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  • April 12, 2010 |

    Departure of Stevens leaves big shoes to fill at US Supreme Court

    US Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, a one-time centrist maverick who became a powerful leader of the Court's liberal wing, announced his retirement on Friday (9 May), just 11 days short of his 90th birthday. When Stevens departs at the end of the current term in late June or early July, he will have been one of the oldest and longest-serving justices in US history, appointed by President Gerald Ford in 1975, and the last justice with World War II service.

    1 minute read

  • April 6, 2010 |

    A&O and Jones Day lead as Virgin Money seals investment for RBS bid

    Allen & Overy (A&O) and Jones Day have taken lead roles on the tie-up between Richard Branson's Virgin Money and US investor Wilbur Ross, reports The Am Law Daily. Ross has agreed to invest £100m in Virgin Money in exchange for a 21% stake in the company, and the billionaire is set to inject as much as £500m more into Virgin Money to help it in its bid to acquire distressed British banking assets.

    1 minute read

  • March 24, 2010 |

    Training and education: The evolution of legal training

    Since its establishment in January 2007, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has indelibly stamped its mark on the profession. Having introduced a new code of conduct in 2007 and overhauled the Legal Practice Course, the SRA in 2008 began to tackle the training contract, which has been the route for qualification as a solicitor since 1994, by trialing a new system for training lawyers. "We're aiming to make the legal profession one pure meritocracy," declares SRA education and training manager Tim Pearce.

    1 minute read

  • 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.

    1 minute read

  • 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."

    1 minute read

  • 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