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  • February 19, 2009 |

    Nabarro strikes up LPC deal with Kaplan

    Nabarro has signed an exclusive agreement to send all of its trainees taking the Legal Practice Course (LPC) to Kaplan Law School from autumn 2009. The City firm is the third firm to sign up to Kaplan exclusively, after similar deals were struck up by Bird & Bird in October 2008 and Mayer Brown in November 2006.The education provider teaches Nottingham Law School's LPC, which was last year awarded top marks by the Law Society in all assessment categories.

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  • February 19, 2009 |

    Pinsents boosts Euro banking practice with A&O recruit

    Pinsent Mason has brought in Allen & Overy partner Marcell Nemeth to head up its European banking practice. Nemeth, currently a banking partner in A&O's Hungary office, will relocate to the regional firm's London office on 1 May to take up in the newly-created role.The new European banking group will initially consist of three to four lawyers, with Nemeth's primary focus on the development of existing and new client relationships in Europe.

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  • February 18, 2009 |

    Commentary: Nerves hold as projects market takes the strain

    The projects market speaks with one voice on deal flow in the coming year: it is going to be down. And while 2008 saw the banking community take the brunt of the downturn, the next sector to feel the pinch will be advisory. As the market continues to tighten we have seen a considerable drop in global project finance deal value with full-year 2008 figures falling 8.7% against the 2007 market high.Infrastructure Journal tracked 930 individual infrastructure transactions - combined global project finance and corporate finance deals - to reach financial close over the course of 2008, giving a total of $475bn (£329bn) worth of deals.

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  • February 16, 2009 |

    Nabarro, Wragges land Mercedes-Benz panel roles

    Mercedes-Benz has completed a review of its legal advisers with Nabarro and Wragge & Co winning new instructions from the luxury car company. The UK duo beat off competition from around 11 other firms vying for the two places on the auto manufacturer's panel. Pinsent Masons and Shoosmiths, who were both appointed to the panel in 2005, miss out on instructions this time round.Commenting on the review, Mercedes general counsel Iain Larkins said; "There are a variety of issues we looked at before choosing Nabarro and Wragges; the biggest of which was that they were the firms we felt were most likely to deliver on their promises. It really was a close-run thing."

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  • February 11, 2009 |

    SH brings in Pinsents hire for projects debut

    Stephenson Harwood has set up a dedicated projects practice after hiring a partner from Pinsent Masons to lead the group.The City firm has brought in Clare McConnell to lead a new standalone projects practice that will bring together 25 partners from the firm's London, Paris, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore offices.McConnell spent four years as a partner at Pinsents. Prior to that she served as an associate at Berwin Leighton Paisner and Simmons & Simmons. She has a wide range of experience advising both private and public sector clients on PPP/PFI projects within the health and transportation sectors.

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  • February 11, 2009 |

    David Shields: Law firms on course for a gay-friendly future

    Law firms have an improved showing this year in Stonewall's top 100 employers for lesbian, gay and bisexual people, with four firms making the top 100, up from one last year. Simmons & Simmons took the most improved prize, coming into the index at number 31. Pinsent Masons improved its position on last year and Herbert Smith and Eversheds moved into the top 100. But the high performance of these firms disguises the position for the legal sector overall, which has the second-lowest sector average of the 14 sectors entering Stonewall's workplace equality index, from which we publish the top 100. This is in contrast to professional services and investment banking, which are two of our top sectors.

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  • February 11, 2009 |

    Clydes and Pinsents win Dubai Holding panel roles

    A raft of City firms have scored seats on Dubai Holding's new panel of preferred firms. Clyde & Co, Pinsent Masons, Eversheds and DLA Piper have all won spots on the panel. Clydes won its role on the back of its relationship with the investor and will advise on real estate, intellectual property, construction and corporate matters.All firms have a strong presence in the Middle East, with Clydes having opened in the region twenty years ago and Pinsents holding offices in Dubai. DLA Piper recently launched an office in Oman and Eversheds has offices in Abu Dhabi and Doha.

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  • February 5, 2009 |

    Pinsent Masons keeps strong grip on AIM top spot despite overall drop in AIM-listed clients

    Pinsent Masons has held onto its position as the legal adviser with the largest number of clients listed on London's Alternative Investment Market (AIM). The latest quarterly rankings from data provider Hemscott show that the firm held onto its position in the tables despite its total number of AIM-listed clients dropping from 61 to 57. The Q4 rankings, which come after a disappointing year for the junior market, show that LG, Norton Rose, DLA Piper and Eversheds also retained their positions in the top five by number. Meanwhile, DLA Piper boosted its position in the rankings of advisers to the largest AIM-listed clients, jumping to the top of both the AIM 100 and AIM 50 rankings.

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  • February 3, 2009 |

    Freshfields named official firm for London 2012

    Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has landed a trophy role as the official law firm for the 2012 London Olympics. The firm won the role after a tender process carried out towards the end of last year by the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG).London management group chair Tim Jones will oversee the project, that will see five lawyers initially sent on secondment to LOCOG to carry out a range of work from procurement and property to employment and competition. The firm will provide these services for free as part of the sponsorship agreement.

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  • January 28, 2009 |

    Strength in numbers

    There are some people in this world who live life to the full and others who do not know when to say 'no'. I am trying to decide if I fall into the former or the latter. As a US securities partner at Simmons & Simmons, one would think that my day job keeps me occupied enough. In truth, it does, and then some. However, I think when you have a passion for something, that energy can be channelled to accomplish even more. Over the past few years I have been involved in two exciting projects, one rooted in the familiarity of US securities law and the other involving a journey into the realm of equality and diversity which has been unexpected, demanding and very rewarding.

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