Centre of the universe – the offshore counsel role in big ticket deals

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With corporate lawyers finding their feet once more, Legal Business examines the often overlooked role of offshore firms in major global corporate and capital markets transactions

2014 has been the year where the corporate lawyer has begun to feel valued again. Take Dublin-based drug manufacturer Shire’s proposed £32bn takeover by US giant AbbVie, which is scheduled to close this year and pitches US/UK corporate heavyweights Sullivan & Cromwell and Herbert Smith Freehills opposite Davis Polk & Wardwell and Slaughter and May for Shire. But while those elite international firms make the headlines, the deal is to be implemented via a scheme of arrangement in Jersey, based on advice to Shire from a Mourant Ozannes team led by partner Robert Hickling, with Ogier’s Simon Dinning heading a team for AbbVie.

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Ireland: Tracking Dublin’s Young Tigers

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Ireland is breathing a little easier again. With more than five years of economic turbulence battering both businesses and reputations, the nation has finally managed to hoist itself out of recession. Having officially exited its €67.5bn bailout programme in December 2013 – a move described by finance minister Michael Noonan as Ireland being ‘handed back her purse’ – this summer also saw the Central Statistics Office announce economic growth of 2.7% for the first quarter of 2014.

While the situation is still deemed perilous in many parts, with a mammoth public deficit, a woeful property market and high unemployment, a sense of confidence is returning to Ireland’s legal elite. And such is the battle-hardened resilience of the young lawyers that made partner around the time the economy crumbled – including those at Arthur Cox, McCann FitzGerald, A&L Goodbody, William Fry, Matheson and others – that a crop of up-and-coming individuals are emerging as the next generation of stars to define Ireland’s legal market in the years ahead. Continue reading “Ireland: Tracking Dublin’s Young Tigers”

Portugal – A New Hope

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Portugal’s European bailout is over and its privatisation programme is winding down. Legal Business asks the country’s lawyers what happens next.

While the instances in which Europe’s ailing economies have been talking up their prospects have been as frequent as rain storms this past year, Portugal has more reason than most to be bullish. It exited the European Union (EU)/International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout programme at the end of last month; activity levels and employment figures are exceeding expectations; and the government aims to reduce the budget gap further in 2015.

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Behind the veil – Can Islamic finance live up to the sales pitch?

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‘You can’t be a credible financial centre without having a credible Islamic finance programme,’ says Qudeer Latif, head of Clifford Chance’s global Islamic practice. With studies expecting the Muslim population to grow twice as fast as the non-Muslim demographic over the next 20 years global financial institutions and governments are falling over themselves to offer Islamic finance products.

According to EY’s latest study of the global Islamic finance market, the total amount of Islamic assets held by commercial banks was expected to have grown by around 40% from 2011 to 2013, from $1.3trn to $1.8trn. 78% of international Islamic assets are held in Qatar, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, UAE and Turkey. In Qatar, for example, Georges Racine, director of Swiss firm Lalive’s Doha operation, says that Islamic banking has grown quicker than the banking sector as a whole over the past few years as a result of its government’s supportive measures.

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Risk and resilience – a booming insurance industry in Latin America

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Bristol-based DAC Beachcroft insurance partner David Pollitt is a regular visitor to Miami. But while tourists may be lured by the tropical climate and art deco architecture, his frequent trips from West Country to East Coast are all about his practice. The emergence of Miami as an operational and service centre for Latin America means its importance to major international insurance players cannot be underestimated.

Miami is fast becoming a gateway to Latin America for the insurance and reinsurance industry, in the same way that Singapore operates as an insurance hub for Asia. Swiss Re established a Miami office in 2011 to service Latin America and the Spanish-speaking Caribbean islands. Back in 2007, Zurich (a key client of DAC Beachcroft) moved its Latin American regional headquarters from Santiago, Chile, to Miami. The trend continues: Hiscox announced the expansion of its Miami branch in January this year. Continue reading “Risk and resilience – a booming insurance industry in Latin America”

Unleashing talent – highlights from The Legal 500’s Corporate Counsel 100: Latin America

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As Latin America increasingly becomes a global economic force, the role of the in-house lawyer in the region has evolved to produce some of the most impressive names in the legal industry.

Below are selected highlights taken from the debut edition of The Legal 500’s Corporate Counsel 100: Latin America, which identifies an array of the region’s most influential in-house counsel.

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Unleashing talent – highlights from The Legal 500’s Corporate Counsel 100: Latin America

Posted on |

As Latin America increasingly becomes a global economic force, the role of the in-house lawyer in the region has evolved to produce some of the most impressive names in the legal industry.

Below are selected highlights taken from the debut edition of The Legal 500’s Corporate Counsel 100: Latin America, which identifies an array of the region’s most influential in-house counsel.

Continue reading “Unleashing talent – highlights from The Legal 500’s Corporate Counsel 100: Latin America”

Scale-up nation – chasing Israel’s high growth clients

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Barry Levenfeld is a regular visitor to Silicon Valley. The technology and life sciences specialist at Israeli firm Yigal Arnon & Co has to fly from Tel Aviv to San Francisco, via New Jersey or Los Angeles. Currently the journey takes around 20 hours.

However, he hopes that an online petition to establish a direct flight between Tel Aviv and San Francisco will lead to a more civilised journey. The proposed 14.5-hour flight will usher Israeli high-flyers straight into the growth company and venture capital centre of the world.

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Making bail – getting Cyprus back on its feet

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A year ago Cyprus was heading for disaster. The banking crisis had hit hard and predictions of where it would leave the country ranged from the sublime to the ridiculous. Hyperbolic headlines screamed that Cyprus would be forced to quit the eurozone and that everybody would be out of a job. Foreign investors would leave in droves, said the naysayers, so the island had better just go back to fishing and tourism as its mainstay.

Thankfully for the majority, and certainly for the Cyprus legal community, such prophecies have proved overdone. Depending on who you speak to there is really only a mix of cautious or, for some, more courageous optimism about where the Cypriot economy is headed and the benefits that will be realised in the next couple of years by its advisers.

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A wider horizon – Switzerland edges into the global economy

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While historically relatively untouched by the globalisation of legal services, international firms have continued their recent surge into Switzerland, with Geneva – home to a third of the world’s private wealth – emerging as the most popular hotspot. As recently as January, CMS von Erlach Henrici – the local Swiss member of the global CMS network – merged with Geneva practice ZPG Avocats, adding six partners, including former ZPG managing partner Charles Poncet to the firm, now known as CMS von Erlach Poncet.

In September last year, Speechly Bircham also opened in Geneva – an office led by Michael Wells-Greco and of counsel Francis Rojas, who joined from the Luxembourg-based Maitland. This was the LB100 firm’s second office launch in the country in recent years, having first launched in Zürich in 2011. Continue reading “A wider horizon – Switzerland edges into the global economy”