Filter This View

  • 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

  • August 10, 2009 |

    Linklaters takes top spot in Euro debt and equity capital markets rankings

    Linklaters has topped the Thomson Reuters European debt and equity capital markets rankings, advising managers on twice as many equity deals over the first half of 2009 as its nearest rival and overtaking Allen & Overy (A&O) in the debt rankings. The magic circle firm advised underwriters on 21 European equity capital markets (ECM) deals worth $36.9bn (£22.2bn) during the first six months of this year, with key deals including a role advising JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs on HSBC's £12.5bn rights issue - the largest so far this year.

    1 minute read

  • July 2, 2009 |

    Addleshaws wins Barclays role as bank confirms new panel line-up

    Barclays has completed its panel review, with Addleshaw Goddard winning a coveted spot on the bank's main panel. The national firm joins Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance , DLA Piper, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Linklaters, Lovells and Simmons & Simmons on the bank's general advisory roster, with Barclays also appointing a string of firms to 10 specialist panels.

    1 minute read

  • July 1, 2009 |

    BLP boosts finance and litigation with hire of partners from A&O and CC

    Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) has picked up two partners from the magic circle, with the firm set to bolster its finance and litigation practices. Clifford Chance (CC) litigation partner Nic Fletcher will join BLP's international arbitration practice while, as legalweek.com reported last week (26 June), Allen & Overy (A&O) leveraged finance partner Andrew Bamber is also set to join the firm.

    1 minute read

  • June 26, 2009 |

    BLP makes A&O partner hire for finance practice

    Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) is to bolster its finance practice with the hire of high profile Allen & Overy (A&O) leveraged finance partner Andrew Bamber. Bamber is set to join BLP over the coming weeks after seven years as a partner in A&O's leveraged finance team. He came over to the magic circle firm in 2002 from Norton Rose as part of a team of four partners to leave the firm, including current leveraged finance chief Tim Polglase.

    1 minute read

  • June 25, 2009 |

    A&O, Lovells and Eversheds secure adviser roles for major US company

    Schering-Plough has added five international firms to its roster of external legal advisers. Allen & Overy (A&O), Lovells, Eversheds, DLA Piper and Baker & McKenzie, have joined the pharmaceutical giant's legal panel.

    1 minute read

  • June 19, 2009 |

    Sidley Austin and Taylor Wessing take pole position in F1 dispute

    Sidley Austin and Taylor Wessing are among a raft of top firms in line to win advisory roles on the ongoing Formula One crisis. Eight F1 teams - the overwhelming majority of participants in the competition - are threatening to break away and set up their own series as a result of a dispute with the motorsport's governing body, Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), over budget capping for 2010.

    1 minute read

  • May 15, 2009 |

    Microsoft drops K&L Gates as preferred provider

    Microsoft has completed a review of its preferred legal providers - and K&L Gates, the firm named after Bill Gates' father, is nowhere on it. Microsoft carried over to the firm after Preston Gates & Ellis merged with Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham in 2007. At the time, Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith welcomed the merger as a positive step for both firms and its clients.However, following an extensive review of the firms it uses, Microsoft has announced a new list of legal providers, without K&L Gates.

    1 minute read

  • May 14, 2009 |

    BLP boosts finance investment with Sidley Austin partner hire

    Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) has hired structured finance partner Richard Hughes from the London arm of Sidley Austin to boost its finance team. Hughes joined BLP last week after five years as a partner in the US law firm's City securitisation team. He takes the partner headcount in BLP's London banking and capital markets practice to 16 and will advise on structured finance, securitisation, asset finance and property finance matters.

    1 minute read