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  • July 31, 2008 |

    Compensation for America's top GCs - world-leading and still defying gravity

    Give Gary Lynch credit for making a dramatic entrance. The chief legal officer for New York-based Morgan Stanley debuted on Corporate Counsel's annual survey of general counsel compensation with a whopping $6.3m (£3.15m) bonus. That large pot of cash earned him the number two spot overall on our elite roster. A look at America's 100 top-paid general counsel in 2007, as measured by the 2008 general counsel (GC) compensation survey, shows that he's in good company. Simply put, the top legal officers at Fortune 500 companies raked it in. And that was true even for those heading the law departments at such financial institutions as Morgan Stanley, which are reeling after the collapse of the subprime mortgage market.

    1 minute read

  • July 31, 2008 |

    Top US GCs stretch pay gap on Euro counterparts as bonuses surge 17%

    The US's top general counsel are widening the pay gap between themselves and their European counterparts, according to new research that shows soaring bonuses and stock awards driving remuneration for chief legal officers at US bluechips.The results, which are part of Corporate Counsel magazine's annual general counsel (GC) compensation survey, show that the average basic wage for the 100 best-paid US GCs was just over $567,000 (£285,000) in 2007.

    1 minute read

  • July 31, 2008 |

    K&L Gates adds to London property practice

    K&L Gates has added to its property practice in London with the hire of a partner from Eversheds.

    1 minute read

  • July 30, 2008 |

    Herbies and Ashurst take headline roles on private equity fund's £250m LSE IPO

    Herbert Smith and Ashurst have landed lead roles on the $500m (£250.3m) float of Global MENA Financial Assets (GMFA) on the London Stock Exchange.Herbert Smith advised longstanding client JP Morgan Cazenove as sole sponsor, global co-ordinator and joint-bookrunner for the offering, fielding a team under London corporate partners Alex Bafi and Scott Cochrane.

    1 minute read

  • July 30, 2008 |

    Germany: Internal affairs

    On 15 November, 2006, more than 200 policemen descended on the Munich headquarters of German technology giant Siemens and the homes and offices of 30 Siemens executives around Germany to comb the premises for incriminating documents. It was one of Europe's dreaded 'dawn raids', a term that bears little relation to the time of day but usually denotes the start of a tiresome ballet between the government and a company suspected of wrongdoing. In the traditional European model of prosecution, corporations stonewall and fight to the bitter end.

    1 minute read

  • July 30, 2008 |

    Cadwalader faces its 'cataclysmic event'

    Just last year, Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft was riding high. Double-digit growth in profits per partner over the last five years had catapulted the…

    1 minute read

  • July 24, 2008 |

    Top lawyers call for career guidance for older partners

    Some of the City's leading legal names have called for more options to be made available to partners as they approach retirement age. Figures including Linklaters senior partner David Cheyne and Slaughter and May corporate partner Nigel Boardman joined a roundtable hosted by Dominique Graham, director at consultancy Graham Gill, to look at what firms should be doing for partners coming up to retirement. Participants called for firms to offer those nearing retirement age help to find positions outside the law and, in particular, to start dealing with the issue earlier on.

    1 minute read

  • July 16, 2008 |

    Channel your mind

    With a generous relocation package, quality work to challenge your mind and a ready-made social life, Carey Olsen can provide all the tools to make your new life a walk on the beach

    1 minute read

  • July 14, 2008 |

    Shearman, Wachtell lead on $19bn chemicals sale

    Shearman & Sterling has taken the lead role alongside Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz on a chemical company acquisition worth approximately $18.8bn (£9.5bn). US chemical giant Dow Chemical Company agreed to buy Rohm and Haas in the deal, which closed on 10 July. Leading the Wachtell team advising Rohm and Haas is corporate partner and co-chairman of the executive committee Daniel Neff and corporate partner Stephanie Seligman in New York. The Shearman team, advising Dow, is being led by New York-based M&A partners John Marzulli Jr and Scott Petepiece.

    1 minute read

  • July 9, 2008 |

    US Firms in London: Tough talking

    US law firms remain publicly committed to expanding their London offices despite wider concerns that it could take until 2010 for current economic conditions to improve. This is the key finding of Legal Week's annual US law firms in London survey, which reveals that 86% plan to increase their headcount over the next 18 months. This is only slightly less than in 2007, when 91% of US firms earmarked further growth for their London operations.

    1 minute read