Bank of America Merrill Lynch
Sajid Hussein’s experience at Bank of America Merrill Lynch has certainly prepared him for exciting challenges. When he joined Bank of America in 2005, he couldn’t have known that within three years he would be working on one of the biggest deals of his life.
Continue reading “Sajid Hussein – Bank of America Merrill Lynch”
Goldman Sachs
‘In-house counsel are now acting more and more as critical advisers to the businesses that they cover,’ says David Greenwald, who has been deeply involved in helping his bank recover from the credit crunch. ‘They understand the business itself, the law applicable to it, the company’s culture and hot buttons so they can provide comprehensive advice.’
JPMorgan Chase
Described as ‘a safe pair of hands in a turbulent market’, Karen Linney is fair but expects value from external counsel.
Credit Suisse
Maria Leistner joined Credit Suisse in 2004, when it reorganised its operations into a ‘one bank’ model to ensure collaboration between its private banking, investment banking and asset management divisions.
Deutsche Bank
Although Emma Slatter was only appointed GC for UK and Western Europe in May 2010, one banking partner describes her as spearheading a ‘leading in-house team that is at the forefront of innovative transactional support, regulatory-driven initiatives and external counsel management’.
ING UK
As UK legal head for Dutch bank ING, Adrian Marsh has sat at the epicentre of the industry’s divestment trend; as a condition of ING’s receipt of state aid following the credit crisis, the EU required that it dispose of its insurance and investment management operations.
RBS Group
One law banking partner says that Leonie Fleming ‘falls into the “very influential” bracket due to her position, but also the “up and coming bracket”, because I feel she has further to go at RBS’. There’s no doubt that she has won praise for her adroit handling of complex regulatory issues during a difficult few years for the bank.
Lloyds Banking Group
As head of legal at one of Britain’s ‘big four’ banks, Jon Alexander at Lloyds Banking Group already enjoys a high profile within banking circles, but he has been particularly sought after during the past few months. As one banking partner recently put it: ‘He is one of the most powerful in-house lawyers as he is a decisive influence on the numerous “pass-through panels” of Lloyds Banking Group, which will be decided on over the next few months.’
The worst-kept secret in global law finally became official in November. Norton Rose and Fulbright & Jaworski announced their 3,800-lawyer tie-up in June 2013, creating a $1.9bn firm comfortably inside the top ten largest in the world. It’s been a long time coming. We first spoke of merger rumours between the two firms in 2008 and the market has been awash with speculation ever since. Continue reading “Norton Rose Fulbright aims at Global Elite”
At press time, partners at SNR Denton, Salans and Canadian firm Fraser Milner Casgrain (FMC) were poised to vote through a $1bn, three-way merger using a Swiss Verein model.
A source within SNR Denton said that the union was basically a ‘done deal’ with partners from all firms having met on 13 November to review the business plan behind the proposed merger. SNR Denton and Salans have been in talks for a while and have refused to comment on merger speculation. The addition of FMC to the union emerged in November. Continue reading “Landmark three-way merger aims to end Dentons’ Europe woes”
With the latest round of bank panel reviews in full swing, early indications show signs of a backlash from law firms as banks place increasing demands on panel candidates at the same time as driving down costs.
In October, The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) announced the results of its long-running panel review. By reducing its number of sub-panels from 13 to five, it has significantly lowered the number of law firms on the panel from around 100 previously to between 55 and 60 now. Meanwhile, former panel firms Slaughter and May, Olswang and Mayer Brown didn’t pitch to join the panel this time around.
Continue reading “Banks could face backlash on legal panel reviews”
With the recent influx of foreign firms into Seoul showing no signs of stopping, questions are being raised as to whether the market has reached saturation point and which firms will win the race for Korea’s most prestigious clients.
Paul Hastings and Covington & Burling became the most recent firms to open new offices in South Korea, both at the beginning of November. Since ratification of foreign trade agreements (FTAs) between Korea and the EU in July 2011 and the US in February 2012, 17 firms from the LB Global 100 have either opened an office, applied for a licence or have expressed an interest in opening in Seoul.
