market under threat?

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Legal 500 analysis – is the Magic Circle’s dominance in the UK M&A market under threat?

‘It’s a snowball effect. Look at private equity (PE) – that used to be dominated by Clifford Chance (CC), Freshfields and Ashurst but now it’s US firms,’ warns Weil London head Mike Francies. ‘The same hasn’t happened in M&A yet but nearly all of the top US firms here are now trying to build it. In my view, in the same way that a range of top UK firms have fallen behind the Magic Circle, it’s inevitable that the Magic Circle will end up falling behind the US firms for global M&A.’

On the face of it, there’s nothing new about the top US firms’ assault on the City legal market. Having pushed remuneration packages up to eye-watering seven or eight figure sums for the most coveted names, their extensive hiring sprees and growing dominance in areas such as PE and leverage finance have been well documented. Continue reading “Legal 500 analysis – is the Magic Circle’s dominance in the UK M&A market under threat?”

Sponsored Briefing: M&A in Portugal during Covid-19

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Sponsored Briefing: M&A in Portugal during Covid-19

The effects of the pandemic on Portuguese businesses are not uniform.

We can find sectors that have shown some resilience and a capacity to explore the opportunities that have materialised despite everything. Operations that were started before the pandemic are being concluded, such as the purchase of PRISA’s share in the media group Media Capital by Portuguese investors or the purchase of the fuel distributor PRIO by the Spanish distributor DISA. Continue reading “Sponsored Briefing: M&A in Portugal during Covid-19”