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Deal watch: Corporate activity in October

Arrow Global IPO

Debevoise & Plimpton and Slaughter and May landed roles on Arrow Global’s initial public offering (IPO). Slaughters was the primary adviser to Arrow Global and its primary shareholder RBS Special Opportunities Fund (RBS), led by corporate partners David Johnson and Richard Smith. The London office of Debevoise, led by David Innes, advised members of the executive committee and other shareholders on its successful IPO last month, which valued the company at £357m. The successful IPO marks a partial exit for RBS, which acquired the company in 2009.

Cleary advises Inter Milan on equity sale

Inter Milan has turned to Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton on the sale of equity to International Sports Capital (ISC), which will give ISC a controlling 70% stake in the club. Cleary’s team was led by  Continue reading “Deal watch: Corporate activity in October”

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Life During Law: Maurice Allen

In 1980 I went from doing conveyancing in Manchester to international finance at Coward Chance (CC). The banking practice at that time had around five partners and we were left to our own devices. I got to spend a lot of time with clients, one of which was Citibank, where I went on secondment in 1984 – there were no in-house teams at that time so I was the only lawyer there. At that time, Chase Manhattan Bank was one of Allen & Overy (A&O)’s key clients. I remember going back to my senior partner at CC and saying I thought we could get a lot of work from Chase, and I was told not to bother. But I gave it a go and, eventually, they became one of CC’s biggest clients.

Continue reading “Life During Law: Maurice Allen”

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High yield, high stakes – DLA Piper makes key investment in deal finance with hire of ex-CC partner

It’s historically proved one of the hardest practice areas for City firms to break, proving often impenetrable for even elite London players, but DLA Piper is hoping its Anglo/American reach can help it make a mark in one of the most lucrative areas of deal finance.

In a major investment in its City finance team, DLA Piper has recruited former Clifford Chance (CC) high yield and leveraged finance specialist Tony Lopez, who joins the firm’s eight-partner London structured finance team today (4 November).

Continue reading “High yield, high stakes – DLA Piper makes key investment in deal finance with hire of ex-CC partner”

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SJ Berwin star David Ryland moves to Paul Hastings as US firms reap benefit of UK vets

Only four days after its merger went live with King & Wood Mallesons and SJ Berwin has lost leading real estate partner David Ryland to Paul Hastings in London, as US firms also continue to reap the benefit of offering better later life partner opportunities than their UK counterparts.

Ryland, who was the relationship partner for clients including Hilton and private equity fund Evans Randell, specialises in commercial real estate with a focus on UK and European property funds. Continue reading “SJ Berwin star David Ryland moves to Paul Hastings as US firms reap benefit of UK vets”

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Slaughters teams up with Carillion law venture to cut costs for bluechip clients

As general counsel (GCs) push their advisers to think more innovatively about costs savings, Slaughter and May has begun offering the services of Carillion’s new low-cost legal arm to its own clients, including a recent transaction for key client Vodafone.

The Magic Circle firm, which is one of Carillion’s lead corporate panel advisers, offered Vodafone the option to use Newcastle-based Carillion Advice Services (CAS) on an undisclosed deal, which included a customer contract exercise.

Continue reading “Slaughters teams up with Carillion law venture to cut costs for bluechip clients”

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Slaughters teams up with Carillion law venture to cut costs for bluechip clients

As general counsel (GCs) push their advisers to think more innovatively about costs savings, Slaughter and May has begun offering the services of Carillion’s new low-cost legal arm to its own clients, including a recent transaction for key client Vodafone.

The Magic Circle firm, which is one of Carillion’s lead corporate panel advisers, offered Vodafone the option to use Newcastle-based Carillion Advice Services (CAS) on an undisclosed deal, which included a customer contract exercise.

Continue reading “Slaughters teams up with Carillion law venture to cut costs for bluechip clients”

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The ideal law firm for 2013? Eversheds hunts for its breakthrough

With an enviable brand reach, warm feedback from clients and a focus on innovation and value, Eversheds should be sweeping all before it. Legal Business explores why it hasn’t been quite that simple

Next year marks the 100th anniversary of Evershed & Tomkinson, the Birmingham firm that lent its name to the high-profile institution of which it would become part in 1995. Backed by a large regional network and a sizeable London arm Eversheds – as it became known – has grown to be one of the most recognisable names in the UK market.

