Posted on

Regulatory work: Cadwalader and Cleary face off over Ryanair/Aer Lingus, while Links and HSF advise on PPI compensation pot

In a move being watched with interest by M&A lawyers and competition experts throughout Europe, the Competition Commission (CC) has today (28 August) dealt another blow to Ryanair’s long-held ambitions to buy Aer Lingus by ordering the airline to sell the majority of its 30% stake held in its rival, ruling that the minority stake could allow it to materially influence Aer Lingus in a way that may be anti-competitive.

However, Ryanair has wasted no time in saying it will appeal against the decision, described by Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary to the BBC as ‘bizarre and manifestly wrong’. This will meaning more work for Ryanair’s seasoned advisors, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, led by competition partner Nicholas Levy.

Continue reading “Regulatory work: Cadwalader and Cleary face off over Ryanair/Aer Lingus, while Links and HSF advise on PPI compensation pot”

Posted on

Ireland’s lucky number seven: Irish Treasury appoints septuplet of firms to its legal panel

Thanks to the economic turbulence that has plagued the Irish nation since 2008, Dublin’s largest firms continue to collect hefty recession related work post financial crisis, including most recently an appointment to advise the government’s asset and liabilities manager, the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA).

The NTMA, which is responsible for borrowing on behalf of the Irish government and managing the national debt, has appointed Dublin-based Big Five firms A&L Goodbody, Arthur Cox, William Fry, McCann FitzGerald and Matheson to its general legal services panel alongside Mason Hayes & Curran and offshore funds giant Maples and Calder. Continue reading “Ireland’s lucky number seven: Irish Treasury appoints septuplet of firms to its legal panel”

Posted on

Compliance drive – BLP’s financial services partner joins Barclays investment arm as EMEA head

As leading retail and investment banks bolster their internal compliance functions it has emerged that Berwin Leighton Paisner’s (BLP) financial services partner Nick Kynoch has joined Barclays Investment Bank as the head of regulatory compliance for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

The hire comes after Hector Sants, former chief executive of the Financial Services Authority, joined Barclays in December to the newly-created role of head of compliance and government and regulatory relations, overseeing all compliance activities across Barclays, meaning for the first time all compliance staff within the bank report to one individual and operate independently of business and regional management teams. Continue reading “Compliance drive – BLP’s financial services partner joins Barclays investment arm as EMEA head”

Posted on

RSM Tenon in administration as three UK firms carve out Challinors

The break-up of debt-laden Midlands firm Challinors took a ‘hunter turned hunted’ twist yesterday afternoon (22 August) after administrator RSM Tenon announced its own debt driven acquisition by rival Baker Tilly.

RSM was appointed in July to oversee the sale of Birmingham-headquartered Challinors’ business, and earlier yesterday announced the sale of parts of the law firm’s commercial litigation, medical negligence and family law practices to Clarke Willmott, Shoosmiths and Cartwright King respectively.

But in a mirror of its professional negotiations, the 35-office troubled accountancy firm was in crisis talks with Tilly and, like so many of the companies it advises, was forced into administration after Tilly pulled out of those talks. Continue reading “RSM Tenon in administration as three UK firms carve out Challinors”

Posted on

Trainee retention: Macfarlanes & Latham reveal numbers

Macfarlanes has become the latest City firm to decide on its trainee retention rates, with 18 out of 24 trainees – equating to 75% – being offered a permanent position at the firm.

The figure, which represents a dip on last year’s near full house of 92%, comes after three trainees were not offered a position, however two trainees did not apply for a job with the firm and one declined the permanent newly-qualified (NQ) role on offer. Continue reading “Trainee retention: Macfarlanes & Latham reveal numbers”

Posted on

Takeover potential – Linklaters & Simmons lead on Amec’s £700m bid for Kentz

Linklaters and
Simmons & Simmons‘ longstanding corporate relationships with Amec and Kentz have gifted them with a potentially lucrative takeover bid instruction as Kentz this week announced it had rejected a £700m offer from its larger engineering rival.

Linklaters corporate partners Shane Griffin and Aedamar Comiskey are leading the team for Amec, which it has advised on corporate matters for well over a decade. Simmons corporate partner Edward Baker is advising Kentz on the offer, which the FTSE 250 engineering company said it had rejected, together with an earlier offer in July from Germany’s M+W Group, on the basis that it undervalued the company.
Continue reading “Takeover potential – Linklaters & Simmons lead on Amec’s £700m bid for Kentz”

Posted on

Revolving Doors: Ashurst makes key energy hire in New York as Gibson Dunn and Squire Sanders expand in London

Ashurst this week announced the hire of Allen & Overy (A&O) energy partner Charles Williams in a bid to boost its New York energy, resources and infrastructure practice.

