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  • March 6, 2009 |

    Weil, Freshfields and Linklaters land Premier Foods roles

    Weil Gotshal & Manges, Linklaters and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer have won roles advising on Premier Foods' £404m fundraising. The deal sees Premier Foods, which is behind brands such as Branston, Hovis and Mr Kipling, carry out a £379m equity issue, with private equity house Warburg Pincus also taking a 10% stake in the company. Premier turned to regular London advisers Weil with private equity partner Ian Hamilton and London head Mike Francies leading the team.

    1 minute read

  • March 4, 2009 |

    Quinn Emanuel finds interested buyers as the US trial firm extraordinaire pitches the Square Mile

    Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges is certainly doing its best to join the fabric of London legal society. Its office is right across from The Old Bailey and just a few blocks east of the Royal Courts of Justice. Since the California-based law firm formally launched a London office in October, a three-partner team has been busy building referral relationships with London's leading English and US firms, and repeating the mantra that, as litigation specialists, Quinn lawyers are not interested in mining the opposition's client base.Much of the firm's US strategy is being exported to London, and for good reason - in 2008, Quinn Emanuel's 400 litigators pulled in revenues of $441.9m (£307m) and profits per equity partner of $3.3m (£2.3m).

    1 minute read

  • March 4, 2009 |

    Commentary: Ashurst's US launch - the importance of commitment

    Structured finance has entered weird territory. On one level the market is nowhere and yet it is everywhere. Nowhere, in that the primary market that was driving law firms until the summer of 2007 has all but dried up; yet everywhere, in that clearing up the mess caused by the credit crunch means it's hard to find an area of business in which structured finance skills aren't being called upon.Unwind work for structured investment vehicles (SIVs) and bank failures, advising on products that have suffered credit down-grades and dealing with counter-party risk is now what keeps advisers busy - meaning the practice area in Europe hasn't yet suffered the total wipe-out some were expecting. And, as Clifford Chance's Kevin Ingram points out, accessing government-backed liquidity schemes, which typically require structuring and packaging for the assets which can be used as collateral, is "basically structured finance".Adds Ingram "You can't find a good derivatives lawyer in the City for love nor money."

    1 minute read

  • March 4, 2009 |

    Offshore: Same game, new rules

    One year ago, offshore lawyers were rather optimistic about their various jurisdictions standing up to what was then really the first wisps of a worldwide financial storm. Then September struck, markets melted down and economic panic became pervasive and widespread.What do these lawyers say now? For one, all agree that the global financial crisis has arrived with a thud on their doorsteps, with the turmoil that has shaken up mainstream markets in major onshore jurisdictions having finally spread enough to significantly impact some traditional cornerstones of offshore legal practices: structured finance, capital markets, bank lending and headline-grabbing listings on major exchanges and London's Alternative Investment Market (AIM).

    1 minute read

  • March 3, 2009 |

    US trio take lead on latest AIG bailout

    Davis Polk & Wardwell, Weil Gotshal & Manges and Sullivan & Cromwell have grabbed lead roles on the latest multibillion pound bailout of AIG. The insurer, which yesterday (2 March) reported a record fourth quarter loss of $61.7bn (£43.5bn) and an annual loss of $99.3bn ((£70.1bn), reached an agreement that will see the Treasury give the company up to $30bn (£21.1bn) of additional funds. The agreement also forgives some of AIG's existing debt to the government by turning it into equity; attaches a lower interest rate to AIG's outstanding debts and gives the government control of two AIG subsidiaries.

    1 minute read

  • March 3, 2009 |

    Debevoise reports 7.2% revenue increase for 2008

    Debevoise & Plimpton has reported a 7.2% increase in revenues for 2008, however, profits per equity partner lagged behind, falling by nearly 3% over the year. The New York firm saw turnover increase to $760.8 (£537.25m), on the back of significant litigation and white-collar investigation work for clients including Siemens AG. However, PEP dropped to $2.23m (£1.57m), showing that the firm is not immune to the effects of the financial crisis.

    1 minute read

  • February 25, 2009 |

    Black Thursday won't be the end

    Even in the darkest days of the dotcom bust earlier this decade, or in the recession of the early 1990s, there was never a day like 12 February in the world of US law firms, a day swiftly dubbed Black Thursday.In the space of a few hours, some 300 lawyers - the equivalent of a mid-sized firm - were handed pink slips around the country. And by the close of business on Friday the 13th, more than 1,100 lawyers and staff had either been fired or asked to consider buyouts.

    1 minute read

  • February 12, 2009 |

    Profits dip at Sullivan, Skadden and Davis Polk

    Wall Street leaders Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom, Sullivan & Cromwell and Davis Polk & Wardwell have all posted falling profits for 2008, it has emerged, despite the trio avoiding year-on-year declines in revenues. The Am Law Daily reports that Skadden managed to remain the highest-grossing law firm in the US top 100 to date, eking out a 1.4% increase in gross revenue to reach a 2008 total of $2.2bn (£1.47bn). In a dreadful year for M&A, Skadden's corporate practice was relatively strong, particularly in representing takeover targets.Gross revenue at Sullivan and Davis Polk, both of which logged thousands of hours in hectic bailout-related work in the last quarter of 2008, was flat. Sullivan grossed $985m (£670m) and Davis Polk $789m (£537m) - both exactly matching their 2007 results.

    1 minute read

  • February 11, 2009 |

    Fewer seats at the table

    This is the year of low expectations, where even some who have been elected to partnership - and who expected to make the cut - sound surprised. "I was not so confident, given the economy," says Rena Chng, a newly-elected partner at Mayer Brown's Palo Alto office. Though Chng says she had successfully handled a big litigation matter this past year and was the only one in her office to be put up for partnership, she says, "If they had said, 'you won't make it this year,' I would have understood."Indeed, the number of newly-minted partners has generally plummeted since last year - along, presumably, with the firms' business. For instance, Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy promoted just four this year, compared to 11 last year; O'Melveny & Myers, 15 (23 last year); Mayer Brown, 27 (43 last year); Morrison & Foerster, 10 (24 last year); Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, five (eight for 2007; 13 for 2006); Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, eight (13 last year); and Weil Gotshal & Manges, seven (21 last year).

    1 minute read

  • February 5, 2009 |

    Weil's City office boosts PEP by 22%

    The London office of Weil Gotshal & Manges has recorded a significant rise in profits per equity partner (PEP) for 2008, posting a 22% hike to a new figure of £1.65m. The office's revenues increased by 2.3% to £58.3m, up from £57m in 2007.The New York firm's City arm has been involved in a number of high-profile deals over the year, including the £1.1bn buyout of FoodVest by Lion Capital and the sale of AIG Private Bank to Abu Dhabi investment group Aabar Investments PSJC.

    1 minute read