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  • October 4, 2011 |

    Herbert Smith names new capital markets leadership after partner exits to A&O

    Herbert Smith is set to lose two US-qualified capital markets partners to Allen & Overy (A&O), with the forthcoming departure of Jim Wickenden and Adam Wells marking the latest in a string of partner exits from the City firm. Wickenden - the global head of Herbert Smith's capital markets practice - and Wells both handed in their notice in recent weeks and are set to join A&O after serving a notice period.

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  • October 4, 2011 |

    Orrick seals five-partner haul for New York acquisition finance team

    Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe has added five partners to its acquisition finance practice in New York with a series of US hires, reports the Am Law Daily. Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy finance partners Ronan Wicks and Patrick Flanagan are among the group moving to Orrick, just 13 months after the duo joined Milbank from Latham & Watkins. Wicks will assume the role of co-head of acquisition finance at his new firm.

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  • September 30, 2011 |

    A&O up front on Manchester United's $1bn Singapore initial public offering

    Allen & Overy (A&O) is set for a headline role on Manchester United's planned $1bn (£640m) Singapore initial public offering (IPO). The magic circle firm is understood to be advising longstanding client Man Utd on the listing, with global corporate co-head and relationship partner Andrew Ballheimer leading the firm's team.

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  • September 28, 2011 |

    Linklaters and Davis Polk advise as Rio Tinto taps bond markets for $2bn

    Linklaters and Davis Polk & Wardwell have taken lead roles on a $2bn (£1.3bn) notes offering by Rio Tinto, which saw the mining giant take advantage of current low yields on corporate bonds to reduce its debt costs. Linklaters advised Rio – a longstanding client of the firm – on the offering, which is split into three parts, comprising $500m (£324m) of notes due in 2016, $1.15bn (£746m) due in 2021 and $350m (£227m) due in 2040.

    1 minute read

  • September 28, 2011 |

    The expert temps - will contract lawyers prove a mainstream tool for in-house legal teams?

    As in-house legal teams look for innovative ways to meet demand with frozen or reduced headcount budgets, providers of flexible and cost-effective interim lawyers are moving to fill the lacuna left by law firms as they struggle with their own resourcing and cost issues. Where once interim appointments were a necessary evil in between permanent jobs, the advent of hybrids including virtual law firm Axiom and Berwin Leighton Paisner's (BLP's) client resourcing solution Lawyers on Demand (LoD) is changing the game for corporates, tapping into a growing pool of talented lawyers looking to take more control of their own destiny and affording them a respectable and supported way to take on high-level, well-paid, flexible roles.

    1 minute read

  • September 23, 2011 |

    Wachtell and Jones Day lead on $18.4bn aircraft manufacturing buyout

    Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz and Jones Day have taken lead roles on the $18.4bn (£11.9bn) acquisition of aircraft equipment maker Goodrich by United Techonologies Corporation (UTC), a deal that marks the conglomerate's largest-ever acquisition, reports The Am Law Daily. UTC is being advised by longstanding outside counsel Wachtell on the deal, which will see it pay $127.50 (£83) per Goodrich share in cash to acquire the target company and assume $1.9bn (£1.2bn) in debt.

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  • September 23, 2011 |

    Clifford Chance moves to restock City funds team with Debevoise hire

    Clifford Chance (CC) has added a partner to its City funds capability with the hire of international counsel Gerard Saviola from the London office of US firm Debevoise & Plimpton. Saviola, who will join CC as a partner in the firm's private funds group, is US-qualified and advises mainly leveraged buyout funds, emerging markets funds and mezzanine funds, as well as a broad range of institutional investors in international investment funds and private equity acquisitions.

    1 minute read

  • September 21, 2011 |

    Jones Day makes Simmons and Addleshaws hires for London base

    Jones Day has made a double partner hire in London with the addition of one partner apiece from Simmons & Simmons and Addleshaw Goddard. The US firm has hired Simmons corporate partner Paul Exley for its London energy practice, while Addleshaws financial institutions regulatory partner John Ahern is joining the equivalent team at Jones Day. Exley, who joined Simmons as a trainee and became a partner in 1995, has worked with clients including the Ministry of Defence. His practice focuses on cross-border M&A and commercial work in the energy and infrastructure sector, with a particular emphasis 
on oil and gas.

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  • September 15, 2011 |

    How the top international law firms stack up in Asia

    Clifford Chance: 366 lawyers across eight offices. Hong Kong - 138 lawyers including 32 partners, Singapore - 72 lawyers including 15 partners, Tokyo - 51 lawyers including nine partners, Shanghai - 22 lawyers including five partners, Beijing - 29 lawyers including six partners, Bangkok - 16 lawyers including two partners Sydney - 21 lawyers including seven partners Perth - 17 lawyers including seven partners Key deals include: • advising the underwriters on Prada's Hong Kong listing; • advising the underwriters on Glencore's dual listing in Hong Kong and London; and • advising the managers on Volkswagen's dim sum bond - the first by a German company.

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  • September 14, 2011 |

    The globe trotters - what international institutions taught an Aussie banking giant

    "The idea first came about from the relationship the bank has with IBM, which provides significant IT and system support to us. In the course of setting up things with them we had a discussion with their general counsel about trying to get a better understanding of how their legal function operates and it went from there," Justin Moses explains. Moses, corporate counsel and general manager of the legal product and distribution department at the Australian banking group Westpac, is referring to an innovative series of what the company calls "benchmarking study tours" it has carried out in recent years. The bank's legal team has been visiting international companies in the US and UK to learn from other in-house counsel how they conduct their legal counsel functions and what ideas and structures the banking group can replicate back in Australia and New Zealand.

    1 minute read