Continue reading “The ideal law firm for 2013? Eversheds hunts for its breakthrough”

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Systems addicts – The CIO Power List

 

systems addicts2

With the use of data and technology increasingly central to a law firm’s success, the contribution of the individuals leading multi-million pound tech teams has never been greater. Meet the IT heads and chief information officers that stand out from the crowd.

From law firm partners to former data analysts at banks, the individuals who control the deployment of IT and knowledge management (KM) resources at some of the UK’s top-performing law firms are a diverse breed. Some, such as Sheila Doyle at Norton Rose Fulbright, entered the legal industry relatively recently after distinguished careers at some of the world’s largest companies. Others, like Julie Berry at RPC, became one of the earliest adopters of the systems manager role at a law firm, building up the knowledge and experience to become one of the most effective operators in legal tech.

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Comment: 2006 and all that – an oh-so-familiar mess at Linklaters

The most hackneyed cliché of the pundit is history repeating itself, a claim that rarely holds up upon closer examination. But with the recent departure of Linklaters’ private equity co-heads Ian Bagshaw and Richard Youle for White & Case, well, sometimes you just can’t escape the past.

Personality clashes, a mid-market practice not gelling with Linklaters’ M&A business, finance supposedly not supporting sponsor clients, prolonged rumours over exit talks, and, finally, a dramatic exit to a big spending US rival; yes, it’s 2006 all over again when Graham White and Raymond McKeeve quit for Kirkland & Ellis.

Continue reading “Comment: 2006 and all that – an oh-so-familiar mess at Linklaters”

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A&O brings salaries into line with big four rivals as starting lawyer pay hits £64k

Allen & Overy (A&O) has announced a salary increase for its associates, bringing the firm in line with its key City peers.

For a newly-qualified (NQ) lawyer, pay will rise to £64,000 from £61,500, for one year post-qualified experience (PQE), salary rises to £69,500, two year PQEs goes from £74,500 to £78,500 and three year PQEs will earn £89,000, against £86,000 currently. The news was first reported on the legal site RollOnFriday.

Continue reading “A&O brings salaries into line with big four rivals as starting lawyer pay hits £64k”

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It’s big, it’s here – King & Wood Mallesons SJ Berwin launches and unveils global management team

It’s big, spanning continents, oceans, hugely disparate cultures and a complex governance and profit-sharing model and it’s going live today (1 November) – welcome to King & Wood Mallesons SJ Berwin.

The firm has now confirmed who will be taking on the task of managing the newly-merged giant after announcing the line-up of global practice heads and its new management committee. (For lawyers who spent their summer in a cave, the firm is the combination of top 25 UK practice SJ Berwin and Asia-Pacific giant King & Wood Mallesons).

Continue reading “It’s big, it’s here – King & Wood Mallesons SJ Berwin launches and unveils global management team”

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More news from Asia – Clydes first to enter South West China under JV deal

Long a trailblazer in the insurance sector, Clyde & Co has now become the first international law firm to launch in southwest China after setting up a joint law venture (JLV) in China with local practice West Link Partnership in Chongqing.

Clydes this week became the first among its peers to launch an office in South West China after local regulators permitted the London-headquartered practice to form an association with West Link.

Continue reading “More news from Asia – Clydes first to enter South West China under JV deal”

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Getting proprietorial – the client view as the battle to secure IP rages on

From smartphone patent wars to online piracy, companies have never been more focused on protecting their intellectual property. In this special report, Legal Business teamed up with Bristows to gauge client attitudes to IP

It’s been a truism of the business world that protecting your intellectual property (IP) is an important part of success since the first laws on copyright were inked in the early 18th century. IP has not suddenly emerged as a key to a company’s long-term prospects. But, undoubtedly, numerous forces have emerged in recent years that have driven companies to more carefully consider how they protect, enforce and monetise their IP. Whether talking about the world of ‘hard’ IP, ie patents, or the ‘soft’ areas – trade marks, copyright and designs – the IP landscape has never been so dynamic or high impact.

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Knowledge is power – the future of legal tech

Effective use of technology and knowledge management tools are higher on a law firm manager’s agenda than ever before. Here we track the key developments that will shape the future of legal tech

For insight into how important the role of the IT specialist is to the modern law firm, just ask Balfour Beatty’s head of group legal Keely Hibbitt. The infrastructure giant made a significant splash in April, when it announced a radical overhaul of its panel arrangements, selecting Pinsent Masons as its sole adviser for all its ‘business as usual’ legal work.

