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  • October 25, 2012 |

    Firms forced to bid for Asia work in front of rivals amid costs squeeze

    Partners in Hong Kong confirmed that pressure to reduce costs has resulted in occasional instances of state-owned enterprises asking tendering firms to reveal fee quotes in front of their competitors, with several magic circle and US law firms among those stating that they have been required to publically bid for some work in recent months.

    1 minute read

  • October 24, 2012 |

    RBS restructures panel with law firm line-up cut by 40%

    Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) and SJ Berwin are among a host of firms to have been appointed to the Royal Bank of Scotland's (RBS) new group and UK legal panel, following a review which has seen the bank cut back its adviser roster by 40%.

    1 minute read

  • October 23, 2012 |

    Slaughters set to ramp up Africa links as rivals move in on market

    Slaughter and May is making a push to tighten its links with African law firms as the magic circle firm moves to build up its practice in the region, amid growing attention from the international legal market. The firm last week teamed up with European best friends Bonelli Erede Pappalardo, Bredin Prat, De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek, Hengeler Mueller and Uria Menendez to host a conference in Botswana attended by 27 law firms from 16 African countries.

    1 minute read

  • October 18, 2012 | International Edition

    New world orders: the 2012 Global 100

    At first glance the 2012 Global 100 rankings, which show revenues for the world's largest law firms rising to an all time high of $81.9bn (£50.8bn) during the last financial year, do much to prove the well-coined expression that, rain or shine, people (or at least major public companies) always need lawyers.

    1 minute read

  • October 18, 2012 |

    New world orders: the 2012 Global 100

    At first glance the 2012 Global 100 rankings, which show revenues for the world's largest law firms rising to an all time high of $81.9bn (£50.8bn) during the last financial year, do much to prove the well-coined expression that, rain or shine, people (or at least major public companies) always need lawyers.

    1 minute read

  • October 18, 2012 |

    Kennedys set to cut finance support roles as firm begins consultation

    Kennedys has launched a redundancy consultation involving up to 70 support staff in the firm's finance department. The consultation has been launched in a bid to consolidate the non-legal department, which is spread across the firm's offices in London, Sheffield, Chelmsford and Maidstone. Some of the 70 staff affected by the consultation are expected to keep their positions. The news was first reported today (18 October) on RollOnFriday.

    1 minute read

  • October 14, 2012 |

    The Transfer Window: recent moves including Reed Smith, Linklaters and RPC

    Reed Smith has added a partner to its London media team with the hire of Askandar Samad from DLA Piper. Samad's practice focuses on film and media financing, structured finance, co-production funding and tax. The hire for Reed Smith comes after the firm recruited Nick Swimer from Channel 4 - where he was head of legal for governance, regulatory and trading - in November last year.

    1 minute read

  • October 11, 2012 |

    Cracking the code - how retrieving electronic data should be child's play

    Cutting-edge technology is providing quicker access to electronic documents – but are law firms up to speed? Neil Hodge reports

    1 minute read

  • October 8, 2012 |

    Direct Line eyes move into legal services with planned ABS switch

    Direct Line has signalled its intention to become an alternative business structure (ABS) once it has completed its separation from the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS). The insurance company, which is currently being advised by Allen & Overy and Slaughter and May on its £3bn initial public offering (IPO), revealed in its share flotation prospectus that it is considering applying for an ABS licence.

    1 minute read

  • October 4, 2012 |

    New tricks - Novartis GC Felix Ehrat reflects on one of the top jobs in law

    Despite a long career in private practice, Felix Ehrat has proved his mettle in-house as GC of pharmaceutical giant Novartis. Caroline Hill reports

    1 minute read