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  • April 15, 2009 |

    ING and CMC set to review legal panels

    ING and CMC Markets are gearing up to review their rosters of external legal advisers. Dutch financial group ING has already launched a review of its global legal panel, with the process being run by general counsel Jan Willem Vink, who last overhauled the bank's panel in 2003. Allen & Overy (A&O), Clifford Chance, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Linklaters, Lovells, Sullivan & Cromwell and De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek all sit on the group's current global panel.

    1 minute read

  • April 8, 2009 |

    Arrested development

    Over the last few months, increasing numbers of firms have been asking their 2009 graduate intake to delay their training contract start dates.Clifford Chance (CC), Norton Rose, Herbert Smith and Simmons & Simmons are among the firms to pay off recruits due to start in September, giving them the opportunity to put off their entry into the working world for a year. Some of the offers are dependent on the firms getting enough volunteers to defer; otherwise compulsory deferral may be introduced.

    1 minute read

  • April 8, 2009 |

    Field Fisher signs up Bevan Brittan planning team

    Field Fisher Waterhouse has bolstered its real estate practice with the hire of a three-lawyer planning and regeneration team from Bevan Brittan. The team, which is headed by partner Karen Cooksley, and includes partner Colette McCormack and senior associate Lindsay Garratt, gives Field Fisher its first formal planning and regeneration group within its real estate practice. In total, four partners and three associates will form the group.Cooksley spent five years with Bevan Brittan and had headed the regional firm's London office since 2007 as well as leading the planning and regeneration team.

    1 minute read

  • April 1, 2009 |

    Major US firms' City partner promotions hit a four-year low as only 34 make the grade

    Partner promotions at some of the largest US law firms in London hit a four-year low in 2009, with just 34 lawyers making the grade compared to 54 the year before, according to research from Legal Week. A survey of promotion trends at 28 leading US firms in London found promotions had increased each year between 2005 and 2008, before this year's fall. In 2005, 36 lawyers were made up, with that figure increasing to 38 for 2006 and 48 for 2007, before last year's bumper haul.

    1 minute read

  • April 1, 2009 |

    Reed Smith set to cut 28 UK jobs in new layoffs

    Reed Smith has made its second round of job cuts, with the layoffs affecting US lawyers as well as staff for the first time this recession, writes the Legal Intelligencer. The firm has began a redundancy consultation with nine UK associates and 19 UK staff members, while 17 associates and 55 support staff have been laid off in the US.Firm managing partner Gregory Jordan said the lawyer cuts were geared toward the firm's corporate and real estate practices, where demand is slow and is expected to remain that way in the "near to medium" future. Jordan said the lawyers cuts equate to about 4% of the firm's associate ranks with the staff cuts accounting for about 5% of the firmwide staff headcount.Severance will be paid to all of the employees in accordance with the firm's severance policy, which includes outplacement services.

    1 minute read

  • March 31, 2009 |

    BT set for online auction in legal adviser review

    BT has kicked off a sweeping review of its panel of external legal advisers, piloting an eBay-style online auction for its real estate panel as part of the process. Panel firms were contacted last month, with the review being led by group general counsel Anne Fletcher. It is expected to be completed within the next three to six months. The review comes after the telecoms giant launched an e-auction pilot for its real estate advisers earlier this year. The pilot saw seven firms bidding against each other on various criteria, including hourly rates and fixed prices, with the process also including formal interviews with each firm.

    1 minute read

  • March 26, 2009 |

    US firms in City reach new high for lateral hires

    Lateral partner hiring across the top US and international firms in London has almost doubled over the last five years, according to research from Legal Week.A survey of hiring trends at 33 US and transatlantic firms with operations in the City found the group made a total of 79 lateral partner hires during 2008 - 11 more than in 2007, despite the banking crisis and the onset of the global recession.

    1 minute read

  • March 18, 2009 |

    Proffitt and loss

    Thacher Proffitt & Wood real estate partner Donald Simone was at his desk on the 40th floor of the World Trade Center's south tower early on 11 September, 2001, pushing to close a deal, when United Airlines Flight 175 crashed into the building about three dozen floors above."When it hit, my whole office moved," Simone recalls. With the electricity off and ceiling tiles falling, he made his way to a stairwell and then to safety.

    1 minute read

  • March 18, 2009 |

    Policing the business

    "Everything goes back to reputation," says Michael Blacker, general counsel of FTSE 100 project management and services company AMEC, while discussing the increased importance of compliance issues - to all companies, not just banks - in the post-Lehman world. "The old cliche is true: a good reputation is difficult to acquire and easy to lose. And one of the easiest ways to lose it is by breaking the law."He cites the nuclear sector - in which AMEC has invested heavily during recent years - as an example of where senior management must be made fully aware of the implications of falling foul of regulation. "Not only is nuclear highly regulated, but it is extremely vulnerable to negative publicity. Naturally, this impacts on strategy. As general counsel, it is about knitting all those aspects together," he says.

    1 minute read

  • February 19, 2009 |

    New QC appointments round sees 104 take silk

    The latest round of QC appointments has been announced today (19 February), with more than a hundred barristers claiming the elite kitemark. One hundred and four out of a total of 247 applicants have been awarded QC status, a success rate of 42% - a significant increase on the 2007-08 figure of 29%.However, the total of 247 applications received by the QC selection panel was a sharp drop from last year's total of 333 and a further drop from the 443 applicants in 2006-07.

    1 minute read