With the exception of Clifford Chance recently rearranging its deckchairs in Canary Wharf, it has been years since one of London’s elite law firms signed on for a new office but Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has today (15 February) confirmed its long-awaited departure from Fleet Street for 100 Bishopsgate.
Continue reading “Magic moves – Freshfields signs 20-year lease with Bishopsgate move set for 2021”
Macfarlanes, Reed Smith and Travers Smith have all advised on Xafinity’s £190.3m flotation, in what is the largest premium main market IPO of 2017 to date.
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer is to punch a major hole in Ashurst’s European private equity practice with the City giant voting on a deal to take on a five-partner buyout team from Ashurst’s Paris arm.
This comes after the Ashurst team had already approached some US firms, including Dechert, within the last six months. Confirmation that Freshfields is to take on the group represents one of the most significant team hires between major City players for years and comes on the same day that Sidley Austin unveiled an audacious move to ship in a seven-partner private equity team from Kirkland & Ellis’s Munich office. Continue reading “Update: Freshfields targets Ashurst for five-partner private team as legal elite tightens grip on premium funds clients”
Raconteur, rainmaker and serial legal entrepreneur Maurice Allen is to phase out his ongoing role with Ropes & Gray to focus on his new post at DLA Piper, after admitting it was ‘difficult’ to work for both firms as a consultant.
Weil, Gotshal & Manges is to close its Dubai arm this summer, making the top 25 global law firm the third major practice to this month announce Middle East closures.
US restructuring and energy leader Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld piled $50m on to its top line in 2016 to take revenues to just under $1bn, despite a slide in City income.
Fortunes at the Bar remain sharply split between haves and have-nots, with new research projecting just over 2,000 barristers now earning less than £30,000 annually, while at the other end of the spectrum, 2,562 are on course to earn over £240,000 during the current financial year.
Homebase has hired its first legal head, as Clyde & Co, Dentons and Pinsent Masons all make international appointments. Continue reading “Revolving doors: Homebase appoints legal head as Clydes, Dentons and Pinsents improve overseas offerings”
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is using artificial intelligence technology from RAVN Systems to work on its most important cases and has spent more with the software firm than on regular adviser Slaughter and May in the first six months of this financial year. Continue reading “Money machines: SFO spending on AI tops Slaughters as investigators use software in Rolls-Royce case”
As Barclays sifts through the wreckage of King & Wood Mallesons‘ European practice and claims of fresh departures swirl around Ashurst, you have to say that the marriage of Herbert Smith and Australian leader Freehills could have gone worse. A lot worse.
Continue reading “Comment: HSF – At least one Down Under revolution worked”
Clifford Chance (CC) is advising the Co-operative (Co-op) Bank as the high street lender is inviting offers to buy all of its shares. This will help build its capital and meet regulatory requirements. Continue reading “For sale: Clifford Chance leads as the Co-op Bank looks for buyers”
Collaboration within a law firm is as self-evidently a good thing as motherhood and apple pie. But then you might think the case for global warming is pretty clear too. So, despite the wave of professional recognition Harvard Law School professor Heidi Gardner (pictured) has received for her work on team-working, her new book, Smart Collaboration, has the considerable challenge of getting lawyers past the outskirts of platitudinal praise and towards the town centre of actual working habits. Continue reading “A buzzword with edge – Macfarlanes head reviews the most hyped professional services book for years”
The most recent Judicial Attitude Survey has revealed that a high proportion of senior judges are intending to quit the judiciary in the next five years, citing an array of grievances. Continue reading “‘A relentless treadmill’: Nearly half of senior judges are considering quitting amid pay and workload grievances”
Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) is suing eight partners who quit to join White & Case, filing a lawsuit at the Supreme Court of New South Wales last week. Continue reading “Taking action: HSF sues partners who quit to launch White & Case in Australia”
Linklaters, Davis Polk & Wardwell and Kirkland & Ellis have all won roles advising on Reckitt Benckiser’s (RB’s) $17.9bn acquisition of Mead Johnson. Continue reading “Linklaters leads for Reckitt Benckiser on $17.9bn acquisition of Mead Johnson”
The High Court has ruled that Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation (ENRC) will now have its multimillion-pound bills from Dechert assessed after the mining company had claimed it had been overcharged.
Continue reading “High Court rules Dechert bill discrepancy ‘impossible to ignore’”
Ashurst continues to bulk up its Asia Pacific offering with the hire of Linklaters partner PH Chik to its Hong Kong office. Continue reading “Ashurst refreshes Hong Kong outpost with Linklaters hire”
The Law Society is considering intervening in a negligence case between Mishcon de Reya and its former client, Dreamvar, after Dreamvar was duped into buying a property from a fake owner. Continue reading “‘Major implications for solicitors’: Law Society backs Mishcon in Dreamvar property fraud case”
Partners at legacy Norton Rose‘s European business will get a limited vote on the firm’s next potential US merger with New York firm Chadbourne & Parke, Legal Business understands. Continue reading “Legacy Norton Rose partnership given limited voting rights on Chadbourne merger”
In the wake of the eye-catching tie-up of CMS Cameron McKenna, Nabarro and Olswang, Legal Business noted last year that the gnomic messages around the union made it a hard one to judge. And even after a detailed assessment of the largest UK legal merger ever, as we undertake for this month’s cover feature, it’s not easy to put the pieces together. Continue reading “Comment: There’s value in CMS’ purchase and one big hurdle ahead”
