Comment: The air of unreality – can the big deal deliver for Ashurst?

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Legal mergers Ashurst

‘Historically, what killed Ashurst’s mergers has been apathy. Latham, Fried Frank, Clifford Chance – people were apathetic.’ So recalls one former veteran of the City firm.

Ashurst has finally voted on a transformative merger with its Australian partner. But even two years since the firm agreed a formal alliance with big six Australian outfit Blake Dawson, the idea of Ashurst going through with the tie-up still seems odd, unreal even, though this timeframe was always set out and the Australian practice immediately took the name of its City suitor.

Wigs and veils up for discussion by Lady Hale and Lord Neuberger in Supreme Court briefing to mark a new legal year

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Legal affairs

Deputy president of the Supreme Court Lady Hale today (2 October) advocated a new approach to attracting youths from diverse backgrounds starting first with the elimination of barristers wigs, in a meeting otherwise dominated by the issue of full-face veils in court.

In a briefing held together with Lord Neuberger to reflect on his first year as president, the outspoken deputy addressed a series of questions over the use of the niqab in court, which dominated headlines in September after Judge Peter Murphy found that defendant Rebekah Dawson must remove her veil when giving evidence.

Global ambassador: CMS partner Fiona Woolf to represent the City as Lord Mayor

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Legal affairs CMS UK

The City legal profession collectively regards itself as a global ambassador for UK enterprise but CMS Cameron McKenna energy partner Fiona Woolf has been officially awarded the representative role of the Lord Mayor of the City of London, becoming only the second female holder of the post in its 800-year history.

Woolf will be the City’s 686th Lord Mayor – to be distinguished from the wider Mayor of London role – and will take on the role of global ambassador for UK-based financial and business services from Friday 8 November.

Guest post: Grayling’s conference speech – main points and some reflections

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Legal affairs

Earlier this week, Chris Grayling MP, Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor, delivered his speech to the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester.

Like the speech of Sadiq Khan MP at the Labour Party Conference, Grayling’s speech was short. He opened by referring to a story in the Daily Mail about several young men having an easy time in prison. We were informed that, ‘within twelve hours, they were in segregation. Locked up for longer in their cells, not hanging out with their mates. Without a TV. Privileges stripped. Weeks added to their sentences after a swift disciplinary process.’ Good red meat for the party faithful.

More drama from Berlin – criticism of Hogan Lovells client led to departure by partner now leading team to rival

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Germany Hogan Lovells

Surprise surrounding last week’s announcement that Hogan Lovells’ 30-lawyer Berlin arm is leaving to launch a German law practice for Morrison & Foerster has been compounded by the indications that local TMT partner Christoph Wagner was earlier asked to leave the firm for publicly criticising a client.

The decision by the 2,527-lawyer Anglo/American firm came after Wagner wrote an article in German newspaper FAZ looking at the antitrust concerns surrounding Deutsche Telekom’s decision to impose data limits on its flat rate internet connections, which German journalists have reportedly warned is a threat to the freedom of the web.

Africa expansion: Eversheds in talks to launch in five key jurisdictions

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Middle East and Africa Eversheds Sutherland

Eversheds is significantly expanding its Africa offering and is currently in discussions to establish offices in the key markets of Tunisia, Morocco, Ghana, South Africa and Kenya over the coming months.

The 1760-lawyer firm has also today (1 October) announced the launch of the Eversheds African Law Institute (EALI), which will share knowledge, training and regional and international commercial opportunities with member firms.

Layton leads the field as CC set for managing partner election

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Leadership Clifford Chance

The race to fill the shoes of Clifford Chance (CC)’s longstanding global managing partner David Childs has reached a decisive stage, with the initially reluctant Matthew Layton widely cited as the favourite as the firm takes soundings on potential candidates.

Layton is widely tipped to be running alongside three other likely candidates: Paris-based office managing partner and M&A corporate specialist Yves Wehrli; global head of tax, pensions and employment David Harkness; and City-based banking and finance partner Andrew Carnegie.

Consolidation watch: Dentons and McKenna Long in merger talks

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Legal mergers Dentons

Dentons and McKenna Long & Aldridge confirmed late on Monday (30 September) that they are in merger talks to create a firm with more than 3,100 lawyers around the world.

The firms are reported to be aiming to complete the deal by 1 January 2014 and in response Dentons issued the following statement to the US media:

‘Since creating Dentons earlier this year, we have been very clear in our determination to always deepen our capabilities to serve clients in the U.S. and around the world.

‘This has included discussions with firms and lawyers for whom we have great respect and share common goals.

Sailing for Boston – Freshfields’ managing partner quits to join US buyout house

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Leadership Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer

One of the most respected law firm leaders in the City has called it a day ahead of time with Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer’s managing partner Ted Burke today (30 September) confirming his decision to leave the Magic Circle firm. The move, which sees Burke stand down a year early, was announced internally today.

Status update: Gibson Dunn partner hired as Facebook deputy GC

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In-house Facebook

Social media giant Facebook has appointed Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher’s co-head of IT and data privacy Ashlie Beringer as deputy general counsel (GC), just weeks after Twitter announced Vijaya Gadde will take over as GC of the online social networking group.

Beringer takes over from Colin Stretch, who this summer succeeded Ted Ullyot as vice president and GC, following Ullyot’s announcement in May that he would be stepping down.