• February 21, 2012 |

    Sidley boosts City corporate with Linklaters partner hire

    Sidley Austin is strengthening its City corporate practice with the hire of Linklaters partner Stephen Blackshaw. Blackshaw, who has been a partner at Linklaters since 1998, is set to join the US firm next month (5 Marc

    1 minute read

  • February 16, 2012 |

    Early results see US firms sustain post-crisis recovery as financials rise

    Mounting turmoil engulfing the eurozone and political wrangling over the US economy hasn't been enough to hold back the world's largest legal market, with early results confirming that America's leading law firms have remained in growth mode for a second year.

    1 minute read

  • February 9, 2012 |

    Outside the citadel - are you ready for a career after law?

    Despite mounting pressure to retire early, partners still struggle to forge fulfilling careers outside the legal profession. Friederike Heine reports

    1 minute read

  • February 7, 2012 |

    Sidley and Paul Weiss join ranks of US firms posting rising revenues

    Sidley Austin and Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison have become the latest US law firms to post rising revenues for 2011, reports the Am Law Daily. After enduring a flat year in 2010, Sidley Austin saw revenues rise 5.6% to $1.41bn (£887m) in 2011, while partner profits increased 9.6% to $1.6m (£1m). Executive committee chairman Thomas Cole credited the firm's performance to balanced growth across offices and practice groups, although he singled out Sidley's 21-lawyer Palo Alto office, which opened in 2009, for posting an almost 50% increase in revenue.

    1 minute read

  • February 2, 2012 |

    BLP boosts finance practice with senior Dechert hire

    Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) has made another addition to its finance practice, with Dechert's Steve Clark set to join the firm as a partner. Clark will join BLP's real estate finance group from the US firm, where he is currently of counsel, in the coming weeks.

    1 minute read

  • February 2, 2012 |

    Is thoroughly mysterious Dechert ready for some straightforward City investment?

    Friederike Heine assesses the prospects for a hard-to-define global law firm with renewed ambition...

    1 minute read

  • January 26, 2012 |

    Freshfields leads on Aon HQ relocation

    Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has taken a lead role for global insurance broker Aon on the relocation of its head office from Chicago to London. Financial institutions partner James Smethurst and corporate head Julian Long led the Freshfields team while a duo of US law firms also took key roles advising Aon on the move, with Sidley Austin advising on US law aspects and McDermott Will & Emery leading on tax issues.

    1 minute read

  • January 4, 2012 |

    Ropes & Gray seals City boost with hire of ex-CC PE real estate veteran

    Ropes & Gray has strengthened its corporate and private equity practices in London with the hire of former Clifford Chance (CC) partner and real estate specialist Ian Morpeth. Morpeth, who joined the US firm as a partner yesterday (3 January), left CC at the beginning of last year to join Oppenheimer Investments as global chief operating officer.

    1 minute read

  • December 21, 2011 |

    Bakers & Slaughters at the fore as GSK sells over-the-counter brands

    Baker & McKenzie and Slaughter and May have lined up to advise on the $660m (£420m) sale of 17 healthcare brands, including Gaviscon, by pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). Bakers has advised consumer products group Prestige Brands, which acquired the products, led by Chicago M&A partner Dieter Schmitz and London M&A partner Jane Hobson, alongside Chicago partners Edward Harrison (corporate) and Chris Bartoli (securities).

    1 minute read

  • December 14, 2011 |

    SJ Berwin's Yam quits to launch Reed Smith private equity practice

    SJ Berwin is set to lose City corporate partner Perry Yam, who is joining Reed Smith to launch a private equity practice in the US firm's London office. The venture capital-specialist private equity partner, who resigned yesterday had been at SJ Berwin for sixteen years, becoming a partner in 2001. Last autumn he unsuccessfully stood for managing partner, losing out to Rob Day in the last round voting.

    1 minute read