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  • October 15, 2008 |

    A&O lands role advising HBOS on £1.3bn sale of Australian assets

    Allen & Overy (A&O) has landed a lead role advising HBOS on the £1.3bn sale of some of its Australian operations to the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA). The CBA is to buy the Bank of Western Australia and St Andrew's Australia from HBOS. London corporate partner Alistair Asher has taken the lead role on the UK aspects of the deal, assisted by corporate partner George Knighton and corporate associate Sara Pickersgill. HBOS has also turned to Australian law firm Clayton Utz for local advice, with M&A head Rod Halstead advising from the firm's Sydney office.

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  • October 15, 2008 |

    Morgan Lewis hires new partner from Latham

    Morgan Lewis & Bockius has bolstered its London employment team with the hire of Christopher Hitchens as a partner from Latham & Watkins. Hitchens, who was a counsel at Latham, specialises in employment work on cross-border M&A, outsourcing and employee incentives. The firm has also hired an associate from DLA Piper for its London employment team. Hitchens is the US firm's first lateral partner in the City since November last year, when it hired corporate finance partner Iain Wright from Norton Rose.

    1 minute read

  • October 14, 2008 |

    Davis Polk wins role on new $250bn US bank rescue

    Davis Polk & Wardwell has been appointed as the sole adviser to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on the US Government's $250bn (£142bn) plan to purchase shares in nine of America's largest banks. The plan, announced by US President George Bush today (14 October) will take $250bn from the $700bn (£399bn) bailout package passed on 3 October. The part-nationalisation will see the government invest in Bank of America (BoA), Citi, JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, Bank of New York and State Street.

    1 minute read

  • October 13, 2008 | International Edition

    Magic circle firms head up £37bn bank bailout

    Allen & Overy, Slaughter and May and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer are among the top City firms winning roles on the UK Government's £37bn bailout of three of the country's biggest banks. Freshfields has reprised its role for longstanding client the Bank of England on the rescue plan, fielding a team under corporate partner Michael Raffan. Slaughters is acting for the Treasury on the agreement, which will lead to the Government owning around a 60% stake in Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and a stake of around 40% in the merged HBOS and Lloyds TSB.

    1 minute read

  • October 13, 2008 |

    Magic circle firms head up £37bn bank bailout

    Allen & Overy, Slaughter and May and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer are among the top City firms winning roles on the UK Government's £37bn bailout of three of the country's biggest banks. Freshfields has reprised its role for longstanding client the Bank of England on the rescue plan, fielding a team under corporate partner Michael Raffan. Slaughters is acting for the Treasury on the agreement, which will lead to the Government owning around a 60% stake in Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and a stake of around 40% in the merged HBOS and Lloyds TSB.

    1 minute read

  • October 8, 2008 |

    Morgan Lewis makes Latham partner hire

    Morgan Lewis & Bockius has bolstered its London employment team with the hire of Christopher Hitchins as a partner from Latham & Watkins.Hitchins, who was a counsel at Latham, specialises in all aspects of employment work on cross-border M&A transactions, outsourcing and employee incentives.He is joined by an associate from DLA Piper, who will also start in the employment team. Earlier this year the firm also promoted London-based senior associate Angela Gill was promoted to of counsel in the practice.

    1 minute read

  • October 6, 2008 |

    Goldsmith on 'credit crunch plus' litigation

    Lord Goldsmith, the former Attorney General, was due to deliver the keynote address at last month's Legal Week Litigation Forum in London. In the event, Debevoise…

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  • October 2, 2008 |

    Fried Frank loses capital markets team to Willkie Farr in Germany

    Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson has lost the bulk of its German capital markets team to US rival Willkie Farr & Gallagher, with the hires marking the launch of Willkie Farr's capital markets practice in Frankfurt. Fried Frank's Frankfurt-based capital markets head and office co-managing partner, Michael Schlitt, joined Willkie Farr this week (1 October) with the bulk of his team of four associates expected to follow suit. Schlitt joined Fried Frank last August after seven years with Allen & Overy (A&O) where he was head of the law firm's German equity capital markets group.The departures will leave Fried Frank with only two partners in Frankfurt - corporate co-managing partners Sven Schulte-Hillen and Juergen van Kann - and a team of around eight associates. It is understood that the firm has yet to decide whether or not to rebuild its capital markets group as a result of the poor market conditions.Schlitt, who has previously worked with clients including Citi, Credit Suisse, Dresdner Kleinwort, Morgan Stanley, UBS, JPMorgan, Merrill Lynch and Allianz, becomes the sixth partner for Willkie Farr in Frankfurt.His hire means Willkie's Frankfurt office now covers four main practice areas - mainstream corporate, M&A and private equity; tax; finance and capital markets. M&A partner Jochen Winter, who joined Willkie Farr in early 2006 from Linklaters, said: "With the addition of Schlitt we now have in place the four cornerstones of our practice and can offer a project-based practice in Frankfurt built around top local practitioners, as promised to the market." Schlitt added: "I joined Willkie Farr because it is an excellent Wall Street firm with a prominent capital markets practice. I also see very high potential for synergies, especially on the private equity, public M&A and tax side."Fried Frank, which opened in Frankfurt in 2004 with Schulte-Hillen and van Kann, also has offices in London and Paris. Willkie's European coverage includes London, Paris, Milan, Rome and Brussels as well as Frankfurt.

    1 minute read

  • September 26, 2008 |

    US firms eye Heller talent after firm's collapse

    In the wake of Heller Ehrman's dissolution, attention will now turn to where various practice groups and offices of the San Francisco firm will end up, reports The Recorder. Two legal recruiters said they had heard that Los Angeles office managing partner Nancy Cohen, a rainmaker in Heller's insurance recovery practice, will move to Proskauer Rose. One legal consultant close to the situation said that Heller's insurance recovery group, which includes 40 lawyers, will make the move with Cohen.

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  • September 25, 2008 |

    Heller partnership briefed on closure

    Heller Ehrman inched closer to its likely dissolution this Wednesday (24 September), writes The Recorder.Management held a firm-wide videoconference at 4:30pm to update the partnership on the status of the firm's line of credit, opportunities for groups and offices, and "plans for an orderly transition (or wind-down)," according to an email announcing the meeting.Also on Wednesday, firm chairman Matthew Larrabee sent out an email, apparently to all lawyers and staff, apologising for keeping discussions of the firm's fate under wraps, and promising clearer communication later in the week.

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