M&A partner Julian Pritchard has been named Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer’s new London deals head following the announcement stalwart dealmaker Simon Marchant (pictured) is retiring in July.
Pritchard will take the title of London head of transactions in replacing the corporate veteran Marchant, who has been at the Magic Circle firm for nearly 30 years. Continue reading “Freshfields names Pritchard new corporate boss as dealmaker Marchant retires after 30 years”
London disputes specialist Rosenblatt is trying something new with its planned launch of a litigation funder, while three law firms have also highlighted their innovation wares by collaborating with a litigation start-up.
Rosenblatt this week (8 May) raised £43m in its listing on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM), giving the 21-partner firm a market capitalisation of £76m in what it described as a ‘significantly oversubscribed’ float. It was the fourth and biggest law firm initial public offering (IPO) to date. Continue reading “Disputes round-up: Rosenblatt listing eyes third-party funding expansion as trio of firms collaborate on new litigation tech”
US firms have been busy expanding their European finance ranks this week, with Latham & Watkins scooping yet another Magic Circle partner and Ropes & Gray hiring a leveraged finance partner in London.
In its race to the top of the German legal market, Latham has come back to London’s big four for the third European hire in less than two months. Continue reading “Latham continues European assault with Magic Circle hire in Germany while Ropes adds London finance partner from Goldman”
Oliver Brettle has stepped down as White & Case’s London executive partner after a decade, with US securities partner Melissa Butler named his successor.
The move comes on the instruction of New York-based chair Hugh Verrier, who asked White & Case stalwart Brettle to concentrate on the firm’s 2020 strategy, which includes competing ‘toe-to-toe’ with the Magic Circle in the City. Continue reading “Brettle bows out as White & Case London head to focus on going toe-to-toe with the Magic Circle”
Slaughter and May and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer have landed key roles on Vodafone’s €18.4bn buyout of Liberty Global European assets, as Vodafone expands its European services.
The transaction includes the acquisition of US cable giant Liberty’s Unitymedia business in Germany, as well as its UPC brand businesses across Hungary, Romania and the Czech Republic, as Vodafone looks to accelerate consolidation in key markets. Continue reading “Deal watch: Magic Circle duo lead on Vodafone’s €18.4bn buyout of Liberty Global European Assets”
The London contingent of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton has recently moved across the road into premises so new they do not yet have a postcode recognised by Google Maps. The irony is not lost if you consider the firm’s role as counsel to Google on some of the most high-profile antitrust cases in recent years. You would have thought they would have had that detail covered.
Uncharted or otherwise, the shiny new office can only be seen as a vote of confidence from Manhattan, especially as it will allow the City branch to accommodate some 180 lawyers – 40 more than it currently houses. But despite an exceptional competition practice and a long-established European network, Cleary ’s struggle to become a big hitter in London for mainstream M&A has been evident. Continue reading “Comment: Deal view – Cleary Gottlieb seeks to avoid City M&A anonymity in the age of US disruptors”
Mishcon de Reya has announced the second cohort of companies joining the firm’s incubation programme in London in the latest of a string of moves in the legal tech space.
The five new companies range from concept-stage to revenue generating, and will join the firm’s technology incubator programme over a 10-week period from today (8 May). ThirdFort, DealWIP, LitiGate, Digitory Legal and LawPanel were all selected following a pitch day at the firm’s London headquarters on 21 March, where a total of 16 companies presented their products and ideas. Continue reading “Acceleration: Mishcon de Reya aims to bring ‘propositions to life’ in second MDR LAB cohort”
Slaughter and May, Linklaters, Davis Polk and Ashurst are among the firms to have won major mandates on Japanese pharmaceutical giant Takeda’s £46bn takeover of Irish drug-maker Shire, while CMS and Pinsent Masons led on the sale of the UK’s £2bn Neart na Gaoithe offshore wind farm.
