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  • December 11, 2008 |

    Leading legal figures review effectiveness of Law Society

    A group of high-profile legal figures including Linklaters senior partner David Cheyne and Simmons & Simmons managing partner Mark Dawkins have questioned the effectiveness of the Law Society as a single regulator. The issue is one of a number raised in the first - and only - report from the Government's high-level Professional Services Global Competitiveness Group, which is expected to be released later this month.The group, which also includes Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom European managing partner Bruce Buck and Clifford Chance senior partner Stuart Popham, as well as senior members of the accounting profession, was appointed in September to champion the professional services sector and come up with recommendations to ensure that the UK is not at a competitive disadvantage to other countries.

    1 minute read

  • December 10, 2008 |

    Skadden boosts Moscow with partner relocation

    Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom is boosting its Russia practice with the relocation of a senior corporate partner from London to Moscow. Linda Davies is set to transfer to the region in the new year, becoming the third partner on the ground in the Russian capital. Davies will join Alexey Kiyashko and Dmitri Kovalenko as full-time partners in the office, with two further partners - Pranav Trivedi and Richard Muglia - splitting their time between London and Moscow.

    1 minute read

  • December 10, 2008 |

    Behind the veil

    On Monday, January 21, 2008, back when extreme stock volatility was still a novelty, world equity markets plunged 6% with no full explanation apparent. Then, on Thursday, the mystery abated when at least a partial explanation for the sell-off appeared. The French bank Societe Generale (Soc Gen) announced that a young trader named Jerome Kerviel had somehow, without the bank noticing, bet A50bn that stock markets would rise. Soc Gen had spent the past few days desperately selling his positions - and set a new standard for rogue trading losses at A6.4bn. Hit by scandal and a potential legal mess, Soc Gen did what plenty of other rich and powerful French institutions would do in such a situation: It hired Jean Veil.

    1 minute read

  • December 10, 2008 |

    Italy: Jostling for position

    Italian lawyers have a history of finding international law firms as unpalatable as a drop of cream in their afternoon coffee. Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, Linklaters, McDermott Will & Emery, and White & Case all bear the marks of high-profile partner departures, failed mergers, and collapsed alliances in Italy. Most have struggled to challenge the hegemony of the elite independent Italian practices, led by the trio of Bonelli Erede Pappalardo, Chiomenti Studio Legale, and Gianni, Origoni, Grippo & Partners. But for Latham & Watkins and Linklaters, history is no barrier to entry. Throughout 2007, both firms announced ambitious raids on Italian firms to launch outposts focused, at least initially, on winning high-end corporate and finance work. Linklaters made a series of hires from Allen & Overy and local practices Pedersoli e Associati, Bonelli and Camozzi Bonissoni Varrenti e Associati to build an eight-partner team of corporate, finance, and capital markets lawyers. In one fell swoop, Latham took a five-partner team from Bonelli, giving the firm its first Italian-qualified lawyers, split between Milan and Rome, to augment a US and English-qualified team of Italian specialists in London and Brussels.

    1 minute read

  • December 8, 2008 |

    CC announces bonus cutbacks for US associates

    Clifford Chance (CC) has become the latest firm to cut back bonuses for US associates, with the announcement that it is to halve its year-end payouts. The US arm of the magic circle firm will award bonuses ranging from a pro-rated $17,500 (£12,000) for first-year associates to $32,500 (£22,000) for eighth-year associates - a significant decrease on last year, when the firm awarded bonuses ranging from $35,000 (£24,000) to $65,000 (£44,500).The new figures put CC in line with its US competitors, after a raft of Stateside firms, including Davis Polk & Wardwell, Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom and Cravath Swaine & Moore, slashed bonuses in response to the economic downturn.

    1 minute read

  • December 5, 2008 | International Edition

    Leading UK lawyers added to new Who's Who list

    Weil Gotshal & Manges City managing partner Mike Francies, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer financial institutions co-head Will Lawes (pictured) and Slaughter and May corporate heavyweight Charles Randell are among a string of high-profile lawyers to land a mention in the 2009 edition of Who's Who.

    1 minute read

  • December 5, 2008 |

    Leading UK lawyers added to new Who's Who list

    Weil Gotshal & Manges City managing partner Mike Francies, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer financial institutions co-head Will Lawes (pictured) and Slaughter and May corporate heavyweight Charles Randell are among a string of high-profile lawyers to land a mention in the 2009 edition of Who's Who.

    1 minute read

  • December 3, 2008 |

    Skadden seals hire of Freshfields Paris counsel

    Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom has announced its second counsel level hire in arbitration in as many months. Mark Mangan will join the firm's London arm from the Paris arm of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in January.

    1 minute read

  • December 2, 2008 |

    CC set to lose NY litigation quartet

    Clifford Chance (CC) is set to lose a quartet of partners from the firm's US litigation practice. New York-based partners Warren Feldman, David Meister and former US chief John Carroll have defected to rival firm Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom.The departures come just weeks after the managing partner of CC's Washington office, Leiv Blad, left for Bingham McCutchen along with litigation partner Jon Roellke and of counsel Boyd Cloern.

    1 minute read

  • December 2, 2008 |

    Davis Polk cuts associate bonuses

    Davis Polk & Wardwell has announced that it is to halve associate bonuses, following similar moves by other US firms over the last two weeks, reports The Am Law Daily. The US firm says 2008 bonuses will range from a pro-rated $17,500 (£11,800) for first-year associates to $32,500 (£22,000) for eighth and ninth years. Those amounts match the reduced rates announced on 24 November by Simpson Thacher & Bartlett. Last year, Davis Polk bonuses began at $35,000 (£23,700) and topped out at $65,000 (£44,000).In a firmwide memo sent out yesterday (1 December), the management committee thanked associates, and noted that the year posed a "challenging economic environment."

    1 minute read