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  • October 31, 2013 |

    DLA's Australian chair to join Gilbert + Tobin

    DLA Piper's Australian chair and head of finance for Asia Tony Holland is leaving the firm to become a partner at domestic outfit Gilbert + Tobin. Holland, who took the role of chairman with the relocation of DLA's UK managing partner Andrew Darwin to Sydney in January this year, will join Gilbert + Tobin tomorrow and will be based in Melbourne.

    1 minute read

  • October 29, 2013 |

    Bakers' elects former London chief to global executive committee

    Baker & McKenzie former London managing partner Gary Senior has been elected to serve on the firm's global Executive Committee, succeeding Beatriz Araujo whose term has ended. The announcement was made at Bakers' annual meeting in Singapore which was held between 24-26 October. Senior - whose term on the committee will last four years - will be responsible for developing and implementing the firm's global business strategy as well as carrying out general management duties.

    1 minute read

  • October 24, 2013 |

    Top firms land places on China Resources' first global panel

    Baker & McKenzie, Herbert Smith Freehills and Hogan Lovells are among a raft of firms to have won spots on China Resources' first international legal panel. The state-owned conglomerate has appointed about 10 firms to the panel, although it would not confirm the exact number. The panel is subdivided into practice areas that include M&A and litigation. Other successful firms include King & Wood Mallesons, Davis Polk & Wardwell and Reed Smith, along with the magic circle quartet of Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Slaughter and May. Between five and 10 firms have been allotted to each practice area, depending on demand.

    1 minute read

  • October 24, 2013 |

    Links and A&O among 26 firms objecting to legal threat from Dewey estate

    A host of firms including Linklaters, Allen & Overy, and Baker & McKenzie have filed a collective objection against Dewey & LeBoeuf's estate over its attempt to win compensation for client work originated at the defunct firm. The estate is threatening legal action over matters allegedly transferred to the firms when former Dewey partners left following its collapse last year.

    1 minute read

  • October 24, 2013 |

    China's Ministry of Commerce selects 20 firms for two legal panels

    China's Ministry of Commerce (Mofcom) has selected a total of 20 law firms for coveted spots on two legal panels. The government department has appointed one group of outfits to advise it on economic and trade agreements, negotiations related to investment and international investment dispute cases, and a separate group to provide counsel on WTO and regional trade agreements, and cross border dispute resolution.

    1 minute read

  • October 17, 2013 |

    Client focus is the key as Bakers' new chief aims to compete with the City elite

    "Before the recession, we were ranked among the City mid-tier; now, we are generally in the top 10 international firms in London. I'd like to see us referred to in the same breath as the magic circle by the end of the three years..."

    1 minute read

  • October 17, 2013 |

    Stepping out – the City's gay lawyers on their experiences of coming out

    "I came out as a trainee in a tough environment – in the 1980s during the AIDS and HIV crises," reflects Field Fisher Waterhouse managing partner Michael Chissick. "It was a challenge when it came to telling clients as I was concerned some clients and partners would be prejudiced." Three decades on, he still represents a relatively rare breed of openly gay senior lawyers, with many still reticent to be open about their sexual orientation. Although there are increasing numbers of gay lawyers and barristers who are role models for those coming up through the ranks, it seems a large majority still feel that the legal profession lags others in terms of being accepting of people's sexual orientation.

    1 minute read

  • October 17, 2013 |

    Despite its reputation, Russia has come a long way in its fight against corruption

    It is 20 years since what I consider to be the darkest days of my nearly quarter of a century living and doing business in Moscow. It was then, during Black October, that lawlessness reached its zenith in Moscow. As Yeltsin's troops stormed the House of Soviets and arrested the parliamentarians who had plotted against him, it seemed as if all Moscow was armed and on the streets. More than 180 were killed at that time and many more injured. One of my own expatriate employees was seriously wounded in what was my most frightening experience as a businessman in Russia. Russia has come a long way since then but, for many, negative perceptions still dominate thoughts of doing business here: Russia is still the Wild East; it is riddled with corruption; and a place where the rule of law is on permanent vacation. Many people I know think that having a lawyer in Moscow is about as useful as having a shepherd in Milton Keynes.

    1 minute read

  • October 17, 2013 |

    The next big thing – regulation's booming popularity in legal business

    September 2007. A month Ian McDonald remembers well. "My banking and finance colleague Kevin Hawken came to see me and said: 'What do you know about SIVs [structured investment vehicles]?'" recalls McDonald, London head of commercial dispute resolution at Mayer Brown. "I thought it was a kitchen gadget. I really had no idea – but that is part of the challenge as litigators." His ignorance was short-lived. Mayer Brown's litigators were among the first called upon to help restructure SIVs – complex financial products once worth an estimated $400bn (£247.3bn) – when the 2007 credit crunch halted the short-term funding that underpinned them. For McDonald and his colleagues, it marked the start of busy few years.

    1 minute read

  • October 10, 2013 |

    Man on a mission – Yahoo!'s Asia-Pacific GC has a lot on his plate keeping up with his acquisitive CEO

    Working in the legal team of one of the world's largest internet companies, Stephen Man is rarely at a loose end. The Canadian-born father of two, who was appointed Asia-Pacific general counsel for Yahoo! in 2011 after working with the company for five years, says his biggest challenge in the past 12 months has been keeping pace with the growth and rapidly evolving vision of the company since Marissa Mayer was made CEO last summer. Despite his hectic schedule, Man says he is – perhaps surprisingly – a strong advocate of lawyers having a work-life balance. Maybe it is one of the quirks of working for an internet company, but, when he's not travelling or on a call, colleagues say he can be found playing his guitar in his office (though he claims to be no more than a beginner). He predicts there will be even more work for Yahoo!'s legal team in Asia now that the company has a clear strategy for how it wants to expand. This is a departure from previous years, he says, because of the changes in management.

    1 minute read