Lewis Silkin is representing Nissan as it applies for an injunction against pro-Brexit campaign group Vote Leave.
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Financials 2015/16: Disputes drive Fieldfisher’s 7% revenue growth
Fieldfisher, which recently released new a strategy homing on in three sectors, has posted a 7% increase in firmwide revenues for 2015/16, up to £121.5m from £113.3m. The result comes after the firm posted an 8% rise in revenue at the half-year point in November.
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Not ‘looming’, the judiciary is already in crisis
If there was much to celebrate amid the continued rise of London as an international disputes centre at Legal Business‘ second Commercial Litigation Summit on 24 May, the cloud on the horizon was apparent: the mounting conviction that the UK judiciary is near crisis.
Growing administrative burdens, earlier retirements, cuts to judges’ pensions and court funding – not to mention far higher earnings on offer for commercial silks. Chairing our debate on the state of the judiciary, Sir Bernard Eder remarked: ’80-100-hour working weeks are nothing to commercial judges.’ Ashurst partner Ed Sparrow picked up the theme, highlighting terrible morale in the 2014 judicial attitudes survey – a report which the veteran litigator branded a ‘terrifying document’ for those concerned with the reputation of the London courts. Sparrow added that thanks to the loss of kudos for judges in austerity Britain: ‘Judges feel that they are treated like assets and I would say sweated like assets.’
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Tchenguiz dispute latest: court orders SFO to list documents in £3bn case
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has been ordered by London’s High Court to list documents it had inadvertently disclosed in the ongoing £3bn Tchenguiz dispute.
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Latham lands Debevoise arbitration star Lamb as it seeks disputes growth in the City
Latham & Watkins has hired US rival Debevoise & Plimpton‘s rising arbitration star Sophie Lamb (pictured) as it builds out its disputes practice.
HSF client Goldman Sachs loses costs argument against sovereign wealth fund ahead of $1bn trial
A pre-trial review of the upcoming $1bn court battle between Goldman Sachs and the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA) has seen the bank lose a key costs argument at London’s High Court.
Hogan Lovells makes Asia arbitration play with BLP hire
Hogan Lovells continues to make a play for greater market share in Asia with the hire of Berwin Leighton Paisner‘s (BLP) head of international arbitration, Kent Phillips, to its Singapore office.
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Set in stone – testing time for mid-tier sets as elite London sets tighten their grip
The demise of 11 Stone Buildings last summer sparked claims within the Bar that others would face the same fate. As the gap between the haves and have-nots widens, can second-tier sets survive?
‘If you don’t stop gossiping about the collapse of this set, you will make it happen. You’re scaring people. Things are not as bad as they seem.’
A staff member to a junior barrister at 11 Stone Buildings, summer 2015
‘Unfortunately, there’s an incentive to leave before the crash. If people think the set isn’t going to last they’ll start leaving. It’s then that the set starts shredding at the edges. Nobody wants to be left behind.’
Michael Furness QC, co-head of chambers, Wilberforce Chambers
Less bark, more bite – competition to the fore as tougher enforcement arrives
New legislation and a tougher outlook from regulators has competition partners salivating, but the old guard maintain their dominance in the City. Can the rise of US players extend to antitrust practices?
Having long been viewed as stable, the UK’s competition law agenda has been shaken up significantly over the last 12 months, with the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)’s public attack on the proposed merger of mobile networks O2 and Three last month the clearest example yet. In an unprecedented move CMA chief executive Alex Chisholm published a letter to the European Commission, which is assessing the deal, stating that the £10.25bn purchase of O2 by Three owner Hutchison would cause ‘long-term damage to the UK telecoms market’.
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‘The worst is over’: S&P report predicts end for mega regulatory fines for banks
As the UK bank reporting season gets into full swing, a new study says the era of fines, compensation and other legal expenses on the banking industry could be drawing to a close. Continue reading “‘The worst is over’: S&P report predicts end for mega regulatory fines for banks”