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  • June 16, 2009 |

    Weil Gotshal bills $54m as GM work pays out to the tune of $80m

    General Motors has paid out more than $80m (£49m) over the past six months to the three firms advising on the troubled automaker's Chapter 11 case, reports the Am Law Daily. Weil Gotshal & Manges, Jenner & Block and Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn have all filed their applications for employment as counsel to GM. As lead bankruptcy counsel, Weil Gotshal has the lion's share of the billings at more than $54m (£33m) - roughly equivalent to the $55m that Weil billed Lehman Brothers between September 2008 and January 2009.

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  • June 10, 2009 |

    Weil GM bill set to surpass Lehman charges with 'more complex matter'

    Weil Gotshal & Manges looks set to earn more from the landmark bankruptcy of General Motors than it did from its mandate advising on the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

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  • June 10, 2009 |

    Consultants struggle to win partner buy-in

    City lawyers have a decidedly jaded view of the contribution of consultants to the legal profession, according to research that should provide a wake-up call to advisory professionals.

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  • June 8, 2009 |

    Cleary, Shearman confirm jobs for September NQs

    Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton is to keep on all six of its September 2009 qualifying trainees in the City while Shearman & Sterling has offered jobs to nearly two thirds of its qualifiers. Cleary has continued its record of retaining every qualifying trainee since it introduced its trainee programme in the City in 1997. One trainee will focus on tax while the remainder will keep a broader corporate practice.

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  • May 29, 2009 |

    International firms win roles on GM restructuring

    The collapse of automotive giant General Motors has handed roles to at least 15 law firms so far in one of the largest restructurings to date.

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  • May 27, 2009 |

    Weil partner testifies in $2.4bn Refco fraud case

    Weil Gotshal & Manges corporate partner Jay Tabor has pointed an accusing finger at Mayer Brown partner Joseph Collins and his firm for their role in the billion-dollar Refco scandal, reports the Am Law Daily. Collins has been charged by federal prosecutors with concealing a $2.4bn (£1.5bn) corporate fraud that led to the collapse of commodities dealer Refco in 2005.Prosecutors have claimed that Collins helped orchestrate hundreds of millions of dollars in sham loans that eventually bankrupted Refco and forced the company to liquidate. Collins allegedly was motivated to maintain the deception because Refco was his largest client, bringing Mayer Brown more than $40m (£25m) in fees between 1997 and 2005.On Tuesday (26 May), Tabor took the stand to testify about his work advising a private equity group that acquired a 57% interest in Refco in 2004.

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  • May 26, 2009 |

    Top US firms in driving seat on GM bankruptcy

    A quartet of US firms are advising General Motors on what could be the biggest bankruptcy filing in US history, reports The Am Law Daily.Weil Gotshal & Manges business finance and restructuring partner Stephen Karotkin is heading the firm's team advising GM on negotiations with lenders, union members and the US Government.Meanwhile, Dewey & LeBoeuf business solutions and governance practice leader Martin Bienenstock is advising GM on aspects of the automaker's proposed Section 363 sale in the bankruptcy court. The Dewey team includes M&A partner Gary Apfel in Los Angeles and bankruptcy and restructuring partner David Cleary in Chicago.

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  • May 19, 2009 |

    Lehman-Barclays: the deal that won't die

    In the frenzied week after Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy on 15 September last year, lawyers for Lehman (a group that included bankruptcy counsel at Weil Gotshal & Manges, Lehman's longtime outside counsel at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and a team from Sullivan & Cromwell) worked around the clock with lawyers representing Barclays to arrange the sale of Lehman's prized US assets.

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  • May 18, 2009 |

    O'Melveny seals London boost with finance hire

    O'Melveny & Myers has boosted its acquisition finance capability in the City with the hire of Sherri Snelson from US rival Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson. The UK and US-qualified partner will join O'Melveny on 1 June, having been at Fried Frank since 2002, making partner in 2004. Her practice focuses on representing lenders and borrowers in leveraged finance acquisitions, as well as broader finance elements.

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  • May 15, 2009 |

    Microsoft drops K&L Gates as preferred provider

    Microsoft has completed a review of its preferred legal providers - and K&L Gates, the firm named after Bill Gates' father, is nowhere on it. Microsoft carried over to the firm after Preston Gates & Ellis merged with Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham in 2007. At the time, Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith welcomed the merger as a positive step for both firms and its clients.However, following an extensive review of the firms it uses, Microsoft has announced a new list of legal providers, without K&L Gates.

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