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Dealwatch: Advisers get KKR infra play on the road as CC and MoFo energise $3.5bn renewables disposal

As market activity continues to branch out into diverse sectors, some of the biggest deals have had an energy and infrastructure flavour recently, with KKR’s £2bn takeover of John Laing Group and SoftBank’s disposal of its renewables venture SB Energy India proving standouts.

US private equity investor KKR agreed to acquire listed infrastructure group John Laing in a deal which will also see investor Equitix jointly own John Laing’s existing asset portfolio. Continue reading “Dealwatch: Advisers get KKR infra play on the road as CC and MoFo energise $3.5bn renewables disposal”

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Guest comment: time for law firms to play catch-up on parental leave

Nathan Peart, managing director at Major, Lindsey & Africa, says firms must move with the times when it comes to arrangements for prospective parents

Parental leave continues to be a conversation at the forefront of law firm policy development, but it still has a long way to go to reflect the modern norm. As firms examine the changes in the way we work and develop policy that reflects local customs but still aligns with a firm’s ethos, it is also important to remember the people at the centre of this policy – prospective parents. Continue reading “Guest comment: time for law firms to play catch-up on parental leave”

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Revolving doors: Further stateside expansion as Cooley opens in Chicago while Freshfields secures key hire in New York

Chicago

US partner acquisitions have dominated this week’s recruitment round-up, as Cooley launched a new Chicago office off the back of an emphatic nine-partner team hire.

Corporate partner Yvan-Claude Pierre, who will split his time between Chicago and New York, is the sole Cooley presence among the ten-strong launch team, with the other nine partners all arriving from DLA Piper, Latham & Watkins and Winston & Strawn. Continue reading “Revolving doors: Further stateside expansion as Cooley opens in Chicago while Freshfields secures key hire in New York”

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Revolving doors: Clyde opens three new US offices as Quinn Emanuel launches Miami branch

train track graphic

There was a significant American slant to the latest round of lateral partner recruitment, as disputes-heavy Clyde & Co and Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan launched new offices.

Clyde is to establish new bases across the south west of the US in Phoenix, Denver and Las Vegas via the appointment of insurance partner Amy Samberg and her team from Foran Glennon Palandech Ponzi & Rudloff. Samberg arrives alongside six counsel, as well as several associates and staff. Continue reading “Revolving doors: Clyde opens three new US offices as Quinn Emanuel launches Miami branch”

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‘Confidence and distinction’ – M&A grandee Comiskey elected Linklaters senior partner

In a case of second time lucky for Aedamar Comiskey, Linklaters’ illustrious head of corporate, the M&A heavy-hitter has been elected senior partner to succeed Charlie Jacobs on 1 July.

Long considered one of the most influential corporate partners in the Square Mile, Comiskey had been particularly hotly-tipped among the candidates, which also included London corporate partner Sarah Wiggins and Milan-based Western Europe managing partner Claudia Parzani. London partner and global US practice head Tom Shropshire had also been in the running early on but in February left the firm to take over the GC and company secretary position at Diageo. Continue reading “‘Confidence and distinction’ – M&A grandee Comiskey elected Linklaters senior partner”

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Dealwatch: Elite firms drill into $7.1bn Valaris restructuring as eclectic deals epitomise market

In what has been called an ‘extraordinary case’, Valaris’ $7bn financial restructuring made sizeable waves this week, as firms including Kirkland & Ellis, Slaughter and May and Akin Gump steered it to a successful conclusion.

The transaction sees offshore drilling service provider Valaris emerge from Chapter 11 after the company filed in August 2020, eliminating $7.1bn of debt and securing a $520m capital injection through the issue of $550m of new secured notes. Continue reading “Dealwatch: Elite firms drill into $7.1bn Valaris restructuring as eclectic deals epitomise market”

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Revolving doors: Kennedys expands Down Under while WFW kickstarts Italian practice

Perth Nightime CityScape

In another hectic week of lateral partner recruitment, Kennedys has launched a new Perth office via a team hire while a host of other firms strengthened their global benches.

The firm has established its 43rd office globally by hiring a nine-lawyer Australian insurance team from rivals Clyde & Co. Jonathan Wyatt is the sole partner leading the team and specialises in marine, property, financial lines and liability insurance. Continue reading “Revolving doors: Kennedys expands Down Under while WFW kickstarts Italian practice”

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This time, walk the talk behind the ESG bandwagon

Three letters seem to be everywhere you look these days: ESG. Law firm after law firm seems to be offering environmental, social and governance advice and even new practice teams to corporates on a daily basis. Press releases talk about helping clients ‘navigate the regulatory requirements’ and ‘lead the way’. The fastest land animal is arguably not the cheetah, but instead a lawyer jumping on the ESG bandwagon.

