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  • March 29, 2011 |

    Back at the gate - the challenges ahead for private equity

    A few weeks ago news got out that Bain Capital, one of the world's leading private equity firms, was holding interviews for junior investment professionals a month earlier than usual. Bain's competitors, which include Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co (KKR) and The Blackstone Group, moved quickly, bringing forward their pre-scheduled cocktail party recruiting events. This was not a surprising development. Five years ago private equity houses often did their entry-level hiring in September. During the boom, such intakes kept drifting earlier into the year as rivals jostled to secure the best aspiring deal-doers.

    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 23, 2011 |

    Lawyers give budget guarded welcome as Osborne moves to drive UK business

    City lawyers have given the 2011 budget a "guarded welcome" with small tax relief measures included in Chancellor George Osborne's speech today aimed at encouraging businesses to operate in the UK.

    1 minute read

  • March 15, 2011 |

    Bakers latest to sign on to College of Law's tailored fast-track LPC

    Baker & McKenzie has become the first firm outside of the magic circle to switch to a fast-track Legal Practice Course (LPC) with the College of Law. The international firm has announced that it is set to switch to the condensed course from next summer, with the first set of trainees due to start the seven-month course in July 2012. From then on, the course will run twice a year to accommodate both the March and the September intakes.

    1 minute read

  • March 14, 2011 |

    Closer ties - a new era for Switzerland's law firms?

    The Swiss legal market is so well established and its clients so well served by large and reputable local firms operating within an entirely stable and predictable regime that the country often falls below international firms' radar – but not so of late. Not only are new legislative changes to the cantonal civil procedure system being touted by some as the most important reforms since the beginning of the 20th century, but as countries such as the UK come to terms with tightening tax measures, local Swiss lawyers are reaping the benefit of a growing hub of international businesses from large bluechips to lucrative hedge fund managers now headquartered in Zurich and Geneva.

    1 minute read

  • March 9, 2011 |

    Bakers wins top spot as primary UK adviser for L'Oreal

    L'Oreal has appointed Baker & McKenzie as its primary UK legal adviser, following a review by the beauty products giant of its external legal advisers in the region. The cosmetics company appointed Bakers at the end of last year after a competitive tender process, cementing a longstanding relationship between the firm and L'Oreal.

    1 minute read

  • March 8, 2011 |

    Bakers & Kirkland lead on Kuoni's $720m Gullivers Travel acquisition

    Baker & McKenzie and Kirkland & Ellis have taken lead roles on Swiss travel group Kuoni's $720m (£445m) purchase of British rival Gullivers Travel Associates (GTA). Kuoni instructed Bakers on the deal, which is a part of the Swiss company's efforts to develop its online travel business. The firm fielded a team led by London corporate chief Tim Gee.

    1 minute read

  • March 7, 2011 |

    Mishcons tops law firm rankings in annual best employer list

    Leading City law firms have again failed to make the grade in The Sunday Times' annual 100 Best Companies to work for rankings, with Mills & Reeve the sole representative from the UK's top 50 law firms by revenue. Mills & Reeve features at number 90 in The Sunday Times' rankings, compared with number 72 last year.

    1 minute read

  • March 1, 2011 |

    US invaders back on the offensive

    The number of partner promotions in the City offices of US law firms is on track to exceed last year's tally, with 33 new partners made up in London in 2011 so far out of a global promotions total of 382. Legal Week's annual survey of US firms' lateral partner hiring and internal appointments found there have been only five fewer partner promotions in London so far this year than in the whole of 2010.

    1 minute read

  • February 22, 2011 |

    Law firm bankruptcies - rescues gone wrong?

    The email from Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe chairman Ralph Baxter to newly-tapped Coudert Brothers chair Clyde Rankin on 12 February 2005 was short, friendly and direct: "Skip, congratulations on your election. I look forward to seeing you this week. Let's talk on Monday." The message, it turned out, wasn't just an electronic high-five from one firm leader to another. It was also the start of what evolved into talks between Baxter and Rankin about a possible merger of their firms. The email's inclusion in a lawsuit filed in December against Orrick by the administrator overseeing the bankrupt Coudert estate underscores where those talks led.

    1 minute read