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  • October 6, 2010 |

    Carlsberg to refresh adviser line-up with first Euro corporate panel

    Carlsberg has kicked off a competitive tender process with a view to creating its first-ever European corporate panel. The review is being led out of Denmark by the drinks company's general counsel and vice president Ulrik Andersen. Carlsberg's current global panel features UK firms Norton Rose, Bond Pearce and Tollers, as well as Swedish law firm Vinge and Denmark's Kromann Reumert, which have all been invited to pitch.

    1 minute read

  • October 5, 2010 |

    Mayer Brown signs deal to outsource London office support staff

    Mayer Brown has sold its UK corporate secretarial practice to outsourcing provider TMF Group in a deal which will see a team of six support staff transfer to TMF's London HQ later this year. TMF has previously negotiated similar agreements with other law firms, including Clifford Chance, which signed up last year. Mayer Brown's UK corporate head Peter Dickinson cited the global nature of client needs as the primary reason for the deal.

    1 minute read

  • September 29, 2010 |

    Brazilian Gov't names Hammonds as legal counsel for WTO matters

    Hammonds has been appointed as legal counsel for the Brazilian Government to advise on matters concerning the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The firm's trade law team in Brussels won the tender alongside Greenberg Traurig and Brazilian law firm LO Baptista, beating competition from 12 other bidders including Hogan Lovells, White & Case and Mayer Brown.

    1 minute read

  • September 29, 2010 |

    Norton Rose hires Pinsents partner for Brisbane arm

    Norton Rose has recruited a Pinsent Masons Hong Kong partner to its Brisbane office in the eighth lateral hire for the firm's Australian arm since its launch earlier this year. Peter Borg will begin work next month in the construction and engineering practice from his role as partner in Pinsents' projects and international construction division.

    1 minute read

  • September 24, 2010 |

    Brazil Bar rules against associations with foreign law firms

    International law firms with Brazilian alliances look set to come under renewed regulatory pressure after the Sao Paulo Bar Association this month concluded that formal tie-ups breach local practice rules. The recent opinion from the Sao Paulo Bar (Ordem dos Advogados do Brasil - Secao de Sao Paulo) illustrates the mounting tension over the recent influx of foreign law firms into Brazil's fast-growing market. Though the decision by the ethical and disciplinary tribunal of the Sao Paulo Bar is only advisory, it is regarded as giving an indication as to which way a ruling would go if a case were to be pursued against one of the foreign firms operating in Brazil in alliance with a local firm.

    1 minute read

  • September 22, 2010 |

    Latin America: Tomorrow's country today

    From the dark days of the 1980s, a newly-confident Brazil has emerged. Alex Aldridge reports on one of the most hotly-tipped emerging economies and the lawyers scrambling to keep up

    1 minute read

  • September 15, 2010 |

    Bank of America Merrill gets tough with first full-scale panel review

    Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BoA Merrill) has embarked on its first full-scale panel review since becoming a merged entity, with a number of stringent conditions attached for firms wanting to pitch. The review, which was launched last month, will see the investment banking giant review its external legal counsel arrangements on a global and regional level.

    1 minute read

  • September 8, 2010 |

    MoFo makes Mayer Brown partner hire for London finance group

    Morrison & Foerster (MoFo) has hired Mayer Brown structured finance and capital markets partner Elana Hahn to join the firm's finance department in its London office. Prior to joining Mayer Brown in 2007, Hahn was a finance and capital markets partner in the London office of Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy and before that an associate at magic circle firm Clifford Chance (CC). She resigned from Mayer Brown last week (1 September). Hahn is qualified in Canada as well as England and Wales. Her practice centres around the securitisation and structured finance market, including, in particular, fund financing.

    1 minute read

  • September 1, 2010 |

    Five firms win panel roles as Dubai hotels group cuts back legal roster

    Jumeirah Group has announced its new global legal panel, with five firms appointed to the Dubai hotel chain's streamlined roster. Herbert Smith and Weil Gotshal & Manges have won places on the panel following a pitch process, with Clyde & Co, Mayer Brown JSM and Pinsent Masons all reappointed. Jumeirah has chosen to cut back on the number of firms it uses after setting up its first-ever global panel in 2008, which saw six firms appointed to its main roster of advisers, alongside a further six advising on specialist areas or in specific jurisdictions.

    1 minute read

  • September 1, 2010 |

    Betting the pharma - Astellas GC Jerry Temko on the 'perfect storm' in the pharmaceuticals industry

    Most in-house counsel have spent the recession attempting to maintain standards in the face of reduced resources. But Jerry Temko, general counsel and chief compliance officer of the European arm of Japanese pharmaceutical giant Astellas, has been very much in proactive mode. The credit crunch and subsequent economic crisis didn't change Temko's robust pursuit of breaches of patents and licensing contracts - in fact, if anything, it has strengthened resolve to police the company's intellectual property (IP). The strategy has paid off: during the last five years Astellas has recovered over ‚Ǩ10m (£8.2m) in patent damages from generic pharma companies and in excess of ‚Ǩ6m (£4.9m) from change of control licensing events. "Generating these recoveries changes the role and perception of the legal team; it means we're not simply a cost centre," says Temko.

    1 minute read