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  • March 15, 2011 |

    Partner profits at top New York firms spike on Wall Street rebound

    Partner profits at elite New York firms saw a strong recovery in 2010 after a surge in M&A and capital markets work, reports The Am Law Daily. Six Wall Street firms in the $2m-plus partner profits (PEP) club saw profitability soar last year, including Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison, which saw PEP rise 15% to $3.05m (£1.9m).

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  • March 10, 2011 |

    CC follows Freshfields and Links with spring bonuses for US associates

    Clifford Chance (CC) is set to pay out a new spring bonus to its US associates, following the trend seen in the US legal market in recent months. The magic circle firm informed its New York and Washington DC associates today (10 March) that they will receive a bonus ranging from $2,500 (£1,600) to $20,000 (£12,400), depending on post-qualification experience. The scale starts at $2,500 for associates who qualified in 2010, with the top figure of $20,000 awarded to associates who qualified in 2006 or earlier.

    1 minute read

  • March 4, 2011 |

    Freshfields makes up nine in the City in 2011's first magic circle promotions

    Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has become the first of the magic circle to announce its 2011 partner promotions, making up 20 lawyers across the firm. Nine of the new partners will join the firm's City office, with three in dispute resolution, two each in corporate, competition and finance, including Simone Bono, who joined the firm this month from Simpson Thacher & Bartlett.

    1 minute read

  • March 3, 2011 |

    Popham, Djanogly, Saul, Todd QC, Eisenberg, Glover, Moulton, Leydecker... we like to give young talent a chance

    As Legal Week has a large events business, our editorial team is often asked for input on conference programmes, meaning suggested topics and speakers. This usually results in our conference producers having to put up with another mind-numbing speech from me about why I think people turn up to these things. Admittedly, for the private client events a swish hotel doesn't hurt, but it still basically boils down to the people. If you get the right calibre of speaker, you're usually laughing. If you don't, you aren't. As such, our conference team look to have done the business on a series of upcoming events. First up we have the Independent Law Firms Forum on 17 March, our main event for leading indies across the globe. Speakers this year include Magisters' Dimitri Dyakin, Burges Salmon's Stephen McNulty, PLMJ's Manuel Santos Vitor, Werksmans' Des Williams, King & Wood's Susan Ning and Nishith Desai of Nishith Desai Associates.

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  • March 2, 2011 |

    Simpson Thacher coup as US bidder pulls off 11th-hour £4bn E.ON deal

    Simpson Thacher & Bartlett has taken a lead corporate role for Pennsylvania Power and Light (PPL) on its £4bn acquisition of E.ON's UK power networks following a competitive auction. The US law firm was instructed less than six weeks ago, and fielded a team led by London corporate partner Adam Signy. Other partners to act on the deal included New York capital markets head Vince Pagano and fellow corporate partner James Cross.

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  • March 2, 2011 |

    Linklaters and Freshfields line up for Citi's £1.9bn Egg sale to Barclays

    Linklaters and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer have taken lead roles on Citigroup's sale of the UK credit card assets of online bank Egg to Barclays. Citi instructed Linklaters on the deal, which is the latest in a series of credit card portfolio sales by the US-based banking group. The magic circle law firm fielded a London team under corporate partner Casper Lawson.

    1 minute read

  • March 2, 2011 |

    Blackstone accounts reveal $7m pay package for PE house's top lawyer

    Blackstone Group's general counsel has emerged as one of the best-paid lawyers in the world, according to public documents showing he received 2010 compensation of $7.3m (£4.5m), writes Corporate Counsel. According to the private equity giant's annual filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), its chief legal officer John Finley was Blackstone's fourth best-paid executive with a package that included $6m (£3.7m) in the form of restricted stock awards.

    1 minute read

  • March 1, 2011 |

    Flying high - the rise and rise of Europe's high-yield bond market

    Last year was very busy for issuers and underwriters of high-yield debt securities and the lawyers who act for them. After closing down in August of 2007, the high-yield market in Europe re-opened in the latter half of 2009 and became increasingly busy in the following months. In 2010, global new issuances of high-yield debt securities reached an all-time high of approximately $317bn (£196bn), up from $189bn (£117bn) in 2009. In Europe alone, new issuances amounted to $66.1bn (£40.8bn), up from $44.1bn (£27bn) in 2009. In January 2011, $35.1bn (£21.6bn) of high-yield debt securities were issued globally, of which $9.4bn (£5.8bn) was issued in Europe. If this trend continues, 2011 will be an even bigger year for high-yield than 2010.

    1 minute read

  • March 1, 2011 |

    US invaders back on the offensive

    The number of partner promotions in the City offices of US law firms is on track to exceed last year's tally, with 33 new partners made up in London in 2011 so far out of a global promotions total of 382. Legal Week's annual survey of US firms' lateral partner hiring and internal appointments found there have been only five fewer partner promotions in London so far this year than in the whole of 2010.

    1 minute read

  • February 18, 2011 |

    Davis Polk plans Sao Paulo launch as law firms continue to flock to Brazil

    Davis Polk & Wardwell has announced plans to establish a Brazil office later this year, reports The Am Law Daily. The office, the US firm's 10th around the world, could open as early as the middle of the year, though the date is subject to approval by Brazilian authorities. The announcement comes three months after Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton announced its intention to open in Sao Paulo.

    1 minute read