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Covington continues European expansion with Frankfurt private equity launch

Frankfurt

Global 100 player Covington & Burling is taking a shot at the German private equity market, launching an office in Frankfurt after taking a six-partner team from Heymann & Partner, which has shut down after 12 years.

Focusing on private equity, tech and healthcare, the firm’s third European base opened on 3 April and counts eight partners and ten other lawyers, led by former Heymann corporate partner Henning Bloss, among its ranks. Continue reading “Covington continues European expansion with Frankfurt private equity launch”

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Dentons gets even more polycentric with seven-way tie-up and Australia hires

Sydney, Australia

Dentons, the world’s largest globetrotting firm, has added 17 partners from an ailing Australian shop and announced a combination with seven firms across three continents over the past few weeks.

As 25-partner Australian firm DibbsBarker shut down, Dentons in May acquired ten of its partners in Sydney and two in Melbourne, while another five launched Dentons’ new office in Brisbane. They strengthened the firm’s financial services, real estate and corporate practices. Continue reading “Dentons gets even more polycentric with seven-way tie-up and Australia hires”

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Addleshaw Goddard recruits legacy BLP Asia head

As the inevitable fallout from the $900m Bryan Cave/Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) tie-up continues, Addleshaw Goddard is following up on its Asia ambitions by announcing the hire of legacy BLP regional head Bob Charlton.

Based in Hong Kong, Charlton will lead Addleshaws’ Asia-Pacific operations, with firm-wide managing partner John Joyce telling Legal Business the firm is looking to triple the size of its regional capability. He added the firm would look to grow from four to at least 12 partners, spread across its Hong Kong and Singapore branches, and did not rule out adding further bases in the region. Continue reading “Addleshaw Goddard recruits legacy BLP Asia head”

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Magic Circle duo secure key mandates as Novartis sells its €13bn stake to GSK

Slaughter and May and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer have landed pivotal roles on a $13bn deal which sees GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) acquire the remaining 36.5% stake in its consumer healthcare joint venture with fellow pharma giant Novartis.

Slaughters is advising GSK with a team comprising corporate partners Simon Nicholls and David Johnson, alongside tax specialist Dominic Robertson, competition partner Bertrand Louveaux, and finance partners Guy O’Keefe and Oliver Storey. Meanwhile Freshfields is advising Novartis, fielding a team led by corporate partners Julian Long and Jennifer Bethlehem, accompanied by tax partner Paul Davison and antitrust partner Rod Carlton. The in-house legal team at GSK was led by senior vice president and head of legal corporate functions Chip Cale, and associate general counsel Antony Braithwaite. Continue reading “Magic Circle duo secure key mandates as Novartis sells its €13bn stake to GSK”

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Dealwatch: Transactional teams move into gear in strong spring showing

Herbert Smith Freehills
  • Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) (pictured) has secured a key corporate role for engineering company and long-term client The Weir Group on the $1.3bn acquisition of US mining equipment manufacturer ESCO Corporation. London corporate partner Mike Flockhart is heading the HSF team, alongside City competition partner Kim Dietzel. Sullivan & Cromwell is advising Weir on US law, led by corporate partners Matt Hurd and Scott Crofton. Meanwhile Oregon-based law firm Stoel Rives is advising ESCO on the deal.
  • Ropes & Gray has advised Nordic Capital on the transfer of its 2008 vintage fund’s remaining nine unlisted portfolio companies to a continuation vehicle in a €2.5bn transaction. The team was led by investment funds partner Matthew Judd in London. Meanwhile Kirkland & Ellis also advised the private equity investor with a team led by Theodore Cardos and Anand Damodaran. The team also included investment funds partners Michael Belsley, Richard Watkins and Christopher Braunack, regulatory partners Lisa Cawley and Adam Skinner, antitrust partners Ellen Jakovic, Mike Robert-Smith and Michael Thorpe, and employee benefits partner Elizabeth Dyer. Offshore law firm Carey Olsen’s funds partner Daniel O’Connor and corporate partner Guy Coltman also acted on the deal.

Continue reading “Dealwatch: Transactional teams move into gear in strong spring showing”

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The future of disputes debate: The justice brand

Alex Novarese, Legal Business: Will the UK legal system be more or less trusted post Brexit?

Abhijit Mukhopadhyay, Hinduja Group: As a business, we trust English law and the English courts. Whenever we do business in any part of the world, unless it is in the US, we always go for English law. So long as the courts remain a brand – and they will, irrespective of whether Brexit happens – London will be attractive. Continue reading “The future of disputes debate: The justice brand”

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Legal tech sponsored briefing: How to prepare for a dirty cyber war

PalisadeSECURE’s Luke Drewer discusses the increased threat of cyber attacks and how law firms should be protecting themselves

There is a new weapon of war being deployed around the world. You cannot see it, but the evidence is all around us. In response to the recent US, UK and French strikes targeting President Bashar Assad’s chemical weapons in Syria, it is thought that Russia will launch a ‘dirty cyber war’ and Britain is getting prepared. Continue reading “Legal tech sponsored briefing: How to prepare for a dirty cyber war”

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Legal tech sponsored briefing: Law firms targeted by cyber criminals – six fundamental steps to being secure

