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  • November 2, 2010 |

    More worlds to conquer - Slaughters and the emerging economies

    Thirteen years after the firm moved to first publicly articulate its global outlook, the international strategy of Slaughter and May continues to spark intense debate among the upper reaches of the global legal market. Shunning the committed international expansion of its magic circle rivals in the 1990s, Slaughters, under then senior partner Giles Henderson, outlined a vision of elite independent law firms co-operating globally in a cover feature for Commercial Lawyer. Though the phrase was never used, it was the system that came to be widely known, somewhat incongruously, as 'best friends', a model built around a core of allied firms in Europe.

    1 minute read

  • November 2, 2010 |

    Friends and influence - luck and pragmatism are Slaughters' best friends in Asia

    Will the issue never be resolved? As this week's analysis illustrates, more than a decade of intense debate has yet to settle the matter of whether Slaughter and May's boutique model has a place on the global legal stage. But credit where it's due: the 'best friends' concept has continued to confound critics. While it would be a stretch to say that it has thrived in Europe, it has done enough to keep Slaughters in the game.

    1 minute read

  • November 1, 2010 |

    Simmons confirms conversion to LLP status

    Simmons & Simmons has converted to a limited liability partnership (LLP) becoming one of the last firms among the UK top 20 to do so. Simmons is a late adopter of the legal structure among the UK's top firms after previously postponing a conversion in the hope that the firm's Hong Kong office would be allowed to be included in the structure. Simmons has now chosen to set up the LLP with a separate Hong Kong structure, with Hong Kong regulators still working on proposals to permit LLPs in the region.

    1 minute read

  • October 26, 2010 |

    Training and education: Join the queue

    As the latest band of students enters the milkround, they join increasing numbers of graduates struggling to make their way onto the career ladder, with rafts of companies cutting back or closing their doors altogether to graduates as they weather the downturn. For the City's largest law firms, which typically recruit for training contracts two years in advance of would-be lawyers walking through their doors, maintaining the right flow of trainees to match predicted future workflows has always been something of a juggling act.

    1 minute read

  • October 20, 2010 |

    Elite City firms lead the curve on take-up of accelerated LPC

    The accelerated Legal Practice Course (LPC) has yet to gain traction outside an elite band of City firms, with just seven of the UK's top 30 firms opting to give trainees the chance to complete the course in seven months. Two-thirds of the UK's top 30 law firms have opted not to offer the course - permitted since 2009 - as yet, according to Legal Week research.

    1 minute read

  • October 20, 2010 |

    New ideas in law: Follow the leader

    Philip Wood QC ambles into one of the meeting rooms of Allen & Overy's (A&O's) Bishops Square offices and launches into a series of surreal asides, including but not limited to 1930s Yorkshire, his love of colouring in and how there are too many laws in the world. The face of - and brains behind - A&O's new Global Law Intelligence Unit, who holds visiting professor posts at universities including Oxford, Cambridge and London School of Economics, plays the eccentric academic role well. But spend a bit longer in his company and it is clear that he also possesses the commercial nous you'd expect from someone who has spent 40 years in corporate law, including a high-profile stint as A&O's head of banking in the 1990s.

    1 minute read

  • October 20, 2010 |

    Tweet disposition - the tech-savvy lawyers making social media work for them

    Do you tweet? Among journalists the answer is becoming a given, but among City lawyers the question may be considered a little less relevant. Not so, say a host of web-literate legal advisers and in-house counsel.

    1 minute read

  • October 20, 2010 |

    Freshfields and Slaughters lead on €800m eyecare company debt restructuring

    Magic circle duo Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Slaughter and May have advised on the €800m (£704m) debt restructuring of eyecare company Carl Zeiss Vision Group. Freshfields restructuring and insolvency partner Richard Tett led a team including London banking partner Peter Hall advising the senior lenders steering committee on the restructuring, which closed earlier this month after 13 months of negotiations.

    1 minute read

  • October 19, 2010 | International Edition

    Land Securities appoints first-ever GC with hire of former CC lawyer

    Land Securities has appointed its first general counsel and company secretary with the hire of SABMiller's European head of legal. Adrian de Souza is set to join the FTSE 100 property group on 1 November to take up the newly-formed post. He replaces outgoing company secretary Peter Dudgeon, a non-lawyer, who is stepping down after 12 years in the role.

    1 minute read

  • October 19, 2010 |

    Land Securities appoints first-ever GC with hire of former CC lawyer

    Land Securities has appointed its first general counsel and company secretary with the hire of SABMiller's European head of legal. Adrian de Souza is set to join the FTSE 100 property group on 1 November to take up the newly-formed post. He replaces outgoing company secretary Peter Dudgeon, a non-lawyer, who is stepping down after 12 years in the role.

    1 minute read