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  • February 23, 2010 |

    Sports deal rush sees top firms put some skin in the game

    The deal market may be proving unbearably slow for many so far in 2010 but, as this week's lead deal (the creation of a global Twenty20 cricket brand) helps demonstrate, involvement with sports clubs is helping law firms reap greater rewards than just box seats at stadiums. Firms including Allen & Overy (A&O), DLA Piper and Bird & Bird are just a handful of those to have won roles on a growing list of sports-related mandates since the New Year, after a spate of football club administrations and financing deals. With a number of football clubs disastrously overspending in recent years, it is workflow that advisers predict is only likely to increase.

    1 minute read

  • February 22, 2010 |

    Charles Russell and Bird & Bird make line-up on revamped FA legal panel

    Charles Russell, Bird & Bird and Pinsent Masons have all scored roles on the Football Association (FA) Group's new-look legal panel following a tender process which saw a total of eight firms appointed. The two-stage panel process, which came to an end in December last year, saw eight successful firms chosen to work with the FA Group until March 2012.

    1 minute read

  • February 22, 2010 |

    Mayer Brown posts double-digit drop in revenues with City arm down 16%

    Mayer Brown saw its revenues fall by almost 14% in 2009, as the firm's top line slipped to $1.12bn (£723m) from $1.29bn (£833m) in 2008, reports The Am Law Daily. Profits per equity partner fell by a relatively modest 4% from $1.11m (£717,000) to $1.06m, as the firm reduced its equity partner head count by 50 to 274.

    1 minute read

  • February 19, 2010 |

    Making partner increasingly out of reach for associates, says new study

    Shrinking revenues, pay cuts and layoffs mean that making partner is becoming an increasingly elusive goal for associates, according to a new study by Bloomberg. A predicted drop of as much as 10% in law firm revenues this year - according to a recent survey by Citi Private Bank - coupled with a decrease in partner promotions at several major firms has resulted in partners who have "grown reluctant to increase their own ranks by promoting salaried lawyers or even non-equity partners who can get some of their pay from profits," says the report, compiled by Bloomberg's Carlyn Kolker.

    1 minute read

  • February 18, 2010 |

    A&O partner joins Mayer Brown for global derivatives launch

    Allen & Overy (A&O) New York capital markets partner Josh Cohn has joined Mayer Brown to help launch a global derivatives and structured products practice for the firm. Top-rated derivatives partner Cohn joined Mayer Brown yesterday (17 February) as co-head of the new global practice alongside London-based partner Ed Parker. Cohn will also head the US side of the derivatives practice, replacing Joel Telpner, who left to join US rival Jones Day at the end of last year. The firm has a further six associates specialising in the field in New York.

    1 minute read

  • February 17, 2010 |

    Salans to open office in Brussels with Mayer Brown hires

    Salans is opening in Brussels with the hire of a seven-lawyer antitrust team from Mayer Brown. The office, which is due to open formally on 1 March, takes Salans to 22 offices worldwide and will be headed by partner Edward Borovikov.

    1 minute read

  • February 10, 2010 |

    BLP advises Portsmouth owner as football club wins stay of execution

    Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) has taken an advisory role on Portsmouth Football Club's ongoing fight for survival. The UK top 20 firm is advising Balram Chainrai, who last week took over a 90% shareholding in the Premier League club after former owner Ali Al-Faraj defaulted on a loan - reportedly worth £17m - to Chainrai's investment vehicle.

    1 minute read

  • January 27, 2010 |

    Banking and finance: The credit crunch after-party

    In 2002, a German bank in the backwater of Kiel, on the shores of the Baltic Sea, sought to boost its returns by investing in a synthetic credit default obligation (CDO) issued by Swiss banking giant UBS. The investment was a disaster: a near-total loss of $500m (£306m). When the German investor, now called HSH Nordbank, sued in February 2008, it became the first non-US party to bring a significant credit default case and made UBS the first non-US bank on the receiving end of one. This case between two European financial institutions is at the forefront of financial crisis claims on two continents - but mostly, ironically, in the US.

    1 minute read

  • January 21, 2010 |

    Vodafone appoints former Reuters general counsel as new legal chief

    Telecoms giant Vodafone has appointed former Reuters legal chief Rosemary Martin as its group general counsel and company secretary. Martin will take up her new role on 1 April, replacing Stephen Scott, who is retiring after 30 years with the company.

    1 minute read

  • January 19, 2010 |

    US execution of derivatives regulation act too hasty

    In 1733, Sir John Barnard, the Mayor of London, introduced an Act of Parliament which forbade the popular equity derivative contracts of the day. 2010 will probably be the most momentous year of derivatives regulation since, and not just in London but in Europe and the US, too.

    1 minute read