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  • January 6, 2012 |

    Davis Polk launches UK law team with Freshfields heavyweight

    Wall Street leader Davis Polk & Wardwell has launched an English law practice in the City with the hire of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer corporate veteran Simon Witty. Witty is set to join the US law firm's London arm in April this year. It is not yet known whether he is bringing any associates with him.

    1 minute read

  • December 21, 2011 |

    Bakers & Slaughters at the fore as GSK sells over-the-counter brands

    Baker & McKenzie and Slaughter and May have lined up to advise on the $660m (£420m) sale of 17 healthcare brands, including Gaviscon, by pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). Bakers has advised consumer products group Prestige Brands, which acquired the products, led by Chicago M&A partner Dieter Schmitz and London M&A partner Jane Hobson, alongside Chicago partners Edward Harrison (corporate) and Chris Bartoli (securities).

    1 minute read

  • December 19, 2011 |

    Strategy changes on the agenda for leading Italian trio

    Italian outfits Bonelli Erede Pappalardo, NCTM and Gianni Origoni Grippo Cappelli & Partners have all rolled out a number of internal and strategic changes in recent weeks in a bid to address the ongoing volatility of the global economy. Bonelli has outlined plans to increase the profile of its international best friends network by conducting more joint pitches in an effort to boost the number of panel places the firms win. The network includes Slaughter and May, Bredin Prat in France and Uria Menendez in Spain.

    1 minute read

  • December 15, 2011 |

    Slaughters & Freshfields score mandates on New China Life Insurance listing

    Slaughter and May and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer have advised on a billion-dollar dual initial public offering (IPO) for China's third-largest life insurance company. New China Life Insurance expects to raise $1.9bn (£1.2bn) through the dual listing on the Hong Kong and Shanghai exchanges. The headline deal was announced 2 December with the shares going live on the exchanges today (15 December). The deal saw Freshfields acting for the Chinese insurance giant, while Slaughters advised the underwriter consortium. The key banks underwriting the deal included China International Capital Corporation Hong Kong Securities Limited (CICC), UBS and Goldman Sachs, with Slaughters' team led by Hong Kong corporate partner Benita Yu. Sullivan & Cromwell advised the banks on US law aspects of the deal led by Wei Chun, while King & Wood took the PRC law advisory role on the deal, led by Yang Xiaolei. On the issuer side, Freshfields floated a team led by capital markets partner Teresa Ko. Wall Street firm Davis Polk & Wardwell took the US law role, led by He Li and Chinese law firm Commerce & Finance advised on PRC law led by Wu Gang. PRC-based New China Life Insurance provides a broad range of life insurance products and services to individual and institutional customers. The company was the third-ranked life insurance company in the PRC in terms of gross premium income last year.

    1 minute read

  • December 12, 2011 |

    Career Clinic: The best of 2011

    A look back at some of the best Career Clinic dilemmas from 2011 - a year which saw heated debate over the problems of working in an all-female team, office bullying, turning down a magic circle job and secret pregnancies.

    1 minute read

  • December 8, 2011 |

    Two tribes – the co-existence of corporate and litigation at Herbert Smith

    If you were a company in need of a tough litigator in the 1980s there would have been one name at the top of your list: Herbert Smith. The firm was acknowledged to be streaks ahead of its rivals, with star names including Lawrence Collins, Charles Plant, David Higgins, David Natali and David Gold helping to cement its reputation as the go-to firm for litigation. After all, Herbert Smith pretty much wrote the book for the modern City litigator having, after World War II, pioneered a partner-led style of running disputes under legendary practitioners like John Barker and Francis Mann. Previously, litigation was run by clerks and outside counsel - but Herbert Smith developed a style of proactive litigation with parallels to the US tradition of trial lawyering.

    1 minute read

  • December 7, 2011 |

    M&A Team of the Year: Slaughter and May

    Slaughter and May's work advising British Airways (BA) on its 
merger with Spanish airline Iberia secures it the highly-prized M&A Team of the Year Award. The deal was a complex one, given that it involved two flagship national airlines operating within a highly-regulated sector. It drew on Slaughters' expertise in corporate, capital markets, regulatory, tax and commercial law. The merger was completed in January 2011 and created a new holding company, International Consolidated Airlines Group (IAG). It is one of the world's largest airlines, and the second-largest in Europe, having a market value £5.3bn at the time of the merger.

    1 minute read

  • December 7, 2011 |

    City of London Law Society Lifetime Achievement Award: Francis Neate

    Francis Neate was the recipient of the 2011 City of London Law Society (CLLS) Lifetime Achievement Award. Neate is best known for his work for the International Bar Association (IBA), which he led as president from 2005-06.

    1 minute read

  • December 7, 2011 |

    The institution - can Herbert Smith reinvent itself for a fast-changing global market?

    With cracks appearing in Herbert Smith's venerable exterior, Suzanna Ring and Georgina Stanley ask if this proud City firm can renew itself for a rapidly changing global market

    1 minute read

  • December 7, 2011 |

    British Legal Awards 2011: who won what - and why...

    A full run-down of all the winners at the British Legal Awards 2011, as well as detailed reports of the thinking behind the award in each category...

    1 minute read