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  • March 15, 2010 |

    Davis Polk posts 10% profits hike as elite NY trio unveil 2009 financials

    Davis Polk & Wardwell has posted a 10% increase in profits per equity partner (PEP) for 2009, marking the firm out as one of the strongest performers among New York's elite law firms, reports The Am Law Daily. The firm also saw revenues rise by 7%, which represents the highest percentage growth reported so far among New York firms.

    1 minute read

  • March 10, 2010 |

    US briefing: Still paved with gold

    Nothing captured the spirit of the leveraged age for Wall Street law firms quite so much as the private equity 'club' deal. As the name suggests, the deals attracted quite the crowd: lawyers for the consortium of buyers, the underwriters who scrambled over themselves to fund the buyouts and the target company. To celebrate a closing, the lawyers even threw what passes in the corporate legal world as a party: speeches, champagne and the exchange of Lucite trophies.

    1 minute read

  • March 10, 2010 |

    Howrey restructuring set to hit 10% of global partnership

    Howrey is set to cut up to 10% of its partnership over the coming months in the wake of a 35% drop in profits per equity partner (PEP) during 2009. Between 25 and 30 partners are expected to leave Howrey over the next few months as part of the restructuring, with the majority of the cuts set to fall in the US. Up to three partners are expected to leave across the firm's European offices.

    1 minute read

  • March 8, 2010 |

    Chadbourne recruits four-lawyer City arbitration team

    Chadbourne & Parke has hired international arbitration partner Melanie Willems from Howrey's London office along with three associates. Willems will join the US law firm's international dispute resolution practice in the City having been at Howrey since 2005, heading up the DC-based firm's London international arbitration group.

    1 minute read

  • March 3, 2010 |

    Campaign to form global forum for bank disputes gathers momentum

    Some of the City's leading law firms are set to be drawn into an ambitious bid to create a global bank disputes tribunal in The Hague. The Dutch not-for-profit organisation World Legal Forum (WLF) is leading the initiative, which is expected to see legal and financial specialists from around the world meeting before June to discuss plans to create a special tribunal for hearing financial disputes.

    1 minute read

  • March 3, 2010 |

    Simmons set to launch environment practice with Travers partner hire

    Simmons & Simmons is to launch a dedicated environment practice with the hire of Travers Smith's head of environment and planning Steven McNab. McNab, whose start date is still being negotiated, will take the title of head of environment at Simmons. He has been with Travers since 2006, having previously practised with Jones Day and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.

    1 minute read

  • March 1, 2010 |

    Slaughters takes headline role for Prudential on $35bn AIG Asia buyout

    Slaughter and May and Debevoise & Plimpton have scored advisory roles on Prudential's high-profile plans to purchase the Asian assets of American International Group (AIG) for more than $35bn (£23.3bn). The two insurance groups are in advanced discussions over the sale of US Government-controlled AIG's subsidiary AIA, with Prudential this week (1 March) confirming both the discussions and the suspension of its shares as a result.

    1 minute read

  • February 26, 2010 |

    Skadden and Cleary take top roles on $12bn Coca-Cola buyout

    Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom has advised Coca-Cola on its $12.2bn (£8bn) deal to acquire the North American operations of its largest bottler, Coca-Cola Enterprises, reports The Am Law Daily. The deal follows PepsiCo's move in August to take control of its two largest bottlers for $7.8bn (£5.1bn).

    1 minute read

  • February 24, 2010 |

    The outsourcers are coming

    The news that Microsoft is sending out legal work to a team of lawyers at legal process outsourcing (LPO) provider CPA Global in India is the latest indication that one of the most talked-about trends in recent years is no flash in the pan. That the announcement followed the defection earlier this month of former Rio Tinto managing attorney Leah Cooper to a business development role at CPA only adds further credence to the growing acceptance of legal outsourcing - particularly since Cooper herself was the driving force behind an agreement struck between CPA and Rio last June that saw a team of CPA lawyers take on work such as document review and legal research for the mining giant.

    1 minute read

  • February 17, 2010 |

    Kelly hire settles dispute over Cleary's City litigation plans

    With even the notoriously conservative Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton making a senior disputes appointment in the Square Mile, it appears that the much-touted banking litigation market really does have legs. The US firm made a big splash last week with the news that it was making a rare lateral hire in the shape of Jonathan Kelly from Simmons & Simmons, one of the best-known banking litigators in the City.

    1 minute read