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  • April 3, 2009 |

    Skadden partner round sees two made up in London

    Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom has promoted nine lawyers to its global partnership, with two made up in London. Corporate counsel Lorenzo Corte and international arbitration and litigation lawyer Patrick Heneghan both join the elite US firm's partnership, bringing the number of London-based partners up to 29, following the recent hire of litigator David Kavanagh from O'Melveny & Myers.The number of partners made up in London is marginally down on last year's three City promotions; however, the overall total is significantly down on last year when the firm made up 25 new partners firmwide.

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  • April 1, 2009 |

    Major US firms' City partner promotions hit a four-year low as only 34 make the grade

    Partner promotions at some of the largest US law firms in London hit a four-year low in 2009, with just 34 lawyers making the grade compared to 54 the year before, according to research from Legal Week. A survey of promotion trends at 28 leading US firms in London found promotions had increased each year between 2005 and 2008, before this year's fall. In 2005, 36 lawyers were made up, with that figure increasing to 38 for 2006 and 48 for 2007, before last year's bumper haul.

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  • March 30, 2009 |

    Skadden cuts jobs across support staff ranks

    Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom has begun a round of layoffs among its 2,000 non-lawyer employees, reports The Am Law Daily. Besides legal assistants, paralegals and secretaries, the layoffs are also said to affect staff attorneys.One source told The Am Law Daily that the layoffs do not exceed more than 5% of Skadden staffers in the firm's nine US offices, saying that the actual number of individuals laid off is likely to be much lower than that.At least 25 staff positions have been cut from Skadden's Washington DC office. Office head Michael Rogan said that the reductions were made for economic reasons.

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  • March 26, 2009 |

    US firms in City reach new high for lateral hires

    Lateral partner hiring across the top US and international firms in London has almost doubled over the last five years, according to research from Legal Week.A survey of hiring trends at 33 US and transatlantic firms with operations in the City found the group made a total of 79 lateral partner hires during 2008 - 11 more than in 2007, despite the banking crisis and the onset of the global recession.

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  • March 26, 2009 |

    City firms back two-track regulation

    Senior City lawyers, including Linklaters senior partner David Cheyne and Clifford Chance senior partner Stuart Popham, have backed calls for separate regulation for larger law firms in order to maintain global competitiveness. A report from the Government's Professional Services Global Competitiveness Group raises concerns, particularly from large commercial law firms, that the current approach to regulation by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) may not suit all firms.

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  • March 26, 2009 |

    With bankruptcies set to sweep Asia, foreign firms face resource crunch

    When economic crisis struck Asia in the late 1990s and early 2000s, international law firms with newly-crippled clients in the region flew in their top restructuring specialists from the US and Europe.This time around, though, those lawyers are much in demand at home, leaving Asian offices somewhat strapped for bankruptcy talent."There will be a resource crunch," says Matthew Bersani, Asia managing partner for Shearman & Sterling. His firm worked on some of the region's largest restructurings of the past decade - including those of Chinese conglomerate Guangdong Enterprises and Singapore-based Asia Pulp & Paper - largely by relying on big-name bankruptcy partners from New York.

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  • March 25, 2009 |

    Corporate lawyers on edge as China blocks trophy Coke deal

    Chinese authorities have blocked a $2.4bn (£1.7bn) bid by Coca-Cola to acquire Chinese beverage maker Huiyuan Juice Group, prompting concerns about the impact the decision will have on M&A in the region. The deal, which would have represented the largest ever takeover of a Chinese target by a foreign company, was rejected in one of the first major tests of the country's recently-adopted antitrust law.

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  • March 24, 2009 |

    Elite trio take lead roles on $2.7bn Daimler sale

    Shearman & Sterling, Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer have all won lead roles on the high-profile sale of a $2.7bn (£1.9bn) stake in embattled German car giant Daimler to Middle East investors. Shearman advised the buyer, Aabar Investments, a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi's International Petroleum Investment Company, on its purchase of up $2.7bn worth of Daimler shares.The New York law firm has advised various Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth funds on several recent deals, including Mubadala Investments decision to form $8bn (£5.7bn) joint ventures with both Advanced Micro Devices and General Electric.

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  • March 23, 2009 |

    - 2009 Partnership Round: a Legal Week Wiki special -

    Welcome to Legal Week's 2009 partner promotions round-up. Here you'll find all the latest news stories about partner promotions gathered in one place, as well as links to relevant blog entries and any other bits and pieces we think might be of interest.

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  • March 20, 2009 |

    Samsung appoints Asia heavyweight as legal chief

    Electronics giant Samsung has appointed a former United Nations ambassador and South Korean trade minister as its president and chief legal officer. Kim Hyun-Chong will join Samsung on Monday (23 March) in what may be the most senior in-house legal position to date at a major Asian corporation. Samsung spokesman James Chung says the chief legal officer position was a new one at the company and Kim would report directly to chief executive officer Lee Yoon-Woo.The role of in-house lawyers has generally been less pronounced in large Asian corporations than in their American and European counterparts. Relatively few companies have fully-fledged general counsel, with the top legal role frequently filled by a vice president or director instead of a senior-level executive.

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