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  • May 21, 2008 |

    The Treasury Department's false alarm sounds

    Who says lawyers aren't an excitable bunch? On Friday, 29 March, the US Department of the Treasury released a 22-page summary of a radical plan to revolutionise a wide swathe of financial markets. Lawyers sprang into action. Many spent the weekend dissecting the summary and answering calls from panicked clients. Of course, the promise of sweet, sweet billables made the loss of Saturday and Sunday a little more palatable. The following Monday, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson held a press conference to announce the new plan, which covered everything from hedge funds to home mortgages. Lawyers felt an earthquake coming. Sweeping new regulations would mean one practice area would boom, another would die. There would be new laws to learn and new deals to make.

    1 minute read

  • May 20, 2008 |

    2008 Assistant Pay League: a Legal Week Wiki special

    Who pays what and how. Your A-Z guide to the pay scales at the top UK and US firms.

    1 minute read

  • May 14, 2008 |

    Skadden secures €1.3bn rights issue role for Portuguese bank

    Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom's London arm has advised Banco Comercial Portugues (BCP) on its €1.3bn (£1.03bn) rights issue. London capital markets partner James Healy led the Skadden team on the capital raising, which closed on 6 May. BCP, the largest Portuguese bank listed on the Euronext 100 index, has used Skadden on other corporate transactions in the past but has also turned to firms including Allen & Overy (A&O) and Freshfields Bruckhaus & Deringer.

    1 minute read

  • May 13, 2008 |

    New York duo lead HP's $14bn EDS swoop

    Manhattan duo Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton and Willkie Farr & Gallagher have landed lead roles on the $13.9bn (£7.1bn) acquisition of Electronic Data Systems (EDS) by technology giant Hewlett-Packard (HP). Cleary advised HP, fielding a team led by New York-based M&A partners Christopher Austin, Benet O'Reilly and Victor Lewkow.

    1 minute read

  • May 12, 2008 |

    Slaughters' best friends – lots of necessity, not so much virtue

    There is an interesting piece from the always good–value Dominic Carman, writing in this month’s Legal Business, built around a meeting with…

    1 minute read

  • May 8, 2008 |

    Big four integration has legs for legal

    For years law firms have justified operating in networks or within firms branded as a single entity by using separate partnerships by pointing to the big…

    1 minute read

  • May 8, 2008 |

    Cleary leads as US firms hit 20% mark on diversity

    Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton has been crowned as the US's most ethnically-diverse major law firm, according to research that shows US firms drawing on a wider pool of talent. The research, conducted by Legal Week sister title Minority Law Journal, puts Cleary at the head of an extensive ranking based on diversity of workforce.

    1 minute read

  • April 22, 2008 |

    Jones Day joins NY elite on $7bn fundraising

    Jones Day has bagged a role alongside a clutch of leading New York firms on a $7bn (£3.5m) fundraising by US lender National City. Sullivan & Cromwell advised Cleveland-based National City alongside Jones Day, while Simpson Thacher & Bartlett advised Corsair Capital, the largest single investor. Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton also landed a role advising Axon, another of the investors.

    1 minute read

  • April 17, 2008 |

    City firms renew lobbying and step up local hiring as Indian Bar reform stalls

    A delegation of City lawyers headed to India this week as partners predict further delays in opening up the legal market to foreign firms while the country prepares for a general election. Talks about liberalising the legal sector are set to take a back seat as the Indian Government looks at prioritising wider issues such as poverty and infrastructure.

    1 minute read

  • April 16, 2008 |

    From start to finish

    Step 1Get your degree A qualifying law degree has traditionally been the first step on the road to becoming a solicitor. It will exempt you from the Common Professional Examination (CPE) or Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL), provided it covers all seven foundations of legal knowledge: obligations I (contract) and II (tort); criminal law; equity and law of trusts; European Union (EU) law; property law; and public law.

    1 minute read