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  • August 19, 2010 |

    US firms in driving seat on upcoming General Motors listing

    Jenner & Block and Davis Polk & Wardwell have secured lead roles on General Motors' highly-anticipated initial public offering (IPO), reports The Am Law Daily. The car manufacturing giant filed for the IPO yesterday (18 August), just over a year after the company emerged from bankruptcy. Jenner corporate partners Joseph Gromacki, William Tolbert and Brian Boch are lead issuer's counsel for the IPO. Gromacki chairs Jenner's corporate practice and serves as co-chair of the firm's securities practice.

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  • August 18, 2010 |

    Ropes & Gray set to launch graduate training scheme in City base

    Ropes & Gray is set to take on graduates in its London practice as the US firm looks to expand in the City. The firm's existing London strategy has been to grow through lateral hires, but as the burgeoning practice begins to consolidate its presence in the UK, management is beginning to consider a formal graduate recruitment arrangement.

    1 minute read

  • August 16, 2010 |

    Weil cooks up lead role on Gordon Ramsay TV production company sale

    Weil Gotshal & Manges has taken the lead role on All3Media's £40m acquisition of Optomen, the TV production company behind shows including The F Word, in a deal that will hand millions of pounds to celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay. The deal sees All3Media acquire Optomen and One Potato Two Potato, which was set up as a joint venture with Ramsay in 2008 and produces all of his hit TV series, including the US versions of Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares and Hell's Kitchen.

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  • August 12, 2010 |

    View from the ground - Employee Satisfaction Report 2010

    With junior lawyers no longer buying into the partnership dream and the fallout from the tough tactics adopted during the recession beginning to bite, this year's Employee Satisfaction Report poses plenty of questions for law firms to tackle. Alex Novarese analyses the results

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  • August 12, 2010 |

    Weil and Skadden head up latest billion-dollar AIG sell-off

    Weil Gotshal & Manges and Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom have taken the lead roles on AIG's sale of an 80% stake in its consumer finance lender, American General Finance (AGF), to the Fortress Investment Group, reports The Am Law Daily. The purchase price of the deal - which will allow AIG to offload between $17bn (£11bn) and $19bn (£12bn) worth of debt - has not been disclosed, but AGF has been previously valued at around $2bn (£1.3bn).

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  • August 9, 2010 |

    Linklaters heads up trio of firms on $3.2bn RBS private equity sell-off

    Linklaters, Kirkland & Ellis and Weil Gotshal & Manges have taken lead roles on the $3.2bn (£2bn) acquisition of the Royal Bank of Scotland's payment-processing unit by Bain Capital and Advent International, reports The Am Law Daily. Bain and Advent have both targeted a purchase of the RBS unit, called WorldPay, for several years, according to Advent's managing director James Brocklebank.

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  • July 26, 2010 |

    Lehman US legal fees near $400m as Weil Gotshal bills total $200m

    Legal fees billed on Lehman Brothers' US bankruptcy have have reached almost $400m (£266m) according to public documents, writes The American Lawyer. According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday (22 July), adviser fees since the case was filed in September 2008 have now reached $873.1m (£582m) with 17 law firms being paid almost $396.7m (£265m) by the debtor. Lehman's lead counsel at Weil Gotshal & Manges is by far the biggest earner on the matter. The firm's Lehman bill now stands at nearly $200.6m (£134m).

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  • July 23, 2010 |

    Slaughters, CC act on €805m Unilever sell-off as M&A revival continues

    Slaughter and May and Clifford Chance (CC) have won lead roles on the €805m (£677m) sale of Unilever's Italian frozen food business. The deal, which was announced earlier this week (19 July), will see Birds Eye Iglo acquire the Findus Italy business from its current owner Unilever, with Slaughters acting for the seller and CC winning the buyer's instruction. Slaughters' Italian 'best friend' firm Bonelli Erede Pappalardo took the main local law role with the two firms advising the clients as an integrated team.

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  • July 16, 2010 |

    Weil Gotshal unfreezes associate lockstep and hikes NQ rate to £90k

    Weil Gotshal & Manges has lifted last year's salary freeze for associates in the US firm's London office. The firm has restarted progression through the lockstep pay bands, and has increased the levels of the bands by 4%. Newly-qualified pay has also been increased, and now stands at £90,000, up from last year's figure of £85,000.

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  • July 15, 2010 |

    Deal activity remains patchy despite rebound predictions

    With the exception of a few very large deals early this year, such as Prudential's ambitious but ill-fated bid to purchase the Asian assets of AIG and Novartis' $28bn (£17.4bn) acquisition of a majority stake inAlcon, the deal market this year has offered precious support for those banking on a revival taking hold. Not only was there a slight dip (4.1%) in announced global deals from the second half of 2009, corporate activity was particularly hit in the UK during the first half of 2010, with the domestic market seeing a 28%fall in deal volume against the first six months of 2009.

    1 minute read