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  • October 31, 2013 | International Edition

    IT teams under siege as personal tablet use booms at law firms

    Law firm IT directors are battling to support an influx of personal tablets and other mobile devices in the workplace, with almost a third of lawyers now using tablets in the office. The number of lawyers using devices such as iPads and Android tablets has grown by almost half in the last year, with around 34% uptake at law firms, compared to 23% in 2012, according to Legal Week Intelligence's annual IT Report. The survey, which canvassed the views of more than 2,000 lawyers at leading firms, found that although tablet use has increased significantly, the vast majority of these devices (94%) are personally owned, with law firms still restricting company devices to the senior echelons.

    1 minute read

  • October 30, 2013 |

    Freshfields, A&O lead £750m Heathrow Airport bond issue

    Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Allen & Overy (A&O) have landed roles on Heathrow Airport Holdings' (HAH) £750m bond issue. Funds raised will be used to refinance the group's existing debt and strengthen its financing platform for its ongoing transformation programme, which includes next year's planned opening of the new terminal two, to be named 'The Queen's Terminal' (pictured).

    1 minute read

  • October 17, 2013 |

    CMS rolls out litigation funding menu after conditional fee win

    CMS Cameron McKenna has begun offering conditional fee arrangements (CFAs) to litigation clients more widely after the firm won its first case on a 'no win, no fee' basis early this year. CFAs are one of a range of alternative fee arrangement (AFA) options CMS has been increasingly making available to clients in the wake of Lord Justice Jackson's civil procedure reforms, which came into effect earlier this year. The options are likely to widen to include damages-based agreements (DBAs) or fixed fees for backed cases. Head of arbitration Guy Pendell said that the firm had also begun working with third-party litigation funders, including Calunius Capital, Burford Capital and Harbour Litigation Funding, on its package of AFAs.

    1 minute read

  • October 17, 2013 |

    Former Pinsents disputes head leads trio of hires for Irwin Mitchell

    Irwin Mitchell has expanded its business legal services (BLS) division with a group of three lateral hires, including Pinsent Masons litigation head Nigel Kissack. Kissack, who moves to Irwin Mitchell as national head of commercial litigation, is joined by Squire Sanders intellectual property partner Alex Newman and former Brown Rudnick lawyer Kirsten Doherty, who moves as a consultant.

    1 minute read

  • October 16, 2013 |

    Litigation funder in talks with 30 UK firms over hybrid DBA model

    Litigation funder Burford Capital has launched a new form of hybrid damages based agreement (DBA), offering to share risk with law firms. In what the company claims is a first for the UK legal services market, the 'Burford Hybrid DBA' allows firms to strike a private risk-sharing agreement with the funder, thereby circumventing lawyers' concerns over the regulation of direct DBAs with clients.

    1 minute read

  • October 10, 2013 |

    Top firms set to do battle at 2013 British Legal Awards

    Linklaters is leading the way in nominations for the top practice awards as the shortlist for the 2013 British Legal Awards has been unveiled. The magic circle has nominations M&A, banking, financing or restructuring, and commercial team of the year categories. However, it missed out on the law firm of the year shortlist.

    1 minute read

  • October 9, 2013 |

    Norton Rose Fulbright and Pinsents advise on Falklands oil and gas merger

    Norton Rose Fulbright and Pinsent Masons have landed the leading roles on a deal that will see Falkland Oil & Gas (FOGL) acquire fellow exploration company Desire Petroleum. The combination of the two Falklands companies, which will create an entity worth around $250m (£156m), will see FOGL's shareholders own 60% of the combined group's issued share capital after the offer closes, with Desire stakeholders owning the remainder.

    1 minute read

  • October 3, 2013 | International Edition

    Moving the goalposts – Legal Week Law Quarterly Peer Review

    From sports disputes to increased regulatory activity, Ben Wheway looks back at the briefings and statistics making headlines in Legal Week Law over the past quarter...

    1 minute read

  • October 3, 2013 |

    Moving the goalposts – Legal Week Law Quarterly Peer Review

    From sports disputes to increased regulatory activity, Ben Wheway looks back at the briefings and statistics making headlines in Legal Week Law over the past quarter...

    1 minute read

  • October 3, 2013 |

    Pinsents wins second exclusive client contract with E.ON deal

    Pinsent Masons has signed a new partnership with E.ON which will see the firm become sole legal adviser to the energy giant's UK business. The arrangement, which will last for five years, sees Pinsents cover the full range of legal services, thereby reducing E.ON's external legal advisers in the UK to just one.

    1 minute read