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  • June 25, 2009 |

    Partners predict market consolidation as downturn drives merger interest

    Two out of three partners believe the recession will present attractive opportunities to secure opportunistic mergers, suggesting that the UK market could be set for a run of consolidation. The latest Big Question survey found that 68% of partners believe the downturn will present attractive opportunities to secure domestic mergers. A further 28% thought there may be such deals, leaving only 4% claiming such unions were unlikely.

    1 minute read

  • June 18, 2009 |

    Herbert Smith set to retain 74% of September trainee intake

    Herbert Smith has retained 48 of its 65 trainees set to qualify this September, equating to 74% of its intake. The retention rate represents a significant drop on last year's figure, when the firm kept on 45 out of 49 (92%) trainees. The firm's March intake earlier this year saw 26 out of 31 (84%) taken on.

    1 minute read

  • June 17, 2009 |

    Skadden takes front seat on GM's Saab sell-off

    Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom has advised Sweden's Koenigsegg on its acquisition of General Motors' loss-making brand Saab. The deal, which was backed by Norwegian and US investors, saw Skadden field a team including City corporate finance partner Pranav Trivedi.

    1 minute read

  • June 12, 2009 |

    CC, Sullivan and Skadden lead on $13.5bn Barclays sell-off

    A trio of transatlantic firms have landed plum roles on the $13.5bn (£8.2bn) sale of Barclays' global investment arm to US money manager BlackRock. Blackrock is purchasing Barclays Global Investors - which includes asset management business iShares - for $6.6bn (£4bn) in cash and the remainder in stock.

    1 minute read

  • June 12, 2009 |

    Skadden hires Latham HK partner in rare lateral move

    Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom has recruited Hong Kong corporate partner Julie Gao from Latham & Watkins. Gao, who joined Latham straight out of law school in 1998 and was promoted to partner in 2006, was regarded as an up-and-comer in Latham's Asia practice, focusing on M&A and capital markets transactions.

    1 minute read

  • June 8, 2009 |

    Cleary, Shearman confirm jobs for September NQs

    Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton is to keep on all six of its September 2009 qualifying trainees in the City while Shearman & Sterling has offered jobs to nearly two thirds of its qualifiers. Cleary has continued its record of retaining every qualifying trainee since it introduced its trainee programme in the City in 1997. One trainee will focus on tax while the remainder will keep a broader corporate practice.

    1 minute read

  • May 29, 2009 |

    CC global litigation chief resigns from firm

    Clifford Chance's (CC's) global head of litigation and dispute resolution has quit the firm in the wake of a practice overhaul that will see a number of associates laid off in the US. Mark Kirsch, who has held the global role since early last year, handed in his resignation yesterday (28 May). He has also headed up the firm's US litigation and disputes resolution practice for the past five years.

    1 minute read

  • May 20, 2009 |

    Addleshaws connects with Tiscali on Carphone Warehouse purchase

    Addleshaw Goddard has scored a leading role acting opposite a raft of firms on Carphone Warehouse's £236m acquisition of the UK operations of internet services business Tiscali. The national law firm advised Tiscali on the deal, which will see Carphone Warehouse subsidiary TalkTalk acquire Tiscali UK to take the broadband provider's customer base to more than 4.25 million people.

    1 minute read

  • May 20, 2009 |

    Skadden restructuring partner quits for Latham

    Latham & Watkins has recruited a new head of restructuring with the hire of a partner from Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom. Jan Baker's move to Latham comes on the heels of two other lateral departures from Skadden last week, with M&A partner duo David Fox and Daniel Wolf joining Kirkland & Ellis.However, Skadden executive partner Eric Friedman insisted that there was no connection between the moves, claiming that the three departures do not allude to any larger issues at Skadden.

    1 minute read

  • May 18, 2009 |

    Kirkland signs up Skadden M&A partner duo

    Kirkland & Ellis has sealed the hire of two high-profile corporate partners from Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom, reports The Am Law Daily. David Fox, an M&A lawyer and reportedly one of the firm's most highly-paid partners, joined the firm more than 20 years ago, while fellow M&A partner Daniel Wolf is one of the youngest lawyers to have made partner at Skadden - he was promoted six years ago at the age of 30.Both lawyers have worked together on several deals in recent years, including BHP Billiton's $150bn (£98bn) bid for Rio Tinto.

    1 minute read