• March 18, 2014 |

    Stephenson Harwood appoints Andrew Edge as new corporate chief

    Stephenson Harwood has named partner Andrew Edge as the firm's new head of corporate. Stephenson Harwood CEO Sharon White, who was recently reappointed to the management position for a three-year term, held a dual role as corporate chief. She will hand over the reins to Edge on 1 April having led the corporate practice since 2007.

    1 minute read

  • March 18, 2014 |

    Transfer Window Asia: recent moves including Reed Smith, HSF and Clifford Chance

    Reed Smith Richards Butler in Hong Kong has brought on board shipping counsel Terry Floyd from Ince & Co. He focuses predominantly on admiralty and casualty work, and is the lastest addition to the Asia-wide shipping group, which has grown in the past two years in response to increased activity in the market.

    1 minute read

  • March 17, 2014 |

    HSF and Linklaters ordered in for £700m Just Eat IPO

    Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) and Linklaters are advising on Just Eat's £700m initial public offering (IPO), the latest in a wave of new listings in London so far this year. Yesterday (17 March), online takeaway company Just Eat announced its intention to list around £100m of shares either on the Financial Conduct Authority's premium listing segment, or the high growth segment of the main market.

    1 minute read

  • March 11, 2014 |

    Eversheds raids Ashurst with City pensions chief hire

    Ashurst London head of pensions Steven Hull has joined Eversheds, marking the latest in a string of partner exits at the City firm. Hull is set to leave Ashurst on 20 March, and is expected to join Eversheds on 1 May.

    1 minute read

  • March 10, 2014 |

    Ashurst holds first partner remuneration review since financial integration with Blakes

    Ashurst is set to complete its first partner remuneration review since its full financial merger with Australia's Blake Dawson Partners at Blakes transferred over to Ashurst's managed lockstep system in November last year, a move which had been one of the conditions in the firms' merger deed.

    1 minute read

  • March 10, 2014 |

    Hong Kong gives higher rights of audience to four more lawyers

    Four additional Hong Kong lawyers have been given the go-ahead to appear in the city's courts following training and assessment, out of a total of 30 who took part in the scheme. The lawyers were named in a Law Society circular, and inlcude Allen & Overy (A&O) senior associate Kevin Kee, Ernst and Young in house attorney Regina Fan, partner Pak Hau from Hong Kong outfit Charles Chu & Kenneth Sit and sole proprietor Paul Kwong.

    1 minute read

  • March 6, 2014 |

    Greenberg Traurig and Ashurst lead on £250m Rentokil subsidiary sale

    Greenberg Traurig Maher (GTM) and Ashurst have taken the lead roles on the sale of pest control giant Rentokil's sale of its facilities management business to Interserve for £250m. The deal, which is subject to shareholder approval, Interserve acquire Rentokil subsidiary Initial Facilities via a bank facility and share placement.

    1 minute read

  • March 6, 2014 |

    Hogan Lovells' Birmingham base shows near-shoring trend is gathering pace

    On the face of things, it's easy to lump all of the latest law firm near-shoring ventures together, putting Hogan Lovells' planned Birmingham launch alongside previous moves by Allen & Overy (A&O) and Herbert Smith Freehills into Belfast, and Ashurst into Glasgow. But there are clear differences in how firms use these low-cost bases. And, in contrast to Ashurst and A&O, where the overwhelming majority of the roles are business services, Hogan Lovells' move is focusing squarely on legal positions. Inevitable perhaps, given it announced plans last month to launch a business services centre in Johannesburg, following its merger with South African firm Routledge Modise in December.

    1 minute read

  • March 4, 2014 |

    Ashurst private equity partner rejoins Stephen Lloyd at A&O

    Allen & Overy has bagged its second private equity partner from Ashurst in the past six months with the hire of Karan Dinamani. Dinamani is following in the footsteps of Ashurst's former head of corporate Stephen Lloyd, who joined the magic circle firm's corporate group as co-head of its private equity practice after resigning in November.

    1 minute read

  • March 3, 2014 |

    Pinsent Masons to address gender imbalance with 30% female partner target

    Pinsent Masons has launched a suite of initiatives aimed at increasing its number of female partners to 30%, with an initial target of 25% set for May 2018. 'Project Sky', which is being led by employment partner Linda Jones, seeks to remove any barriers to the progression of women to partnership and senior leadership.

    1 minute read