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  • July 3, 2013 |

    Weil and Quinn secure appeal win in high-profile London hotels dispute

    Weil Gotshal & Manges and Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan have secured a key win for the billionaire Barclays brothers and Irish businessman Derek Quinlain and a high-profile High Court battle over iconic hotels the Berkeley, the Connaught and Claridge's. Handing down judgment this morning (3 June), Lord Justices Arden, Moore-Bick and Rimer unanimously refused to overturn aspects of the High Court's decision last year, when it dismissed the claims brought by property developer Patrick McKillen.

    1 minute read

  • June 27, 2013 |

    Ashurst sets 75% threshold for October vote on Aussie integration

    Ashurst partners are set for an October vote on full financial integration with legacy Australian firm Blake Dawson, following their 2011 tie-up. A full merger of Ashurst and Blakes – now known as Ashurst Australia – will require a 75% majority of both partnerships when it goes to the vote later this year. The combination would see the firms combine legally as one partnership with a shared global profit pool, with the combined firm operating a managed lockstep – a system both firms currently use.

    1 minute read

  • June 25, 2013 |

    Walker Morris turns to Deloitte for first non-exec board member

    Walker Morris has appointed former Deloitte managing partner Stuart Counsell as its first non-executive board director. Counsell joins Walker Morris following more than 30 years at Deloitte, during which time he held a variety of senior management positions including UK managing partner. More recently, Counsell headed up the finance and legal division at the accountancy giant where he was responsible for the financial and legal aspects of a £2 billion professional services business. He was also heavily involved in the firm's continuous systems improvement and acquisition programmes.

    1 minute read

  • June 21, 2013 |

    Nabarro boosts post-3PQE pay with NQ and trainee rates frozen again

    Nabarro has increased pay for associates with more than three years' post-qualification experience (PQE), while freezing salaries for trainees and newly-qualified (NQ) lawyers for the second year in a row. Associates with between four and five years' PQE have seen median earnings rise by 3% to £80,000, up from £77,750, while median pay for those with three to four years' PQE is up from £74,500 to £76,000.

    1 minute read

  • June 20, 2013 | International Edition

    Whistle while you work – a happy team is a productive team, and other myths

    Back when the downturn first started to bite, it was an acknowledged – if not popular – fact that many law firms were more heavily resourced than they needed to be, and so for many it was no great surprise when the first wave of redundancies hit the market in 2008-09. Since then, of course, there has been something of a pandemic of job cuts – not least in recent months – as firms take increasingly tough measures to control costs as the long-awaited market recovery fails to emerge. As such, our annual Employee Satisfaction Report (ESR), which this year canvassed the views of almost 4,000 lawyers below partner level at leading firms practising in the UK, has provided a regular barometer of the mood at the junior end of the market.

    1 minute read

  • June 20, 2013 |

    A&O and Norton Rose Fulbright lead as Centrica enters UK shale gas market

    Allen & Overy (A&O) and Norton Rose Fulbright have won leading roles on a £160m deal that has seen Centrica make its entrance into the closely watched UK shale gas market. Centrica, which owns British Gas, has taken a 25% stake in the Bowland shale gas exploration licence in Lancashire after negotiations with UK shale gas explorer Cuadrilla Resources and Australian engineering group AJ Lucas, which previously held 75% and 25% stakes respectively in the fracking fields. A&O won a first-time mandate for Cuadrilla on the deal following a competitive process. The magic circle firm's London-based team was led by corporate partner John Geraghty, with support from tax partner Lydia Challen.

    1 minute read

  • June 20, 2013 |

    Whistle while you work – a happy team is a productive team, and other myths

    Back when the downturn first started to bite, it was an acknowledged – if not popular – fact that many law firms were more heavily resourced than they needed to be, and so for many it was no great surprise when the first wave of redundancies hit the market in 2008-09. Since then, of course, there has been something of a pandemic of job cuts – not least in recent months – as firms take increasingly tough measures to control costs as the long-awaited market recovery fails to emerge. As such, our annual Employee Satisfaction Report (ESR), which this year canvassed the views of almost 4,000 lawyers below partner level at leading firms practising in the UK, has provided a regular barometer of the mood at the junior end of the market.

    1 minute read

  • June 20, 2013 |

    Ashurst's near-shoring move into Scotland – positive job creation or anti-competitive?

    After publicly courting senior partners for almost a year, the Scottish Government's economic development arm scored its first major catch last week when UK top 20 law firm Ashurst announced it is to open a 150-strong support centre in Glasgow. Ashurst's decision to set up a base in Scotland comes after the local Government last summer opened up an incentivised scheme to include law firms that is aimed at attracting international businesses to the country following the success of a similar initiative in Northern Ireland. Belfast has proved an attractive destination in which to open low-cost support centres, with both Allen & Overy (A&O) and legacy Herbert Smith securing financial support from Invest Northern Ireland to launch bases there in 2011.

    1 minute read

  • June 13, 2013 |

    Scots partners brand Ashurst launch as 'unfair' and 'anti-competitive'

    Ashurst's launch of a low-cost base in Glasgow has provoked strong feelings in the Scottish legal market, with senior lawyers voicing concerns over the potential impact of the move. The UK top 20 firm this Wednesday (12 June) declared its intention to build a 150-strong 'near-shoring' base in Glasgow, marking the first launch by an international law firm in Scotland with the financial backing of regional development agency Scottish Enterprise.

    1 minute read

  • June 13, 2013 |

    Transportation, Energy and Infrastructure Team of the Year: Ashurst

    Ashurst's standout deal for this category was its work advising Etihad Rail on the UAE's ambitious project to build a federal railway, the first part of which is due to start operating later this year. For the judges, the firm's role advising on one of the most prestigious transport projects in the Middle East, combined with an impressive range of instructions and client wins, underlined the strength and depth of the firm's transportation, energy and infrastructure practice.

    1 minute read