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  • September 29, 2008 |

    US legal elite lead on Citi's Wachovia buy-out

    Four leading Wall Street firms have advised on the latest grand-scale banking rescue as Wachovia joins the ranks of banking giants to fall victim to the credit crunch. Davis Polk & Wardwell and Sullivan & Cromwell took the lead roles on Citi's acquisition of Wachovia's banking operations for $2.16bn (£1.16bn). Citi will take on around $53bn (£29bn) worth of Wachovia debt in the rescue deal, backed by the US Government.Sullivan advised Wachovia on the deal, while Davis Polk advised Citi, led by M&A partners John Ettinger and Phillip Mills and financial institutions partner Randall Guynn.

    1 minute read

  • September 26, 2008 |

    Sullivan acts on JPMorgan's $1.9bn WaMu buy-out

    Sullivan & Cromwell has taken the lead role on JPMorgan's $1.9bn (£1bn) purchase of Washington Mutual (WaMu) assets, following the US Government seizing the savings and loan association last night (25 September). Sullivan advised JPMorgan, led by chairman Rodgin Cohen and flanked by finance and M&A partner Mitch Eitel. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett is understood to have taken the lead mandate advising Washington Mutual.Cravath Swaine & Moore also took a role as JPMorgan simultaneously launched a $10bn (£5.4bn) fundraising, selling common stock to the public to add capital to its balance sheet. New York-based corporate partner William Fogg led the Cravath team.

    1 minute read

  • September 18, 2008 |

    Lehman advisers set to be hit in bank's collapse

    Regular advisers to Lehman Brothers could lose millions of pounds in legal fees following the shock demise of one of Wall Street's leading investment houses. City firms including Ashurst, Allen & Overy (A&O), Linklaters, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Lovells all sit on Lehman's UK legal panel, with the bank estimated to spend some £40m in legal fees globally each year.Data from Mergermarket shows that Ashurst, Linklaters and Herbert Smith took the lion's share of Lehman's work on European M&A deals over the last year, with roles on deals including Carlsberg's takeover of Scottish & Newcastle and Alcoa's acquisition of a stake in Rio Tinto.Similarly, in the US, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and the already troubled Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft have close links to the 158-year old investment house.While several firms have since won lucrative roles relating to the bankruptcy, it leaves others exposed at a time of already decreased activity in both the finance and corporate markets. In addition to a lack of future mandates from the bank, the firms look set to lose fees for work they are already owed.

    1 minute read

  • September 17, 2008 |

    Latham makes Middle East counsel additions

    Latham & Watkins has added two counsel to its Middle East practice and one in Asia. Mark Godfrey has joined the Abu Dhabi corporate team from Allen & Overy while Craig Stoehr has joined in Doha. Stoehr previously worked in the firm's New York office before taking on a range of roles outside law. In Asia, Latham has hired Louis Rabinowitz from Simpson Thacher & Bartlett. Rabinowitz will initially be based in the firm's Hong Kong office but will also spend significant time working with the firm's Tokyo lawyers.

    1 minute read

  • September 17, 2008 |

    US trio lead on AIG's $85bn Government bailout

    Details are slowly leaking out about how close AIG came to following Lehman Brothers into bankruptcy, only to have the Federal Reserve Bank of New York bail it out with an $85bn (£47.5bn) loan. Davis Polk & Wardwell represented the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve on the deal, according to the firm. The team was led by partners Bradley Smith and Marshall Huebner. Two sources with direct knowledge of the deal say Sullivan & Cromwell represented AIG, while Simpson Thacher & Bartlett represented AIG's board of directors.

    1 minute read

  • September 15, 2008 |

    A dark mood on Wall St

    The world's leading law firms are facing an uncertain new landscape following the demise of two of Wall Street's biggest and most established…

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  • September 10, 2008 |

    Enron firms land record $688m class action payout

    A US district court judge has approved an award of $688m (£391m) in legal fees - the largest award in class action history - to plaintiffs lawyers that obtained $7.2bn (£4.1bn) for former Enron shareholders, reports The Am Law Daily. Judge Melinda Harmon ruled on Monday (8 September) that class counsel should receive 9.52% of the total recovery, including interest. As counsel to the suit's lead plaintiff, the Regents of the University of California, San Diego firm Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins is poised to pocket a substantial amount of the record legal fees.Judge Harmon called the $688m award no 'windfall,' but a "reasonable fee earned by an extraordinary group of lawyers who achieved the largest settlement fund ever despite the great odds against them."

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  • September 4, 2008 |

    A&O closes in on Sao Paulo launch as elite law firms pile into Latin America

    CC drafts in senior lawyers to Brazil, DLA Piper mulls LatAm launch and A&O gears up for Sao Paulo debut.Allen & Overy (A&O) is set to launch its first Latin American office within weeks, it has emerged, as growing numbers of international law firms look to make their mark in the region.

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  • August 15, 2008 |

    JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley settle securities probes

    JPMorgan Chase & Co and Morgan Stanley will spend more than $7bn (£3.8bn) buying buy back auction-rate securities in a settlement announced on Thursday by New York state attorney general Andrew Cuomo and Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) enforcement division director Linda Thomsen, writes The American Lawyer. The deal ends investigations by the SEC and several states' attorney generals into false claims made by the two banks in marketing auction-rate securities. At issue was the banks' continuing effort to bill the securities as a safe investment even after the unravelling credit markets made them risky, less easily liquidated bets.

    1 minute read

  • August 8, 2008 |

    Kirkland becomes latest to launch in Palo Alto

    Kirkland & Ellis has launched in the coveted tech market of Palo Alto, in a move that hands the Chicago-based law firm its third practice in California, writes The Am Law Daily. The firm said the move, which comes five years after Kirkland set up an office in San Francisco, was driven by the growth of its Bay Area practice."It was not an issue of space," says patent litigator Chadd Taylor, who now heads up the new branch after transferring from San Francisco. "We just want full access to the Bay Area for client relationships and recruiting."

    1 minute read