Filter This View

  • May 17, 2012 |

    NY duo act on first Brazilian investment bank float

    Shearman & Sterling and Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom are among a raft of firms to have advised on the recent initial public offering (IPO) of BTG Pactual – the first-ever float by a Brazilian investment bank.

    1 minute read

  • May 17, 2012 |

    Quality marks - a patchy partnership always bodes ill

    As Dewey & LeBoeuf this week officially became the world's largest legal failure, it seems an appropriate moment to return to a theme touched on often in this column: the difference between success and failure in the high-end legal market. Years of covering the profession have made me believe it has surprisingly little to do with business models or market positioning. Though law firm leaders and commentators often belabour the 'right' strategy or shape for a firm, the global legal market offers a bewildering array of successful outfits operating wildly different models. What have Latham & Watkins, Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, DLA Piper, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, Clyde & Co and Travers Smith got in common? Not much. There is also often confusion between correlation and cause. Is Freshfields successful because it is magic circle, or magic circle because it is successful? That isn't semantics (though there is no clear answer).

    1 minute read

  • May 17, 2012 |

    Foreign growth helps US leaders buck Dewey effect as top 100 revenues hit $71bn

    Top 100 law firms push through bumpy markets to hike revenue by 5.3% as PEP hits $1.4m

    1 minute read

  • May 10, 2012 |

    The clawback - can arbitration help Greek bondholders gain redress?

    Cynics would say that the legal sharks have already started circling the fall-out from the Greek sovereign debt restructuring. One law firm is reported to be already seeking German private investors in Greek bonds to pursue a class action-style investment treaty arbitration against Greece.

    1 minute read

  • May 10, 2012 |

    Industrial scale - can arbitration evolve fast enough to seize its global moment?

    "It's very easy for clients and lawyers to say in the abstract that they want to make arbitration more efficient. But when it comes to your own case and it's a bet-the-company situation, does a client want to take all the procedural points open to it in mounting its defence, or does it want to prioritise efficiency?"

    1 minute read

  • May 10, 2012 |

    In depth: arbitration

    The biggest issues in the global arbitration market, including whether arbitration evolve fast enough to seize its global moment

    1 minute read

  • May 10, 2012 |

    Ashurst wins debut role alongside firms on SocGen's UK roster

    Ashurst has secured a first-time appointment to Societe Generale's UK panel as the French banking giant has moved to expand its City adviser relationships. Ashurst joins SNR Denton, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, White & Case and Linklaters on the line-up, which was drawn up two months ago.

    1 minute read

  • May 2, 2012 |

    Skadden strengthens Hong Kong corporate with Paul Hastings hire

    Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom has moved to restock its Hong Kong corporate practice with the hire of Paul Hastings partner Christopher Betts. Betts joined Skadden this month after just over two years with Paul Hastings, where he was promoted to partner in September 2010.

    1 minute read

  • April 24, 2012 |

    CC and DLA among firms on $11.9bn Pfizer baby food sale to Nestle

    Clifford Chance (CC) and DLA Piper are among a raft of firms to have taken roles on Pfizer's $11.9bn (£7.4bn) sale of its baby food business to Nestle, reports The Am Law Daily. The purchase of the infant nutrition unit, which will give Nestle a bigger foothold in China and other emerging markets, has seen the Swiss food company turn to a Mayer Brown deal team led by M&A partners David Carpenter and John Boelter in New York and Chicago.

    1 minute read

  • April 22, 2012 |

    Drinks giant names ex-Halliwells lawyer as new UK & Ireland GC

    Anheuser-Busch InBev has appointed ex-Halliwells lawyer Anna Tolley as its new UK & Ireland GC following the departure of Claude Bahoshy earlier this year. Tolley, a litigator who joined the company in 2009 from Halliwells, will now oversee the company's UK legal team...

    1 minute read