Filter This View

  • January 14, 2013 |

    Freshfields strengthens Hong Kong corporate with Orrick hire

    Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has boosted its corporate team in Hong Kong with the hire of capital markets partner William Woo from Orrick. Woo, whose practice also covers private equity and M&A, will join the magic circle firm in Hong Kong this month, taking the total number of corporate partners in the Hong Kong office to 10.

    1 minute read

  • December 19, 2012 |

    Gibson Dunn advises as UBS reaches £945m Libor settlement

    Gibson Dunn & Crutcher has advised UBS on its (£945m) settlement with US and UK authorities over allegations that the Swiss bank tried to manipulate Libor interest rates. UBS announced today (19 December) that it was settling with the US Department of Justice (DoJ) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the Financial Services Authority (FSA) in the UK, and the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), over the regulators' investigations into manipulation of the Libor interbank lending rates.

    1 minute read

  • December 13, 2012 |

    New Hong Kong laws push firms to review paternity pay policies

    Law firms in Hong Kong are facing an overhaul of their paternity leave policies following a move to force all private companies in the region to provide employees with at least three days' paid leave. The government proposals, endorsed by the Hong Kong Labour Advisory Board last month, will see men paid at least 80% of their salaries for the paternity leave period.

    1 minute read

  • December 12, 2012 |

    Norton Rose, Herbert Smith among firms on Delta's $360m purchase of 49% Virgin Atlantic stake

    Herbert Smith Freehills, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, Norton Rose and Shearman & Sterling are among a raft of law firms to have advised on Delta Air Lines' $360m (£223m) acquisition of a stake in Virgin Atlantic. The deal has seen Delta take a 49% stake in Richard Branson's transatlantic carrier from Singapore Airlines, alongside a joint venture between Virgin and Delta, and a revised brand licence with the Virgin Group.

    1 minute read

  • December 7, 2012 |

    Freshfields high-yield partner quits for Weil in latest exit to US rival

    Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer high-yield partner Gil Strauss has resigned to join Weil Gotshal & Manges, marking the latest departure from the magic circle firm for a US rival. Strauss, whose practice focuses on US corporate finance and securities, will join Weil in London in the New Year to help build out the firm's European high-yield practice.

    1 minute read

  • December 6, 2012 |

    Linklaters calls time on cooperation agreement with Brazil ally Lefosse

    Linklaters has ended its Brazil cooperation agreement with Lefosse Advogados as a number of law firms rethink their local operations amid faltering hopes for market liberalisation. The firm called time on the agreement in October after the Brazilian Bar unanimously voted to uphold the rules for foreign firms in Brazil, which allow firms to offer international legal advice but stipulate strict demarcation between foreign and local practices.

    1 minute read

  • December 6, 2012 |

    Herbert Smith Freehills shakes up post-merger partner notice terms

    Herbert Smith Freehills is overhauling its notice period in the wake of the merger between the two firms which went live in October, with the new six-month term halving the notice period previously in place at legacy Herbert Smith. Partners at both firms approved the change, which is in the process of being implemented, as part of the merger terms. The six-month term, which will be imposed at the discretion of the firm, effectively doubles the notice for legacy Freehills partners exiting, as they were previously subject to just three months.

    1 minute read

  • November 29, 2012 |

    The view from 9th Avenue – the emerging challenges facing New York's elite

    "Who we are hasn't changed at all in some ways over the years. At a partners' meeting recently someone showed me a letter written by Paul Cravath in 1920 and it was almost the same format that we use today," reflects Cravath Swaine & Moore incoming presiding partner Allen Parker. "Really, it was almost identical." Welcome to Manhattan, the most singular, individualistic, contradictory and competitive legal market in the world. As the rest of the global legal profession changes to reflect the impact of the post-Lehman Brothers world and the rise of finance hubs and economies in the east, it seems that many lawyers in Manhattan's hermetically sealed environment carry on as if little has changed.

    1 minute read

  • November 20, 2012 |

    Bakers joins law firm rush into Korea with application for local licence

    Baker & McKenzie has become the latest international law firm to apply to open in South Korea following the country's move to liberalise its legal market last year. The US outfit is among a slew of global players eyeing the Asian sovereign state for opportunities, with Nam Hung Paik, an M&A partner in Bakers' corporate practice, appointed to lead the new office upon receiving the necessary approvals.

    1 minute read

  • November 15, 2012 |

    Staging a slow comeback – PE and M&A markets are showing signs of recovery

    The rollercoaster continues lurching up and down. For private equity (PE) lawyers, it has been an eventful few years with advisers hard-pushed just to keep up with frenetic deal-doing during the boom years, only for the market to go into a sustained slump after 2007. The industry went on to stage something of a modest comeback through 2011, but the latest indications confirm that buyout activity remains volatile to say the least – and 2012 has unsurprisingly proved a mixed year.

    1 minute read