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  • April 9, 2010 |

    Mayer Brown cuts 75 US jobs in new round of layoffs

    Mayer Brown has laid off 28 associates and counsel and 47 members of staff from its US offices, reports The Am Law Daily. This is the firm's third round of job cuts in around 18 months. The firm let go of 33 associates and counsel in November 2008 and laid off 45 more lawyers last April. The announcement was contained in an internal memo, which states: "Although most of our practices are performing well, overall demand for legal services has not recovered fully, and in today's tight legal job market, voluntary lawyer departures have been significantly lower than our normal levels.

    1 minute read

  • March 26, 2010 |

    Mayer Brown, Camerons and Bakers at the table on £400m Camelot sale

    Mayer Brown and Baker & McKenzie have taken the lead roles on the sale of the National Lottery operator Camelot for just under £400m. The board of Camelot has agreed to sell the company to one of Canada's largest pension funds, Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan (OTTP), in favour of a rival bid from buyout giant CVC.

    1 minute read

  • March 23, 2010 |

    Hengeler ramps up business education for junior lawyers

    Leading German firm Hengeler Mueller has shaken up its associate training programme, as growing numbers of firms operating in the country look at amending their own training programmes for lawyers. Hengeler's formal link with Switzerland's University of St Gallen came into effect on 1 January, with associates to start the first modules with the university this month.

    1 minute read

  • March 17, 2010 |

    Court ruling could redefine role of in-house counsel

    The decision of the Court of Justice of the EU in the AM&S case in 1980 is arguably one of the most controversial EU competition law decisions the court has ever made. The court limited the benefit of legal professional privilege in EU competition investigations to communications between firms and external, EU-qualified, lawyers, giving the European Commission the power to order disclosure of communications between firms under investigation and their in-house and non-EU qualified lawyers.

    1 minute read

  • March 17, 2010 |

    White & Case City base posts 20% drop in revenues for 2009

    White & Case's London office has emerged as the worst performing City arm of a US law firm in 2009 - a year in which results varied significantly between firms. White & Case saw London revenues plunge by just under 20% to $197m (£130m) during the 2009 calendar year, with profits per equity partner (PEP) dropping by 11% to $1.32m (£872,000).

    1 minute read

  • March 12, 2010 |

    Mayer Brown partner quits to join Gibson Dunn's Brussels base

    US firm Gibson Dunn & Crutcher has recruited a Mayer Brown antitrust partner in Brussels. Andres Font Galarza, who started at Gibson Dunn today (12 March), is also a former senior official of the European Commission's directorate general for competition, a role he held for 13 years until he joined Mayer Brown's Brussels antitrust and competition practice in 2008.

    1 minute read

  • March 10, 2010 |

    Diversity dips at US firms as recession hits ethnic minority lawyer headcounts

    The number of ethnic minority lawyers in US firms has fallen for the first time in nine years, with large firms losing 9% of minority lawyers, according to research by Legal Week sister title The American Lawyer. The findings, based on statistics from 202 participating firms including Baker & McKenzie and Latham & Watkins, suggest that minority lawyers were disproportionately affected by job cuts at US firms over the last year.

    1 minute read

  • March 3, 2010 |

    GTM brought in 15 new partners in 2009, leading US firm hires in the City

    Greenberg Traurig Maher (GTM) emerged as the most active US law firm in London in terms of lateral partner hiring last year, with the new City entrant responsible for a quarter of all partner-level hiring activity.

    1 minute read

  • March 3, 2010 | International Edition

    US firms paused expansion in 2009 but are back on the hunt

    As Legal Week's survey of lateral hiring by US firms in London recently demonstrated, partner moves were thin on the ground in 2009, at least by the yardstick of recent years. The research found 59 hires across 37 of the largest US firms. This was substantially down on the senior recruitment seen at US firms over the last five years - this group managed 77 partner hires in 2008 - but in many ways it is surprising that the figure wasn't even lower. Lateral hiring virtually shut down in the first half of 2009 as firms drastically slashed costs in the worst phase of the global recession. The second half of the year, which saw an aggressive hiring spree from Greenberg Traurig Maher claim no less than 15 partners, was pretty active in contrast.

    1 minute read

  • March 3, 2010 |

    US firms paused expansion in 2009 but are back on the hunt

    As Legal Week's survey of lateral hiring by US firms in London recently demonstrated, partner moves were thin on the ground in 2009, at least by the yardstick of recent years. The research found 59 hires across 37 of the largest US firms. This was substantially down on the senior recruitment seen at US firms over the last five years - this group managed 77 partner hires in 2008 - but in many ways it is surprising that the figure wasn't even lower. Lateral hiring virtually shut down in the first half of 2009 as firms drastically slashed costs in the worst phase of the global recession. The second half of the year, which saw an aggressive hiring spree from Greenberg Traurig Maher claim no less than 15 partners, was pretty active in contrast.

    1 minute read