• August 7, 2008 |

    Top firms line up as SocGen kicks off review

    French banking giant Societe Generale (SocGen) is reviewing its global panel of legal advisers, with a raft of City and international firms applying to be considered. Firms will be appointed to the panel for a three-year period starting on 1 January, 2009, with the initial deadline for applications closing at the end of last month. SocGen general counsel Frederic de Brouwer and deputy head of legal for Europe, competition law and group legal David Bourdon are understood to be co-ordinating the review.

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  • August 6, 2008 |

    Dentons tends to Patientline administration

    Denton Wilde Sapte has won the lead role on the collapse of Patientline.Patientline, which provides telephone, television and internet services for patients in hospitals, was placed into administration on 25 July.The top 20 firm has been advising administrator Deloitte on the collapse as well as advising a syndicate of lending banks to the company. The banks, which include Royal Bank of Scotland and HSBC, have exchanged some £35m of their debt in Patientline in return for shares in a new company, Hospedia, which now owns Patientline UK.

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  • August 6, 2008 |

    Something wicket this way comes

    The Diary has always maintained that the best way to cope with an impending economic apocalypse is a wholesome game of cricket - the reassuring thud of leather on willow, balmy summer evenings sipping Pimm's, grassy knees, and so on

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  • July 31, 2008 |

    Welcome to The Cadwalader Effect

    This blog is not really about Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft and the New York-based law firm’s recent decision to fire 96 lawyers (there is plenty…

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  • July 24, 2008 |

    Herbies' finance push: poor start, improving middle…

    Hopes, it has to be said, weren’t high when Herbert Smith starting making noises about building a serious finance practice three years back. The…

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  • July 17, 2008 |

    Testing times ahead: top lawyers' verdict on what the next 12 months holds in store

    Leading figures give their views on how the legal world fared over the past financial year and what they expect to happen next

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  • July 17, 2008 |

    Norton Rose chosen for Thames Gateway panel

    Norton Rose has secured a new panel appointment, winning a post advising the London Thames Gateway Development Corporation (LTGDC), alongside Denton Wilde Sapte. The three-year appointment will see both firms providing the development company with planning advice, attending committee meetings and negotiating planning obligations. The appointment marks Norton Rose's first seat on the panel and follows a pitch led by the firm's planning chief Nigel Hewitson, and environment, safety and planning head, Caroline May.

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  • July 16, 2008 |

    A place in the sun

    The Middle East is a hot target for law firm expansion. As well as Dubai's continuing popularity, Abu Dhabi, Qatar and Saudi Arabia are all in need of good commercial lawyers, says Philip Hoult

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  • July 10, 2008 |

    Dentons seals IPO double with Eastern Europe energy roles

    Denton Wilde Sapte has scored a lead role on two main market listings in the space of a month as energy companies Arawak Energy and Cadogan Petroleum complete their initial public offerings (IPOs).

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  • July 9, 2008 |

    Dentons Islamic finance expert joins Norton Rose

    Denton Wilde Sapte's former head of Islamic finance, Farmida Bi, has joined Norton Rose after more than six months of gardening leave. Bi, who will work on debt capital markets and securitisation work, had been on gardening leave since handing in her notice in November. She joins partners Laurence Garside, Tak Matsuda, Sandrine Sauvel, Dean Naumowicz, and Islamic finance head Neil Miller.

    1 minute read