Filter This View

  • October 23, 2009 |

    Shearman set to boost Italy presence with Milan office launch

    Shearman & Sterling is set to open its second office in Italy with the addition of a presence in Milan to its existing Rome base. Shearman is setting up the new office, due to open in January 2010, with the relocation of two Rome-based partners - corporate partners Tobia Croff and Fabio Fauceglia. The US firm will also transfer a number of associates who currently work in the Rome office.

    1 minute read

  • October 20, 2009 |

    CC, Freshfields and Latham lead on billion-pound Barclays stake sale

    Clifford Chance (CC), Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Latham & Watkins have taken key roles on Qatar Holdings' sell-off of part of its stake in Barclays Bank. The sale - which amounts to around 50% of the warrants the Middle East investment company acquired last October - could raise in the region of £1.4bn, £750m of which will be paid to Barclays.

    1 minute read

  • October 20, 2009 |

    Law firm management: Learning to lead

    Harvard started a revolution in leadership training for law firms in the 1990s. Alex Aldridge and Alex Novarese tell the story and assess what management training can offer

    1 minute read

  • October 14, 2009 |

    US trio win lead roles on £678m Eastern European telecoms deals

    A trio of US firms have taken lead roles on a series of deals in Central and Eastern Europe which will give buyout house Mid Europa Partners a controlling stake in Hungarian telecoms company Invitel. Shearman & Sterling, White & Case and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett were instructed on the deals, which involved both debt and equity acquisitions and have been valued by Mergermarket at a total of £678m.

    1 minute read

  • October 8, 2009 |

    Hogan/Lovells – the view stateside

    If Hogan & Hartson, the Washington giant, and Lovells, one of the most global of the leading UK firms, consummate their merger talks, the new entity has the potential for a name out of Harry Potter - Hogells - and a chance to remake a corner of the Big Law marketplace. It would be the first major transatlantic merger of globally-oriented equals. It would be the first transatlantic deal that would be built, in significant part, on the strength of its combined litigation practices. It would be the first deal of its sort that didn't pretend to offer entree into the New York capital markets. And it would be a sign that while the magic circle and most financially elite New York firms continue to insist on their independent futures, firms just one step behind can see a future where a combination is greater than the sum of its parts.

    1 minute read

  • October 6, 2009 |

    Network Rail announces new legal panel with Eversheds appointment

    Network Rail has completed a review of its UK legal panel, awarding Eversheds a first-time appointment. The top 10 UK firm joins a host of firms on the rail operator's roster of external legal advisers for a three-year term. Other firms to win spots on the 12-firm panel include Clifford Chance (CC), Addleshaw Goddard, Simmons & Simmons, Berrymans Lace Mawer, Kennedys, Maclay Murray & Spens and Bond Pearce.

    1 minute read

  • October 6, 2009 |

    Shearman takes lead role for SocGen on €4.8bn cash call

    Shearman & Sterling has advised Societe Generale on a €4.8bn (£4.4bn) cash call that will allow the bank to repay state aid it received from the French Government during the credit crunch. The US firm fielded a team led out of Paris by corporate partner Herve Letreguilly and capital markets partner Robert Treuhold.

    1 minute read

  • October 6, 2009 |

    Confidence edges up again from spring low point

    Law firm business confidence has recovered for the second quarter in a row with more than half of partners now expecting revenue growth at their own firms over the next 12 months. Legal Week's latest quarterly business confidence survey found that 58% of partners expected revenue growth at their own firms over the next 12 months. This includes 18% who believe that income will grow by 5%-10% and 8% who expect growth to reach double digits. Only 13% of responding partners reckoned that revenues will contract over the next 12 months.

    1 minute read

  • October 6, 2009 |

    Global 100: Emerging markets

    From Russia's grey gloom to Brazil's red-hot ambitions, a look at the state of five emerging legal markets

    1 minute read

  • October 6, 2009 | International Edition

    International relations

    That law firms are devoting increasing amounts of time and effort to pro bono projects is nothing new. But, with international firms keen to involve as many of their lawyers as possible, the types of opportunities available are changing. In particular, the number of projects either benefiting those in developing counties or involving an overseas trip is on the increase. International efforts look likely to grow further still next year as two leading organisations in the sector - the International Lawyers Project (ILP) and Advocates for International Development (A4ID) - both look to expand initiatives outside the UK. Significantly, both are keen to pick up more senior lawyers.

    1 minute read