The move strengthens the firm’s position within the US public-private partnership (PPP) space – dubbed P3 in the US – an area Williams focussed on at A&O. He brings with him experience of representing the public sector, sponsors and lenders within the transportation sector and advising on renewables projects in the North, Central and South America. Continue reading “Revolving Doors: Ashurst makes key energy hire in New York as Gibson Dunn and Squire Sanders expand in London”

Posted on

UK PI bandwagon – Slater & Gordon buys Fentons and reveals 2012/13 results

Slater & Gordon today (21 August) made further inroads into the UK personal injury (PI) market as it formally announced to the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) the acquisition of leading claimant firm Fentons, although discussions with earlier merger talks partner Simpson Millar have been deferred until early 2014.

The Australian-listed firm confirmed that due diligence on 120-lawyer Fentons, which has an annual revenue of £27.7m, is substantially completed and formal business sale agreements have been executed with the London and Manchester firm. Macfarlanes advised on the deal, led by corporate partners John Dodsworth and Jessica Adam, opposite Pinsent Masons for Fentons, led by corporate partner Gregg Davison. Continue reading “UK PI bandwagon – Slater & Gordon buys Fentons and reveals 2012/13 results”

Posted on

Guest post: Could David Miranda be a “terrorist”?

There’s understandably been a great deal of reaction to the nine-hour detention at Heathrow airport of David Miranda, who was travelling as part of his work with Guardian journalists covering Edward Snowden’s disclosures, and whose laptop and memory stick were seized as a result of his detention and questioning under paragraphs 2 and 6 of Schedule 7 to the Terrorism Act 2000.

Paragraph 2(1) of Schedule 7 says that:

An examining officer may question a person to whom this paragraph applies for the purpose of determining whether he appears to be a person falling within section 40(1)(b)

and section 40(1) provides that a

“terrorist” means a person who …

(b) is or has been concerned in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism.

So there’s no doubt: the purpose of Schedule 7 is clear. Continue reading “Guest post: Could David Miranda be a “terrorist”?”

Posted on

BLP loses head of private equity Raymond McKeeve to Jones Day

With all eyes on Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) the news that corporate finance partner and global head of private equity Raymond McKeeve has left to join US firm Jones Day’s London office could, in many ways, not have come at a worse time.

Acknowledged by Legal 500 as ‘a leading private equity specialist’ McKeeve advises many of the leading private equity houses, including Blackstone Private Equity, Darwin Private Equity and KKR. Continue reading “BLP loses head of private equity Raymond McKeeve to Jones Day”

Posted on

BAE international: defence giant rolls out UK cab rank model to Asia and ME

With the UK’s investment in defence broadly flat British defence giant BAE Systems is looking increasingly to the international markets for growth and its legal team is morphing with it.

This month, BAE’s 250-strong legal team, which counts the company’s 100,000-plus employees as its clients, rolled out its UK cab rank model – under which a pool of lawyers is available on a first-come-first-served basis – to Asia and the Middle East. Continue reading “BAE international: defence giant rolls out UK cab rank model to Asia and ME”

Posted on

Challinors administration: SGI Legal acquires personal injury work of ailing Midlands firm

The keenly-watched administration of Midlands firm Challinors this evening (20 August) led to a first sale of its personal injury caseload to Liverpool-based SGI Legal.

Birmingham-headquartered Challinors in July became the latest sizeable law firm to call in administrators, having filed a notice of intention to appoint Eric Walls and Wayne Harrison from KSA Group as administrators, who were then replaced by RSM Tenon. Continue reading “Challinors administration: SGI Legal acquires personal injury work of ailing Midlands firm”

Posted on

Revolving Doors: Linklaters hires former Herbert Smith Asia head as Clayton Utz and Norton Rose make key hires

Herbert Smith Freehills recent internal confidence that its run of post-merger exits had come to an end has been dashed after Friday (16 August) saw former Asia disputes head Gavin Lewis leave to join Linklaters.

A ‘solid and experienced litigator’, Lewis is ‘among the best in Hong Kong’ according to The Legal 500 and his departure is a blow to the firm in the wake of the exodus of other high profile litigators such as Ted Greeno to Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan earlier this year and Kevin Lloyd to Debevoise & Plimpton last year. Continue reading “Revolving Doors: Linklaters hires former Herbert Smith Asia head as Clayton Utz and Norton Rose make key hires”

Posted on

Wall Street in London: Weil Gotshal and Davis Polk lead on $1.6bn takeover of UK’s Edwards Group

As British industrial technology firm Edwards Group is today (19 August) bought out for $1.6bn by Swedish engineering group Atlas Copco, it is notably being advised by the London office of Wall Street firms Weil, Gotshal & Manges and Davis Polk & Wardwell.

