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  • December 13, 2009 |

    Latham & Watkins

    A great US practice and renowned as a decent place to work. However, the London office still looks uneven, so approach very much on the basis of your practice area.

    1 minute read

  • December 13, 2009 |

    Allen & Overy

    The magic circle firm remains among the City's true heavyweights, while its high-profile efforts to address associate attrition make A&O perhaps the most enlightened of the London elite.

    1 minute read

  • December 13, 2009 |

    Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft

    The pushy Noo Yawk firm that other Manhattan outfits think should calm down a bit. Its City arm is known for its work-hard-then-work-some-more stance but remains a niche finance practice with real bite.

    1 minute read

  • December 9, 2009 |

    DLA abandons US associate lockstep in move to performance-based pay

    DLA Piper has released details of a new associate pay model that is set to throw out lockstep in favour of a performance-based system, reports The National Law Journal. The plan will do away with minimum billable hour requirements and pay increases based on years of service. Instead, firm managers will consider "value delivered to clients and the firm, not tenure or hours," according to a memo released to associates on Tuesday (8 December).

    1 minute read

  • December 8, 2009 |

    Quartet lead on £136m dental company buyout

    Dundas & Wilson, Slaughter and May, Allen & Overy (A&O) and Wragge & Co have advised on the £136m management buyout (MBO) of Associated Dental Practices (ADP). Big four Scots firm Dundas advised ADP chief executive Bharat Patel and management on the MBO, which closed last week (30 November).

    1 minute read

  • December 8, 2009 |

    European law firm of the year

    "A fantastic firm," said one of the judges of Uria Menendez. Another member of the judging panel singled out a commitment by the Spanish law firm not to make redundancies in the face of the worst market conditions for a generation. The eye-catching pledge was made by Uria's co-managing partner, Jose Maria Segovia. In January 2009, he promised to "hire lawyers, pay the same salaries and not carry out redundancies", adding that "if things do not work out well then the partners will just make less money". The firm argues that its commitment to hold on to its staff has put it in a good position to emerge from the recession more quickly than other firms.

    1 minute read

  • December 8, 2009 |

    Law firm innovation award

    Axiom makes a bold claim: "We are constructing the first compelling alternative to the traditional law firm for clients and lawyers alike." The judges - many of whom are buyers of legal services - were suitably impressed. Founded in New York in 2000, Axiom employs over 280 lawyers across offices in New York, San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington and London. The London office opened in 2007 and now employs 40 lawyers serving 35 large corporate clients.

    1 minute read

  • November 30, 2009 |

    White & Case set to defend Norris in Supreme Court extradition case

    White & Case is appearing before a nine-strong panel of Justices in the Supreme Court today (30 November) as former Morgan Crucible chief executive Ian Norris continues his landmark battle against extradition to the US.

    1 minute read

  • November 26, 2009 |

    Leading firms act on largest UK pre-pack deal for Wind Hellas

    A raft of UK and US firms, including White & Case, Bingham McCutchen, Allen & Overy (A&O) and Slaughter and May, are advising on the UK's largest ever pre-pack administration. Wind Hellas, one of Greece's largest mobile phone operators, filed for administration with the English High Court earlier this month, with parent company Weather Investments set to rescue the business.

    1 minute read

  • November 25, 2009 |

    Restructuring and insolvency: The clean-up crew

    With debt hard to come by in the post-crunch age, the current restructuring and insolvency market is, according to the Blackstone Group's Martin Gudgeon, rapidly changing. He comments: "[We have] moved from resolving liquidity crises of cash-starved businesses to resolving poor investment returns of over-leveraged businesses. And now we [are] heading into resolving prospective refinancing hurdles."

    1 minute read