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  • October 13, 2011 |

    Winston & Strawn seals hire of Ashurst litigation chief for City base

    Ashurst's outgoing litigation chief Michael Madden is set to join the London office of US firm Winston & Strawn. Madden, whose departure from Ashurst was first reported by Legal Week yesterday (12 October), has been hired with a remit to launch a London commercial litigation practice for Winston. The firm is planning to recruit additional laterals in the coming months.

    1 minute read

  • October 12, 2011 |

    Addleshaws ups pay for NQ lawyers in both London and the regions

    Addleshaw Goddard has pushed up salaries for its newly-qualified (NQ) lawyers, with those in the firm's regional offices seeing pay increase by 4%, against a rise of under 2% in London. The increase, which took effect last month, saw salaries for NQs in Leeds and Manchester increase from £36,500 to £38,000, while London counterparts saw pay nudge up from £58,000 to £59,000.

    1 minute read

  • October 6, 2011 |

    Network Rail recruits new legal chief with hire of Premier Foods GC

    Premier Foods general counsel Suzanne Wise is set to leave the FTSE 100 company to take up the same role at Network Rail. The move, which follows the departure of Network Rail's group company secretary Hazel Walker at the end of September, will see Wise start as general counsel at the rail operator in early 2012.

    1 minute read

  • October 5, 2011 |

    Addleshaws ramps ups paralegal numbers at new centre to cut client fees

    Addleshaw Goddard has grown the number of paralegals in its recently-formed transaction services team (TST) in Manchester to more than 40 as the national law firm prepares to send more chargeable work to the centre in a bid to keep costs down for clients. The firm has increased staff in the team from five at the time it was piloted in November last year to 42, with the intention of boosting numbers to more than 60 as it is used by more practice areas.

    1 minute read

  • September 28, 2011 |

    Addleshaws and Linklaters lead on $408m Mexican gas terminal JV

    Addleshaw Goddard and Linklaters have picked up lead roles on the financing of a liquefied natural gas terminal acquisition in Mexico. The deal saw a joint venture (JV) between Spanish gas storage company Enagas and tank storage company Royal Vopak acquire the Altamira LNG terminal in Mexico for $408m (£264m). The JV acquired 100% of the shares in the terminal from Shell (which owned 50%), Total (25%) and Mitsui & Co (25%) through the deal, which was financed with $300m (£194m) of funding from a syndicate of banks led by Mizuho Corporate Bank and ING Bank.

    1 minute read

  • September 27, 2011 |

    Addleshaws' Singapore launch plans hit by partner departure to BLP

    Addleshaw Goddard's plans to launch in Singapore have suffered a setback, with the partner intended to launch the firm's first international outpost quitting to join Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP). London-based litigation partner Kent Phillips was due to launch Addleshaws' Singapore office later this year, however he will join BLP's local office instead, where he will head the firm's Asian arbitration practice.

    1 minute read

  • September 21, 2011 |

    Jones Day makes Simmons and Addleshaws hires for London base

    Jones Day has made a double partner hire in London with the addition of one partner apiece from Simmons & Simmons and Addleshaw Goddard. The US firm has hired Simmons corporate partner Paul Exley for its London energy practice, while Addleshaws financial institutions regulatory partner John Ahern is joining the equivalent team at Jones Day. Exley, who joined Simmons as a trainee and became a partner in 1995, has worked with clients including the Ministry of Defence. His practice focuses on cross-border M&A and commercial work in the energy and infrastructure sector, with a particular emphasis 
on oil and gas.

    1 minute read

  • September 20, 2011 |

    Addleshaws edges out Stephenson Harwood as adviser to alleged Kazakh banking fraudster

    Stephenson Harwood has been replaced by Addleshaw Goddard as adviser to the former chairman of Kazakhstan's BTA Bank Mukhtar Ablyazov on a multibillion-dollar fraud case. Addleshaws was formally instructed on the case earlier this month, with litigation head Richard Leedham now leading the case for the firm, alongside fellow litigation partners Ian Hargreaves, Jon Tweedale and Jamie Harrison.

    1 minute read

  • September 14, 2011 |

    Top firms break ground with project to boost access to law, but challenge has only begun

    Despite already being touted as a landmark for the industry, the law firms behind the initiative aimed at improving access to the profession are hoping to substantially expand the number of firms 
backing the scheme. The scheme launched with 23 major firms across the UK and Ireland but the backers of the project to hand work experience to under-privileged children believe it will be essential to secure the active support of more law firms before addressing the considerable challenge of building links and co-operation with a broad base of schools nationally.

    1 minute read

  • September 9, 2011 |

    23 major law firms come together for ground-breaking diversity initiative

    Twenty-three UK and Irish law firms have come together for a groundbreaking initiative to boost social mobility in the profession with a wide-ranging work experience scheme. The project, dubbed PRIME, will see the firms involved commit to provide significant work experience programmes for state school children from non-privileged backgrounds in a profession-wide bid to improve social diversity in law.

    1 minute read