Filter This View

  • June 22, 2011 |

    Norton Rose and A&O top list of firms associates want to join

    Norton Rose and Allen & Overy (A&O) have been identified as the firms UK lawyers would most like to work for, according to a flagship research project from Legal Week. The finding, contained within Legal Week Intelligence's 2011 Employee Satisfaction Report, is based on the responses of more than 4,000 lawyers.

    1 minute read

  • June 22, 2011 |

    CC and DLA cement roles on Kraft roster after Cadbury takeover

    Kraft Foods has bypassed Slaughter and May to appoint Clifford Chance (CC) and DLA Piper to its roster of UK advisers following its £11.5bn hostile takeover of Cadbury last year. Slaughters – which was legacy Cadbury's principal corporate adviser in the UK – has not been appointed alongside Kraft's existing UK advisers following the review, and will continue to advise only on ongoing Cadbury matters.

    1 minute read

  • June 17, 2011 |

    Slaughters ally De Brauw reopens in Brussels

    De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek has reopened in Brussels almost 10 years after the Dutch independent closed its former base in the Belgian capital. The office, which opened yesterday (15 June), will focus on international competition and European law issues and will be headed by competition and regulation partner Douwe Groenevelt.

    1 minute read

  • June 15, 2011 |

    Tempers fray in the City over banking crisis 'gesture' panels

    The Government's much-derided record on legal procurement has come under fresh attack after it emerged that the panels set up in the wake of the banking crisis have generated little or no work for mandated City advisers. Allen & Overy (A&O), Herbert Smith and Simmons & Simmons were all appointed alongside Slaughter and May in November 2009 to advise UK Financial Investments (UKFI), the body managing the Government's stakes in banks such as Northern Rock.

    1 minute read

  • June 15, 2011 |

    Freshfields Rock role makes 'mockery' of Treasury panel

    "It is yet another manifestation of the Treasury's inconsistent approach to legal procurement," states one agitated Government adviser in response to this week's news that UK Financial Investments (UKFI) – the body which manages the Government's stakes in UK banks – has gone off-panel on the upcoming sale of Northern Rock. Despite having gone through a formal panel process in 2009 to select four firms to handle the sale of its stakes in big banks, UKFI ultimately bypassed its formal line-up of Slaughter and May, Allen & Overy, Herbert Smith and Simmons & Simmons to instruct Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer corporate partner Barry O'Brien and global head of finance Alan Newton on the mandate.

    1 minute read

  • June 15, 2011 |

    Magic circle firms bank leading roles on multibillion-pound Santander bond issue

    A trio of magic circle firms have advised on Santander's £3.75bn bond sale, in one of the biggest UK residential mortgage-backed securities deals since the financial crisis. Slaughter and May took the lead role for Santander, while Allen & Overy (A&O) acted for the joint bookrunners, which comprised Barclays Capital, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley and Santander Global Banking & Markets. Linklaters also won a role on the transaction advising the trustee.

    1 minute read

  • June 15, 2011 |

    Linklaters and Norton Rose secure first-time RSA panel roles

    Linklaters and Norton Rose have won first-time appointments as UK insurer RSA expands its global legal panel from three firms to five. The FTSE 100 company has selected the pair to sit alongside existing panel firms Allen & Overy, Slaughter and May and Ashurst, with all five firms appointed to advise on corporate and commercial matters for a three-year term.

    1 minute read

  • June 15, 2011 |

    Heinz opens tender process for debut Europe legal panel

    Heinz is set to appoint its first-ever European legal panel later this summer, with around a dozen firms invited to pitch. The food giant's European general counsel Janice More kicked off a tender process in March, with the company planning to use the review process to cut costs and tighten its links with firms.

    1 minute read

  • June 15, 2011 |

    Outriders - the US firms breaking away from the herd in the City

    A disparate band of US firms are breaking away from the herd to become a real competitive force in the City. Caroline Hill assesses how far they've come and the terrain ahead

    1 minute read

  • June 8, 2011 |

    ITV considers upping number of advisers amid new review

    ITV is set to overhaul its roster of external legal advisers for the first time in three years, with the broadcaster considering increasing the number of firms on its nine-firm line-up. Group legal director and company secretary Andrew Garard is leading the review, which will start next month and is expected to be completed after the summer.

    1 minute read