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  • April 4, 2011 |

    DLA Piper's EMEA private equity head joins Ropes & Gray's London base

    Ropes & Gray has added to its London private equity practice with the hire of DLA Piper's EMEA private equity chief Will Rosen. Rosen, who joined DLA from fellow US firm Weil Gotshal & Manges in 2008, advises private equity funds and corporate clients on M&A, venture capital investments and private equity transactions. He is expected to join Ropes in June.

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  • April 1, 2011 |

    Jones Day's London head and Euro private equity chief exit firm

    Jones Day's London managing partner Russell Carmedy and European head of private equity Michael Nouril are set to leave the firm. The pair handed in their notice earlier today (1 April). Corporate partner Carmedy has led Jones Day's UK practice since the firm merged with Gouldens in 2003, when Carmedy was co-managing partner of the UK firm. His practice focuses on cross-border M&A and leveraged private equity and he has advised on deals in sectors including natural resources, healthcare, and technology.

    1 minute read

  • April 1, 2011 |

    Three Ashurst US securities partners to depart firm's London office

    Ashurst is set to see all three of its London-based US securities partners leave the firm. Corporate partners Daniel Bushner, Eric Stuart and Marie Elena Angulo have handed in their notice, with the departures first reported on legal website RollonFriday earlier this morning (1 April). A partner at the firm said Ashurst intended to replace the trio with a team of lateral hires, stating that they were in 'advanced talks' with at least two partners from a rival firm.

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  • March 21, 2011 |

    Weil adds partner to City capital markets team with Shearman hire

    Weil Gotshal & Manges has added to its London capital markets practice with the hire of a new partner from Shearman & Sterling. Rob Ferguson, who will join Weil's partnership from his of counsel role at Shearman, has a mainly issuer-focused equity practice, and advises on a range of capital markets transactions including high yield and investment grade debt and equity offerings. His investment banking clients have included Barclays Capital, Credit Suisse, HSBC, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Standard Chartered Bank.

    1 minute read

  • March 16, 2011 |

    A Huawei backlash? China's new security regime for foreign deals bodes ill for Western lawyers

    Last month, leading Chinese networking equipment maker Huawei Technologies bowed to a recommendation by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US (CFIUS) and withdrew its attempt to purchase $2m (£1.24m) worth of server patents from California's 3Leaf Systems. The inter-agency CFIUS, charged with reviewing transactions for national security risks, had voiced concern about Huawei's possible ties to the Chinese military. Similar concerns killed Huawei's 2008 attempt to buy a stake in networking company 3Com, which was later acquired by Hewlett-Packard. In February, the Chinese company released an open letter asking the US Government to conduct a formal investigation to dispel the "rumours and misperceptions" that Huawei somehow posed a threat to US national security.

    1 minute read

  • March 9, 2011 |

    Ropes signs up Jones Day partner for new City private equity team

    Ropes & Gray has recruited a Jones Day partner for its London private equity practice, in the second partner addition to the new team this month. The US firm has sealed the hire of Peter Baldwin, who has been at Jones Day since 2008 after joining from Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft.

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  • March 4, 2011 |

    Macfarlanes partner duo exit firm for Clydes and Fladgate moves

    Macfarlanes is set to see the departure of two City partners, with planning head Ian Ginbey and real estate partner Richard Reuben joining Clyde & Co and Fladgate respectively. Ginbey, who specialises in appeals, environmental impact assessments and High Court litigation, is set to join Clydes at the end of April to lead the firm's London planning group, while Reuben will also leave Macfarlanes next month.

    1 minute read

  • March 1, 2011 |

    Norton Rose signs up to initiative to identify minority candidates for vac schemes

    Norton Rose has partnered with a not-for-profit organisation to help the firm sign up more black and ethnic minority (BME) candidates for its summer vacation scheme. The UK top 10 firm has signed an agreement to work with Sponsors for Educational Opportunity (SEO), an organisation which arranges placements with London professional services firms, including law firms and banks. The move is part of a diversity push at Norton Rose, with the firm hoping that the cooperation will help it identify BME interns for its two summer vacation schemes, which between them offer a total of 30 places.

    1 minute read

  • March 1, 2011 |

    US invaders back on the offensive

    The number of partner promotions in the City offices of US law firms is on track to exceed last year's tally, with 33 new partners made up in London in 2011 so far out of a global promotions total of 382. Legal Week's annual survey of US firms' lateral partner hiring and internal appointments found there have been only five fewer partner promotions in London so far this year than in the whole of 2010.

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  • February 22, 2011 |

    The Global 100: The tracks of my tiers

    Once again, it's merger-talk season. There was a flurry of activity last year that culminated in the various Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal, Norton Rose and Squire Sanders & Dempsey transoceanic combinations. They were notable because they all opted to organise as Swiss vereins rather than single-profit sharing partnerships, and all were motivated, at least in part, by a desire to get bigger so they could compete for work and talent that was waiting for those firms that, well, got bigger. The wooing continues. Consultants log George Clooney-esque air miles trying to complete promising law firm mergers. And partners seek to convince themselves either that they're not being acquired or that an acquisition is necessary to have a chance at becoming one of the Select 17 (or whatever) who will stand astride the known world, someday really soon.

    1 minute read