The three-year contract, which will cover all repetitive and predictable legal work that the client faces on a daily basis, is a major coup for the law firm. But while the mandate reflects Pinsents’ ability to offer a single-supplier model effectively, it would have floundered were it not for the work of IT director Colin Smith and his team.

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Guest post: R (PressBoF) v Culture Secretary: the hearing

I was in court 68 at the Royal Courts of Justice yesterday morning (30 October) to hear the Press Standards Board of Finance’s (PressBoF) urgent application for interim relief – an injunction – to stop the government from getting the cross-party press regulation Royal Charter granted by the Queen in Privy Council this afternoon. The Privy Council was due to ‘meet’ at 5.30pm (these are very short meetings in which everyone stands, I’m told; the meeting would be a constitutional formality); the hearing began at 10.30am.

Right from the start, Lord Justice Richards made clear he thought the court could deal not only with the application for the injunction, but with the question whether permission for judicial review should be granted. That surprised me, and I suspect some others in court.

Continue reading “Guest post: R (PressBoF) v Culture Secretary: the hearing”

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‘We own the time’ – the Africa 2020 vision

Africa map clock

‘I’m standing saying that those who miss the boat now, will miss it forever. So if you want to be in Africa, think about investing,’ said Nigerian finance minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, earlier this year in a public speech.

Before most foreigners had become bullish on Africa, Stephen Jennings, founder of Renaissance Capital, who successfully bet on the opportunities in post-Soviet Russia, put it more pithily when he was quoted in 2007 as saying: ‘If Russia was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, sub-Saharan Africa is a second once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.’ Continue reading “‘We own the time’ – the Africa 2020 vision”

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Davis Polk and Cleary act on big four Booz takeover as PwC re-shuffles legal leadership

Major accountancy and advisory groups are always nice clients for law firms to have so Davis Polk & Wardwell, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton and Linklaters have some cause for cheer after having been instructed on one of the biggest deals in the professional services sphere for years.

The deal sees big four accountancy and advisory group PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) seal an acquisition of New York-based Booz & Company, one of the proudest names in strategic consulting.

Continue reading “Davis Polk and Cleary act on big four Booz takeover as PwC re-shuffles legal leadership”

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A ‘landmark’ baby step towards filming the courts welcomed by all

The long campaign for domestic courts to be opened up to filming today (30 October) secured an (actually pretty minor) victory with the Court of Appeal letting in television cameras. With the Court of Appeal (Recording and Broadcasting) Order 2013 coming into force, the ban on cameras in courts in England and Wales that has been in place since 1925 has been somewhat eased.

After years of lobbying by the BBC, ITN, Press Association and Sky News, who are funding the scheme, cameras have been placed in five courts in the Court of Appeal. ‘I salute those in our organisations who have worked tirelessly over many years to overturn the ban,’ said John Hardie, chief executive of ITN. Continue reading “A ‘landmark’ baby step towards filming the courts welcomed by all”

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Tough on the high street – 153 law firms enter last chance saloon after failing to gain cover

In further evidence of the intense pressure facing small practices, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) today (31 October) announced that 153 law firms are at threat of closure after having failed to secure professional indemnity insurance (PII) cover.

Under the new PII arrangements – introduced this year to replace the old assigned risks pool – these solicitor firms will now enter a 60-day ‘cessation period’ in which firms can only deal with existing instructions while they seek an insurer. Those failing to gain cover by 29 December will be required to close.

Continue reading “Tough on the high street – 153 law firms enter last chance saloon after failing to gain cover”

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Old and new faces: Squire Sanders re-elects UK and US heads while Dentons appoints new chief executive

Squire Sanders has re-appointed Peter Crossley and Stephen Mahon to their respective European and firm-wide managing partner roles in a week that has also seen Dentons elect its Warsaw managing partner, Tomasz Dabrowski, as the new European chief executive seven months after its tripartite merger went live.

For Squire Sanders, the re-election of Crossley and Mahon, which were appointed by the firm’s UK and US LLP management committees, will see the duo undertake a further three-year term beginning 1 January 2014.

Having served two terms as legacy Hammonds’ managing partner, Crossley took up the role of European managing partner when the firm merged with US firm Squire Sanders & Dempsey in January 2011. Continue reading “Old and new faces: Squire Sanders re-elects UK and US heads while Dentons appoints new chief executive”