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  • September 22, 2011 |

    Blake Dawson hires for Asia employment launch ahead of potential Ashurst tie-up

    Blake Dawson is set to launch an Asian employment practice with a partner hire from Australian rival Freehills. Employment partner George Cooper will join Blake Dawson's Singapore office from mid-October, and will head up the new employment practice across Asia.

    1 minute read

  • September 21, 2011 |

    Beachcroft and SNR Denton lead on new Westfield lettings

    Beachcroft and SNR Denton have helped fill the new Westfield Stratford City shopping mall, with the pair advising Westfield on lease agreements for 300 stores inside the centre. Beachcroft's real estate team, led by relationship partner David Esam, completed 50% of the mall's lettings, with SNR Denton advising on the remaining 150 agreements, led by retail occupiers sector group head Chris Denny. The roles take the number of top 50 UK law firms to have picked up advisory mandates for Westfield in relation to the new Stratford centre, which opened last week, to five.

    1 minute read

  • September 21, 2011 |

    McDermott adds Paris partner amid busy local lateral market

    McDermott Will & Emery has strengthened its fledgling Paris office with a hire from local firm Jeantet Associes, with the hire marking the latest in a string of partner moves in the city in recent weeks. Jonathan Wohl joined McDermott as a partner in its Paris corporate practice last month from Jeantet, where he was a senior counsel specialising in cross-border M&A. Wohl joined Jeantet as a partner in 2006 after 27 years with now-defunct firm Coudert Brothers. When he moved to Jeantet in January that year he became the final partner from Coudert's flagship Paris office to find a new home in the wake of the firm announcing plans to wind up in the summer of 2005.

    1 minute read

  • September 20, 2011 |

    RBS Insurance turns to RSA to recruit new general counsel

    RBS Insurance (RBSI) has turned to RSA Insurance for its new general counsel and company secretary. RSA's group legal director, Humphrey Tomlinson, is set to join RBSI, where he will be tasked with building the Bromley-based insurer's standalone legal and secretariat functions ahead of its divestment from RBS Group.

    1 minute read

  • September 16, 2011 |

    DWF agrees College of Law LPC deal as Pinsents widens access to legal career

    DWF has become the latest law firm to agree an exclusive deal to send all of its future trainees to study at the College of Law. The College will provide the Legal Practice Course (LPC) to all of DWF's future trainees from later this month, with the students able to study at any of the law school's eight UK locations.

    1 minute read

  • September 15, 2011 |

    How the top international law firms stack up in Asia

    Clifford Chance: 366 lawyers across eight offices. Hong Kong - 138 lawyers including 32 partners, Singapore - 72 lawyers including 15 partners, Tokyo - 51 lawyers including nine partners, Shanghai - 22 lawyers including five partners, Beijing - 29 lawyers including six partners, Bangkok - 16 lawyers including two partners Sydney - 21 lawyers including seven partners Perth - 17 lawyers including seven partners Key deals include: • advising the underwriters on Prada's Hong Kong listing; • advising the underwriters on Glencore's dual listing in Hong Kong and London; and • advising the managers on Volkswagen's dim sum bond - the first by a German company.

    1 minute read

  • September 15, 2011 |

    Bird & Bird Paris partner duo exit to join Salans

    Two senior Bird & Bird partners have left the firm's Paris office to join Salans in the French capital. Intellectual property (IP) partner Isabelle Leroux and tax partner Anne Quenedey joined Salans on 1 September, bringing with them three associates each as well as one counsel.

    1 minute read

  • September 14, 2011 |

    Battle royale - the tussle for global dominance shifts eastward

    With elite Wall Street firms finally breaking into Hong Kong law, the stage is set for a high-stakes struggle across Asia between the world's top law firms. Georgina Stanley and Simon Petersen report

    1 minute read

  • September 14, 2011 |

    Ladbrokes brings in e-billing to scrutinise firms ahead of review

    Ladbrokes has introduced an electronic billing and online performance review system for its legal advisers ahead of a review of the gambling company's eight-strong panel next year. The e-billing and law firm appraisal system, introduced this month, allows Ladbrokes' in-house team, which is headed by general counsel Jonathan Adelman, to assess firms according to criteria including 'value for money', 'responsiveness' and 'commerciality'.

    1 minute read

  • September 14, 2011 |

    Top firms break ground with project to boost access to law, but challenge has only begun

    Despite already being touted as a landmark for the industry, the law firms behind the initiative aimed at improving access to the profession are hoping to substantially expand the number of firms 
backing the scheme. The scheme launched with 23 major firms across the UK and Ireland but the backers of the project to hand work experience to under-privileged children believe it will be essential to secure the active support of more law firms before addressing the considerable challenge of building links and co-operation with a broad base of schools nationally.

    1 minute read