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  • March 18, 2010 |

    Trio of firms in dispute over Lehman bankruptcy fees cut

    Three US law firms are in a dispute over fees on the mammoth US bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers - which has already generated $300m (£200m) in legal costs - after their fees were reduced by marginal amounts, writes The Am Law Daily The fees dispute gained momentum earlier this week when three firms - Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy, Jones Day and Curtis Mallet-Prevost Colt & Mosle - filed papers protesting the Lehman fee committee's reductions of their bills for the period of 1 June 2009 through the end of September 2009.

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  • March 17, 2010 |

    Hammonds and CC advise on £281m healthcare buyout by Bridgepoint

    Hammonds and Clifford Chance (CC) have won leading roles on Bridgepoint Capital's £281m acquisition of social care provider Care UK. Hammonds corporate partner Trevor Ingle advised health and social care provider Care UK, a longstanding client of the firm, on its sale. The national law firm worked opposite CC corporate partners Lee Coney and Kem Ihenacho, who led the team advising Bridgepoint.

    1 minute read

  • March 17, 2010 |

    Macfarlanes after the slump: under the radar or off the map?

    What does Macfarlanes stand for these days? Macfarlanes senior partner Charles Martin certainly puts it succinctly: "Our goal is to be a pre-eminent independent City law firm, offering our clients a service that is partner-led and that takes advantage of our single site and compact size."

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  • March 16, 2010 |

    DLA Piper faces sexual discrimination claim from former partner

    DLA Piper is this week defending itself in a Liverpool employment tribunal against sexual discrimination allegations brought by a former partner. The six-day hearing kicked off yesterday (15 March) after former real estate partner Sarah Sweeney started proceedings against DLA Piper last year. Sweeney, who joined DLA Piper as a trainee in 1996, was asked to leave the firm in 2008 while pregnant with her son.

    1 minute read

  • March 15, 2010 |

    Unwanted attention: Linklaters takes headline role in Lehman report

    For our purposes, the highlight of the 2,200-page report released last Thursday (11 March) examining the demise of Lehman Brothers starts at around page 700, when the examiner, Jenner & Block chair Anton Valukas, delves into the accounting tricks Lehman used to temporarily shift $50bn (£33bn) in bad assets off of its balance sheet. This detail jumps out at us because the report names Linklaters as the only firm Lehman could find to bless the transactions in the way Lehman wanted, according to our reading of the report.

    1 minute read

  • March 3, 2010 |

    Simmons set to launch environment practice with Travers partner hire

    Simmons & Simmons is to launch a dedicated environment practice with the hire of Travers Smith's head of environment and planning Steven McNab. McNab, whose start date is still being negotiated, will take the title of head of environment at Simmons. He has been with Travers since 2006, having previously practised with Jones Day and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.

    1 minute read

  • February 24, 2010 |

    US firms scale back City recruitment as lateral hires fall to five-year low

    Lateral partner hiring by US firms in London fell to its lowest level since 2004 last year, according to new research from Legal Week. A survey of hiring trends at the City operations of 37 of the biggest US and transatlantic firms found there were just 59 lateral partner moves across the whole of 2009, with many firms shying away from expansion against the backdrop of the global recession.

    1 minute read

  • February 18, 2010 |

    A&O partner joins Mayer Brown for global derivatives launch

    Allen & Overy (A&O) New York capital markets partner Josh Cohn has joined Mayer Brown to help launch a global derivatives and structured products practice for the firm. Top-rated derivatives partner Cohn joined Mayer Brown yesterday (17 February) as co-head of the new global practice alongside London-based partner Ed Parker. Cohn will also head the US side of the derivatives practice, replacing Joel Telpner, who left to join US rival Jones Day at the end of last year. The firm has a further six associates specialising in the field in New York.

    1 minute read

  • February 16, 2010 |

    White & Case and Linklaters lead on first CIS bond offering of 2010

    White & Case and Linklaters have lined up on the first Eurobond offering in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) this year. White & Case was instructed by long-term oil client TNK-BP on its $1bn (£6.4m) issuance, providing English, US and Russian law advice. The offering was spilt into two $500m (£320m) issues, with the first a tranche of 6.25% notes due in 2015 and the second a tranche of 7.25% notes due in 2020. The proceeds of the offering will go towards funding investment programmes aimed at building up oil and gas production and reserves.

    1 minute read

  • February 12, 2010 |

    Orrick names new City head as Bartlam steps down

    Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe's London head Martin Bartlam has stepped down after five years in the role.The firm has appointed real estate partner Anne O'Neill as his replacement with immediate effect.

    1 minute read