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  • April 18, 2011 |

    Pinsents signs up DLA Piper's former global real estate head

    Pinsent Masons has boosted its property practice with the hire of DLA Piper's former global head of real estate team David Taylor. Taylor, currently a senior consultant at DLA, will join Pinsents on 1 May. Prior to joining DLA in 2004, he headed up Berwin Leighton Paisner's real estate practice before joining Herbert Smith as a senior consultant in 2000.

    1 minute read

  • April 14, 2011 |

    Nabarro adds two partners from Reed Smith and Pinsents

    Nabarro has recruited two partners for its London headquarters with a double hire from Pinsent Masons and Reed Smith. The new additions, George Lubega and Philip Olmer, will join Nabarro next month (3 May) in the City law firm's commercial litigation and real estate practices respectively. Litigator Lubega is joining from Pinsents as the 27th partner in Nabarro's commercial disputes practice. He specialises in commercial litigation, arbitration and dispute resolution, and acts for a number of corporate clients and government departments.

    1 minute read

  • April 5, 2011 | International Edition

    Energy and private equity sectors buck lacklustre market in 2011 Q1

    Given M&A trends clearly reflect what's happening in the global economy, Mergermarket's latest quarterly M&A data covering the first three months of the 2011 calendar year largely confirms the general feeling of uncertainty in the market currently. While there has been a visible increase in private equity mandates and big-ticket transactions such as AT&T and T-Mobile and BP/Rosneft, Mergermarket's data shows deal volumes are broadly down on both the equivalent quarter last year and Q4 2010 - leaving law firms' corporate practices facing another uninspiring year. Even those deal markets that have so far seemed to defy the impact of the recession, such as the Middle East and Africa and Asia, saw bid volumes down significantly. In Africa and the Middle East, volumes were down by 25% in Q1 2011 compared with the last quarter of 2010, and by 30% looking at Q1 last year, with 58 transactions worth $11.4bn (£7.1bn). Meanwhile, volumes fell by nearly 32% in the Asia-Pacific region between Q4 2010 and the beginning of 2011, and by 8.2% looking at January to March last year.

    1 minute read

  • April 5, 2011 |

    Energy and private equity sectors buck lacklustre market in 2011 Q1

    Given M&A trends clearly reflect what's happening in the global economy, Mergermarket's latest quarterly M&A data covering the first three months of the 2011 calendar year largely confirms the general feeling of uncertainty in the market currently. While there has been a visible increase in private equity mandates and big-ticket transactions such as AT&T and T-Mobile and BP/Rosneft, Mergermarket's data shows deal volumes are broadly down on both the equivalent quarter last year and Q4 2010 - leaving law firms' corporate practices facing another uninspiring year. Even those deal markets that have so far seemed to defy the impact of the recession, such as the Middle East and Africa and Asia, saw bid volumes down significantly. In Africa and the Middle East, volumes were down by 25% in Q1 2011 compared with the last quarter of 2010, and by 30% looking at Q1 last year, with 58 transactions worth $11.4bn (£7.1bn). Meanwhile, volumes fell by nearly 32% in the Asia-Pacific region between Q4 2010 and the beginning of 2011, and by 8.2% looking at January to March last year.

    1 minute read

  • March 16, 2011 |

    Top UK law firms to target more universities in diversity push

    A raft of the UK's leading law firms are set to increase the number of universities they target for graduate recruitment in a bid to attract a wider pool of students. Linklaters, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Hogan Lovells and Bird & Bird are all planning to up the number of universities they visit during the next recruitment round, starting in September.

    1 minute read

  • March 10, 2011 |

    Salans and Shearman lead on deal set to revive steel production in Teeside

    Salans and Shearman & Sterling have advised alongside three other law firms on a $468m (£287m) acquisition that will see a steel production site in Teeside re-opened, securing hundreds of local jobs. Salans advised Thailand's Sahaviriya Steel Industries (SSI) on the deal, which saw SSI acquire Teeside Cast Products in Redcar from Tata Steel Group.

    1 minute read

  • March 7, 2011 |

    Irwin Mitchell turns to Pinsent Masons for new employment head

    Irwin Mitchell has hired a partner from Pinsent Masons' London office to lead its employment practice. Tom Flanagan, who has been a partner at Pinsents since 2003, is set to join Irwin Mitchell on 19 March as head of the firm's six-partner employment team. Flanagan's contentious and non-contentious employment practice has a particular focus on the financial sector and he has experience dealing with the application and effects of TUPE in mergers, acquisitions and outsourcing across the public and private sectors. He also advises on trade union and employee consultation issues.

    1 minute read

  • March 2, 2011 |

    HSBC adds quartet of US law firms to knowledge-sharing venture

    Banking giant HSBC has added four US firms to its knowledge-sharing venture in a bid to improve its understanding of the US legal market. White & Case, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, Wilmer Hale and New York State law firm Phillips Lytle have been added to the bank's in-house SmartSearch database - taking the roster of firms sharing their know-how with the bank to 17.

    1 minute read

  • March 1, 2011 |

    CC tops 11 law firms included in annual Superbrands rankings

    Clifford Chance (CC) has overtaken Eversheds as the top-ranked law firm in the annual Superbrands index of UK business brands. The firm placed 184th in the rankings, four places higher than magic circle rival Linklaters (188), and 16 places higher than last year's best-placed law firm, Eversheds (200).

    1 minute read

  • February 22, 2011 |

    Gide and Salans - the French empires

    Gide Loyrette Nouel is the pinot noir of law firms. The most exquisite of wine grapes, pinot grows in small quantities in many regions around the world and sometimes fails to flourish - but always thrives best in its native France. With 19 offices, Gide is one of only two firms with French roots and international ambitions. About half of its approximately 650 lawyers are based in France and half abroad, mostly practising civil law for French clients. As Samantha Campbell, the firm's Vietnam practice leader, notes: "If you want a French cultural connection and an international experience, then Gide is the only choice."

    1 minute read