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  • February 6, 2008 | International Edition

    Hiring trends at US firms in London fail to match 2005 five-year high

    US firms hired 67 partners across the City in 2007 - a slight dip on the recruitment peak of 2005, despite last year's booming markets. Legal Week research into hiring trends at 24 of the US' biggest players in the UK found that while recruitment activity was up on 2006 - when 60 partners joined US practices - it failed to match 2005's five-year high of 72.Much of the activity came in the mid-market. Mayer Brown was the biggest lateral recruiter of 2007, with the firm bringing in nine partners, including two high-profile names - McDermott Will & Emery corporate partner William Charnley and Ashurst real estate partner Gary Watson.

    1 minute read

  • February 6, 2008 |

    Hiring trends at US firms in London fail to match 2005 five-year high

    US firms hired 67 partners across the City in 2007 - a slight dip on the recruitment peak of 2005, despite last year's booming markets. Legal Week research into hiring trends at 24 of the US' biggest players in the UK found that while recruitment activity was up on 2006 - when 60 partners joined US practices - it failed to match 2005's five-year high of 72.Much of the activity came in the mid-market. Mayer Brown was the biggest lateral recruiter of 2007, with the firm bringing in nine partners, including two high-profile names - McDermott Will & Emery corporate partner William Charnley and Ashurst real estate partner Gary Watson.

    1 minute read

  • February 6, 2008 |

    Commentary: Russian IPOs - hoping East keeps on meeting West

    As a cautious breed, lawyers are often the last to get excited about what they read in the press. So when claims emerged last week that Russian aluminium giant RUSAL was planning to turn its back on London in favour of a float in Hong Kong, many senior capital markets lawyers were yet to press the panic button. But whether or not there are any legs to the story, one firm that should view such talk as a warning shot is Ashurst. The City firm is advising on the listing alongside Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, but would risk losing its role if the offer moves away from London, as it has no office in Hong Kong.The stakes are considerable - Ashurst has advised RUSAL, the world's largest aluminium producer, on most of its biggest corporate deals to date, a track record that has made the company one of its most lucrative clients. The firm is currently advising on its acquisition of a stake in Norilsk Nickel and took a lead role on its $30bn (£15.2bn) merger with Sual in 2006.

    1 minute read

  • February 4, 2008 |

    Cleary called in for Reliance's record Indian IPO

    Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton has bagged a lead role advising on the $2.93bn (£1.48bn) initial public offering (IPO) of Indian energy group Reliance Power - understood to be the largest IPO seen to date in the key emerging market. Cleary advised the underwriters, led by investment banks Kotak Mahindra Capital Company and UBS Securities India, on the listing on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange of India.

    1 minute read

  • February 1, 2008 |

    New York giants lead on $19bn Citi fundraising

    Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton and Sullivan & Cromwell are among a clutch of US firms to have claimed advisory roles on a major finance deal that will see sovereign funds totalling $12.5bn (£6.3bn) dispensed to US banking giant Citigroup. Cleary and Sullivan acted as counsel to Citigroup, which has raised $12.5bn through private placements with investors including the investment arms of the Singapore and Kuwaiti governments.

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  • February 1, 2008 | International Edition

    CC celebrates $14bn Chinalco corporate coup

    Clifford Chance (CC) has won a high-profile mandate to advise the Aluminium Corporation of China (Chinalco) on its joint acquisition with Alcoa of a 12% stake in Rio Tinto for around $14bn (£7bn). The deal marks CC's first instruction from the client and is thought to represent the largest-ever overseas investment by a Chinese company. The move could block the efforts of Anglo-Australian mining company BHP Billiton to buy Rio Tinto.

    1 minute read

  • February 1, 2008 |

    CC celebrates $14bn Chinalco corporate coup

    Clifford Chance (CC) has won a high-profile mandate to advise the Aluminium Corporation of China (Chinalco) on its joint acquisition with Alcoa of a 12% stake in Rio Tinto for around $14bn (£7bn). The deal marks CC's first instruction from the client and is thought to represent the largest-ever overseas investment by a Chinese company. The move could block the efforts of Anglo-Australian mining company BHP Billiton to buy Rio Tinto.

    1 minute read

  • January 16, 2008 |

    London lawyers fare well in US firms' latest partnership promotions round

    London lawyers have made up around 10% of US firms' overall partnership additions in the latest promotions round. The latest firms to announce their promotions are Dechert, Jones Day and McDermott Will & Emery, which between them have named 98 lawyers as partners worldwide, although only nine of those are London based.

    1 minute read

  • January 13, 2008 |

    European M&A: And then there were four (plus Cleary)

    Unfortunately for pundits, the Legal Week/Mergermarket primary adviser table, which tracks advisers with lead M&A roles on Europe’s top corporate…

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  • January 9, 2008 |

    UK's 'big four' outpace Euro rivals in 2007 adviser tables

    If there was any doubt that Europe's major deal market is dominated by just a handful of players, Legal Week's primary adviser deal rankings for 2007 comprehensively show the top four UK firms to be a class apart from their rivals.

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