Cravath, Swaine & Moore, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher are advising as Westin owner Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide has called off its $12.2bn buyout agreement with Marriott in favour of a $13.2bn offer from a group of investors led by China’s Anbang Insurance Group.
Glencore picks Freshfields as mining giant sues Colombia over coal deal
Mining and commodities giant Glencore has instructed Magic Circle firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer to sue Colombia over claims the government sought to revoke parts of a coal mining license.
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A&O names new corporate heads as Ballheimer prepares to join senior leadership
Within weeks of electing the firm’s new leadership, Allen & Overy has announced London corporate head Richard Browne has joined Dirk Meeus as joint leader of the firm’s global corporate practice.
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Barclays bans lawyers from corporate hospitality during panel review
Barclays has put a ban on its 600 lawyers accepting corporate hospitality as it reviews its legal panel worth around £100m a year to law firms.
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Freshfields the latest to post reduced retention rate with 82% of trainees kept on
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, the last Magic Circle firm to post its trainee retention rate this spring, posted a reduced figure, keeping on 82% of trainees this spring. The firm offered 33 of 38, or 87% of its trainees places.
Dentons lands BLP head of corporate crime and investigations in bid to capture banking disputes
Fresh from securing an 11-partner financial litigation team from now-defunct Matthew Arnold & Baldwin, Dentons has landed Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) partner Daren Allen (pictured) as it attempts to capture more banking litigation work.
‘Experience and energy’: Corporate head Penney wins Addleshaws senior partner race
Corporate head Charles Penney (pictured) has been appointed Addleshaw Goddard‘s new senior partner, replacing Monica Burch, who was first elected to the role in 2010.
Winston & Strawn disputes heavyweight joins Garrigues to launch City arbitration team
Garrigues has hired its first English-qualified partner in the City with the arrival of Winston & Strawn‘s co-head of international arbitration, Joe Tirado, to launch its practice in London.
DLA Piper launches flexible working in Australia as part of LOD roll out
Fresh from sealing a landmark deal with Lawyers On Demand (LOD) to provide freelance lawyering services to its clients, DLA Piper will roll out the service in Australia following LOD’s merger with Asia-Pacific rival AdventBalance.
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Asia round-up: Stephenson Harwood formalises Guangzhou association as A&O makes FinReg play
Stephenson Harwood has formalised its association with Chinese law firm Wei Tu, while Allen & Overy has made a key hire into its finance practice in Hong Kong.
In-house: Lloyds appoints head of legal for ring-fencing as banks prepare for 2019 deadline
Former Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) corporate partner Frances McLeman has been made head of legal for ring-fencing at Lloyds Banking Group, a prominent in-house appointment made quietly by the bank nearly three months ago.
Comment: Time to move on – Savage argues legal education is falling behind the realities of the profession
Let’s get this in context right off the bat. The Training for Tomorrow proposals by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) represent the most radical change in legal education for over 20 years. When one considers the massive structural changes in the legal services market in recent years, which have been covered extensively by Legal Business before, we are faced with a unique situation.
Fasken Martineau slashes London lawyer headcount by a third ahead of office move
Fasken Martineau will close the doors of its Hanover Square office at the end of this week, relocating a significantly reduced 10 lawyer team to London’s Old Broad Street. Lawyer headcount at the firm’s City office has been cut by almost a third in just a few months, having 28 fee-earners at the beginning of this year.
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ABS Fairpoint Group legal revenues hit £30m as firm hunts further acquisitions
Finance company Fairpoint Group, which in recent years has pushed into the legal market with the acquisitions of Simpson Millar and Colemans, has posted annual revenue of £31.6m from its legal services division. The figure is a 165% jump on the £11.9m brought in last year.
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London calling: Slaughter and May resumes City focus with bumper promotion round of ten
The latest to release its partnership promotions, Slaughter and May has announced ten promotions all in the City, a big bump on last year’s round of four.
Magic Circle trainee retention: Clifford Chance, Allen & Overy and Linklaters post lower rates
Clifford Chance has retained 80% of its March trainees, with 43 out of a cohort of 54 accepting positions at the Magic Circle firm. The rate comes as rivals Allen & Overy and Linklaters also posted lower retention rates than the year prior.
Robot law: Deloitte estimates automation to cut legal sector jobs by 39% over the next two decades
A new report released by Deloitte is warning law firms to prepare for changes as the rise of automation is likely to cut legal sector jobs by 39% over the next two decades.
Budget 2016: Contract lawyer services avoid tax crackdown
City law firms using contract lawyers can breathe a sigh of relief, after Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne (pictured) said in his Budget today (March 16) that the government would not target the private sector in its crackdown on tax savings made by consultants through personal service companies (PSC).
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‘Not enough common ground’ – BLP and Greenberg call off transatlantic merger bid
It promised to create a property and disputes giant across the Atlantic and one of the most distinctive law firms in the global market but in the end the mooted union between Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) and Greenberg Traurig has been called off.
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Guest post: The case for legal advice privilege is not as strong as the profession wants it to be
Lord Neuberger (pictured), in a recent short speech, provides some interesting insights in to the problematic world of legal advice privilege (LAP), but he does so with one eye closed. Let me explain.