Takeda’s recommended offer is the culmination of a drawn out takeover process which has seen Japan’s largest pharma company make multiple bids for London Stock Exchange-listed Shire over recent months. Continue reading “Deal watch: International firms find cure for Takeda’s £46bn pharma takeover as CMS and Pinsents tie up giant wind farm disposal”
One of the big, big wins to law firms and our clients is if we could get a collection of businesses to work out why you consistently hear from general counsel “law firms are not innovative enough” and you consistently hear from law firms “clients are never brave enough to do something different”. They’re both genuinely held views, with loads of examples – how can that be?’ Continue reading “What ails the GC/law firm dialogue?”
Uncertainty over the future of Carillion Advice Services (CAS) has ended after Clifford Chance (CC) went ahead with a surprise takeover of the in-house legal arm for an undisclosed sum. Newcastle-based CAS was put up for sale after its parent Carillion collapsed in one of the largest UK insolvencies for years. CAS has a team of 60 paralegals specialising in services such as document review, due diligence, e-disclosure and litigation support. The business will be fully integrated within CC, with CAS director Lucy Nixon reporting to CC’s client services solutions global head Oliver Campbell, as well as UK managing partner Michael Bates. CAS was originally inherited by Carillion in 2011 as part of its £300m acquisition of energy services company Eaga.
The In-House Lawyer (IHL): How do you create a clearer picture of what Pinsents is doing on diversity? Continue reading “Richard Foley, Pinsent Masons”
‘You will have to go out and find the women – they won’t come to you,’ warns Travers Smith partner Lucie Cawood when The in-House Lawyer began researching this cover feature. That proved an astute prediction.
We’ve teamed up with the retail specialists at Ashfords to help you identify and navigate the key developments and issues facing the sector. Here we meet the team who’ll be keeping you briefed for the year ahead.
Pension schemes, as an unwanted headache for UK corporates, has long since ceased to be a new phenomena. The last 20 years has seen a mix of erratic investment performance, increased longevity – and, in a number of cases, schemes being poorly managed – resulting in massive pension deficits which companies are forced to wrestle with. In a broad sense, we have seen pensions transition from life as an HR benefit, to today a long-term legacy liability sitting on a sponsoring company’s balance sheet. In practice, the presence of a defined benefit pension deficit is effectively a major, often unsecured creditor of a company which can impact on a wide range of corporate activities and attract significant personal liability for directors. Continue reading “Pensions law: Doyle Clayton”
The Legal 500 UK Awards 2018 recognises and rewards the very best of the best across the legal industry. We pride ourselves on the thorough, in-depth research we carry out in order to produce our rankings of firms and sets in the UK. This leaves us in a unique position to be able to identify the teams which warrant particular recognition. Continue reading “The Legal 500 UK Awards 2018”
A 23-year-old became the most sought-after baseball player last year when he announced he would leave Japan to play in the US. Shohei Ohtani was already a phenomenon. Able to pitch and hit – a skillset as rare as hens’ teeth in the game and infinitely more prized – league rules limiting his initial pay guaranteed whichever team landed him an absolute bargain.
No-one could accuse the UK competition regulators of lacking scope and vigour. The main regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has rightly gained a reputation for robust enforcement. The nomination of former Conservative MP Andrew Tyrie as the CMA’s new chair is expected to reinforce its standing as a no-nonsense agency. But as it faces up to Brexit, it will have to shoulder a far heavier burden.
It has been a turbulent few years for many of those in the upper echelons of Brazilian politics and business. Around the world, headlines have been filled with sleazy tales of corruption, perhaps most notably the bribery and kickback scandal emanating from state-backed oil giant Petrobras, embroiling many high-profile individuals and entities across the region.
Academic and Thinkers50 honouree Rachel Botsman is focused on trust. Of late, that focus has looked at how technology has shifted our understanding of trust and impacted on both our personal and professional lives.
Academic and Thinkers50 honouree Rachel Botsman is focused on trust. Of late, that focus has looked at how technology has shifted our understanding of trust and impacted on both our personal and professional lives.
