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  • December 8, 2009 |

    European legal team of the year

    The judges were struck by the complexity of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton's work advising BNP Paribas on its acquisition of Fortis's Belgian operations. There is a very good case for dubbing the transaction the most politically-charged of all the credit crunch-related deals. The Belgian Government's decision to sell the debt-laden bank's Belgian assets to BNP Paribas caused such a political storm that it brought down the Government. The resulting shareholder litigation almost sank the deal. It was the first case of a bank being rescued by the state and then being sold onto the private sector. The team was spearheaded by Paris-based partner Pierre-Yves Chabert and Brussels partner Jan Meyers.

    1 minute read

  • December 8, 2009 |

    Delivering change

    Belgian Post general counsel and company secretary Dirk Tirez believes the expanding role of in-house lawyers has its roots in a process that runs deeper than the financial crisis. "For me it's about a gradual increase in professionalism among in-house counsel that we have been seeing for a while now. Do I see it being turned back when market conditions improve? No. Expectations have been raised in a way that would be impossible to reverse," he says.

    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

  • December 4, 2009 |

    Stephenson Harwood, Linklaters and Abbey honoured at British Legal Awards

    Stephenson Harwood, Linklaters and Abbey National were among the winners at the 2009 British Legal Awards. Stephenson Harwood secured the coveted Law Firm of the Year award, with the judging panel - which included several senior general counsel - praising the firm for the dramatic turnaround in its fortunes.

    1 minute read

  • December 1, 2009 |

    Independent Law Firms in Europe: A model of resilience

    The global recession has done little to alter the faith of Europe's independents in the strength of their law firm models. While the global UK and US-based firms have been busy with internal housekeeping and the struggle for position in their home markets, Europe's independent law firms cannot be accused of having let the opportunity pass them by.

    1 minute read

  • December 1, 2009 |

    Weil Gotshal makes up just three to partnership as London misses out

    Weil Gotshal & Manges has announced a depleted partner promotions round, with just three lawyers set to join the partnership on 1 January 2010. No London-based lawyers will join the firm's partnership in this year's round, with the total of three promotions representing less than half of last year's tally, when seven were made up worldwide, including one in the City.

    1 minute read

  • November 25, 2009 |

    Cleary and Sullivan lead on Gucci owner's €1bn French listing

    Cleary Gottlieb & Steen Hamilton and Sullivan & Cromwell have taken lead roles on the €1bn (£900m) French initial public offering (IPO) of a subsidiary of luxury goods company PPR. PPR, the holding company of brands such as Gucci and Puma, is set to list its African distribution unit CFAO, marking the first significant IPO in the French market since 2007.

    1 minute read

  • November 25, 2009 |

    Restructuring and insolvency: The clean-up crew

    With debt hard to come by in the post-crunch age, the current restructuring and insolvency market is, according to the Blackstone Group's Martin Gudgeon, rapidly changing. He comments: "[We have] moved from resolving liquidity crises of cash-starved businesses to resolving poor investment returns of over-leveraged businesses. And now we [are] heading into resolving prospective refinancing hurdles."

    1 minute read

  • November 24, 2009 |

    Freshfields and Linklaters lead on £1bn Gartmore listing

    Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Linklaters have taken lead roles on British fund manager Gartmore's £1bn initial public offering (IPO). The float, which will cover 30%-50% of the company, is intended to cut net debt from £400m to £100m.

    1 minute read

  • November 9, 2009 |

    Cleary makes up London trio in promotions round

    Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton has announced eight new promotions, with one partner and two counsel made up in the firm's London office. The Wall Street firm has made up a total of four new partners and four counsel around the world, with the promotions effective as of 1 January 2010.

    1 minute read