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  • April 20, 2011 |

    SNR Denton overhauls UK strategy as partner profits disappoint

    SNR Denton is reviewing the focus of its UK business as part of a push to boost profitability, with profits per equity partner (PEP) at the firm's UK arm expected to drop by more than a third this year. The newly-merged law firm is reviewing the practice and sector focus of its UK limited liability partnership (LLP) as it attempts to shore up revenues and profits going into the new financial year.

    1 minute read

  • April 15, 2011 |

    Skadden seals hire of SNR Denton advocacy chief McAlpine

    SNR Denton is set to lose advocacy chief and former deputy chairman Rory McAlpine to the London arm of Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom, it has emerged. McAlpine was part of the small group of senior partners from the legacy Denton Wilde Sapte that negotiated the firm's transatlantic merger with US firm Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal, which went live in September last year.

    1 minute read

  • April 14, 2011 |

    Santander reviews UK advisers as Barclays quizzes panel on hospitality

    Banco Santander has kicked off a review of its external legal advisers in the UK as it emerges that Barclays is set to grill its global panel firms on corporate hospitality spending for the first time. Santander's review of its own-account legal panel began around two weeks ago and covers the legacy Abbey, Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley brands.

    1 minute read

  • April 7, 2011 |

    US associate faces charges for using law firm data for insider trading

    A former M&A lawyer has been charged by US prosecutors for an alleged insider trading scheme which involved obtaining information from three leading corporate law firms, writes The Am Law Daily. Matthew Kluger, a former associate at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, Cravath Swaine & Moore and Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom, has been charged by federal prosecutors in connection with an alleged scheme to trade on inside information. The scheme is alleged to have netted Kluger and a fellow defendant $32m (£19.7m) over more than a decade.

    1 minute read

  • March 29, 2011 |

    Skadden takes key role as tribunal blocks $16bn BP-Rosneft alliance

    Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom has won an arbitration victory for the Alfa-Access-Renova (AAR) group in its dispute with BP over its proposed $16bn (£10bn) strategic alliance with Russia's Rosneft. The arbitration tribunal ruled last week (24 March) that BP will not be allowed to enter into an alliance with Russian state-owned oil company Rosneft, which would have involved an equity-linked partnership to pursue joint projects in the Russian Arctic shelf.

    1 minute read

  • March 29, 2011 |

    Back at the gate - the challenges ahead for private equity

    A few weeks ago news got out that Bain Capital, one of the world's leading private equity firms, was holding interviews for junior investment professionals a month earlier than usual. Bain's competitors, which include Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co (KKR) and The Blackstone Group, moved quickly, bringing forward their pre-scheduled cocktail party recruiting events. This was not a surprising development. Five years ago private equity houses often did their entry-level hiring in September. During the boom, such intakes kept drifting earlier into the year as rivals jostled to secure the best aspiring deal-doers.

    1 minute read

  • March 23, 2011 |

    Paying the piper - can law firms' love affair with banks survive a series of tough panel reviews?

    Can City law firms' love affair with leading banks survive a bruising round of adviser reviews? Sofia Lind and Friederike Heine report

    1 minute read

  • March 18, 2011 |

    Wragges wins role alongside Weil on private equity sale of Phones 4u

    Wragge & Co has picked up a role advising alongside Weil Gotshal & Manges and Dickson Minto on the private equity sale of Phones 4u. National firm Wragges is advising Phones 4u's management on the deal, which sees the company switch hands from Providence Equity Partners to BC Partners. Birmingham corporate partner Baljit Chohan took the lead role for the firm.

    1 minute read

  • March 15, 2011 |

    Then we take Manhattan - can Norton Rose really take on the world?

    Not too long ago, Norton Rose looked like an also-ran. The London firm, known for its financial institutions practice, stumbled badly after its offices were bombed - twice - by IRA terrorists in the early 1990s. It jumped belatedly on the global bandwagon, establishing a network of European offices that did not turn a profit for half a decade. By the early 2000s, key partners were running for the exits. The magic circle, formerly Norton Rose's closest rivals, had pulled far ahead.

    1 minute read

  • March 15, 2011 |

    Partner profits at top New York firms spike on Wall Street rebound

    Partner profits at elite New York firms saw a strong recovery in 2010 after a surge in M&A and capital markets work, reports The Am Law Daily. Six Wall Street firms in the $2m-plus partner profits (PEP) club saw profitability soar last year, including Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison, which saw PEP rise 15% to $3.05m (£1.9m).

    1 minute read