Baker & McKenzie and Allen & Overy (A&O) have both won places advising on US delivery service FedEx’s €4.4bn agreement to buy Dutch rival TNT Express as the company looks to boost its European capabilities and global footprint.
Continue reading “Dealwatch: Bakers and A&O deliver as FedEx looks to buy TNT for €4.4bn”
Clifford Chance and Travers Smith have taken lead roles advising on the £3.4bn dispute between Hewlett-Packard (HP), and Autonomy founder Michael Lynch and its former chief financial officer Sushovan Hussain regarding allegations of fraudulent accounting.
Continuing the trend of bumper partner promotions by law firms this year, Trowers & Hamlins has made up more than double the number of lawyers it did in 2014 with nine joining the partnership, while Debevoise & Plimpton, which has missed London out in recent years, made up a third of its round in the City.
On 30th March, Parliament was dissolved. The coalition government remains in place pending the outcome of the General Election on 7th May and it may remain in place for some time beyond the election (see later). At present, the opinion polls suggest that no political party will gain an overall majority over all other parties in the House of Commons.
Continue reading “Guest post: Parliament dissolved – the fight for power at Westminster commences”
As the global financial crisis bit, and (in England and Wales at least) the regulatory landscape shifted for law firms, there was a sense that the coming years would see the collapse of a significant number of firms. That doesn’t seem to have happened.
Just three years after helping to launch Locke Lord in the UK, insurance litigators Damian Cleary and Gavin Coull have departed to launch US firm Foran Glennon Palandech Ponzi & Rudloff in the City.
Allen & Overy (A&O) has bolstered its project finance offering in its sub-Saharan practice with its first lateral partner hire in South Africa, turning to Linklater-ally firm Webber Wentzel. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer also turned to Linklaters in building its Hong Kong office with finance and energy partner Thomas Ng.
Gibson Dunn & Crutcher has been hit with a £880,000 charge, which it must pay jointly with the Republic of Djibouti, for the freezing order obtained on businessman Abdourahman Boreh’s assets in 2013.
Continue reading “In court: Gibson Dunn faces interim payout over Djibouti court case”
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom has increased its promotions round again with 15 new partners being made up though it sees just one being brought up through the ranks in London.
Continue reading “Partner promotions: Skadden makes up one in London from 15-strong round”
Matt Rees, an M&A partner at Simmons & Simmons focusing on private equity, has resigned from the firm to join Proskauer Rose later this month.
National law firm Shoosmiths will move to an all-equity partnership from 1 May 2015 with 76 salaried partners becoming fixed-share – and bringing the total number of equity partners to 126.
Continue reading “An opportunity to ‘get involved’: Shoosmiths to move to an all-equity partnership”
It’s been the debate the profession has avoided over the last decade, but one that finally appears to be stirring. Scrutiny of the regulation, guidance and professional support for in-house counsel will be addressed by the UK’s primary legal watchdog, it has been confirmed.
Lawyers are commonly viewed as deal breakers who protect their clients right out of deals. General counsel would be wise not to dismiss this notion – justified or not – and we can to respond to it on multiple levels.
It’s mid-December when I pay a visit to John Lewis, and as I’m waiting in the foyer of the aptly named Partnership House, I notice that most head office staff are sporting Christmas jumpers. When senior commercial lawyer Amy Holt arrives to greet me, she too is decked out in festive knitwear – putting paid to any notions of stuffiness in the retail chain’s commercial legal team.
Continue reading “From client to colleague: the John Lewis partnership”
This is a question posed by Jacques Barthélémy of Cabinet Barthélémy Avocats in Paris. He is writing in the 2014 European Company Lawyers Association [ECLA] white paper, which calls for all in-house lawyers in Europe to be recognised as independent professionals – and afforded the legal privilege enjoyed by their peers in private practice.
GC: When you joined HBO Europe in 2011, you undertook a review of the company’s legal systems. Could you tell us a little bit about that process?
Gordon Finlayson (GF): I’ve been with the business now for three years, and I came in at a point when it had changed quite significantly in terms of its management and ownership structure. It had previously been a joint venture between Disney, Sony and HBO, and HBO bought out the business shortly before I arrived. As part of that change, our CEO, Linda Jensen, brought on board a number of new members of senior management.
Continue reading “Revolution! How a GC unified processes and rolled out a bespoke IT system”
In the summer of 2008, Cambridge-based infrastructure software firm Autonomy Corporation [now HP Autonomy] began working on a US acquisition. A UK-listed public company, Autonomy had its eye on California-based software company Interwoven, and a deal valued at $775 million. Such a large takeover would require Autonomy to approach its institutional investors for funding, through a placing to raise £220 million, and to set up a new revolving credit facility of up to $200 million.
That’s quite a big question. I would argue “a lot”. If we accept that premise, then we can move on to a far more interesting discussion: how?
Debt and equity are the two options a company has when choosing how to finance itself. In debt financing, the business borrows money in some form without giving the lender any ownership rights in the company. The company issues bonds which can be bought and sold in the same way as shares. Unlike a share, which is equity in the business, a bond is essentially a loan with a fixed rate of interest.
Continue reading “The 5-minute financial analyst: financial markets”
Participants
Catherine McGregor, editor-in-chief, GC magazine
Orijit Das, European general counsel and vice president, Genpact
Sarah Davis, group commercial legal director, Guardian Media Group
Craig Stoehr, chief corporate officer and general counsel, Thomas Cook
David Webster, partner, RPC
Venue
Angler, South Place Hotel, London