In the wake of several high-profile attacks on law firms, Kaspersky Lab’s principle security researcher David Emm describes key ways firms can combat cyber crime

Cyber attacks are consistently making the news, with high-profile stories like NotPetya, WannaCry and Shadow Brokers seemingly taking place on a monthly basis. Businesses of all shapes and sizes are increasingly concerned about the impact that cyber crime may have on them. For law firms, the threat is particularly apparent and they are targeted for two key reasons. Continue reading “Legal tech sponsored briefing: Law firms targeted by cyber criminals – six fundamental steps to being secure”

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Legal tech sponsored briefing: Voice your way ahead of competitors

Florian Schwiecker

Speech is more than just another channel of communication. It is also the driving force to improve your firm’s productivity

From the technology perspective, speech recognition has a long history with several waves of major innovations. Most recently, the field has benefited from advances in deep learning and big data. The advances are evidenced not only by the surge of academic papers published in the field but more importantly by the worldwide industry adoption of a variety of deep learning methods in designing and deploying speech-recognition systems. Continue reading “Legal tech sponsored briefing: Voice your way ahead of competitors”

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Legal tech sponsored briefing: GDPR – achieving business transparency in a changing world

With GDPR now the new reality, Andrew Elcock from Xynomix explores how to encrypt and secure your data

In 2017, we saw vulnerabilities such as WannaCry exploit millions of devices worldwide, gaining access to valuable personal information. With many organisations now holding several hundreds of terabytes of customer data, the digital world has never been so heavily scrutinised. Continue reading “Legal tech sponsored briefing: GDPR – achieving business transparency in a changing world”

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Client Intelligence Report: Data View – Middle East Focus

Demonstrating value is paramount for all in-house legal teams, concerned as it is with how legal work intersects with business objectives and strategy. When measured against the global data, firms in the Middle East reported that they demonstrated value mainly via the same two criteria as the rest of the world; through the commercial aspect of their advice and their risk mitigation abilities. However, the Middle East reported that commercial and business advice was the most important characteristic by a far larger margin than the average. In the Middle East, this was the most prized metric for measuring value added for 46% of respondents, as opposed to 38% in the global average. This implies that legal teams in the Middle East are more likely than average to be relied upon to contribute to the strategic direction of the company. This links in with Middle Eastern general counsel’s greater likelihood of being part of the management structure of their businesses, and shows that in-house legal professionals here are often more integrated with the business than the global norm. Continue reading “Client Intelligence Report: Data View – Middle East Focus”

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‘A clear validation of our strategy’: Eversheds bounces back with double-digit revenue and profit growth

In its first full financial year since its transatlantic merger, Eversheds Sutherland (International) has recorded a robust increase in both revenue and profit per equity partner (PEP).

In revenue terms – which apply to the legacy Eversheds portion of the business – the firm saw a 13% increase from £438.6m to £494.6m. PEP, meanwhile, grew by a similar margin of 12% from £726,000 to £812,000 – the highest-ever PEP figure achieved by the firm. Continue reading “‘A clear validation of our strategy’: Eversheds bounces back with double-digit revenue and profit growth”

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Another City loss for DLA Piper as private equity star quits for Paul Hastings

Anu Balasubramanian

Paul Hastings has hired Anu Balasubramanian to lead its private equity team in London, a striking move that sees DLA Piper lose one of its brightest deal stars.

The loss of Balasubramanian will be a fresh blow for DLA after a turbulent few months that have seen a high-profile partner exodus in the City to McDermott Will & Emery (MWE). Continue reading “Another City loss for DLA Piper as private equity star quits for Paul Hastings”

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‘A unique buzz’: Herbert Smith to exit Finsbury Square to set up in Canary Wharf

Canary Wharf

Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) is set to relocate nearly 500 of its City workforce to a new office in Canary Wharf, as the firm moves out of its Finsbury Square base.

The move, announced today (17 May), will see 495 staff – including the majority of HSF’s London business services staff – relocated to the new office on Bank Street in September. Continue reading “‘A unique buzz’: Herbert Smith to exit Finsbury Square to set up in Canary Wharf”

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Novartis GC Ehrat steps down over ‘error’ in Trump lawyer agreement

Felix Ehrat

Veteran group general counsel of Swiss healthcare giant Novartis, Felix Ehrat, is standing down after admitting ‘an error’ relating to the company’s former agreement with US President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer.

Ehrat (pictured) will retire from Novartis in June, the company said on Wednesday (16 May). Ehrat, who has been GC and a member of the executive committee at the Basel-based pharmaceuticals company since 2011, will be replaced by chief ethics, risk and compliance officer Shannon Thyme Klinger. Continue reading “Novartis GC Ehrat steps down over ‘error’ in Trump lawyer agreement”

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BCLP unveils foray into legal tech start-up scene with contract negotiation platform

Newly merged Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner (BCLP) has launched a ‘home-grown’ legal tech start-up which produces a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) for £5.

The online contracting tool, called Swiftagree, is the firm’s first technology product launch following its April merger, and is said to precede a number of other offerings it will launch this year. BCLP partner Barry Gross and the firm’s legal technologist Bruce Braude developed the concept. Continue reading “BCLP unveils foray into legal tech start-up scene with contract negotiation platform”