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  • May 20, 2010 |

    Links, Herbert Smith plug in for roles on £3.3bn National Grid rights issue

    Linklaters and Herbert Smith have taken lead roles on National Grid's £3.3bn rights issue as the energy giant gears up for a major programme of investment. The proceeds of the rights issue will allow National Grid to replace ageing assets, strengthen its infrastructure and upgrade UK networks to allow access to renewable sources of energy.

    1 minute read

  • May 19, 2010 |

    Citigroup names 'golden nine' line-up of UK firms in two-tier EMEA panel

    Citigroup has overhauled its external legal arrangements, creating two new panels of preferred law firms. The banking giant has unveiled new panels of advisers in the Europe, Middle East and Asia (EMEA) region and the US, formalising its previous roster of law firms.

    1 minute read

  • May 19, 2010 |

    US trio take lead roles on record CEE listing

    A trio of US firms have taken the lead on Central Europe's largest ever initial public offering (IPO), the $2.7bn (£1.8bn) listing of insurance company PZU. Dewey & LeBoeuf scored a role for PZU, Poland's biggest insurer, which listed on the Warsaw stock exchange for the first time last week (11 May). The team was led by Warsaw managing partner Jaroslaw Grzesiak, Warsaw partner Ireneusz Matusielaski and London partner Joseph Ferraro.

    1 minute read

  • May 19, 2010 |

    Taylor Wessing pensions chief joins Pinsents London office

    Pinsent Masons has bolstered its pensions practice with the hire of Taylor Wessing's UK pensions head Carolyn Saunders. Saunders is set to join the national law firm's London office as a senior partner in the pensions team later this year. She will work closely with Pinsents national head of pensions Alastair Meeks, and will advise employers and trustees on both contentious and non-contentious matters.

    1 minute read

  • May 19, 2010 |

    Shearman appoints London partner to top-level policy board

    Shearman & Sterling has appointed financial regulatory partner Barney Reynolds to its main policy board. Reynolds replaces London office managing partner Anthony Ward on the board after an election process. Reynolds becomes the sole non-US representative on the board, which deals with policy and recommending new lateral partner hires. It also deals with issues such as partner compensation.

    1 minute read

  • May 19, 2010 |

    The Am Law 100: No easy answers

    After five consecutive years of increasing their ranks and regarding layoffs as anathema, Am Law 100 firms abruptly changed course in 2009, blanketing their workforce with pink slips. Facing a deepening global recession, a dramatic decline in demand and pressure from clients to reduce costs, Am Law 100 firms laid off more than 3,000 lawyers, slashed the size of their incoming associate classes and pushed start dates back for months. The pain was as widespread as it was deep: 54 Am Law 100 firms reduced their total headcount last year, compared to only 22 of those 100 firms in 2008, and eight firms in 2007.

    1 minute read

  • May 12, 2010 |

    Ken Clarke named as surprise justice secretary in new Government

    Kenneth Clarke has been appointed Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice as incoming prime minister David Cameron forms his first cabinet. Details are emerging of the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition Government, with key cabinet posts confirmed so far including Clarke as the UK's new Justice Secretary, replacing the outgoing Labour minister Jack Straw.

    1 minute read

  • May 11, 2010 |

    Deutsche Bank names new general counsel for UK and Western Europe

    Deutsche Bank has appointed a new general counsel for UK and Western Europe for the first time in over a decade. Emma Slatter, who most recently held the position of head of legal for fixed income within the global markets division in London, has taken over the role from Simon Dodds. Slatter, who trained at Slaughter and May, joined Deutsche-owned Morgan Grenfell in 1994.

    1 minute read

  • May 11, 2010 |

    Simmons finance practice set to keep quietly outperforming

    Simmons & Simmons may have seen a double-digit fall in revenue in the last financial year, but the prospects look relatively rosy for the firm's upwardly-mobile finance practice. Out of Simmons' four sector groups, financial institutions now count for around half of the firm's international business after the group's income more than doubled between 2005 and 2009. Since City banking partner Jeremy Hoyland took over the helm of the financial markets practice group from current managing partner Mark Dawkins five years ago, the firm has maintained a low-key but steady ascent up the pecking order of many of the world's leading banking institutions.

    1 minute read

  • May 4, 2010 |

    DLA cleared after sex discrimination allegations from former partner

    DLA Piper has successfully defended itself against allegations of sexual discrimination brought by a former partner. A Liverpool employment tribunal cleared the firm of the charges brought by former real estate partner Sarah Sweeney, dismissing all of her claims at the end of last month.

    1 minute read