• December 7, 2009 |

    Bingham boosts City base with hire of former Sidley finance partner

    Bingham McCutchen has made its second partner hire in London this year with the recruitment of Sarah Smith for its City finance practice. Smith, the former co-head of Sidley Austin's international finance group, will join Bingham at the beginning of 2010 after leaving Sidley in February.

    1 minute read

  • December 4, 2009 |

    Ashurst and Cleary win lead roles on Rusal's $3bn Hong Kong listing

    Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton and Ashurst have won roles on Rusal's planned $3bn (£2bn) flotation on the Hong Kong stock exchange. Cleary has landed the main role on the listing, fielding a team led by City-based partner Dan Braverman advising on US, English and French law. Ashurst corporate partner Andrew Edge is providing additional English law, while US firm Sidley Austin is advising on Hong Kong law, with a team led by Hong Kong-based capital markets partner Constance Choy.

    1 minute read

  • November 30, 2009 |

    Greenberg hires ex-Kirkland partner for London restructuring launch

    Greenberg Traurig Maher (GTM) is launching a London restructuring practice with the hire of former Kirkland & Ellis partner Lyndon Norley. Norley will join the US firm in the New Year after serving as a partner with Kirkland in London for seven years. He joined Kirkland in 2002 from Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft to launch a UK insolvency team but left in October.

    1 minute read

  • November 18, 2009 |

    Sidley boosts City capital markets team with hire of ex-A&O partner

    Sidley Austin has made a rare lateral appointment in the City with the hire of former Allen & Overy securities partner Bart Capeci. Capeci joined the US firm's London securities practice last week, having been a partner in A&O's international capital markets team since 1998.

    1 minute read

  • November 11, 2009 |

    Time for FIA to change gear in Formula 1 regulation

    This season's Formula 1 World Championship saw previously heretic talk of budget caps and redundancies. Huge sponsorship contracts and $300m-plus budgets became hard to justify - Honda went and BMW is going. Despite this, the season has been as exciting as ever, both on and off the track.

    1 minute read

  • November 9, 2009 |

    Former A&O finance partner joins Fried Frank's London office

    Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson has made a rare lateral hire in London, bringing in former Allen & Overy (A&O) leveraged finance partner Mark Wesseldine. Wesseldine will join the US firm's City arm towards the end of the year after serving as a partner with A&O since 2007.

    1 minute read

  • October 22, 2009 |

    High-profile restructuring chief Norley quits Kirkland's City base

    The high-profile head of Kirkland & Ellis's European restructuring practice, Lyndon Norley, has left the US firm's City office. The reason for his departure is unknown and the firm was unavailable for comment. Norley joined Kirkland in 2002 from Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft to launch a UK insolvency team for the leading Chicago firm.

    1 minute read

  • October 6, 2009 |

    Microsoft cuts back legal budget by 15% due to recession

    Microsoft's legal department has seen its legal budget cut by 15% over the last 18 months, leading to a 5% reduction in headcount, according to the software giant's general counsel, Brad Smith. Before the cuts, Microsoft's legal department had a $900m (£564m) annual legal budget and 1,050 staff, including 450 lawyers.

    1 minute read

  • October 6, 2009 |

    Global 100: The great game

    Soon after Simon Davies took over as Linklaters' managing partner at the end of 2007, he brought together a group of the firm's partners for some scenario planning. Turbulence in the subprime mortgage sector had not yet grown into a global economic downturn, but Davies knew that the legal services market was already changing. "We had been striving to run ourselves as efficiently as possible to deliver clear value to our clients and avoid increasing rates," he says. The purpose of the gathering was to run through some 'what-ifs,' determine how the firm would be affected, and consider how it would respond. Scenario three, the worst one under consideration, was the collapse of a major investment bank.

    1 minute read

  • September 2, 2009 |

    New recruits help Dewey secure eBay work on $1.9bn Skype deal

    Dewey & LeBoeuf has secured a new role as eBay's go-to M&A counsel after hiring the online auction site's long-term advisers from Cooley Godward Kronish last month. Three M&A lawyers Dewey hired from Cooley last month led the firm's team representing eBay on its $1.9bn (£1.15bn) deal to unload a controlling interest in Skype to a consortium of investors.

    1 minute read