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  • February 6, 2014 |

    Best friends forever? Slaughters' international strategy comes under scrutiny

    One can't, so the old saying goes, choose one's family. Friends, on the other hand, are a different matter. The maxim has clearly resonated over the years with Slaughter and May. When it comes to its foreign policy, the City's most profitable – not to mention most idiosyncratic – firm has famously eschewed the option of settling down to raise little partnerships of its own. Instead, it has carefully cultivated a network of alliances: its illustrious 'best friends'. But as the legal market becomes ever-more internationalised, how sustainable is Slaughters' model?

    1 minute read

  • February 5, 2014 |

    Claimants in Libor test case against Barclays switch advisers for second time

    Guardian Care Homes has changed its counsel for the second time in two months in a major dispute against Barclays, seen by many as the test case for Libor manipulation.

    1 minute read

  • January 30, 2014 |

    The compass points south – how do in-house legal teams in Africa rate their external advisers?

    Ian Isdale, group company secretary and general counsel of leading African food and consumer goods company Tiger Brands and immediate past president of the Corporate Lawyers Association of South Africa, is putting it mildly when he says: "There has been a heightened interest in Africa and in the next five years I don't see that interest waning." Recent years have seen a host of UK and US law firms – ranging from Norton Rose Fulbright and Linklaters to Hogan Lovells and even Slaughter and May – attempting to come up with ways to penetrate a market where activity levels have remained buoyant, despite economic challenges elsewhere in the world. So with law firms and corporates increasingly turning their attention south, Legal Week Intelligence has, for the first time, extended its flagship Client Satisfaction Report to Africa, to uncover the key trends affecting in-house legal teams in the continent and their satisfaction with external legal advisers

    1 minute read

  • January 30, 2014 |

    Vedder Price grows City aviation team with hire of Norton Rose practice head

    US firm Vedder Price has raided Norton Rose Fulbright to hire its aviation chief Neil Poland. Banking partner Poland will join Vedder Price's highly regarded transportation finance practice in London as a partner next month.

    1 minute read

  • January 30, 2014 |

    Under the radar – associates tell all about their roles on some of 2013's biggest deals

    While rainmaking partners tend to grab the limelight, it is a truth grudgingly acknowledged in the City that much of the leg-work on the deals they bring in is done a little further down the career ladder. It is often a senior associate on a deal who has to burn the midnight oil coordinating teams and poring over heads of terms while their partners are pressing the flesh at The Ivy. So who were the junior lawyers who kept themselves busiest during 2013? Did working on any of these transactions provide new challenges? And how will their experiences help their career prospects? Last year was by no means a vintage one for the M&A market, both in the UK and beyond. The overall value of domestic deals in 2013 was the lowest for more than a decade, following a particularly uninspiring first half of the year.

    1 minute read

  • January 29, 2014 |

    Taking the cure – Thomas Cook Group GC Craig Stoehr on turning around the travel company's fortunes

    Thomas Cook Group's chief executive, Harriet Green, has a succinct way of explaining the company's recent history, according to general counsel Craig Stoehr. "I have heard her say several times that the company was a cancer patient, underwent treatment and remission, and is currently transitioning to the 'cured' stage," he says, reflecting on the travel operator's remarkable turnaround. For an indication of the recent decline and recovery at Thomas Cook, a three-year graph of the company's stock price is a good place to start. At the beginning of 2011, shareholders revolted at a proposed pay package for the company's top executives after poor trading and a greater than expected financial hit from the 2010 Icelandic ash cloud had dented performance. At this point, shares were still trading at just below 200p.

    1 minute read

  • January 28, 2014 |

    Bird & Bird, K&L Gates score roles as Arsenal signs Puma kit deal

    Bird & Bird and K&L Gates have won the leading advisory roles on Arsenal's lucrative kit provider deal with Puma. The Premier League leaders have signed the a new five-year deal with the German company, which will replace Nike as club's kit provider, bringing to an end a 20-year relationship.

    1 minute read

  • January 28, 2014 |

    A&O's Wickenden on troubleshooting mission to Hong Kong as firm changes China focus

    Allen & Overy has relocated US corporate finance partner Jim Wickenden from London to Hong Kong following the departure of one of its most senior US partners in Asia, James Grandolfo.

    1 minute read

  • January 24, 2014 |

    Lateral thinking - why Slaughters has finally hired a partner after 125 years

    Two remarkable things happened this morning: England beat Australia in a game of cricket and Slaughter and May hired a partner from another firm. Given such seismic events, it would be little surprise to see a pig in a bowler hat take to the skies over the Royal Exchange this afternoon.

    1 minute read

  • January 24, 2014 |

    Slaughters makes first ever lateral partner hire to add US capability in Hong Kong

    Slaughter and May has made its first ever lateral partner hire in Asia with the addition of Morrison & Foerster US capital markets partner John Moore in Hong Kong. The magic circle firm, which rarely makes lateral hires, has brought in Moore as part of a strategy to provide US law counsel in the region.

    1 minute read