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  • September 14, 2010 |

    Freshfields takes antitrust role on $1.5bn Hewlett-Packard acquisition

    Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has won a role alongside Gibson Dunn & Crutcher on Hewlett-Packard's $1.5bn (£972m) acquisition of security software maker ArcSight, reports The Am Law Daily. Russell Hansen, the partner-in-charge of Gibson Dunn's Palo Alto office, is leading the US firm's team on the deal, while Freshfields partner Alan Ryan and senior associate Martin McElwee are serving as European antitrust counsel.

    1 minute read

  • August 3, 2010 |

    Travers and Taylor Wessing advise on $475m broadband company buyout

    Travers Smith and Taylor Wessing have won roles on the $475m (£308m) acquisition of US broadband manufacturing company 2Wire by Yorkshire-based set-top box maker Pace. Travers head of corporate finance Spencer Summerfield advised longstanding client Pace on the purchase, which was announced last week (26 July) and will now see Pace look to raise debt from banks, with the deal set to close by the end of the year.

    1 minute read

  • August 2, 2010 |

    Gibson Dunn launches in Hong Kong with hire of General Electric veteran

    Gibson Dunn & Crutcher is to open an office in Hong Kong this year as the top 20 US law firm moves extend its compliance and white collar crime practice into Asia. The new office will be led by Kelly Austin, who joins the firm as a partner from General Electric International in Hong Kong, where she has been for the last eight years. She specialises in Asia-wide Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and compliance matters. Austin will be joined by Gibson Dunn corporate partner Joseph Barbeau, who is relocating from the firm's Palo Alto office, and associate Kate Yin, who is relocating from its Los Angeles office.

    1 minute read

  • July 9, 2010 |

    A lifetime of litigation - the fall of Yukos

    Seven years have passed since Russia began the campaign against Yukos Oil Company that led to the re-nationalisation of a business controlling more than 3% of world oil production, comparable in scale to Chevron. The dispossessed owners call it the biggest political expropriation in history. The fall of Yukos has generated history's biggest arbitrations - and by far the largest human rights claim ever - with stakes as high as $100bn (£66bn). The director of the majority shareholder group, Timothy Osborne, vowed a "lifetime of litigation" against those responsible, and he is well on his way.

    1 minute read

  • June 15, 2010 |

    CC elects Sandelson as London litigation head alongside global role

    Clifford Chance (CC) has voted in Jeremy Sandelson as leader of the firm's London litigation group alongside his existing role as global litigation head. Sandelson, CC's former London managing partner, will take over the position from Nick Munday, who was seconded to the magic circle firm's Moscow office earlier this year.

    1 minute read

  • May 19, 2010 |

    The Am Law 100: Holy non-equity partners!

    Last year, as law firms struggled with the brutal realities of the recession, many managing partners took the tried-and-true approach to cutting costs - layoffs. For The Am Law 100, the hardest hit were the junior associates - as equity partners merely saw their numbers flatten out. Next in line, theoretically, should have been the non-equity partners. This vulnerable group includes fresh lateral recruits; young lawyers caught in the limbo between senior associate and equity partner; equity partners who have lost their equity status - the dreaded de-equitisation; senior equity partners eyeing retirement; and service partners with a slim (or non-existent) book of business.

    1 minute read

  • May 19, 2010 |

    The Am Law 100: Lessons of the Am Law 100

    It could have been worse. That's the best that can be said for last year's performance from The Am Law 100, the top-grossing law firms in the US. Three of the four key categories that have been measured for 25 years - gross revenue, headcount and revenue per lawyer (RPL) - fell, while profits per equity partner (PEP) barely increased by 0.3% - up $3,463 (£2,300) to $1.26m (£840,000). But on average, even the bad results weren't nearly as dire as many firms had feared just a year ago. Overall, gross revenue was off by 3.4% and headcount dropped by about 1%. The firms earned a total of $64.8bn (£43.2bn), down roughly $2.3bn (£1.5m). And, in the first year-on-year reduction in headcount since 1993, they cut their lawyer labour force by 1,219 to 80,772. For all the heated attention paid to layoffs, about half the firms actually increased their numbers last year. RPL, which we regard as the most telling economic indicator, was down $15,697 (£10,400) to $802,381 (£534,000), a 2% decline. This was the second consecutive year in which RPL fell, another sign of the toll of the weak economy.

    1 minute read

  • May 5, 2010 |

    High-profile Paul Weiss partner set to join Goldman defence team

    Goldman Sachs is set to add Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison partner Ted Wells to its big-name defence team as the bank continues to invest heavily in its fight against fraud charges. Wells has taken roles on a number of headline-making cases, including defending Bush White House aide Scooter Libby in his trial over his role in leak of the identity of a CIA officer, while he also advised Eliot Spitzer in the wake of the former New York governor's 2008 prostitution scandal.

    1 minute read

  • May 5, 2010 |

    Former Samsonite legal chief joins City boutique as partner

    Former Samsonite general counsel Deborah Rasin has joined City boutique Candey after the luggage company closed down its London headquarters. Rasin joined the boutique as head of company and commercial at the end of April. Candey specialises in corporate and commercial law, with a particular focus on hotels, leisure and media companies. The hire of Rasin will add to the firm's consumer goods and retail law capabilities.

    1 minute read

  • April 27, 2010 |

    Goldman lines up big-name legal team to fight SEC fraud charge

    Goldman Sachs has put together a high-profile legal team to defend itself against the fraud charges brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), reports The Am Law Daily. The global financial services firm has recruited a number of big-name lawyers to work alongside its current legal team, which consists of litigation specialists Richard Klapper and Gregory Craig of Sullivan & Cromwell and Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom respectively.

    1 minute read