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  • May 13, 2009 |

    O'Melveny litigation trio quit to join Skadden

    O'Melveny & Myers has lost the chair of its class actions practice and two other litigation partners to Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom, reports the Am Law Litigation Daily. John Beisner, who has been one of the most visible of O'Melveny's partners in recent years, has joined Skadden in Washington along with with Stephen Harburg and Jessica Davidson Miller. High-profile mandates for Beisner include last year's negotiation of a multibillion-dollar settlement for Bank of America with 11 state attorney generals over troubled mortgages issued by its Countrywide unit, while in 2007, he played a leading role representing Merck in its $4.85bn (£3.2bn) Vioxx settlement.

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  • May 11, 2009 |

    Dechert set for Moscow with Chadbourne team hire

    Dechert has announced that it is to launch in Moscow with the hire of a five-partner team from US rival Chadbourne & Parke, despite a last-ditch effort from Chadbourne to persuade the partners to remain with the firm. The team includes the managing partner of Chadbourne's Moscow and St Petersburg offices, Laura Brank, who also heads up the firm's Russia and CIS practice.Brank is set to join Dechert along with energy partner Shane DeBeer, banking and finance partner Jennifer Handz, project finance partner Konstantin Konstantinov and litigation partner Mikhail Rozenberg.

    1 minute read

  • April 22, 2009 |

    Top firms share roles in Taylor Wimpey debt restructure deal

    A raft of City and US firms have advised as troubled house-builder Taylor Wimpey agreed £2.47bn of debt facilities. The deal, agreed earlier this month, generated roles for firms including Ashurst, Allen & Overy (A&O), Slaughter and May and Davis Polk & Wardwell as the company restructured its borrowings.

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  • March 26, 2009 |

    Dechert to make 125 further job cuts worldwide

    Dechert has made another round of redundancies, it has emerged, with the firm set to cut an additional 125 staff members across its international offices. The firm announced to staff today (26 March) that it was expecting to shed 63 fee earners and 62 support staff members as a result of the challenging economic conditions and the "decreased market demand for legal services worldwide". In a message sent to staff by chairman Bart Winokur, the firm said that the cuts would affect the firm's US, European and Asian offices.

    1 minute read

  • March 26, 2009 |

    US firms in City reach new high for lateral hires

    Lateral partner hiring across the top US and international firms in London has almost doubled over the last five years, according to research from Legal Week.A survey of hiring trends at 33 US and transatlantic firms with operations in the City found the group made a total of 79 lateral partner hires during 2008 - 11 more than in 2007, despite the banking crisis and the onset of the global recession.

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  • March 25, 2009 |

    Magic circle tag still works its magic

    The magic circle brand continues to hand a major advantage to the firms in the club despite doubts about whether the five law firms really deserve their celebrated status.According to Legal Week's latest Big Question poll, an overwhelming majority of partners believe the magic circle brand adds value to the firms given the tag. Thirty-one percent believed the magic circle brand added to the firms' value 'very much', while a further 52% said the name added 'a considerable amount'. Only 2% of the poll of 174 respondents believed it added nothing.

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  • March 25, 2009 |

    US litigation newcomer set for Lords debut

    Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges is set to appear before the House of Lords, less than a year after the US firm's launch in the City. The US litigation leader is due to appear in the House of Lords for two days at the beginning of July representing a group of investment funds seeking to retrieve money following the collapse of the $27bn (£17.9bn) structured investment vehicle Sigma Finance.Quinn Emanuel partner Sue Prevezer QC, who joined the firm last May from Bingham McCutchen, is leading the case. She was previously a barrister with top commercial set Essex Court Chambers before spending a year with Bingham.

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  • March 24, 2009 |

    Dechert Frankfurt partner quits for German indie

    Dechert has lost one of the partners central to its plans to reopen in Frankfurt. Andreas Junius, a corporate partner, left last week (16 March) to join German independent P+P Poellath in Frankfurt. Junius had been splitting his time at Dechert between New York and the German finance capital in recent years and had been a key player in the firm's plans to reopen in Frankfurt. Dechert lost the last lawyer in its Frankfurt office in 2005, having originally launched in the city in 2002. Since then the firm's sole German presence has been in Munich, while the firm has pledged to rebuild in Frankfurt.

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  • February 25, 2009 |

    Dechert lays off 10 more lawyers in the US

    Dechert has followed up recent layoffs with 10 further job cuts, reports The Legal Intelligencer. The firm confirmed that 10 staff attorneys have been let go for economic reasons. As of Wednesday afternoon (25 February), there were 76 people listed on the firm's website under the 'staff attorney' category, with some being referred to as senior staff attorneys.These layoffs are the latest in a number of cuts made by the firm. Most recently, Dechert laid off 19 lawyers, including associates and counsel on 12 February. The cuts came on a day that soon came to be known as 'Black Thursday' as several US firms collectively laid off hundreds of staff and lawyers.Dechert also laid off lawyers back in March 2008 when it cut 13 associates from its finance and real estate department. Those lawyers were quickly offered temporary assignments in other practice groups, and some accepted the offer.

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  • February 25, 2009 |

    Black Thursday won't be the end

    Even in the darkest days of the dotcom bust earlier this decade, or in the recession of the early 1990s, there was never a day like 12 February in the world of US law firms, a day swiftly dubbed Black Thursday.In the space of a few hours, some 300 lawyers - the equivalent of a mid-sized firm - were handed pink slips around the country. And by the close of business on Friday the 13th, more than 1,100 lawyers and staff had either been fired or asked to consider buyouts.

    1 minute read