Bingham McCutchen’s Hong Kong office has been put in a precarious position with Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld making a two partner hire to take the number of partners joining the firm from Bingham to 28, while remaining capital markets partner Vincent Sum’s future is unclear.
Continue reading “Bingham’s Hong Kong office looks set to close as Akin Gump pounces again”
Having endured a spate of high profile partner exits during the summer, US firm Edwards Wildman has now seen four associates depart from its London office, and join the ranks of Eversheds, Travers Smith, Pinsent Masons and automobile giant Nissan in recent weeks as uncertainty over Cooley talks continues.
After months of wrangling, the heavily trailed union between Global 100 firms Bingham McCutchen and Morgan, Lewis & Bockius looks set to go ahead, after a pre-recorded voicemail message from Bingham managing partner Steven Browne informed partners of the proposed union on Friday (19 September).
Having endured a difficult time in recent months with an exodus of partners from its London office, US law firm Edwards Wildman Palmer published its UK limited liability partnership (LLP) accounts in August, which recorded a 10% drop in UK turnover, alongside a 21% drop in profit.
The LLP accounts, dated to 31 December 2013, show revenue fell to £25.1m from £27.8m, operating profit decreased to £8m from £10.1m and net debt rose to £323,827 from £54,952.
In the global market, there remain two great powers: English and New York law. While US law has gained an edge in recent years, the debate continues over which will emerge victorious.
The popularity of English law is one of the UK’s most enduring sources of soft power, having underpinned the huge global success of London’s law firms and projected British influence for hundreds of years. And yet it is rarely commented on.
Continue reading “Global 100 Choice of Law – Clash of the Titans”
Increase in bids raises hopes of a rise in UK M&A work
M&A partners are predicting that the UK could soon see an increase in lucrative hostile takeovers after the first five months of this year saw unsolicited bids globally hit their highest value since May 2007, standing at a total of $273.4bn.
Bids, whether pending, completed, withdrawn or rejected, are up significantly on the $70.6bn announced in 2013, according to figures from Dealogic, largely driven by Pfizer’s unsuccessful $122.6bn approach for the UK’s AstraZeneca, announced on 2 May, in what is the third largest hostile M&A bid on record.
Continue reading “Hostile takeovers globally at highest value since May 2007”
It has long been renowned as the top restructuring shop in the US but Weil, Gotshal & Manges was a late entrant to Europe’s work-out scene. As such the New York-bred law firm has taken a headline-grabbing step to take its City practice ‘to the next stage of growth’ with the hire of Goldman Sachs heavyweight Andrew Wilkinson, who is to join the firm at the end of April.
Continue reading “Weil Gotshal hires restructuring heavyweight Wilkinson from Goldman Sachs”
The UK’s elite law firms often point to their rigorous partnership promotion process as a natural selector of the best talent but at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Allen & Overy (A&O) the promotion of just 15 and 16 partners respectively in recent weeks is insufficient even to maintain the partnerships at their current levels.
For Freshfields, the latest promotions round is a marginal increase on the 14 promoted in 2013, but is a significant decline when compared with the 20 partners promoted in 2011 and 2012.
The long-running investigation into the collapse of Dewey & LeBoeuf shifted up a notch today with the announcement that three top executives and a client relations manager at the now defunct firm have been charged with fraud.
Continue reading “FBI and Manhattan DA charge four former Dewey managers with fraud”
US law firms are facing a fundamental overhaul over the way they calculate and distribute their profits that could result in far higher short-term tax bills if controversial proposals currently before Congress are approved. Continue reading “Tax overhaul threatens US firms with four-year cash drain but could boost global mergers”
