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  • April 17, 2008 |

    City giants pledge £750k to finance trainee diversity drive

    A clutch of London's leading law firms have committed around three-quarters of a million pounds to an initiative that aims to increase diversity in the legal profession. Thirteen members of the City Solicitors' Educational Trust (CSET) have set aside £250,000 for next year to finance the new project - aimed at encouraging students from a wider range of universities and backgrounds to consider a career in law - with similar totals expected for 2009 and 2010.

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  • April 17, 2008 |

    McDermott hit by $200m malpractice suit

    McDermott Will & Emery is being sued for legal malpractice by a bankruptcy trustee of former client St Vincent's Catholic Medical Centers of New York, writes the New York Law Journal, with the claim alleging that partners at the Chicago-based law firm "put their personal relationships and selfish economic concerns above the interests of the charitable institution they were entrusted to protect".

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  • April 15, 2008 |

    Kirkland captures Chicago trio from rival

    Kirkland & Ellis has hired a trio of partners from Mayer Brown in Chicago, adding in private equity, real estate and tax. Bruce Gelman, Thomas Geraghty and Joshua Hanna have all joined from the Chicago base of the rival US firm, where they were all partners.

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  • April 10, 2008 |

    Norton Rose gains from Links' latest German exit

    Linklaters has lost a partner, two associates and a counsel from its Frankfurt arm, continuing a run of departures from the City giant's German practice. Linklaters tax partner Martin Krause will join rival City firm Norton Rose on 1 May, along with two associates. They join the banking and capital markets practice group at their new firm.

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  • April 4, 2008 |

    US Briefing: Recruiter's Akin Gump suit dismissed

    A New York judge has thrown out a lawsuit brought against Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld by a recruiter who claimed the firm stiffed him on a partner placement commission. Eric Sivin of Sivin-Tobin Associates claimed he was entitled to a fee because he first introduced the firm to Korea specialist Chang-Joo Kim, who joined the firm as a lateral partner in 2006. The dispute highlighted the difficulties that can arise in a market for lateral partners that can be as competitive for recruiters as for the lawyers they represent.

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  • April 3, 2008 |

    US duo lead on Grid's $3bn power station sale

    Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom and Mayer Brown have landed top roles on the $2.9bn (£1.5bn) sale of Ravenswood power station in New York by National Grid. Skadden advised National Grid, fielding a team led by New York corporate partner Sheldon Adler and including Washington M&A partner Pankaj Sinha and New York banking partner Julia Czarniak.

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  • April 3, 2008 |

    Boardman hits AmLaw's deal partner list as sole UK lawyer

    Slaughter and May corporate heavyweight Nigel Boardman has become the only UK partner to feature in a ranking of leading deal lawyers compiled by Legal Week's US sister title The American Lawyer. The magazine's annual Dealmakers of the Year list shows Boardman, who has been a partner with Slaughters since 1982 after joining the firm in 1973, to be the sole UK face among a group of high-profile US partners.

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  • April 1, 2008 |

    Now Gibson Dunn targeted in Refco fall-out

    Gibson Dunn & Crutcher is the latest law firm to be named in a suit stemming from the breakdown of commodities firm Refco, writes The American Lawyer. The action, filed by liquidators and the trustee for Sphinx Funds, a family of funds that collapsed after doing business with Refco, was filed on 8 March in New York trial court. A notice of removal to federal district court in Manhattan was filed by one of the defendants on 28 March.

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  • March 31, 2008 |

    French independent takes Asia team from rival

    UGGC & Associes, the French ally of UK national giant Addleshaw Goddard, has extended its reach overseas after taking on the entire Asian practice of domestic rival Adamas. The deal adds 25 lawyers and branches in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Taipei to UGGC's network of offices, which also includes outposts in Brussels and Casablanca. Adamas partners Franck Desevedavy, Olivier Dubuis, Olivier Lefebure, Alina Quach and Arnaud Depierrefeu all transfer to UGGC as part of the move.

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  • March 18, 2008 |

    Expansive Skadden set for Sao Paulo launch

    Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom is to open a new office in Sao Paulo, the US giant announced today (18 March). The new branch is expected to open in May or June and represents Skadden's first foray into South America, although the firm established its Latin America practice group almost 20 years ago.

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