Key clients: Friends Life, Julius Baer, Novartis, Lloyds Banking Group
Partner since 2008
Why corporate? The sheer variety. The access to senior decision-makers in clients was fantastic.
Rising Star: Chris McGaffin, Slaughter and May
Key clients: ARM Holdings, Hikma Pharmaceuticals, Shire, Aggreko, WS Atkins
Partner since 2015
As a grammar school boy from Northern Ireland, I had two choices: lawyer or doctor, or I would get thrown out of the house. I did work experience at 15 at the local hospital. When I saw what the junior doctors had to do, I decided being a lawyer was for me.
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Rising Star: Charles Hayes, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
Key clients: CVC Capital Partners, Charterhouse Capital Partners, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, Middle East sovereign wealth funds
Partner since 2016
F1 is a big one for me [Hayes led on the Formula One sale to Liberty Media Corporation in September]. Particularly as a partner having tracked through the 2012 IPO attempt in Singapore. It’s a huge deal to do and one of great professional pride in the first few months of partnership.
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Rising Star: Victoria Sigeti, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
Key clients: Cinven, 3i Group, Permira, General Atlantic
Partner since 2015
A key deal for me was the IPO of Spire Healthcare: I’d done the original buyout for Cinven in 2007 as a mid-level associate and then stayed with that deal until the IPO in 2014. That type of deal gets you under the skin of a business. It creates deep relationships with clients.
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Rising Star: Alison Smith, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
Key clients: Anheuser-Busch InBev, Tesco, Smiths Group
Partner since 2015
As a teenager I was desperate to be a criminal defence barrister. I did work experience with a barrister when I was 16 and loved it. At some point after becoming more educated about the profession, I wanted to work as part of a big deal team.
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The Last Word: Merger mania
‘Consolidation is an inevitable response in a market such as ours. There is only so much work, and we are all under pressure to be more efficient.’
Mark Rigotti, HSF
Following the proposed combination of CMS Cameron McKenna, Olswang and Nabarro, we asked law firm leaders their views on consolidation in the City
Global ambition
‘The demands our clients place on us to be ever more global, to handle matters that cross multiple borders, and to provide a comprehensive and quality-consistent service across a broader spectrum of expertise and geographies, means these ambitious mergers and combinations in the legal industry are inevitable and will likely continue apace. The trick to whether they will stick, though, is in the integration; it’s easy to do a merger, but it’s hard to really become merged – truly one partnership, one offering.’
Tamara Box, managing partner for Europe and the Middle East, Reed Smith
Turbulence to shape next generation of M&A stars
There is a school of thought that the late 1980s and early 1990s proved singularly fertile ground for developing outstanding corporate lawyers. You can see the logic. The deregulation of Big Bang ushered in fresh investment, players and techniques and unleashed a wave of activity to be swiftly followed by the early 1990s’ recession.
Young corporate lawyers honed their skills by exposure to new ideas when times were good, only to sharpen their business-winning instincts and apply their abilities in volatile markets that demanded flexibility and flair. Certainly, the generation of M&A partners that came through during those formative years has cast its shadow over the profession for a long time. But those days are ending as these figures either move into c-suite roles, retire or join clients.
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Camerons’ double merger adds up but will it multiply?
Pity the poor pundit obliged to come up with an opinion on the obtusely-forged union of CMS Cameron McKenna, Nabarro and Olswang. Despite representing one of the largest legal mergers in the UK, taking a view on the tie-up, good, bad or indifferent is challenging, not least because the trio have so far been strikingly gnomic over the whole thing.
The union combines three brands with impressive industry credentials across real estate, media, technology, financial services, energy and life sciences. That is a lot of sector to focus but in those areas, these outfits carry potency.
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Life during law: Quentin Poole, Gowling WLG
I thought I’d be suited to law because I’ve always been interested in people. And discussion and debate and argument.
