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  • October 25, 2011 |

    Skadden leads for Slovak Republic as €1bn health insurance dispute is dismissed

    Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom has secured the dismissal of a €1bn (£871m) claim against the Slovak Republic. The case, which was dismissed last week, was lodged by Dutch health insurance consultancy Hicee in 2008 and had been one of Europe's largest ongoing investment disputes.

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  • October 19, 2011 |

    Eversheds sets sights on Brazil as UK firms continue to eye up BRIC benefits

    Eversheds is planning to join the growing rank of international firms launching in Brazil, with the firm becoming the latest to eye up opportunities in the BRIC economy. The top 10 UK law firm has confirmed that it is looking at opening in the country, joining a lengthening list of those either launching or considering doing so.

    1 minute read

  • October 17, 2011 |

    Slaughters and Herbert Smith head up £5.2bn facilities takeover

    Slaughter and May and Herbert Smith have won lead roles on one of this year's largest M&A deals - the £5.2bn purchase of Danish facilities outsourcing firm ISS by UK security group G4S. The acquisition is set to make the Crawley-based security services provider the world's largest combined security and facilities service provider, with revenues of around £15.9bn.

    1 minute read

  • October 14, 2011 |

    Law Firm of the Year 2011 – the whys and wherefores

    Legal Week remains somewhat arms-length from its own awards ceremony, the British Legal Awards. That's mainly because the awards have an independent judging panel - and a very high quality one at that - with the aim being to avoid the event turning into a prize-fest for our best contacts. That said, we do try to draw on Legal Week's editorial experience to assist the process. That happens in several ways. Firstly, Legal Week - largely meaning me and our deputy editor, Georgina Stanley - help to whittle the award entries down to a shortlist for the judges to consider. Frankly, that was a pain this year, because for reasons I won't try to explain we had a record number of entries, up 20% on last year. So apologies to the considerable number of lawyers, firms and barristers sulking at our news team this week for not getting shortlisted - in most categories you were really up against a lot of competition.

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  • October 12, 2011 |

    Clydes, Mishcons and A&O head up nominees for Firm of the Year at British Legal Awards

    Clyde & Co, Allen & Overy (A&O) and Mishcon de Reya are among the firms shortlisted for Law Firm of the Year at the 2011 British Legal Awards. The trio have been nominated for the coveted award alongside Hogan Lovells, Kirkland & Ellis and Stephenson Harwood. A&O and Hogan Lovells have also both been nominated for the M&A Team of the Year Award, alongside magic circle duo Slaughter and May and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and US firms Shearman & Sterling and Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom.

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  • October 12, 2011 |

    Global 100: Strong dollar helps US leaders set the pace as City firms face fierce competition

    Rising profits at expansive US law firms and continued weakness in sterling look set to sustain competitive pressure on globally ambitious UK firms for years to come, according to new research. This year's Global 100 – a joint initiative from The American Lawyer and Legal Week – shows leading US players gaining a stronger grip on the upper echelons of the profession globally, based on both profitability and fee income. The three largest law firms in revenue terms are either US-based or the result of unions structured through vereins – with Baker & McKenzie, Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom and DLA Piper topping the income rankings.

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  • October 4, 2011 |

    US firms head up $3.9bn private equity buyout

    A trio of top US firms have taken lead roles on the $3.9bn (£2.5bn) private equity takeover of contract drug researcher Pharmaceutical Product Development (PPD), reports The Am Law Daily. The US-based organisation is being acquired by the Carlyle Group and Hellman & Friedman after fielding offers from rival bidders including Blackstone Group and KKR.

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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 28, 2011 |

    Herbert Smith and Hogan lead on $1.75bn energy acquisition

    Herbert Smith and Hogan Lovells have advised on the acquisition of North Sea assets from ExxonMobil worth $1.75bn (£1.1bn) by US oil and gas company Apache Corporation. Herbert Smith advised Apache subsidiary Apache North Sea on the acquisition of the North Sea oil and gas assets of Exxon affiliate Mobil North Sea, with global oil and gas head Stephen Murray leading a team that also included corporate energy partner Steven Dalton, tax partner Isaac Zailer and employment partner Andrew Taggart.

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  • September 28, 2011 |

    Cracking China – has Mandarin become de rigueur for modern Asian counsel?

    For would-be new hires at several international law firms in China and Hong Kong, speaking Mandarin has come to be a strict and unyielding prerequisite. "Certainly from our point of view, hiring someone in Hong Kong without Chinese language speaking skills is a waste of time," says Antony Dapiran, a fluent Mandarin speaker and capital markets partner with Davis Polk & Wardwell in Hong Kong. "I honestly do not see how they can function, especially if they are dealing with capital markets work."

    1 minute read