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  • April 1, 2011 |

    Macfarlanes makes up quartet in partnership promotions round

    Macfarlanes has announced its annual partner promotions, with the firm making up four to its partnership. The promotions, which take effect from 1 May, sees Jatinder Bains made up in banking and finance, Matthew McCahearty promoted in litigation, Hayley Robinson made up in employment and Malcolm Walton in competition.

    1 minute read

  • March 30, 2011 |

    Ince switches to LLP in one of last top 50 conversions

    Ince & Co is set to convert to a limited liability partnership (LLP) on 1 May, becoming one of the last firms in the UK top 50 to do so. The move, which comes a decade after firms were first permitted to limit their liability, will see seven of Ince's nine offices included in the LLP. Hong Kong and Paris will be excluded for the time being.

    1 minute read

  • March 30, 2011 |

    Standard Chartered reappoints six firms to roster after adviser review

    Standard Chartered Bank has concluded a review of its international legal panel, with the bank reappointing all six of its current advisers for another two-year term. Magic circle firms Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, Linklaters and Slaughter and May are among the firms to have been reappointed. The other firms on the roster are Hogan Lovells and Baker & McKenzie.

    1 minute read

  • March 30, 2011 |

    Slaughters names new finance and tax heads in management shake-up

    Slaughter and May has appointed two new practice stream heads, with the magic circle firm also electing five new members to its partnership board. Paul Stacey is set to take over as head of finance from Andrew Balfour, who is retiring at the end of the financial year, while Sara Luder will replace Tony Beare as head of tax. Beare will remain a partner in the firm's tax practice.

    1 minute read

  • March 29, 2011 |

    Tiers for jeers - the mid-tier gets an unfairly bad press

    What is it with the mid-tier, that much-maligned but ill-defined group of law firms that always gets it in the neck from consultants, pundits and journalists? Written off whatever the conditions of the day, observers of the legal industry will usually be told this breed will soon be history as an over-supplied and fragmented market is carved up between industry leaders and nimble boutiques. While there is a grain of truth here - which we'll get to later - it's usually stretched to the point of woolly nonsense delivered with shaky reference to the facts. For a start, who is this group supposed to be? Taken literally you could make a solid case that any firm south of Slaughter and May is mid-tier, though that isn't usually what is meant. Smaller than Ashurst, maybe? Consensus starts to break down. Outside the top 50? Take your pick. There are a bewilderingly large number of mid-tiers out there. In an industry obsessed by relative status, groups are defined as much by what you're not - so the mid-tier is, for many a firm, someone else.

    1 minute read

  • March 28, 2011 |

    Slaughters instructed by Linklaters for Credit Suisse and Gianni claims

    Linklaters has instructed fellow magic circle firm Slaughter and May to advise in relation to the firm's professional negligence dispute with banking giant Credit Suisse and Linklaters' subsequent related claim against former Italian alliance partner Gianni Origoni Grippo & Partners. Linklaters has appointed Slaughters dispute resolution partner Deborah Finkler to defend the firm against the €136m (£115m) claim brought by Credit Suisse earlier this month, which relates to advice given by the magic circle firm to the bank on a bond deal with Italian food company Parmalat nearly 10 years ago.

    1 minute read

  • March 25, 2011 |

    Slaughters and Wachtell take lead on Colgate-Unilever double deal

    Slaughter and May and Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz have taken lead roles on a multimillion-pound two-part deal involving Unilever and Colgate-Palmolive. The deal will see Unilever sell its Sanex personal care brand to Colgate for €672m (£590m), while also paying $215m (£132m) for a portfolio of Colgate laundry detergent brands in Colombia.

    1 minute read

  • March 24, 2011 |

    Slaughters promotes five London lawyers to partnership

    Slaughter and May has become the second magic circle firm to announce its 2011 partner promotions, making up five lawyers in its London office. The five promotions, which take effect on 1 May, marks Slaughters' largest promotions round in recent years. The firm added two to its partnership in 2010 and 2009, with four in 2008, five in 2007 and eight in 2006.

    1 minute read

  • March 23, 2011 |

    Paying the piper - can law firms' love affair with banks survive a series of tough panel reviews?

    Can City law firms' love affair with leading banks survive a bruising round of adviser reviews? Sofia Lind and Friederike Heine report

    1 minute read

  • March 23, 2011 |

    Slaughters stands down from RBS legal panel

    Slaughter and May has stood down from the Royal Bank of Scotland's (RBS) legal panel in the wake of discussions regarding risk management, it has emerged. Slaughters has indicated that the decision was taken earlier this year after discussions regarding RBS' broad prohibition on panel advisers limiting liability on individual transactions. It is understood that there was particular concern over the ban on limiting risk on work that could carry liabilities to third parties, such as vendor due diligence reports.

    1 minute read