‘It’s a remarkable firm with a tremendous reputation, but it has to take note of the fact that the market is changing.’ So says one transatlantic law firm leader, summarising a view that has chimed throughout Legal Business’ numerous Global 100 interviews. Arguably the most conservative of the City elite, Slaughter and May has long …
Continue reading “Global 100: Slaughter and May – Keeping the magic alive”
Despite the Russia/Ukraine war fuelling concerns, firms still found time to make strategic hires, open new offices and become embroiled in the odd scandal. Here are the headline stories of the last 12 months.
I grew up in a shipbuilding town in the north. Barrow-in-Furness. Bill Bryson described it as ‘the very worst town in England’. It brought with it a sense of community back in the day. I’m working class and I kind of bring my middle-class self to work. My mother is only 18 years older than …
Latham & Watkins has had a busy November, picking up several multi-billion-dollar instructions across the sports, retail and telecoms sectors. Among the other firms securing lead roles are US peers Skadden, Paul Weiss and Orrick and Magic Circle competitors Linklaters and Allen & Overy (A&O). Following Latham’s lead role in the £4.25bn acquisition of Chelsea …
Partners from Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF), Davis Polk and Eversheds Sutherland have secured advisory roles on the administration and £3.4m sale of online furniture retailer Made.com to Next. In early November, Made.com filed notice of its intention to appoint administrators, advised by a HSF team led by London restructuring partner John Chetwood and including City corporate …
As the year-end approaches, US firms have dominated this week’s hiring round with additions across London’s transactional and disputes practices. WilmerHale bolstered its London white-collar defence practice with the addition of Richard Burger. Burger – who is ranked as a leading individual by The Legal 500 and described as ‘a standout practitioner in the disciplinary/regulatory …
Continue reading “White & Case adds BCLP funds head as WilmerHale strengthens white-collar practice”
Clifford Chance (CC) has become the second Magic Circle firm to dish out competitive year-end bonuses to US associates, after Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer matched US competitors’ rates last week. Both firms will pay their junior lawyers a lump sum based on their year of qualification. At both CC and Freshfields, newly qualified (NQ) associates will …
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Goodwin has named funds partner Ajay Pathak (pictured) as its new London co-chair to replace Paul Lyons, who is stepping down after five years in the role. Pathak, who is ranked as a leading individual in The Legal 500, will lead the office alongside current co-chair Gemma Roberts, who succeeded Samantha Lake Coghlan in 2021.
‘TL,DR. That’s a real thing for them [the big tech companies]. That language pops up. If you’re plodding in as an old-school lawyer you’re going to last three seconds in that room. They’ll just think you’re a wanker.’ So says one prominent external adviser to the ‘Big Five’ tech companies – generally agreed to be …
Continue reading “Tech giants: TL,DR – Too long, didn’t read”
I grew up in Lebanon when there was a civil war. I say this with a bit of embarrassment but, because of the civil war, I never completed a school year. I had to be homeschooled for a lot of the time and the school year was always interrupted. I didn’t really have, like many …
Continue reading “Perspectives: Nassib Abou-Khalil, formerly of Nokia”