The Weil Gotshal team, which represented Edwards Group on its initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange last May, is being led by London-based corporate partner Peter King, assisted by New York corporate partners David Blittner and Jackie Cohen. Continue reading “Wall Street in London: Weil Gotshal and Davis Polk lead on $1.6bn takeover of UK’s Edwards Group”

Posted on

Against the grain: Kent CC’s legal arm introduces trainee programme as it unveils 20% rise in profits

As private practice firms including Allen & Overy downsize their trainee intakes the successful legal arm of Kent County Council has introduced its first trainee programme as it also unveils a significant increase in profitability.

As of September, Kent Legal Services (KLS) will take on five trainees as it moves to grow its business. The legal arm, which is unique among in-house departments for generating income as a result of offering its services to external county councils, yesterday announced a rise in 2012/13 profits of 20% from £2m to £2.4m and a 9% increase in turnover from £11m to £12m. This represents an improvement on last year’s performance, when profit increased by 18% to £2m while turnover was up 10% to £11m. Continue reading “Against the grain: Kent CC’s legal arm introduces trainee programme as it unveils 20% rise in profits”

Posted on

Personal injury: Slater & Gordon in talks to acquire Fentons

Further consolidation in the personal injury market looks set to take place next week after it emerged that acquisitive Australian-listed firm Slater & Gordon (S&G) is in talks with London and Manchester personal injury firm Fentons.

As first reported by RollOnFriday, S&G is expected to announce the deal on Tuesday (20 August). If the acquisition goes through it will nearly double S&G’s 146-lawyer UK arm, adding 120 lawyers, including 36 partners and 30 fee-earners. Continue reading “Personal injury: Slater & Gordon in talks to acquire Fentons”

Posted on

Private equity: CVC gifts Clifford Chance and Cleary Gottlieb with two major European mandates

Clifford Chance

Followers of the tussle between UK and US private equity practices for European mandates were this week rewarded with an instruction to both camps by leading buyout house CVC in its acquisitions of Domestic & General and Campbell Soup.

Advent International agreed earlier this week to sell extended warranty company Domestic & General (D&G) to CVC in a deal thought to be worth about $1.2bn, according to The New York Times, although this sum has not been officially disclosed.

Clifford Chance (CC) advised CVC, with a team led by Kem Ihenacho, co-head of the firm’s Africa practice and one of its private equity stars. He was assisted by M&A partner Brendan Moylan and insurance partner Hilary Evenett. Continue reading “Private equity: CVC gifts Clifford Chance and Cleary Gottlieb with two major European mandates”

Posted on

Asia round-up: DLA loses former Singapore head..again.. as Hill Dicks launches in Hong Kong

With all eyes trained on Asia the office fall outs and launches have been throw into far sharper relief. Losing one former office head could be said to be an accident but DLA Piper’s loss in Singapore of its second former managing partner (MP), Matthew Glynn, is starting to look like trouble, after ex MP Martin David left in May to join Ince & Co. The departure also follows the resignation last August of disputes partner Justyn Jagger for local firm Stamford law.

Glynn, who led the Singapore office for a relatively short period between June 2011 and February this year, was also head of the firm’s Asia intellectual property and technology group. Continue reading “Asia round-up: DLA loses former Singapore head..again.. as Hill Dicks launches in Hong Kong”

Posted on

Training contracts: A&O cuts 2015 intake by 15% and reveals retention rates alongside HFW and Olswang

Allen & Overy’s (A&O) decision today (15 August) to reduce its trainee intake by 15% in 2015 will be closely watched by City rivals, many of which are also considering whether to cut their trainee numbers in light of diminishing newly-qualified (NQ) roles in the medium term.

The top five LB100 firm, which achieved a modest turnover growth of 1% this year to £1,189m, is cutting its trainee numbers from 100 to 90 in 2014, followed by a further drop to 85 in 2015. A statement from the firm said the decision was taken in order to ‘match [its] expectations of NQ jobs in the medium-term.’ Continue reading “Training contracts: A&O cuts 2015 intake by 15% and reveals retention rates alongside HFW and Olswang”

Posted on

Guest post: Topline heroin – how global law became addicted to the wrong measure of success

One lens through which to view a large part of the corpus of business and management literature is that of metrics. Simply consider how much of what’s written consists of discussions about what to measure, what to optimize, and how to enhance all those numbers.

So, in retailing, we have such yardsticks as sales per square foot, same-store sales, sales per employee, inventory turn, store traffic, percent average markdown, and so forth. For mobile phone providers it would be customer churn, net customer growth/decline, network reach/coverage and network speed, cost per customer acquisition, and much more. Continue reading “Guest post: Topline heroin – how global law became addicted to the wrong measure of success”