WHITTAKER STEPS DOWN AS LLOYDS GC
Group general counsel (GC) Andrew Whittaker is stepping down from his role at Lloyds Banking Group with deputy GC Kate Cheetham set to replace him. Whittaker joined the bank in May 2013 after having served as the legal head of the Financial Services Authority. The bank also saw the departure of disputes chief Philippa Simmons last month and began a redundancy consultation looking at cutting up to 25 mid-level positions.
Associates are set to gain whoever wins
Law firm partners at major City firms are facing the prospect of a substantive hike in tax if the Labour Party forms a government in this month’s general election with current manifesto pledges expected to see many partners at Legal Business 100 firms with a five-figure increase in their annual tax bill.
Under Labour’s policy, the 45p rate of income tax will be raised to 50p for people earning over £150,000. According to numbers produced by Baker Tilly, this means that a partner earning £1m will pay £500,590 in income tax and national insurance – £42,060 more than the 2015/16 tax rate that currently stands at £458,530.
Continue reading “Partners at top firms to pay £42k more under Labour tax plans”
American insurance giant AIG has carried out a review of its UK-based legal panel and established a new 64-member roster to cover the company’s European operations across 12 countries.
Both reviews were carried out at the same time by the company’s Legal Operations Center. The UK panel review, which was primarily a housekeeping exercise around the 25-firm panel established in 2013, took three months, while the Continental roster took a year due to the size and volume of firms and the administration involved.
Continue reading “‘Phase two’: AIG reviews UK panel and establishes 64-strong European roster”
Goodwin Procter and Ropes & Gray launch in PE and ComLit
International firms in the City maintained their expansive form in April with three US-bred advisers unveiling UK law practice launches. The moves saw Boston’s Goodwin Procter launch a UK practice in private equity, New York’s Cahill Gordon & Reindel hire its first English-qualified partner and Ropes & Gray move into UK disputes work.
Goodwin Procter set up shop in London seven years ago looking to emulate the success of the firm’s property team in the States. But the firm recently announced its intention to compete in London’s private equity space, with the hire of King & Wood Mallesons co-head of corporate Richard Lever.
Continue reading “US firms step up in the City with new practices”
Having already announced a mammoth combination with Chinese firm Dacheng under a Swiss verein structure this year, Dentons bolstered both its US and CEE capabilities last month by combining with Atlanta-based McKenna Long & Aldridge and hiring a 50-strong team from the Budapest office of White & Case.
Dentons had been scoping the market for a US combination for some time, and previously attempted to tie-up with McKenna Long in 2013 – though that was unsuccessful after partners at both firms rejected the move. This time, Dentons chief executive Elliott Portnoy said events ran more smoothly than had been widely reported. ‘The conversation moved with substantial speed; in 2013 we weren’t able to bring it to a final closure. It’s common for them to begin and unfold over a number of years but fade before a deal can be done. You need a high level of alignment around strategy.’
Miriam González Durántez’s profile is sky-high. She’s one of the most successful EU lawyers in the City, has persuaded over 15,000 women to volunteer for her Inspiring Women campaign and is the wife of Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg. In an interview with Tom Moore she argues that the EU is undervalued in the City and how law can smash its glass ceilings.
Your practice is something of a rarity outside Brussels. Why have City law firms neglected EU law?
Magic Circle firm Clifford Chance (CC) has seen multiple partner exits from its German operations in recent weeks with longstanding capital markets partner Markus Pfüller and trademark head Thorsten Vormann becoming the latest, leaving for SZA Schilling, Zutt & Anschütz and K&L Gates respectively.
Reasons suggested for the exodus, which has already seen at least nine lawyers leave including eight partners, point towards a long-term cultural and strategic divide between CC and the German firm it merged with in 2000, Pünder, Volhard, Weber & Axster. One partner at the firm says: ‘The majority of partners came from the 2000 merger with Pünder. There was a difference in culture and since the merger, things improved day-to-day but not on the general standing of what kind of clients we want to advise and where they come from. That has never been solved or overcome.’
Continue reading “Clifford Chance German practice suffers further partner exits”
Michael West talks to the Australian PI giant about its eventful Quindell acquisition
After over three months of intensive due diligence that saw Slater & Gordon (S&G) reconstruct the accounts of Quindell’s Professional Services Division (PSD) following accusations of dubious accounting, both sides agreed a £637m deal, which is expected to close this month, that will see S&G acquire the division and bolster its share of the UK’s highly competitive £2.5bn personal injury (PI) market.
Continue reading “The £637m bet – Slater & Gordon on its daring play in UK’s personal injury market”
Shell offers £47bn for BG Group
The proposed £47bn acquisition of BG Group by fellow energy major Shell saw a trio of Magic Circle firms land leading roles, as Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Slaughter and May and Allen & Overy (A&O) advising on what constitutes the largest UK-to-UK deal ever.
Slaughters is acting for Shell, supported by Cravath, Swaine & Moore on US corporate law and allied firm De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek on Dutch aspects of the deal. Corporate partners Roland Turnill, Hywel Davies and Rebecca Cousin are leading Slaughters’ team, which Turnill told Legal Business started ‘working in earnest’ on the transaction as far back as Christmas. Finance partner Matthew Tobin is also working on the deal alongside tax specialist Steve Edge, competition partners Bertrand Louveaux and Jordan Ellison and pensions and employment partners Jonathan Fenn and Roland Doughty.
Continue reading “A&O, Freshfields and Slaughters land key roles on biggest-ever all-UK deal”
Three US law firms – Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, Latham & Watkins and Sullivan & Cromwell – leveraged long-term relationships with key corporate clients last month, seeing them land lead roles on Nokia’s bid to take over Alcatel-Lucent.
Skadden is advising longstanding client Nokia on the tie-up that values its French rival at €15.6bn and will create a technology giant worth more than €40bn. The team is led by London-based global transactions co-head Scott Simpson; Paris-based Armand Grumberg, who heads the firm’s European M&A practice; and London corporate partner Michal Berkner.
Continue reading “Heavyweight US trio advises on €15.6bn Alcatel takeover”
