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  • November 28, 2008 |

    Dechert set for redundancy consultation

    Dechert has become the latest firm to cut jobs, with the US firm reviewing the positions of a number of administrative staff in its London office. The firm declined to comment on the number of jobs under threat but up to 20% of administrative staff are understood to be involved in the redundancy consultation.When questioned about the jobs at risk Dechert's London managing partner, Steven Fogel, told Legal Week: "It in the nature of a jobs consultation that there should not be a preconceived idea about numbers. I do not know where the percentage you have mentioned comes from. It is not authoritative."

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  • November 28, 2008 |

    20 jobs under threat in TLT redundancy consultation

    Bristol-based firm TLT has launched its second redundancy consultation this year, in a move likely to effect up to 20 staff. The consultation, launched earlier this week (26 November) could see 20 fee earners and support staff across all departments cut form the firms Bristol and London offices.In May, the southwest firm launched a consultation with six fee-earning roles and one support staff position in the firm's licensing trade team affected, as well as four additional support staff. All of the cuts were made in the firm's Bristol office.

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  • November 6, 2008 |

    Lawyers predict top business litigation issues for President-Elect Obama

    Most lawyers don't keep a crystal ball in their office, but if pressed, some will take a crack at forecasting the future. We asked a selection of litigators…

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  • November 6, 2008 |

    Perks of legal life

    The rewards offered to lawyers extend beyond the financial into all sorts of gratis goodies. Legal Week Student takes a look at some of the more bizarre perks on offer

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  • November 5, 2008 |

    Analysis: Pulling it together

    DLA Piper has always been a firm in a hurry. In the mid-1980s Nigel Knowles, now co-chief executive of the firm, was busy earning his management stripes running Dibb Lupton Broomhead's office in Doncaster.Since then, Knowles - who became managing partner of the firm in 1996 - has been gambling DLA Piper's future on an unrelenting diet of growth and international expansion. First, a merger with Alsop Wilkinson (the firm that put the 'A' in DLA) delivered greater critical mass in London. Then came expansion in Europe, first through an alliance with local practices and later by opening DLA's own offices.

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  • November 5, 2008 |

    Novel approach

    The Diary's much-acclaimed Literature Corner returns this week - for one week only - with the news that former Dechert and Conyers Dill & Pearman marketing aficionado Deborah Middleton has written her first crime novel. Having not actually read it, your correspondent would not be able to comment on whether the novel is more akin to the next Patricia Cornwell potboiler than a dodgy offshore law firm press release, but we'll leave you with this excerpt from the oddly-named 'Square Snapper' to help you decide:

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  • November 3, 2008 |

    Dechert signs up partner trio for Hong Kong arm

    Dechert has completed the hire of a trio of partners, recruiting a further lawyer from the now-defunct Heller Ehrman as well as two laterals from Fried Frank Shriver & Jacobson in Hong Kong. Ex-Heller partner David Chu joins Dechert's white-collar and securities litigation group today (3 November), while the firm has also added Fried Frank corporate and securities partners Michael Hickman and Liang Tsui.Hickman advises financial institutions on China-related transactions including M&A, direct investments, restructuring and capital markets. Tsui advises clients including private equity firms and investment banks on private M&A, private equity and foreign direct investments, while Chu's practice focuses on internal and government investigations.

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  • October 31, 2008 |

    Dechert secures trophy hire of Heller chairman

    Dechert has sealed the high-profile hire of Matthew Larrabee, the chairman of dissolved US firm Heller Ehrman. Larrabee, who joins Dechert as a partner in the firm's San Francisco office, had chaired Heller for three years since taking over from insurance partner Barry Levin in March 2005.Larrabee said he was drawn to Dechert's litigation practice, commenting: "Dechert's litigation practice is recognised as one of the best in the country. I have had the privilege of knowing and working with many of Dechert's trial lawyers and I feel fortunate to be joining such an outstanding team."

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  • October 23, 2008 |

    Dechert combats bloggers to deny stealth layoffs

    Dechert has strongly refuted repeated claims in the legal blogosphere that the firm has made a significant number of associate layoffs. Posters on the legal blog Above the Law have claimed that the top 25 US law firm has laid off between 13 and 80 associates since March of this year.Dechert chairman Barton Winokur (pictured) has denied these claims, saying the number of associates who have left the firm for any reason in the first nine months of the year was lower than in the same period in 2007.

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  • October 22, 2008 |

    Cost-cutting corners

    Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe partners are slumming it these days. Practice group retreats? Not this year. Flights to meetings? Try video conferencing. If you need to fly, go by yourself.Small things, says Orrick chairman Ralph Baxter. But he says the savings aren't meaningless - Orrick is saving "tens of millions of dollars" through small changes like that. "In the long term, these are expenses that are necessary, but in the short term we can postpone or reduce them," Baxter says.

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