Filter This View

  • April 21, 2010 |

    Media and internet: The content business

    Once, life was simple in the media business. Media companies produced content - though they didn't call it that - for the masses. Film studios, record companies, publishers and broadcasting groups either owned or had significant control over distribution channels for that content. Life was also much simpler for media lawyers. Work was filled with low-level litigation, turning out fairly standard copyright agreements and, if you worked for one of the acquisitive media conglomerates, bringing in external counsel for intermittent bouts of empire building

    1 minute read

  • April 14, 2010 |

    US Briefing: Road trip

    At around 3pm on 6 October 2009, roughly 100 lawyers and executives filed into a conference room in Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom's Manhattan office. It had taken three years, 11 months and 29 days to get to this moment: Delphi was emerging from the depths of bankruptcy and passing into the hands of its former parent, General Motors Company (GM), as well as two lenders. There was a palpable sense of exhaustion in the room; the close had been convened seven hours earlier. The Veuve Clicquot, selected by Delphi lead lawyer John 'Jack' Butler Jr but poured prematurely, was flat.

    1 minute read

  • April 8, 2010 |

    Freshfields, Sullivan take the wheel on Daimler-Nissan-Renault tie-up

    Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Sullivan & Cromwell have advised on a joint venture between Daimler, Nissan and Renault that will see the automakers team up to develop a new wave of energy-efficient cars. The agreement will see the German, Japanese and French car manufacturers take stakes in each other to share technologies and build smaller, electric-powered vehicles.

    1 minute read

  • March 26, 2010 |

    Shearman spin-off launches in Frankfurt with Skadden hires

    Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom has lost its Frankfurt tax team to German firm Schilling Zutt & Anschutz, which is set to launch in the city. Skadden tax partner Hans-Georg Berg, counsel Rolf Schmich, and associate Bjoern Enders are to join the firm on 1 April.

    1 minute read

  • March 24, 2010 |

    SRA set to offer fast-track qualification rights to Asia lawyers

    The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has approved new regulations for the Qualified Lawyers Transfer Scheme (QLTS) that could see the scheme expanded to a host of new jurisdictions including China and Japan. The proposed changes, which will come into effect in September if approved by the Legal Services Board, are intended to better regulate internationally-qualified lawyers seeking admission in England and Wales.

    1 minute read

  • March 19, 2010 |

    Kirkland and Freshfields take lead roles on $5bn pharma buyout

    Kirkland & Ellis and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer have advised on the $5bn (£3.3bn) acquisition of German drugmaker Ratiopharm by Teva Pharmaceuticals, the world's leading generic drug company, reports The Am Law Daily. Kirkland took a lead role for Teva on the deal, while Freshfields advised Ratiopharm's parent company, with partners Andreas Fabritius and Oliver von Rosenberg leading the magic circle firm's team.

    1 minute read

  • March 17, 2010 | International Edition

    Pharmaceuticals: The game changer

    The pharmaceutical industry is facing uncertain times as a once-lucrative business model buckles under a globalising world economy. Charlotte Edmond reports on the companies and lawyers battling to secure all-important intellectual property in a rapidly changing market

    1 minute read

  • March 17, 2010 |

    White & Case City base posts 20% drop in revenues for 2009

    White & Case's London office has emerged as the worst performing City arm of a US law firm in 2009 - a year in which results varied significantly between firms. White & Case saw London revenues plunge by just under 20% to $197m (£130m) during the 2009 calendar year, with profits per equity partner (PEP) dropping by 11% to $1.32m (£872,000).

    1 minute read

  • March 17, 2010 |

    Pharmaceuticals: The game changer

    The pharmaceutical industry is facing uncertain times as a once-lucrative business model buckles under a globalising world economy. Charlotte Edmond reports on the companies and lawyers battling to secure all-important intellectual property in a rapidly changing market

    1 minute read

  • March 16, 2010 |

    Skadden names new management for Asia-Pacific practice

    Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom has appointed a new co-head of its Asia-Pacific practice. Tokyo partner Audrey Sokoloff has been named as joint head of the group alongside Alan Schiffman, with effect from today (16 March).

    1 minute read