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  • February 4, 2009 |

    Bingham City arm posts 4.6% revenue drop-off

    Bingham McCutchen's London office has posted a 4.6% drop in turnover for 2008, while profits per equity partner (PEP) have risen by more than 7%. The US firm's City arm took in $31m (£21.3m) in revenues over the 2008 calendar year compared to $32.5m (£22.3m) during 2007. PEP rose to a new mark of $1.88m (£1.29m) from the firm's 2007 figure of $1.75m (£1.2m).Bingham London head James Roome commented: "2008 was really a credit crunch year and restructuring work only really pulled up at the end of the year, so 2009 should be better [for us]. In London it is a case of 'steady as she goes' - so far it has been watching people work harder [rather than recruiting]."

    1 minute read

  • February 4, 2009 |

    Styled to succeed

    The first day of any new job is a daunting prospect. When first impressions count for everything, looking the part matters. And while competition to stand out from the crowd is fierce, attracting attention for your sartorial sense may not be the best first step.So, what is the difference between 'smart business' and 'traditional business' - and just how do you tackle 'dress down Fridays'?General consensus among City firms is that dressing successfully boils down to creating a professional impression, of which your wardrobe is just one aspect. As Deborah Dalgleish, head of trainee recruitment at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, says, this means it is not just what you wear, but how you wear it: "From the clients' point of view, they can't always make a judgement on the legal advice you are giving them, so they judge you on how you come across in the office and your overall appearance."

    1 minute read

  • February 3, 2009 |

    Weil boosts PEP as equity partner ranks contract

    Weil Gotshal & Manges has posted its financial results for 2008, with the firm increasing turnover by 5% after a tough year, reports The Am Law Daily. The New York-based firm brought in $1.23bn (£868,000) in revenues in 2008, up 4.75% from 2007. Profits per equity partner rose by 7.5% to a new mark of $2.3m (£1.6m), while the total number of equity partners fell for the second year in a row, from a high of 200 lawyers in 2006 to 184 in 2008.Weil Gotshal chairman Stephen Dannhauser said: "It was certainly a challenging year for all law firms. The fact that our revenue is up is a tribute to our balanced platform."

    1 minute read

  • February 2, 2009 |

    Links, Weil lead on Woolworths online relaunch

    Linklaters and Weil Gotshal & Manges have taken the lead roles on a deal that will see the iconic brand of Woolworths relaunched online. Sir David and Sir Freddie Barclay, the owners of The Daily Telegraph, have stepped in to save the Woolworths brand, along with its children's clothing label Ladybird, with plans to relaunch them as an online business through Shop Direct (formerly Littlewoods Home Shopping) for an undisclosed sum.The Barclay brothers turned to regular UK advisers Weil Gotshal & Manges and private equity partner Marco Compagnoni (pictured), who led a team which included intellectual property (IP) partner Barry Fishley, associate Alicia Speake and trainee Christopher Oliver.

    1 minute read

  • January 28, 2009 |

    Switzerland: Code breaking

    It is a popular view that Swiss bank secrecy attracts undeclared, illegal money - that it exists only for this purpose and that the need for its removal is self-evident. Many believe that the first steps to achieve this have been successfully taken, with the US Justice Department's attack on UBS. However, first a reminder before you read on: in 1934 Switzerland enacted specific legislation to make divulging bank secrets a criminal offence, partly in response to a law introduced by Adolf Hitler that any German with foreign capital should be put to death.

    1 minute read

  • January 22, 2009 |

    Asian newcomers size up an uncertain market

    The jet lag flying from New York to Hong Kong is bad enough for a solo traveller. For a family with two young children in tow, it is an absolute killer."We slept through the night last night," says Yash Rana, sitting in his office in the IM Pei-designed Bank of China Tower less than a week after the fateful flight. "That was a treat."Rana has moved his family halfway around the world so he can take charge of Goodwin Procter's new Hong Kong office, which opened in November to become the Boston-based law firm's first overseas location.

    1 minute read

  • January 21, 2009 |

    Nice work... if you can get it

    These are bleak times for corporate lawyers. But there is one ray of light in this storm - sovereign wealth funds. These funds, which are loosely defined as investment vehicles owned by foreign governments, have generated many headlines over the past 18 months. Their high-profile transactions range from the buyout of luxury retailer Barneys New York to multibillion-dollar investments in Wall Street banks. In 2007 alone, sovereign entities spent $92bn (£61.3bn) in publicly recorded equity transactions, according to Monitor Group.But the real moment for sovereign wealth funds is now. These powerhouse investors globally control about $2.3trn (£1.5trn), a pocketbook that exceeds both the private equity and hedge fund industries. And they could quadruple in size by the middle of the next decade, even with the global slowdown and the recent decline in oil prices, according to Morgan Stanley chief currency economist Stephen Jen. Funds in the Gulf region account for more than half of those sums.

    1 minute read

  • January 21, 2009 |

    Dewey bolsters Frankfurt arm with Weil Gotshal partner hire

    Dewey & LeBoeuf has boosted its Frankfurt office with the hire of new partner Andreas Mauroschat. Mauroschat has joined as a local partner from Weil Gotshal & Manges, where he had headed the employment team since May 2007. Mauroschat will focus on employment and pensions law within Dewey's Frankfurt corporate practice.

    1 minute read

  • January 21, 2009 |

    Dewey recruits Weil Gotshal bankruptcy partner

    Dewey & LeBoeuf has strengthened its bankruptcy team with the hire of Weil Gotshal & Manges partner Michael Kessler. Kessler, who joins Dewey's business solutions and governance practice in New York, follows practice head Martin Bienenstock, who surprised the market when he made the same move in November 2007.Kessler has experience of acting on a number of high-profile Chapter 11 filings, including Federal-Mogul in 2001, Delphi Corporation in 2005 and Lehman Brothers in 2008.

    1 minute read

  • January 15, 2009 |

    Cadwalader's Link to head up firm's City recovery

    Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft has parachuted in Bob Link to head up the London office after the firm was rocked by a seven-partner walkout yesterday (14 January). Firm chairman Christopher White and Link (pictured) flew to London yesterday in a last-ditch attempt to persuade the seven partners to stay.

    1 minute read