Continue reading “This time, walk the talk behind the ESG bandwagon”

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Nothing is certain

The ever-changing world of data protection has lost none of its pace. Exacerbated by the almost global transition to a life online, homes became offices, Zoom became the go-to meeting place and Teams became the world’s virtual water cooler. With this increased reliance on technology to support remote working and digital communications, the need to protect corporate data and confidential information while working from home has become vitally important. Continue reading “Nothing is certain”

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The Covid realignment

‘Insurance is in a perfect storm at the moment. After years and years of what we would call a soft market – characterised by overcapacity, with insurers competing on price and breadth of cover, leading to broad policy wordings and cheap product – a series of events, of which Covid is just one example, is now leading to a correction’, explains Herbert Smith Freehills partner Paul Lewis when discussing the wider effects of the Covid pandemic on the state of the insurance industry. Continue reading “The Covid realignment”

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Sponsored briefing: The era of unbridled mega settlements in the Netherlands seems to be over

OSKB’s Geertjan van Oosten and Dinya Torny discuss how individuals at suspected companies also run the risk of criminal prosecution

In early September 2018 news emerged that the Dutch Public Prosecution Service (PPS) had conducted a large scale criminal investigation into ING Bank and had agreed a settlement. The settlement amount of €775m was the largest in Dutch history. The PPS announced that ING Bank had for years failed to take measures to prevent money laundering with its bank accounts. In the opinion of the PPS, ING was guilty of culpable money laundering. Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: The era of unbridled mega settlements in the Netherlands seems to be over”

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Sponsored briefing: History has shown us that fraud and recessions are natural bedfellows

Stewarts’ Alex Jay and Tim Symes discuss past and present growth in international fraud

The increase in fraud following the 2007-8 financial crisis was sharp and sustained. KPMG’s ‘Fraud Barometer’ – the longest-running fraud report of its kind in the UK – showed that fraud cases in 2008, 2009, and 2010 increased
year-on-year both by value and volume. Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: History has shown us that fraud and recessions are natural bedfellows”

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Sponsored briefing: German interlocutory injunction proceedings in patent matters under review of CJEU

Clemens Rübel discusses patent matters under review by the CJEU in Germany

The requirements of granting interlocutory injunctions in patent infringement proceedings developed over many years by the German Higher Regional Courts will be subject to review by the CJEU. The legal question referred by the Munich judges in a decision on 19 January 2021¹ is, whether it is in line with art 9 (1) of Directive 2004/48/EC (Enforcement Directive) that in interlocutory infringement proceedings provisional measures should be denied if the asserted patent has not survived first instance opposition or nullity proceedings. Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: German interlocutory injunction proceedings in patent matters under review of CJEU”

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Sponsored briefing: Corporate criminal liability in Germany

Alexander Cappel discusses how the German legal landscape is going to change based on the future Corporate Criminal Liability Act

Over the past few years, we have noticed a large number of multi-jurisdictional enforcement actions against large corporate and financial institutions and US and UK authorities in particular have imposed significant fines, not only against the responsible individuals, but also against the legal entities involved. Compared to criminal penalties imposed by foreign authorities, administrative sanctions against legal entities in Germany have been rather moderate given German law does not provide for strict corporate criminal liability yet. Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: Corporate criminal liability in Germany”

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Sponsored briefing: Cypriot courts hear major international civil fraud cases: here is why

SCORDIS, PAPAPETROU & Co LLC examines the key elements of civil fraud proceedings in Cyprus

Introduction

The development of Cyprus as an international business centre has also led to it becoming a serious hub for international dispute resolution, involving, more often than not, international white-collar crime cases instigated by private individuals, companies and governmental bodies alike. The accession of Cyprus to the EU has also contributed to the number of civil fraud cases coming before the Cypriot courts, especially when coupled with the fact that Cyprus is a common law jurisdiction and most of the leading litigators are UK educated and qualified lawyers with support teams of analogous education and background. Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: Cypriot courts hear major international civil fraud cases: here is why”

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Sponsored briefing: RPC interview series – Andy McGregor

RPC

Why are fraud disputes increasing year on year?

Numbers collected by the litigation intelligence company Solomonic show a dramatic increase: 94 fraud-related cases were recorded in 2020, compared with 61 cases in 2019 and 31 in 2018.

Based on our experience, 2021 is likely to see that number go even higher. It’s hard to know exactly what is driving that. I don’t think that we have collectively become worse people though. Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: RPC interview series – Andy McGregor”

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Sponsored briefing: RPC interview series – Michelle Sloane

RPC

What advice would you give to clients who want to be prepared for potential investigations in relation to the criminal offences of failure to prevent the facilitation of tax evasion?

A defence exists of having ‘reasonable prevention procedures’ in place. Therefore, the first thing that I would advise is to ensure these procedures are in place. Despite the new laws on failure to prevent tax evasion being around since September 2017, quite a lot of corporates have failed to implement any procedures. These corporates will find it near impossible to mount a successful defence to these offences. Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: RPC interview series – Michelle Sloane”

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Sponsored briefing: RPC interview series – Simon Hart

RPC

To what extent is the current crisis similar to the 2008 financial crisis?

They are very different. Every economic crisis has different drivers, despite people tending to lump them together. The consequences for the legal market are always different as a result. Why? 2008 was a once-in-a-lifetime event, just like the pandemic, but of a different type. Undercapitalised banks themselves were one of the main causes of the crisis, they were right at the heart. The economy was on the precipice because the banks were so over-leveraged. Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: RPC interview series – Simon Hart”