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  • May 20, 2009 |

    CC, Slaughters and Davis Polk take on top roles on £510m Taylor Wimpey fundraising

    Clifford Chance (CC), Slaughter and May and Davis Polk & Wardwell have all won roles advising on troubled house builder Taylor Wimpey's £510m fundraising. The fully underwritten placing, which is subject to shareholder approval this month, will cut the company's debt by around one-third. Slaughters reprised its role for regular client Taylor Wimpey, with corporate partner Jeff Twentyman leading the firm's team. Davis Polk advised the house-builder on US aspects, with London-based corporate partner Nigel Wilson advising.

    1 minute read

  • May 14, 2009 |

    Morgan Stanley legal chief promoted to vice-chair role

    Morgan Stanley's chief legal officer Gary Lynch has been named as the bank's vice chairman, a move which coincides with the retirement of international general counsel Keith Clark. Lynch is set to relocate from New York to London to take up the new vice chairman post, where he will work with the bank's co-president Walid Chamman, as well as continuing with his current legal post. Lynch, a former executive vice chairman at Credit Suisse and partner at David Polk & Wardwell, will report to Morgan Stanley chief executive John Mack, who is based in New York.

    1 minute read

  • May 13, 2009 |

    Norton Rose acts on Greece's first consumer finance securitisation deal

    Norton Rose has advised on the closing of the first consumer finance securitisation in Greece. The firm fielded a team from its London headquarters led by capital markets partner Sandrine Sauvel.The loans, originating from Piraeus Bank, are the first consumer finance loans securitised in Greece to be covered by a major credit rating agency. The transaction, arranged by Morgan Stanley, involved €493m (£435m) in class A notes, which were rated by Moody's, and €232m (£208m) in class B notes.

    1 minute read

  • May 8, 2009 |

    Mayer Brown names new City insurance chief

    Mayer Brown has appointed a new head of insurance and reinsurance in London, with Karen Abbott taking over the post. Abbott, who joined the firm in 1985 and made partner in 1994, succeeds former head Sean Connolly, who is now senior partner of the firm's London office. Connolly was elected to the senior partner role in 2007, replacing former chief Paul Maher.

    1 minute read

  • May 6, 2009 |

    Litigation support and e-discovery: Where lawyers fear to tread

    Getting to grips with the disclosure of electronic documents is crucially important for every litigator. E-discovery is more than just a buzz phrase; it plays a key role in many cases. When done properly it can be the key that unlocks a case, and can save significant time and costs for your client. When done badly it can have disastrous consequences. Recent case law provides lawyers with a simple message: every party must give proper consideration to e-discovery or face adverse consequences if they do not. In this article we look at the basic rules, the new case law and provide some practical tips. We also ask the following difficult question: what do you need to know about IT to be a good litigator?

    1 minute read

  • May 6, 2009 |

    Litigation support and e-discovery: Sooner rather than later

    The English Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) were amended in 2005 to give more clarity in respect of electronic discovery (ED), yet it was some three years later before a substantive judgment was given in this area. In Digicel v Cable & Wireless, Mr Justice Morgan highlighted the fact that the parties had not conducted a case management conference to address the subject of ED - as defined in the revised CPR 31. Clearly, most of the issues in the case should have been discussed and resolved at this stage rather than in court.The legal team spent 6,700 hours systematically reviewing around 1,140,000 electronic documents and emails. They determined that about 5,200 were relevant at a cost of around £2m. Mr Justice Morgan determined that "the rules do not require that no stone should be left unturned. This may mean that a relevant document, even 'a smoking gun' is not found. This attitude is justified by considerations of proportionality".

    1 minute read

  • May 6, 2009 |

    An evening with corporate counsel

    Last week a group of leading senior in-house and general counsel gathered at the Renaissance Chancery Court Hotel, central London, to discuss some of the critical issues currently facing in-house legal departments.The underlying theme of the discussion was the shifting role of corporate counsel, not to mention mounting workloads in the light of global economic turmoil. Other issues on the agenda included the strengthening of the corporate counsel role within company hierarchies, team management and handling of tough cost constraints. Below is the pick of the evening's debate.

    1 minute read

  • April 29, 2009 |

    Charles Russell wins role on £900m mining listing

    Charles Russell has won a role opposite Norton Rose and Linklaters advising on the main market listing of newly-merged company Peter Hambro Mining (PHM) for nearly £900m. Charles Russell corporate partner Alexander Keepin advised JP Morgan Cazenove and Canaccord Adams as joint sponsors to Russia's secondlargest gold producer PHM on its listing on the London Stock Exchange.

    1 minute read

  • April 29, 2009 |

    Skadden and Norton Rose secure $3bn energy sale in Kazakhstan

    Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom has landed a role advising on two acquisitions in Kazakhstan thought to be worth about $3bn (£2.06bn) in total. The New York leader advised Kazakhstan's largest privately-owned oil company, JSC MangistauMunaiGaz (MMG) and its holding company Central Asia Petroleum (CAP) on the sale of a 100% stake in MMG to Mangistau Investments - a joint venture between China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and KazMunaiGas (KMG).

    1 minute read

  • April 22, 2009 |

    Faegre set for German closure with 15 laid off at 'distressed practice'

    Faegre & Benson has announced plans to exit Germany, with the US firm's Frankfurt office to be closed down later this year.The closure will result in 15 lawyers, including seven partners, being laid off. The decision to close the office, which covered corporate, real estate, employment, dispute resolution and trademark law, was made at the beginning of the month, with Frankfurt staff informed on 3 April.

    1 minute read