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The business and human rights debate: The new judges
With new legislation putting human rights on the business agenda, we teamed up with Herbert Smith Freehills to gather lawyers and experts from a range of industries to debate the key issues
In our recent Insight report on business and human rights (see Soft law, hard sanctions – Human rights laws and the next risk front facing business) – published in September in association with Herbert Smith Freehills – we noted how the arrival of the Modern Slavery Act (MSA) in the UK in 2015 has crystallised the groundswell of awareness of the human rights concerns in business. We heard from in-house human rights experts how the debate over the last 15 years had moved beyond a vague concept to which lip service had been paid to become a bona fide business consideration, combining legal liability with potentially devastating reputational risk.
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GC Powerlist Ireland: A team effort
The launch party for our second GC Powerlist Ireland, this time focusing on teams, brought together the country’s strongest in-house legal departments
The recent launch of our GC Powerlist: Ireland Teams, hosted in Dublin by McCann FitzGerald, was attended by a host of companies operating in the country including Ulster Bank, Facebook, EY, An Post and Ryanair. The following pages list the in-house legal teams that made the list.
‘The next generation’: Linklaters appoints new corporate group heads as Comiskey takes charge
Linklaters has reshuffled the leadership of its corporate team, moving a number of key roles down to rising stars following changes to senior management in the department. Continue reading “‘The next generation’: Linklaters appoints new corporate group heads as Comiskey takes charge”
Mishcon succeeds as claimants win Brexit challenge against government
A group of claimants has landed its first blow in an article 50 case against the government, after the High Court ruled that it has no constitutional power to trigger Brexit.
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The M&A Report: ‘Who Are Ya?’ – Mark Rawlinson: Freshfields’ playmaker leaves the pitch
There is little space at the top among the elite M&A dealmakers, but as of October there is a vacancy for another heavyweight as Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer’s Mark Rawlinson departed Fleet Street for investment bank Morgan Stanley.
After 34 years at Freshfields, Rawlinson ended his time with a run of headline deals ensuring that he went out on a high. It capped an ultra-exclusive standing for Rawlinson, established alongside Slaughter and May’s Nigel Boardman, as one of the City’s top deal advisers at an age when even the most driven partners are usually losing a yard.
Freshfields continues defence work advising on £1.1bn Project Allenby Connaught extension
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, CMS Cameron McKenna and Pinsent Masons are advising as the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has gifted a £1.1bn construction contract to Carillion, extending what is already the largest accomodation Private Finance Initiative the Ministry has undertaken. Continue reading “Freshfields continues defence work advising on £1.1bn Project Allenby Connaught extension”
Linklaters votes for Moore’s lockstep reforms but controversial features dropped
Linklaters partners have voted today (3 November) to accept changes to the firm’s lockstep that will provide more flexibility in moving partners on the ladder.
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‘Thin end of the wedge’: Legal privilege given boost by amendments to snooper’s charter
Concerns from the legal profession over the threat to legal privilege posed by the Investigatory Powers Bill, also known as the ‘snooper’s charter’, have been quelled this week by further amendments in the House of Lords.
‘The outcome of the Supreme Court is not foreseeable’: City lawyers react to Brexit challenge
City lawyers across private practice and the Bar have reacted as the High Court has today (3 November) decided that the government does not have the power to trigger Article 50 without parliamentary approval. Continue reading “‘The outcome of the Supreme Court is not foreseeable’: City lawyers react to Brexit challenge”
Green shoots: Global firms jostle for position in panda bond market
Victoria Young reviews how global firms are positioning themselves to cash in on a market on the cusp
As the internationalisation of China’s currency continues, global firms are making much of the pioneering Yankee bond-style deals in the Chinese market, eyeing opportunities in the orient and beyond.
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Deal watch: Corporate activity in November 2016
PE DOUBLE FOR CC
Clifford Chance (CC) completed two major private equity deals in a month, advising as Cinven, Permira and Mid Europa Partners acquired Allen & Overy client Allegro for $3.3bn. In addition, CC acted for Cinven as well as CVC Capital Partners on the acquisition of consumer finance provider NewDay, opposite Slaughter and May, which advised long-time client and seller Värde Partners, and Jones Day, which represented the management of NewDay.
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