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  • February 8, 2010 |

    A&O set to launch in Australia with partner hires: comment and reaction

    Allen & Overy (A&O) is set to enter Australia after hiring 17 new partners to open new offices in Sydney and Perth. Fourteen of the partners join from Australian firm Clayton Utz, which announced today (8 February) that the partners had tendered their resignation with the intention of joining the magic circle firm.

    1 minute read

  • February 5, 2010 |

    Ashurst powers up energy practice with hire of Centrica Energy GC

    Ashurst has secured a boost for its energy team with the hire of Centrica Energy & Europe general counsel Peter Roberts. Roberts will join the City firm's global energy team, which is headed up by Geoffrey Picton-Turbervill.

    1 minute read

  • February 1, 2010 |

    DLA Piper to defend disability discrimination claim

    DLA Piper is to contest a disability discrimination claim in the Employment Appeal Tribunal today (1 February).The top 10 UK law firm is appearing before the tribunal in a two-day hearing for allegedly withdrawing a job offer after the claimant disclosed a previous history of mental health conditions during the recruitment process.

    1 minute read

  • January 27, 2010 |

    Kirkland advises Japan Airlines on bankruptcy proceedings

    Kirkland & Ellis has landed a global mandate advising Japan Airlines (JAL) on its bankruptcy proceedings. The firm is fielding a team from Chicago, London and Hong Kong to advise the airline on one of the country's largest corporate failures.

    1 minute read

  • January 27, 2010 |

    Banking and finance: The credit crunch after-party

    In 2002, a German bank in the backwater of Kiel, on the shores of the Baltic Sea, sought to boost its returns by investing in a synthetic credit default obligation (CDO) issued by Swiss banking giant UBS. The investment was a disaster: a near-total loss of $500m (£306m). When the German investor, now called HSH Nordbank, sued in February 2008, it became the first non-US party to bring a significant credit default case and made UBS the first non-US bank on the receiving end of one. This case between two European financial institutions is at the forefront of financial crisis claims on two continents - but mostly, ironically, in the US.

    1 minute read

  • January 27, 2010 |

    Banking and finance: Starting forward again

    Despite predictions that the green shoots of recovery from the liquidity crisis are growing, most financial institutions remain under pressure to increase capital reserves and clean up their balance sheets. The limited availability of financing is affecting all corporate borrowers, irrespective of their ability to comply with the terms of existing financial arrangements. While over-leveraged borrowers continue to negotiate waivers and covenant suspensions, healthier borrowers are facing the growing fear that lenders will be unable to refinance existing facilities on maturity.

    1 minute read

  • January 19, 2010 |

    Freshfields and DLA lead on Sullivan and Gold's takeover of West Ham

    Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, DLA Piper, and Jones Day have scored lead roles on the takeover of West Ham United FC. David Gold and David Sullivan, the former owners of Birmingham City FC, have bought a 50% stake in the Premier League club - valuing it at £105m - from asset management company CB Holding, whose major shareholder is Icelandic bank Straumur.

    1 minute read

  • January 13, 2010 |

    Jones Day makes up London duo in 36-strong promotions round

    Jones Day has promoted two new partners in London out of a global total of 36 in the firm's annual partnership round. The new City-based partners are international litigation and arbitration specialist Nicholas Cotter and Barnaby Stueck in the US firm's trial practice.

    1 minute read

  • January 8, 2010 |

    A&O recruits Latham partner in Paris as quartet quit US firm

    Allen & Overy (A&O) has recruited a Latham & Watkins litigation partner in Paris in one of four partner departures from the US firm, reports The Am Law Daily. Jean-Christophe Tristant, an intellectual property (IP) licensing and litigation lawyer, is set to join A&O in Paris after the magic firm yesterday (7 January) announced the hire of a six-lawyer Clifford Chance team in the French capital.

    1 minute read

  • January 8, 2010 |

    SJ Berwin associate lands new role as director of mergers at OFT

    The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has recruited SJ Berwin lawyer Sheldon Mills as its new director of mergers. Mills, who will take up his new role on 15 February, joined SJ Berwin's EU and competition practice in January 2007 from the London office of US firm Jones Day.

    1 minute read