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  • June 11, 2008 |

    The Am Law 100: Goodbye golden age?

    It was fun while it lasted. In 2007, The Am Law 100 - the top-grossing law firms in the US - finished the best sustained growth spurt since The American Lawyer began tracking firm financials in 1984. For the first time, the firms showed five consecutive years of better-than-average growth in both revenue per lawyer (RPL), the key measure of law firm financial success, and profits per equity partner (PEP), the metric that has turned law firm managers into contortionists. How good was this run? Since 2003, average RPL has increased by $205,000 (£105,000). Before that, it took the firms 10 years - from 1992 to 2002 - to improve that much. The relative gain in profits was even more impressive. Since 2003, PEP has jumped by $438,000 (£224,000), to an average of $1.3m (£665,000). It took the Am Law 100 firms 15 years - from 1987 to 2002 - to make a similar gain.

    1 minute read

  • June 11, 2008 |

    The Am Law 100: The sky's the limit

    In 2015 - the year that New York Yankees superstar Alex Rodriguez will surpass 762 home runs and break the Major League record - Latham & Watkins and Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom will both gross more than $5bn (£2.56bn), Baker & McKenzie will have more than 6,600 lawyers and the lucky partners at Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz will bring home about $7.7m (£3.95m) each - a handsome sum, but one that will itself be dwarfed by the $15.7m (£8.05m) Wachtell partners will average in 2025. Or maybe not.

    1 minute read

  • June 4, 2008 |

    Hot topic

    Kenneth Berlin and his team at Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom have been working on climate-related matters for years. He headed the Justice Department's Environmental and Natural Resources Division, chaired the Environmental Law Institute and has shepherded a mountain of environmental litigation for major corporations. Skadden had not needed a climate change group before: it simply tapped environmental, energy regulatory, intellectual property and tax lawyers to help out when the need arose. Partners at the US's highest-grossing law firm have, however, changed their minds: this month, they were scheduled to launch a 23-lawyer group specifically devoted to climate change issues.

    1 minute read

  • June 2, 2008 |

    US leaders join China quake aid effort

    A clutch of leading US law firms have opened their wallets to help China's recent earthquake victims, writes The American Lawyer, including a number of firms with active China practices. Firms to have contributed to various relief organisations working to aid the Chinese include New York's Dewey & LeBouef and Sullivan & Cromwell; West Coast outfits Heller Ehrman, Morrison & Foerster (MoFo) and Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe; and the Chicago pair of Kirkland & Ellis and McDermott Will & Emery.

    1 minute read

  • May 29, 2008 |

    Global 100 countdown: CC outstrips Skadden by half a billion

    Clifford Chance (CC), the world’s largest law firm barring a market-shattering performance from Linklaters, announced its revenues for the last financial…

    1 minute read

  • May 28, 2008 |

    Clifford Chance leads Carlyle in first Greece move with E749m Neochimiki acquisition

    Clifford Chance (CC) has acted for Carlyle Group on its first foray into Greece - advising the US private equity house on its acquisition of chemicals distributor Neochimiki for e749m (£600m).The CC team was headed by London private equity partner, David Walker, who acted alongside finance partner James Butters. Greek law firm Karatzas & Partners advised on local matters.

    1 minute read

  • May 22, 2008 |

    US heavyweights lead $9bn Time Warner cable sale

    Cravath Swaine & Moore and Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison have bagged lead roles on the divestment by by Time Warner of its cable division in a $9.25bn deal, as the US media giant moves to refocus on its core television network, film and publishing operations. Time Warner - the world's largest media conglomerate - is being advised on the spin-off of Time Warner Cable by longstanding counsel Cravath, with corporate partners Richard Hall, Stephen Burns and Eric Schiele leading the deal team. Also involved for the elite Manhattan firm are finance partner Timothy Massad, tax department chair Stephen Gordon, tax partner Lauren Angelilli and employee benefits partner Eric Hilfers.

    1 minute read

  • May 16, 2008 |

    Veteran Skadden chief Sheehan to step down

    Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom has announced that executive partner Bob Sheehan is to step down in April 2009, after 15 years in the US giant's top management role. The 43-year-old New York M&A partner Eric Friedman will take over when Sheehan stands down at the end of his third five-year term.

    1 minute read

  • May 15, 2008 |

    Two deals in a day for Skadden's Tindell

    Monday was a busy day for Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom corporate partner Jeffrey Tindell, writes The American Lawyer. The 58-year-old M&A specialist was the lead deal lawyer for DRS Technologies in its $5.2bn (£2.67bn) acquisition by Italian defense contractor Finmeccanica and for Comtech Telecommunications on its $224m (£115.1m) acquisition of fellow telecoms group Radyne. Both deals were announced on May 12.

    1 minute read

  • May 14, 2008 |

    Skadden secures €1.3bn rights issue role for Portuguese bank

    Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom's London arm has advised Banco Comercial Portugues (BCP) on its €1.3bn (£1.03bn) rights issue. London capital markets partner James Healy led the Skadden team on the capital raising, which closed on 6 May. BCP, the largest Portuguese bank listed on the Euronext 100 index, has used Skadden on other corporate transactions in the past but has also turned to firms including Allen & Overy (A&O) and Freshfields Bruckhaus & Deringer.

    1 minute read