• February 12, 2013 |

    Herbert Smith recruits top-rated white-collar partner from Slater & Gordon

    Herbert Smith Freehills has recruited Slater & Gordon business crime and investigation head Rod Fletcher following a string of recent exits from the Anglo-Australian firm's litigation practice. Fletcher will join Herbert Smith in April, and will lead the firm's corporate crime and investigations team alongside partner Graham More.

    1 minute read

  • February 7, 2013 |

    Top Herbert Smith litigator exits for Latham as senior departures continue

    Latham & Watkins has sealed the hire of top-rated Herbert Smith Freehills corporate fraud partner Simon Bushell, in the latest in a series of high-profile departures for the recently merged Anglo-Australian firm. Bushell, a specialist in large-scale international commercial litigation and founder of Herbert Smith's Russian dispute resolution practice, is top ranked for civil fraud work by Chambers and Partners.

    1 minute read

  • February 5, 2013 |

    Hogan Lovells, Weil and Debevoise among legal line-up on $24.4bn Dell LBO

    Debevoise & Plimpton, Hogan Lovells and Weil Gotshal & Manges are among a line-up of top law firms to have advised on the $24.4bn (£15.5bn) buyout of computer manufacturer Dell, in the largest leveraged buyout (LBO) since the financial crisis. Founder Michael Dell is buying back the PC group, together with private equity group Silver Lake, offering stockholders $13.65 (£8.69) in cash per share.

    1 minute read

  • February 5, 2013 |

    CC relocates partners to Hong Kong and Qatar

    Clifford Chance (CC) is relocating two partners to Asia in a bid to strengthen its practices in Hong Kong and Qatar. The magic circle firm is boosting its Doha office with the addition of corporate partner Jason Mendens from Sydney, who will be the firm's first corporate partner on the ground in the resource-rich Gulf country.

    1 minute read

  • January 31, 2013 |

    Dealmaker: Paul Chow

    The Davis Polk & Wardwell heavyweight reflects on Asia's 2013 prospects, Slaughter and May and sartorial panic

    1 minute read

  • January 29, 2013 |

    Linklaters turns to Herbert Smith for second financial regulatory hire

    Linklaters has picked up its second Herbert Smith Freehills financial regulatory partner in under six months, with the magic circle firm set to bring in Nikunj Kiri as a partner. His hire comes after Legal Week reported in September that Linklaters had hired contentious regulatory heavyweight Martyn Hopper to boost its City practice.

    1 minute read

  • January 24, 2013 |

    US law firms to grow Hong Kong litigation teams as solicitors get advocacy rights

    Given the US cultural affinity for resolving matters inside a court room, it was perhaps only a matter of time. But finally, America's leading law firms appear to be taking litigation work in Asia seriously. Latham & Watkins, Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom and O'Melveny & Myers are among several US outfits with plans to strengthen their local disputes teams, while Davis Polk & Wardwell recently entered the litigation arena with the hire of two well-regarded litigators from Clifford Chance (CC). Firms that are considering starting up local disputes practices include Kirkland & Ellis and Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy, both of which have strong litigation franchises globally.

    1 minute read

  • January 24, 2013 |

    Links, A&O lead bank-side DCM rankings as year-on-year proceeds grow 11%

    Linklaters and Allen & Overy (A&O) have dominated Thomson Reuters' global legal rankings for bank roles on debt capital markets transactions in 2012, as the value of debt deals grew by 11.3% over the period. The data, cut off at 21 January, shows Linklaters toppling A&O from the global top spot after advising managers on 524 straight debt deals globally in the 2012 calendar year, generating proceeds of $394bn (£248bn).

    1 minute read

  • January 17, 2013 |

    Libor's long tail – lawyers jostle as bank scandals spread through the market

    The new year may be a time to start afresh, but the Libor scandal that dominated business headlines in the second half of 2012 is – for advisers – showing no signs of abating. At Clifford Chance (CC), the news that its client Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is in the final stages of a settlement with US and UK regulators over its alleged Libor role means the firm's regulatory lawyers will have had a busy start to 2013.

    1 minute read

  • December 19, 2012 |

    Legal Week news round-up: the best of 2012

    Legal Week's most-read stories of the last twelve months, including major international mergers such as the tie-up of Australia's Freehills with Herbert Smith, and the news that A&O had asked Hong Kong partners to leave the firm...

    1 minute read