Ashurst and RPC are among a quartet of firms that have won places on Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE)’s UK legal panel, with the drinks company also selecting Devereux Chambers as its preferred barristers’ set ahead of a review of its internal legal function.
H1 2015/16: Watson Farley points to lateral hires as revenues grow 5%
Watson Farley & Williams (WFW) said its investment in lateral hires has seen revenues improve as the firm posted 5% growth in half-year revenues for the period to October 31. WFW posted global turnover at £59.5m, and said on a currency by currency basis, its turnover is up 7%.
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HSF’s Palmer handed TheCityUK role as it seeks to protect London’s legal hub status
Elected as senior partner of Herbert Smith Freehills earlier this year, corporate heavyweight James Palmer has been appointed chair of legal services at professional services lobby group TheCityUK.
Holman Fenwick continues recruitment drive with Reed Smith corporate duo
Holman Fenwick Willan (HFW) continues to build its City roster with the hire of Reed Smith corporate partners Giles Beale and James Wilson, who join as the firm seeks to ‘help domestic and international clients take advantage of transactional opportunities’.
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Swaps: signs of a shift?
3 Verulam Buildings’ Gregory Mitchell QC and Alexia Knight on what lies ahead for banks
Banks have had a bruising few years. After litigation over bank charges and the payment protection insurance (PPI) scandal, very serious allegations surfaced, regarding the alleged mis-selling of interest rate hedging products (IRHPs) and, more recently, regulatory investigations on LIBOR and forex manipulation. This article considers some of the legal challenges for banks as the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) review closes.
Guest post: Artificial intelligence – the robots are/are not coming
IBM Watson. Google’s driverless cars. Uncanny recommendations from Amazon, Siri, and Google Now. Not to mention the Financial Times/McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award for 2015 going to Martin Ford’s Rise of the Robots: Technology and the threat of a jobless future, summarised as:
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BAT calls in Harbottles after Panorama bribery allegations
Following a BBC investigation that alleged bribery at British American Tobacco (BAT), the FTSE 100 firm has turned to media boutique Harbottle & Lewis to ‘deal with the matter’.
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Linklaters pays out a third more to highest-earning member in latest LLP accounts
The highest-paid LLP member at Linklaters took home £3.2m during the last financial year, a 33% increase on what was paid in in 2013/14.
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Comment: What I (very roughly) said about the future of law for the quality mid-pack player
From time to time, I am asked to talk at panels and conferences. Though I usually weasel out of such commitments on account of deadlines looming threateningly over my head, I did recently agree to a one-on-one discussion with the senior partner of a mid-tier UK player at the firm’s partnership conference. Continue reading “Comment: What I (very roughly) said about the future of law for the quality mid-pack player”
Dealwatch: Magic Circle trio and Travers Smith advise as Carlyle sells RAC stake to new investors
Clifford Chance (CC), Linklaters and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer have all landed advisory roles alongside Travers Smith on a deal which will see CVC Capital Partners form a partnership with Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC to invest in the roadside assistance provider RAC through the purchase of Carlyle’s stake in the latter.
Codename Trident: Linklaters talks with two local firms as Shanghai venture looms
Linklaters is in advanced discussions with two Chinese law firms, Shanghai Capital Law & Partners and Shanghai Kai-Rong Law Firm, as it bids to become the first Magic Circle law firm to practise Chinese law.
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‘More of a PR stunt than a constitutional milestone’: Government backtracks on withdrawal from ECHR
The Conservative government has backtracked on any planned withdrawal from key provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) through the new draft UK Bill of Rights, while delaying consultation on the proposed law.
‘Slow evolution’: Government plans further shakeup of legal regulation to encourage alternative providers
The government is to kick off a new consultation in spring 2016, part of which will be on making legal services regulators independent from their representative bodies and lowering barriers to entry even further for non-legal businesses to offer legal services.
‘Highly strategic’: Gateley opens in Reading with Pitmans managing partner Avery
On the back of its stock market listing earlier this year, national firm Gateley will open an office in Reading, a venture to be led by well-established local lawyer Christopher Avery, who joins from Pitmans where he served as managing partner for 25 years.
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Shearman flags potential conflict at White & Case as US rivals face off in $50bn Yukos arbitration
Shearman & Sterling has raised a potential conflict of interest issue at White & Case (W&C) in its representation of Russia’s bid to annul the $50bn arbitration award against it over the collapse of oil giant Yukos.
H1 2015/16: Nabarro stays on track with revenues up 4% at half-year stage
Nabarro has today (1 December) released steady half-year results for the 2015/16 financial year with revenue increasing 4% to £56.3m for the six months to the end of October, compared to the £54.1m recorded the previous year.
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The Last Word: a year in review
Manchester, mergers and management merry-go-rounds – 2015 has been as tumultuous a year as any in recent memory. In our annual review, law firm leaders reflect on what has happened and look ahead to 2016
EXCITING TIMES
‘Understandable client nervousness about China and markets generally meant that the busy autumn period got off to a slow start but recovered. Whether that will be sustained into 2016 is hard to call. There is a lot for our clients and the markets to worry about out there. It is also a time of rapid change in the legal world and that means there are lots of new ideas to work on: exciting times.’
Charles Martin, senior partner, Macfarlanes
The inside counsel redefined
Tom Sager began his career with DuPont as an attorney in the labour, benefits and corporate security group and spent more than a decade as chief litigation counsel, before being named senior vice president and general counsel in 2008. During his tenure, he oversaw significant litigation involving governmental investigations, product liability, environmental, toxic tort, labour and employment, securities, antitrust, and tax. Continue reading “The inside counsel redefined”
In-house life: David Kultgen Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco)
After joining the old Aramco [the Arabian American Oil Company] in New York after graduation from law school in 1973, I lived in Saudi Arabia from 1974 to 1980, London from 1980 to 1982, Houston from 1982 to 1989 and then back to the Kingdom just before the First Gulf War. The experience has been a professionally and personally rewarding one. Continue reading “In-house life: David Kultgen Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco)”
The legal pathway to the story of the century
GC: Obviously the Snowden story was a huge scoop for The Guardian. How did you first hear about it, and what were your initial thoughts?
Gill Phillips (GP): I was actually in Australia as we were in the process of opening our office there. I got a cryptic phone call from Alan Rusbridger [then unieditor-in-chief] one night saying, ‘I can’t really talk about this as using the phone might be unreliable. Could you put me in touch with a US national security lawyer?’ I began to think, ‘Ok, something is going on,’ but I gave him a few names.
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