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  • April 16, 2008 |

    Duck the downturn

    Legal Week's career clinic recently received an anxious message from a newly-qualified corporate associate at a US firm. No doubt having heard stories of the gruelling hours put in at such firms, the associate expressed surprise - and concern - that they were not exactly run off their feet. "I am concerned that the lack of work coming into the department will mean that heads will start to roll and I may be picking up my P45 sooner or later."

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  • April 16, 2008 |

    From start to finish

    Step 1Get your degree A qualifying law degree has traditionally been the first step on the road to becoming a solicitor. It will exempt you from the Common Professional Examination (CPE) or Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL), provided it covers all seven foundations of legal knowledge: obligations I (contract) and II (tort); criminal law; equity and law of trusts; European Union (EU) law; property law; and public law.

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  • April 10, 2008 |

    Sullivan's Euro drive continues with senior Shearman tax hire

    Sullivan & Cromwell has made a high-profile lateral hire for its London office, bringing in tax partner Michael McGowan from the London arm of New York rival Shearman & Sterling. The appointment of a senior tax partner in London will be viewed as further evidence of Sullivan's ambitions to substantially expand its transactional practice in Europe.

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  • April 9, 2008 | International Edition

    Commentary: Shearman risks unsettled horses with new City head

    Despite years of grumblings from Shearman & Sterling's London arm, the timing of last week's announcement that long-time office head Kenneth MacRitchie was standing down was still unexpected. And the 1 April announcement not only surprised rivals. Several London partners, caught off guard by lack of consultation, made little attempt to disguise their shock; the appointment of the new City head, the respected leveraged finance partner Anthony Ward, apparently came straight from New York, with some London partners claiming the first they had heard of the power change was a firm-wide announcement.

    1 minute read

  • April 9, 2008 |

    Commentary: Shearman risks unsettled horses with new City head

    Despite years of grumblings from Shearman & Sterling's London arm, the timing of last week's announcement that long-time office head Kenneth MacRitchie was standing down was still unexpected. And the 1 April announcement not only surprised rivals. Several London partners, caught off guard by lack of consultation, made little attempt to disguise their shock; the appointment of the new City head, the respected leveraged finance partner Anthony Ward, apparently came straight from New York, with some London partners claiming the first they had heard of the power change was a firm-wide announcement.

    1 minute read

  • April 4, 2008 |

    S&C recruits Shearman tax partner to underpin City push

    Sullivan & Cromwell has ended its search for a senior UK tax partner after recruiting Michael McGowan from the London arm of Shearman & Sterling, Legal Week can reveal. The appointment of a senior tax partner in London will be viewed as evidence of Sullivan's ambitions to substantially expand its transactional practice in Europe.

    1 minute read

  • April 3, 2008 |

    City trio made up as Skadden promotes 25

    Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom has announced its 2008 partner promotions with its European offices gaining five new partners from a firm-wide total of 25. The London office is receiving the bulk of the European promotions with three new City partners - Peter Coulton in the banking practice, Michal Berkner in the corporate team and Bruce Macauley in arbitration.

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  • April 3, 2008 |

    Boardman hits AmLaw's deal partner list as sole UK lawyer

    Slaughter and May corporate heavyweight Nigel Boardman has become the only UK partner to feature in a ranking of leading deal lawyers compiled by Legal Week's US sister title The American Lawyer. The magazine's annual Dealmakers of the Year list shows Boardman, who has been a partner with Slaughters since 1982 after joining the firm in 1973, to be the sole UK face among a group of high-profile US partners.

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  • April 3, 2008 |

    Shearman and Cleary gear up for mammoth Yukos dispute

    Shearman & Sterling and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton have taken leading roles in what could become the largest-ever international arbitration case - a claim against the Russian Federation that could amount to as much as $100bn (£50bn). The claim, which is due to go before the Permanent Court of Arbitration tribunal in The Hague in November this year, relates to the bankrupt Yukos Oil Company and sees Shearman advising Yukos's majority shareholders, GML (formerly Group Menatep), with Cleary taking a role advising the Russian Federation.

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  • April 2, 2008 |

    Continental lift

    Elsewhere in esoteric European architecture news, The Diary dropped in on two major law firms on its recent networking jaunt to sunny Duesseldorf, where Freshfields Funhouse Deringer and Shearman & Sterling were among the firms on your correspondent's itinerary. Visiting those two was somewhat akin to stepping back in time, with the offices of both firms decked out with rather archaic equipment - those paternoster lifts that loop round continuously and bring death to any passengers insufficiently nimble enough to hop off in time.

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