Continue reading “Korea legal market shows signs of saturation”
November saw London-based Magrath become the first corporate immigration specialist to open a standalone presence in Singapore; Ben Sheldrick and Mark Chowdhry will spearhead the firm’s practice in the city state.
The launch of Magrath Global reflects the eastwards shift of several of the firm’s multinational clients, eager to capitalise on more buoyant markets. ‘Clients have been proactive in asking for this expansion,’ explained Sheldrick. ‘It has been driven by their growing focus on the region.’
US firm Locke Lord has continued its rapid expansion in London since launching in February this year with the addition of three more lateral hires within a few weeks.
The arrival of Mayer Brown reinsurance litigator Ian McKenna at the end of October was followed by the hire of Fox Williams’ corporate finance partner James Channo and Mishcon de Reya’s former head of finance, Luke Morris, in November.
Continue reading “Locke Lord’s lateral spree continues in London”
DAC Beachcroft has strengthened its presence in Latin America by becoming the first European-based firm to launch in Chile by acquiring two local firms.
Chilean players SegurosLex and Amunategui y Cia joined the English firm to create DAC Beachcroft Chile at the beginning of November in a move to extend its leading insurance practice in the continent.
DAC Beachcroft is also keen to seal a partnership with Colombian firm De La Torre & Monroy within the next 12 months. De La Torre works primarily with insurers and undertakes a lot of work related to the London market, so would be a logical fit for the major UK firm. Continue reading “DAC Beachcroft becomes first UK firm in Chile”
Ashurst’s recent appetite for international expansion shows no sign of abating, with the firm announcing in November the launch of a new operation in Saudi Arabia.
The firm will soon be able to practise Saudi law after establishing a partnership with Faisal Adnan Baassiri, the former head of legal at Ashurst client Saudi Economic and Development Company (Sedco).
Baassiri has experience working in private practice: he worked at Osama S. Al-Yamani law firm in Jeddah, where the Ashurst office will open under the official name of Law Office of Faisal Baassiri in association with Ashurst. Continue reading “Ashurst expansion continues full throttle”
Private equity backed Parabis Group recently entered the Scottish legal insurance market with a bold statement of intent, hiring local rival HBJ Claim Solutions’ litigation head Tony O’Malley in the process.
Parabis, an alternative business structure in England and Wales, has opened a single-partner-regulated law office known as Parabis Scotland. It will offer claimant and defendant insurance law services with the defendant branch carrying its Plexus Law brand.
Continue reading “Parabis Group storms into Scottish insurance market”
By the time you read this Dentons (as anyone sane will call it), a three-way merger between SNR Denton, Salans and Fraser Milner Casgrain, should be formally approved (see opposite). That is unless there’s a late spanner in the works, and with merger negotiations you can never be sure.
Continue reading “Cohesion critical in proving three into one does go”
White & Case sent Mike Goetz to London in 2000 to take its City finance practice to a new level. Thirteen years – and two law firms – later, he’s still one of the biggest names on the London scene. LB meets a banking legend.
Ropes & Gray’s London office has just turned three years old and more than a few cynics didn’t expect it to last that long. Former White & Case finance partners Maurice Allen and Mike Goetz had just spent a disastrous 18 months at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer before announcing that they would be fronting the Boston-based private equity firm’s London offering in 2009. The aftershock of the collapse of Lehman Brothers was in full effect and Allen and Goetz had failed in their quest to build a strong transactional banking practice at Freshfields to rival Clifford Chance and Allen & Overy.
Times they are a-changing. Meet the international law firms with hardly any offices, no trainees, and the bare minimum of overheads. Clients are waking up to a very real alternative.
When Ryan Stafford, general counsel (GC) and vice president at $700m-turnover US manufacturer Littelfuse, was looking for a team at short notice to handle a transaction in Scandinavia and the Baltics, he wasn’t afraid to think big. He wanted a firm that could move fast, with people on the ground around the world, and a single contact point that he could speak to pretty quick. The usual suspects dropped the ball.
