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  • December 18, 2009 |

    Weil heads up quartet of firms on $2.4bn amusement park buyout

    Four US firms have taken taken roles on the $2.4bn (£1.5bn) buyout of amusement park owner Cedar Fair by an affiliate of private equity firm Apollo Global Management, reports The Am Law Daily. Weil Gotshal & Manges and Squire Sanders & Dempsey advised Cedar Fair, which operates some of the tallest and fastest rollercoasters in the US.

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  • December 15, 2009 |

    Weil Gotshal billings on Lehman bankruptcy rise to $127m

    Weil Gotshal & Manges' billings on the Lehman Brothers collapse have reached $127.1m (£78m), according to a new bankruptcy report filed yesterday (14 December). The monthly operating report filed by Weil bankruptcy partner Shai Waisman shows that Lehman has paid legal counsel and financial advisers nearly $533.5m (£328m) since entering Chapter 11 in September 2008.

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  • December 15, 2009 |

    Skadden and Davis Polk lead on Exxon's $31bn natural gas buyout

    Davis Polk & Wardwell and Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom have won lead roles on the biggest energy deal since 2006 - Exxon Mobil's acquisition of natural gas company XTO Energy for $31bn (£19bn). Davis Polk, which represented Exxon on its $80bn (£49bn) purchase of Mobil in 1999, reprised its role as lead M&A counsel, with a team led by M&A head George Bason, alongside corporate partners Louis Goldberg and Arthur Golden, tax partner Avishai Shachar, benefits partner Edmond FitzGerald and environmental partner Gail Flesher.

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  • December 13, 2009 |

    Clifford Chance

    Tough markets currently face this leading finance firm, but no one expects CC to give up without a fight...

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  • December 13, 2009 |

    Nabarro

    With Nicole Paradise at the helm, this solid mid-tier outfit has one of the few female managing partners in the UK top 50...

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  • December 13, 2009 |

    Hogan Lovells

    The 2010 merger of Lovells and Hogan & Hartson created a a top 10 global practice with 2,500 lawyers and revenues of around $1.8bn (£1.1bn)...

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  • December 11, 2009 |

    Associate pay cuts are here to stay, say firms and analysts

    A growing number of US managing partners and consultants say recent cuts to associate pay will remain a feature of the market in 2010, writes the Am Law Daily. Some are even predicting more significant reductions in starting salaries in the year ahead, and UK lawyers will be watching developments closely, as the US market often has a knock-on impact on City pay rates.

    1 minute read

  • December 10, 2009 |

    Dewey leads on $1.2bn drinks company buyout

    Dewey & LeBoeuf has fielded a large cross-border team advising drinks company CEDC on its $1.2bn (£736m) high yield financing and equity acquisition of Russian Alcohol Group (RAG). After entering into a joint venture agreement with vodka producer RAG in spring 2008, CEDC has now agreed to buy out RAG via a $310m (£191m) US stock offering and a $950m (£583m) dual offering of euro and dollar senior secured high yield notes.

    1 minute read

  • December 8, 2009 |

    Managing/senior partner of the year

    In its entry for this category, Weil Gotshal & Manges states confidently that the "Mike Francies Show label has now finally disappeared". As one of the City's best known M&A lawyers, Francies was for some years dogged with accusations that colleagues at the US firm's London office struggled to emerge from his shadow.

    1 minute read

  • December 7, 2009 |

    New survey shows billing rates inching up slowly at US firms

    US law firms increased their average firmwide billing rate by just 2.5% during the last year - one of the lowest increases in recent memory, reports The National Law Journal. The small rise compares to a 4.3% increase in 2008 and a 7.7% rate climb in 2007. The National Law Journal's annual survey of billing rates covered the period from 1 October 2008 to 30 September 2009, with 190 firms providing at least some billing information. Firms were asked to report their billing rates as well as their use of variations on the billable hour and alternative billing arrangements.

    1 minute read