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  • July 2, 2009 |

    Law firms under pressure from banks for 'cheap resource'

    Tensions are mounting at City law firms as banks press their legal advisers to provide increasing numbers of secondees, it has emerged. A number of partners at top 10 City firms claim banks are putting them under too much pressure to provide in-house legal teams with lawyers.

    1 minute read

  • July 1, 2009 |

    Kennedys and DWF among firms to win place on SRA panel

    The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has appointed 24 firms to its panel of intervention agents, which deals with firms where there is deemed to be a risk to client money. The panel, which was announced yesterday and will run for three years, was selected after a competitive tender process involving 59 firms. Initially, 166 firms expressed an interest in applying.

    1 minute read

  • June 29, 2009 |

    A legacy of litigation survives the king of pop

    When pop legend Michael Jackson died on Thursday (25 June), he left behind multiple lawsuits that are pending against, and some brought on behalf of, himself and his production company, MJJ Productions. Lawyers handling those cases are spread across the country, managing everything from breach-of-contract disputes to employee claims to copyright infringement, writes The National Law Journal. It is unclear who would represent Jackson's estate in the litigation.

    1 minute read

  • June 25, 2009 |

    Global disputes: Responding to crisis

    For 10 years or so, the global economy grew. Lenders were free with their funds, especially in the US, where billions of dollars worth of mortgages were sold to people with weak credit ratings. The US banking sector packaged these subprime home loans into mortgage-backed securities known as collateralised debt obligations (CDOs), which were sold on to hedge funds and investment banks around the world. When borrowers started to default on their loans, the value of these investments plummeted, resulting in huge losses for banks globally.

    1 minute read

  • June 18, 2009 |

    US leaders secure roles as high yield launches return to Europe

    The London offices of White & Case and Latham & Watkins have advised on two high-yield deals worth nearly £400m for European video, voice and broadband internet services provider UPC.

    1 minute read

  • June 18, 2009 |

    The same, only different

    E-discovery (as it is referred to in the US) or, more accurately, e-disclosure (as it is referred to here, post the Woolf reforms), has received a very negative press, mainly due to the huge costs associated with it. But, when all is said and done, is it really that bad?

    1 minute read

  • June 17, 2009 |

    Linklaters and A&O lead on £445m Sainsbury's capital raising

    Linklaters and Allen & Overy (A&O) have landed roles on Sainsbury's £445m capital raising. The retail giant said today (17 June) that it intends to raise the money to fund its growth plans, with £255m expected to come through a placement of new shares and £190m though a convertible bond offering.

    1 minute read

  • June 8, 2009 |

    Investment banks hike legal pay after bonus cuts

    Several major investment banks have raised in-house legal salaries to offset falls in the amounts of bonuses being paid out. Research by recruitment agency Sheffield Haworth reveals that UBS, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs have all increased wages for their internal legal personnel, with the bulk of the rises occurring at more senior levels.

    1 minute read

  • June 5, 2009 |

    Elite firms take lead roles on Rio's $15bn rights issue and BHP JV

    Linklaters, Slaughter and May and Herbert Smith have all advised on Rio Tinto's $15.2bn (£9.5bn) rights issue and joint venture with one-time merger partner BHP Billiton. The roles come in the wake of this week's collapse of Rio's $19.5bn (£12.1bn) deal with Chinese resource giant Chinalco, with Rio opting against a tie-up after shareholder concerns that the deal was not in the best interests of the mining company.

    1 minute read

  • June 4, 2009 |

    E-disclosure: Lay your cards on the table

    Determining proportionality in litigation has long been a bit of a string-measuring exercise. However, the gap between opposing parties has become wider than ever in recent years as the move from paper to electronic business documents has resulted in an explosion of document volume involved in discovery exercises. Now, it seems, the UK courts are catching up with the issue.

    1 minute read