In-house: CMS bumped as core adviser following Lloyds panel review

In-house: CMS bumped as core adviser following Lloyds panel review

CMS has dropped off Lloyds Banking Group’s core panel of advisers after a review which reshaped the roster into two lots. A total of 25 firms are understood to have been appointed, split between a smaller number of core firms and a group of general firms. It was the bank’s first panel review since 2016, when …

Under pressure – Retail GCs fight to adapt to a brutal High Street

Under pressure – Retail GCs fight to adapt to a brutal High Street

The crisis engulfing high-street retailers is showing few signs of abating. May saw the public collapse of almost the entirety of Jamie Oliver’s restaurant eateries, and in June, retail tycoon Philip Green’s Arcadia empire narrowly avoided bankruptcy with a rescue deal severing some 50 clothing stores. According to data from Deloitte, 125 retailers went into …

New players and funding prompt evolution of disputes but City leaders adapt well

New players and funding prompt evolution of disputes but City leaders adapt well

‘We’ve disrupted the market – everybody knows about us now,’ says Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan London co-managing partner Ted Greeno of the US firm’s inexorable rise in the City. The ex-Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) partner, himself one of a string of high-profile recruits Quinn Emanuel made since its London launch in 2008, has a …

In-house: Eleven firms get workspace on WeWork’s debut EMEA legal panel

In-house: Eleven firms get workspace on WeWork’s debut EMEA legal panel

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Hogan Lovells are among 11 firms to have secured spots on WeWork’s first legal panel for the EMEA region, running for an initial two years. The firms join Addleshaw Goddard, Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, Bird & Bird, CMS Cameron Mckenna Nabarro Olswang, DLA Piper, Eversheds Sutherland, McCann Fitzgerald, Shoosmiths and Simmons & Simmons.

SRA drops sexual harassment inquiry into former Reed Smith partner

SRA drops sexual harassment inquiry into former Reed Smith partner

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has dropped an investigation into a former Reed Smith partner who was dismissed from the firm over a complaint of sexual harassment. The allegation came to light last November, with the matter reported to have involved the sexual harassment of a junior female trainee, while the unnamed London-based partner was …

In-house: Trustpilot bags former Skyscanner legal chief as Gowling scores sole Commonwealth Games mandate

In-house: Trustpilot bags former Skyscanner legal chief as Gowling scores sole Commonwealth Games mandate

Adding to recent high-profile in-house appointments, former Skyscanner legal chief Carolyn Jameson (pictured) has been appointed chief legal and policy officer at consumer review website Trustpilot, while Gowling WLG has become sole legal adviser to the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. GC Powerlist-regular Jameson, who earlier in the year announced her departure from high-profile travel metasearch engine …

In-house: Skyscanner lands former Deliveroo legal chief as GC and company secretary

In-house: Skyscanner lands former Deliveroo legal chief as GC and company secretary

Recently departed Deliveroo legal chief Rob Miller has been named Skyscanner’s general counsel (GC) and company secretary following Carolyn Jameson’s departure from the high-profile travel metasearch company earlier this year. Miller (pictured) will oversee Skyscanner’s global legal, regulatory and public affairs function, leading a team of 12 lawyers, and comes as the Scotland-based company embarks …

In-house: Aviva reveals new adviser panel after first review since 2013

In-house: Aviva reveals new adviser panel after first review since 2013

Ten firms have secured spots on FTSE 100 insurer Aviva’s refreshed legal panel, with RPC, Eversheds Sutherland and Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner winning new appointments. The two-lot panel covering the group and investor businesses came into effect on 1 July after the previous panel, last reviewed in 2013, ran its course. It will run on an …

In-house: former Worldpay GC becomes FTSE 100 company’s first legal head as BlackRock’s European GC departs

In-house: former Worldpay GC becomes FTSE 100 company’s first legal head as BlackRock’s European GC departs

Adding to a recent spate of high-profile in-house moves, Ruwan de Soyza (pictured) has joined FTSE 100 company Halma as its first general counsel (GC) and company secretary, while the highly-rated Erica Handling has left funds manager BlackRock. De Soyza announced in November he was leaving payment processing company Worldpay after nearly eight years for a …