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  • July 25, 2013 | International Edition

    What's in a name – could Messrs King and Wood trump Stanley Berwin?

    To date, UK law firms have been somewhat more restrained than their US counterparts when it comes to the question of names. Getting your name on the letterhead is of course a nice benefit of establishing your own partnership, and eponymous partnerships are a legal requirement for the most part in the US, but the resulting firm names hardly trip off the tongue – Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom, Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, to name but a few. In the UK at least, law firms have not been required to use the names of founding partners for many years, and the main reason law firm naming convention has continued in this fashion appears to be tradition, as well as a degree of inertia. This said, the advent of the Legal Services Act and related regulatory changes have allowed a little outside influence to filter through, with distinctly less traditional brands such as Brilliant Law, Thinking Legal and QualitySolicitors emerging. If some of the new law firm names lack the gravitas of their more longstanding peers, you can at least argue their line of business is obvious.

    1 minute read

  • July 25, 2013 |

    What's in a name – could Messrs King and Wood trump Stanley Berwin?

    To date, UK law firms have been somewhat more restrained than their US counterparts when it comes to the question of names. Getting your name on the letterhead is of course a nice benefit of establishing your own partnership, and eponymous partnerships are a legal requirement for the most part in the US, but the resulting firm names hardly trip off the tongue – Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom, Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, to name but a few. In the UK at least, law firms have not been required to use the names of founding partners for many years, and the main reason law firm naming convention has continued in this fashion appears to be tradition, as well as a degree of inertia. This said, the advent of the Legal Services Act and related regulatory changes have allowed a little outside influence to filter through, with distinctly less traditional brands such as Brilliant Law, Thinking Legal and QualitySolicitors emerging. If some of the new law firm names lack the gravitas of their more longstanding peers, you can at least argue their line of business is obvious.

    1 minute read

  • July 17, 2013 |

    Akin Gump set for capital injection as firm moves to all-equity partnership

    Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld is shifting its firm-wide partnership to an all-equity structure from January 2014, following an extensive canvassing of partners' opinion. The New York-based firm - which counts 21 partners in its London office - is giving all income partners an opportunity to make a capital investment.

    1 minute read

  • July 11, 2013 |

    M&A activity levels continue to languish – but lawyers cling to hopes of deal revival

    "It's clear Europe is under-delivering, and it can't stay down for much longer." Speaking to Legal Week at the beginning of the year, Cravath Swaine & Moore EMEA M&A head Richard Hall expressed a view that many deal lawyers have shared for some time now. However, the months since have seen transaction activity levels across Europe fall lower still, with total H1 deal value down 23% on last year and deal volumes down 12% to 5,854 – the worst half-year for European M&A since 2010. The second quarter of 2013 was particularly sluggish, with just 1,140 deals, marking the quietest quarter for European M&A by volume since Q1 2010...

    1 minute read

  • July 11, 2013 |

    Making Haigh – GFH Capital's general counsel David Haigh on buying Leeds Utd

    When David Haigh recounts his first meeting with Ken Bates the anecdote reveals as much about himself as it does about the famously combative ex-chairman of Leeds United Football Club. "He had his leaving event recently and I was reminding him about the first time we met in Monaco," recalls Haigh, whose Dubai-based GFH Capital bought the club from Bates at the end of last year. "His first question to me, in a rather gruff voice, was 'how old are you?' – to which the answer was about a third of his age." The comments are typical of the chipper self-confidence exuded by 35-year-old Haigh, the Islamic private equity group's general counsel and deputy chief executive – and now managing director of Leeds United, with responsibility for the daily running of the club.

    1 minute read

  • July 9, 2013 |

    Gibson Dunn recruits Hogan Lovells energy partner in first hire since QFLP award

    Gibson Dunn & Crutcher has hired Hogan Lovells' energy head for South East Asia Brad Roach in its first move to bolster the number of partners in the region since receiving a Qualifying Foreign Law Practice (QFLP) licence in February. The Los Angeles head-quartered firm, which previously said it would look to supplement its existing M&A, energy and infrastructure practices in Singapore, as well as adding arbitration to its offering, now counts four partners in the island city-state in addition to 12 legal staff.

    1 minute read

  • July 4, 2013 |

    International firms aim to cash in on Chinese companies' appetite for outbound M&A deals

    When Smithfield, the world's largest pork producer, announced at the end of May that it had agreed to be bought by a Chinese meat processing company, Shuanghui International, it made the US public sit up and take notice. The $4.7bn (£3.1bn) deal, which still requires regulatory approval, would be the largest takeover of a US business by a Chinese conglomerate, adding to fears among some Americans about the expansionist plans of their biggest economic rival.

    1 minute read

  • July 3, 2013 |

    US trio orchestrate Kohlberg acquisition of Steinway piano brand

    Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom and Gibson Dunn & Crutcher have taken leading roles on the sale of prestigious piano brand Steinway to US buy-out house Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR). The US law firm duo has advised Steinway Musical Instruments on the $438m (£289m) take private, which sees the private equity house acquire the Steinway piano brand as well as other significant names including Bach Stradivarius trumpets.

    1 minute read

  • June 27, 2013 |

    Canada three-year overview

    A comprehensive look at the top advisers and biggest deals in Canada from 16 June 2010 to 15 June 2013, featuring mandates for Herbert Smith Freehills, Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton.

    1 minute read

  • June 13, 2013 |

    US trio act as Generali sells reinsurance business

    Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton and Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson have taken lead roles on a deal that has seen European insurance giant Generali Group sell its US life reinsurance business. French reinsurer SCOR has acquired 100% of the business in a $920m (£599m) deal that closed last week (4 June). Generali said total expected gross proceeds from the deal included a $780m (£508m) cash consideration and $140m (£91m) of collateral release. The transaction – which is subject to regulatory approval and other conditions – is part of Generali's strategy to withdraw from non-core businesses.

    1 minute read