Filter This View

  • November 12, 2008 |

    Target practice

    On 26 June, 2007, Barry Colvert arrived at the midtown Manhattan office of Cooley Godward Kronish. Colvert is a former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent who has given polygraph tests to Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard, Soviet spy Aldrich Ames and former Los Alamos nuclear weapons scientist Wen Ho Lee.On this day, Colvert, now a private consultant, would administer a test to a major law firm partner. Cooley had hired the former FBI agent in a desperate attempt to stave off an indictment of their client, Joseph Collins, a senior partner at Mayer Brown. The 58-year-old Collins was being targeted by federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York for his role in the scandal at Refco. The New York-based commodities trading firm collapsed in October 2005 after the discovery of massive internal fraud. Collins had been Refco's principal outside lawyer for more than 10 years, and prosecutors were building a case that the Mayer Brown partner was a party to the fraud.

    1 minute read

  • November 9, 2008 |

    Obama looks to Am Law 100 firms for best and brightest

    While most of the speculation surrounding possible appointments by President-elect Obama focuses on the treasury secretary and attorney and solicitor general,…

    1 minute read

  • November 6, 2008 |

    Perks of legal life

    The rewards offered to lawyers extend beyond the financial into all sorts of gratis goodies. Legal Week Student takes a look at some of the more bizarre perks on offer

    1 minute read

  • October 30, 2008 |

    Top firms line up for 2008 British Legal Awards

    Ashurst, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Linklaters have been named among the nominees for a number of top accolades at the 2008 British Legal Awards. The trio have been shortlisted for the coveted law firm of the year award alongside Baker & McKenzie, Eversheds and Latham & Watkins.Linklaters has been shortlisted for three further awards, including cross-border M&A team of the year, while Freshfields is among the nominees for M&A team of the year. Allen & Overy also secured nominations in both of these categories.

    1 minute read

  • October 28, 2008 |

    With 2001 in mind, law firms alter layoff strategy

    Many firms are choosing a more transparent process when trimmingClifford Chance's (CC’s) latest round of layoffs unfolded according to a carefully…

    1 minute read

  • October 28, 2008 |

    High-profile bankruptcy partner quits Milbank

    A top bankruptcy partner at Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy is leaving to join Paul Hastings Janofsky & Walker, reports The New York Law Journal. Luc Despins, well-known for his representation of the creditors' committee in the Enron bankruptcy, is the latest marquee name to be poached as firms rush to ramp up restructuring practices in response to the worsening economy. Despins has also represented the creditors' committee for failed commodity brokerage Refco, and has had roles in several other major bankruptcies.

    1 minute read

  • October 24, 2008 |

    Milbank owed $2.8m in unpaid Lehman bills

    Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy is owed more than $2.8m in unpaid bills by the now-defunct Lehman Brothers, reports the Am Law Daily. Milbank has applied to represent the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors in the Lehman bankruptcy case, a process which involves an exhaustive look at all of Milbank's potential conflicts, including Milbank lawyers who have husbands and domestic partners at Weil Gotshal & Manges, the law firm representing Lehman.

    1 minute read

  • October 23, 2008 |

    Analysis: Banking on change

    "The leveraged finance market reality is that there is no new business. The banks will not lend."So says Clifford Chance's (CC's) James Johnson, a man who has built a good chunk of his career in leveraged finance, a market that, more than a year after the credit crunch first struck, is still in a state of dysfunction.Such comments also reflect the attempts by finance advisers to come to terms with a sector that, in the month since the collapse of Lehman Brothers, is facing its biggest shake-up for a generation.Lehman's collapse on 15 September triggered a global run on bank assets as investors feared for banks' solvency. In the weeks since, finance partners have witnessed escalating turmoil and repeated government attempts to head off the crisis. This process culminated last Monday (13 October) with the injection of £37bn of taxpayers' money into Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), Lloyds TSB and HBOS.

    1 minute read

  • October 22, 2008 |

    Ashurst scoops major role on €1.9bn French energy buyout

    Ashurst has sealed a major role in one of the largest leveraged buy-outs (LBOs) in France this year, acting for the banks on a €1.9bn (£1.4bn) deal to buy a stake in power conversion company Converteam Group. The City law firm has advised HSBC, Natixis, the Royal Bank of Scotland and Societe Generale on their roles providing finance to private equity group LBO France to fund its acquisition of a one-third stake in Converteam. The Ashurst team was led by Paris-based finance partner Laurent Mabilat, assisted by corporate partner Bertrand Delaunay and tax partner Nadine Gelli. Frankfurt-based finance partner Stephan Kock and senior associate Miriam Petri also advised on the deal.

    1 minute read

  • October 22, 2008 |

    Cost-cutting corners

    Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe partners are slumming it these days. Practice group retreats? Not this year. Flights to meetings? Try video conferencing. If you need to fly, go by yourself.Small things, says Orrick chairman Ralph Baxter. But he says the savings aren't meaningless - Orrick is saving "tens of millions of dollars" through small changes like that. "In the long term, these are expenses that are necessary, but in the short term we can postpone or reduce them," Baxter says.

    1 minute read