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  • January 25, 2011 |

    50 hours of controversy - what modern partnership looks like

    Usually, I have a pretty good sense of which articles on legalweek.com will garner attention, but I confess I didn't foresee a low-key article about Ashurst articulating an expectation that partners should be doing at least 50 hours of work a week gaining the audience it did. In many ways the stance, outlined in a 15-second burst at the firm's partnership conference last November, would seem an entirely innocuous statement of fact for those taking on a gig currently paying £362,000 to £940,000 a year.

    1 minute read

  • January 19, 2011 |

    Freshfields and FFW top £6m in billings from Whitehall super-panel

    Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer was the top-billing law firm last year under the Government panel designed to centralise Whitehall's legal spending, according to figures obtained by Legal Week through a freedom of information request. The magic circle law firm received £6.25m during the last financial year from the legal services framework according to figures released by the Office of Government Commerce agency, Buying Solutions - around 14% of the Government's total £44.8m spend through the panel.

    1 minute read

  • January 18, 2011 |

    Freshfields and Cravath win roles as medical co makes £7bn takeover bid

    Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Cravath Swaine & Moore have picked up lead roles on US medical giant Johnson & Johnson's attempted £7bn bid for Smith & Nephew. Freshfields has been fielding a team led by corporate partners Barry O'Brien and Ben Spiers advising longstanding client Smith & Nephew, which has not formally confirmed or denied this month's reported takeover approach.

    1 minute read

  • January 17, 2011 |

    Dealmaker: Roger Barron

    Linklaters corporate partner Roger Barron explains his fashion rut and name-drops P Diddy...

    1 minute read

  • January 17, 2011 |

    Slaughters and White & Case head up $8.8bn subsea engineering merger

    White & Case and Slaughter and May have advised on the $8.8bn (£5.5bn) merger of subsea engineering and construction companies Acergy and Subsea 7. White & Case acted for Acergy with a team led by City M&A partner Peter Finlay and New York M&A partner Gregory Pryor alongside Brussels competition partner Mark Powell and City partners Peita Menon (tax), Nicholas Greenacre and Stephen Ravenscroft (employment) and Gavin McLean (finance).

    1 minute read

  • January 13, 2011 |

    Slaughters and Freshfields lead on UK-China oil company joint venture

    Slaughter and May, Bredin Prat and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer have taken lead advisory roles on proposed new joint venture agreements between PetroChina and chemicals producer Ineos. Ineos instructed a team of lawyers from Slaughters and its French best friend firm Bredin Prat to advise on the venture that will see the Chinese energy giant partner with Ineos to trade and refine oil at refineries in Scotland and France.

    1 minute read

  • January 12, 2011 |

    School of hard knocks - legal education's controversies under review

    By wide agreement, when Mr Justice Ormrod was appointed in 1967 to examine the state of legal education, he had his work cut out. Ormrod's remit was to tackle the conflicting demands made of educating lawyers, which meant reconciling the agenda of the universities - which were intent on maintaining law as a 'learned' career - with those of the profession, which was pressing regulators for a greater emphasis on vocational training. Law, the subsequent report stated, "had emerged from the chrysalis of apprenticeship but had not yet discovered satisfactory alternative ways of developing wings". More than four decades on, the regime for educating lawyers faces remarkably similar tensions. "One might say the questions posed by Ormrod are still unanswered, or at least they remain just as applicable," says Crispin Passmore, director of strategy at the Legal Services Board (LSB).

    1 minute read

  • January 11, 2011 |

    French firm trio bolster ranks with partner promotions

    French firms have kicked off the year by announcing their partner promotions with Slaughter and May ally Bredin Prat, De Pardieu Brocas Maffei and Gide Loyrette Nouel all expanding their partnerships. Bredin Prat and De Pardieu have both added one new partner apiece from 1 January, with Gide making up two.

    1 minute read

  • January 10, 2011 |

    BPP set to make fast-track LPC available to all of its students

    BPP Law School is set to become the first Legal Practice Course (LPC) provider to offer the fast-track LPC to all students, according to its chief executive Peter Crisp. The condensed course is currently available exclusively to students within the framework of the City LPC consortium, which comprises Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Herbert Smith, Hogan Lovells, Norton Rose and Slaughter and May.

    1 minute read

  • December 21, 2010 |

    Debevoise City arm leads on Russian merger creating $23.9bn company

    Debevoise & Plimpton's London and Moscow offices have picked up a lead advisory mandate on the merger of Russian potash companies Uralkali and Silvinit, in a deal that will create a combined business worth $23.9bn (£15.4bn). Debevoise has advised Uralkali on the merger, which will see Uralkali acquire 20% of Silvinit for $1.4bn (£903,300m) and complete the tie-up through a share swap.

    1 minute read