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  • April 1, 2009 |

    Major US firms' City partner promotions hit a four-year low as only 34 make the grade

    Partner promotions at some of the largest US law firms in London hit a four-year low in 2009, with just 34 lawyers making the grade compared to 54 the year before, according to research from Legal Week. A survey of promotion trends at 28 leading US firms in London found promotions had increased each year between 2005 and 2008, before this year's fall. In 2005, 36 lawyers were made up, with that figure increasing to 38 for 2006 and 48 for 2007, before last year's bumper haul.

    1 minute read

  • March 26, 2009 |

    US firms in City reach new high for lateral hires

    Lateral partner hiring across the top US and international firms in London has almost doubled over the last five years, according to research from Legal Week.A survey of hiring trends at 33 US and transatlantic firms with operations in the City found the group made a total of 79 lateral partner hires during 2008 - 11 more than in 2007, despite the banking crisis and the onset of the global recession.

    1 minute read

  • March 13, 2009 |

    Sidley cuts jobs as widespread layoffs continue

    Sidley Austin has laid off off 89 associates and staff attorneys as well as approximately 140 members of staff, reports The National Law Journal. The cuts, which affect the firm's US offices, are in addition to "routine departures," according to an internal memo. Sidley Austin said that it is expecting its work slowdown to continue for 12 to 18 months. "The economy continues to present unprecedented challenges to the firm and its clients," the memo said. "While the quality and diversification of our practice and our conservative financial management have put the firm in a strong position to deal with these challenges, we are not immune to the current turmoil." The memo said it would provide the departing workers with financial and job assistance, but did not specify the length of the severance package it is offering.

    1 minute read

  • March 12, 2009 |

    UK firms to miss out as Korea green-lights liberalisation

    UK law firms will not benefit from moves to open up the Korean legal market to foreign law firms due to the lack of a trade agreement between the two countries. The Korean authorities last week (2 March) gave a green light to the first step in a three-stage process to open up the local legal market. The process will effectively allow foreign law firms to set up representative offices in the country, however, it only applies to those countries with an active free-trade agreement (FTA) with Korea.

    1 minute read

  • March 2, 2009 |

    Davis Polk leads a raft of firms on $50bn Citi recap

    Government-backed recapitalization of Citigroup in the latest of a string of deals to refinance struggling banking giants.The complex deal agreed with the Treasury Department will increase the Government's stake in Citi to as much as 36%. The deal sees up to $27.5bn (£19bn) in preference shares converted into common stock, which the Government, which owns $45bn (£31.25bn) in Citi preference shares, will match up to $25bn (£17.3bn) of conversions.Davis Polk is advising Citi and negotiating with the private investors, a group that includes Capital Research Global Investors and Capital World Investors, the Government of Singapore Investment Corp (Singapore's sovereign wealth fund) and the Saudi prince Alwaleed bin Talal. The Kuwait Investment Authority also plans to participate in the exchange, according to several lawyers involved in the talks.The Davis Polk team consists of Randall Guynn, M&A partners Gar Bason, Louis Goldberg and Michael Davis and tax partners Avishai Shachar and Neil Barr.Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton advised Citi on drafting the various securities agreements, a complicated task considering there are all sorts of contingency agreements should Citi shareholders vote down the exchange plan.Simpson Thacher & Barlett is advising the Treasury.Investor's counsel include Hogan & Hartson for bin Talal, a loyal Hogan client since before the first Persian Gulf War, according to Hogan partner Bruce Gilchrist. The prince's holdings illustrate the complications of the deal. He holds both preferred and common shares, meaning the exchange he agreed to may end up diluting the value of common stock he already owns, lawyers say.Several sources say Gibson Dunn & Crutcher advised the Kuwaiti authority, but Steven Guynn, who advised the authority in its initial $3bn (£2.1bn) investment in Citi preferred stock last year, declined comment.Sidley Austin reprised its role advising Singapore's sovereign wealth fund. Sidley has been representing the fund in various investments for more than 15 years.The Capital Group relied on in-house counsel, says Andrew Felner, the deputy GC for Citi who handled much of the internal work on the exchange plan.Citi's shares dropped about 40% upon the deal's announcement, mostly over fears that the exchange will dilute the value of common shares. Citi, which lost about $28bn (£19.4bn) last year, also agreed to eliminate the dividend on preferred stock and re-jig its board of directors so that a majority of directors are new and independent.Cleary will also be handling Citi's disclosure work and filings with federal regulators. Partners David Lopez, Neil Whoriskey and Jeff Karpf are leading the firm's team.

    1 minute read

  • January 20, 2009 |

    Sidley and DLA Piper secure roles on Asia IPO

    Sidley Austin and DLA Piper have played key roles in one of the first initial public offerings (IPOs) of the year on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Sidley Austin served as issuer's counsel to Chinese oil products trader Strong Petrochemical Holdings, whose 12 January IPO raised about HK$250m (£21m).The firm's team was led by Hong Kong partner Constance Choy, alongside associates Eugene Lai and Iris Yuen. China's King & Wood represented Strong on issues involving mainland Chinese law. DLA Piper represented the sponsor and underwriter, China Everbright Capital. The DLA Piper team was led by partner Esther Leung.

    1 minute read

  • January 15, 2009 |

    BLP boosts London arm with Katten finance duo hire

    Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) has bolstered its London finance practice with a double partner hire from US law firm Katten Muchin Rosenma's City arm. Structured finance and real estate partners Jayne Black and Eleanor Hunwicks joined BLP at the beginning of this month from Katten, where they established the firm's London real estate finance group two-and-a-half years ago.Both advise lead managers, servicers, originators and ratings agencies on real estate finance and securitisation deals.Prior to joining Katten, Black and Hunwicks - both UK-qualified - worked at Sidley Austin's City office, building a practice advising servicers of commercial loans.

    1 minute read

  • December 1, 2008 |

    Kirkland regains former restructuring chief

    Kirkland & Ellis is set to re-hire restructuring rainmaker James Sprayregen, as the US firm's former co-head of bankruptcy and restructuring returns later this month after two and a half years at Goldman Sachs. Sprayregen left Kirkland in 2006 to take up a non-legal role as managing director in Goldman's investment banking division.He had previously spent 16 years at Kirkland in Chicago and New York.

    1 minute read

  • November 19, 2008 |

    Funds find law risk is one unhedged position

    Camulos Capital, a Stamford-based hedge fund with approximately $2bn (£1.3bn) in assets, was one of the lucky ones. In late July, Camulos saw trouble looming on the calendar. Like many of Camulos's peers, the performance of its funds had dropped, and the deadline for year-end redemptions was fast approaching. If too many investors fled - and there was $43bn (£28.6bn) withdrawn from US funds in September - the run on capital could have brought operations to a halt."We saw what was happening in the markets, and we thought that it was a prudent time to lock up the capital," says Michael Iuliano, the fund's general counsel.

    1 minute read

  • November 9, 2008 |

    Obama looks to Am Law 100 firms for best and brightest

    While most of the speculation surrounding possible appointments by President-elect Obama focuses on the treasury secretary and attorney and solicitor general,…

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