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  • November 9, 2007 |

    Skadden snaps up Weil City restructuring head

    New York giant Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom has strengthened its London practice with the hire of Weil Gotshal & Manges local restructuring head Chris Mallon. Mallon, who announced his departure earlier this week, will head up Skadden's UK law restructuring practice.

    1 minute read

  • October 31, 2007 |

    The Bar: Team spirit

    Today's commercial barristers need to be different. They can no longer get away with the 'eccentric genius' profile that still persists in some media depictions of the profession. They must understand the clients they are representing as much as their solicitors, and one of the main attributes instructing law firms insist on is that they are team players. Not only must they have the skills needed to win work and cases in the 21st century commercial arena, the process put in place to achieve the status of Queen's Counsel (QC) since 2005 has meant that the hurdles to jump from pupil to silk have got higher. And questions remain about the future of the Silk system. Last month the selection panel warned that the second round of QC awards was unlikely to be announced before January - 18 months after the first batch of silks were unveiled under the revamped kitemark.

    1 minute read

  • October 24, 2007 |

    Thelen Reid taps Weil Gotshal for litigator

    Thelen Reid Brown Raysman & Steiner has recruited Weil Gotshal & Manges patent litigator, Steven Rizzi, as a partner. Rizzi, who joins Thelen Reid's New York office, focuses on telecommunications, online media and television-related technologies. He has represented clients including News Corp and Disney.

    1 minute read

  • October 19, 2007 |

    US Briefing: Subprime crisis means tough times for lawyers

    Your weekly round-up of the biggest stories from the world's largest legal market.

    1 minute read

  • October 19, 2007 |

    A legal education

    BPP Law School has held off competition from rivals including the College of Law to retain its trophy client - the City Legal Practice Course (LPC) consortium.

    1 minute read

  • October 19, 2007 |

    Its good to talk

    "People increasingly ask employers 'what can you do for me?'" says Clare Roberts, a human resources (HR) consultant with PA Consulting. "Ten years ago, that would have been unheard of. They have a different attitude to work and employers are having to rethink their proposition to potential recruits."

    1 minute read

  • October 17, 2007 |

    Gifts from the gods

    It's not every day The Diary has cause to give thanks for lawyers' largesse. After all, even the occasional 'freebie' lunch is usually on the understanding that your correspondent sneaks a complimentary line or two into a story about how the firm has just laid off 40 support staff with only a curt email for thanks.

    1 minute read

  • October 11, 2007 |

    Freshfields and Sidley get closure but age timebomb ticks on

    Two recent cases on either side of the Atlantic point to one of the most crucial issues currently facing commercial law firms. Namely, how to cope with…

    1 minute read

  • October 10, 2007 |

    Where Angel didn't fear to tread

    For a generation, Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom stood alone globally among law firms in combining mammoth size with regal wealth. Well, move over, Joe Flom. With revenue of £1.121bn and profits per equity partner of £1.294m, Linklaters has surpassed Skadden on both measures. As managing partner Tony Angel's nine-year tenure draws to a close, Linklaters is both big and rich.

    1 minute read

  • October 10, 2007 |

    Tough SEC tactics force GCs to act as long arm of the law

    This has not been a good year to be a general counsel. In the first nine months of 2007, a record 10 general counsel were charged with, or pleaded to, civil or criminal fraud in federal courts, most in the wake of the stock-options backdating scandal.

    1 minute read