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  • January 25, 2011 |

    Russia and Ukraine: Happily single?

    It was a grim morning in November 2008 when Andrey Goltsblat, managing partner of leading Russian law firm Pepeliaev Goltsblat & Partners (PGP), set out for one of the most difficult meetings of his 20-year career. Moscow was already deep in the grip of winter, the streets buried beneath inches of snow. But it wasn't the weather that troubled Goltsblat as he arrived at the firm's premises and headed to the office he shared with Sergey Pepeliaev, the firm's senior partner. Goltsblat had a dramatic announcement to make: he was leaving the business they'd spent the last two decades building together. And he was taking half the firm with him. Neither man will talk about exactly what was said in that meeting - Pepeliaev would only describe his reaction as "appropriate" - but it's safe to say that Goltsblat's news didn't go down well. In one fell swoop, nine partners and a full 70 lawyers - PGP's entire corporate practice and the firm's heads of real estate, dispute resolution and employment - left to join UK firm Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP).

    1 minute read

  • 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 21, 2011 |

    Weil Gotshal hires former Ashurst partner for London finance group

    Weil Gotshal & Manges is to strengthen its City finance practice with the hire of former Ashurst banking partner James Hogben. Hogben, who stepped down from Ashurst's partnership in March 2010, is set to join Weil next week (23 January). He specialises in general banking law and has particular expertise in cross-border leveraged finance and acquisition finance transactions. At Weil, Hogben will work alongside London finance head Jacky Kelly and structured finance partner Steven Ong.

    1 minute read

  • January 19, 2011 |

    Ashurst ushers in 50-hour week benchmark for partners

    Ashurst has upped the number of hours partners must commit to the firm, with all partners now formally obliged to carry out at least 50 hours of firm-related work each week. Partners must spend the equivalent of 10 hours each weekday on either billable client work or other firm-related activities - over 40% more than was previously required.

    1 minute read

  • January 18, 2011 |

    Simmons corporate team: still looking for a place of its own

    Simmons & Simmons' corporate practice has long been viewed as the struggling child in a family of high performers in finance and litigation. Ask City rivals about its corporate performance and you often you get the same answer: Simmons is a great firm full of really good lawyers, but it is inexplicably failing to translate its strengths into a more substantial corporate practice.

    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 18, 2011 |

    Partners expect 2011 to be a growth year

    City partners are shrugging off concerns about the eurozone and domestic spending cuts to face 2011 in a generally upbeat mood, with nine out of 10 law firms expecting revenue growth over the year. Legal Week's quarterly business confidence survey found that nine out of 10 partners (90%) expect revenues at their own firm to grow over the next 12 months, with 88% expecting revenues across the top 50 as a whole to increase.

    1 minute read

  • January 12, 2011 |

    Leading law firms consider retirement policy shake-up

    A host of leading UK law firms are set to overhaul their retirement policies for partners and employees. Top 30 law firms including Allen & Overy (A&O), Norton Rose, Wragge & Co, Holman Fenwick Willan, Beachcroft, Stephenson Harwood and Field Fisher Waterhouse are currently considering changing their retirement provisions for partners to bring them in line with incoming legislation.

    1 minute read

  • January 6, 2011 |

    Norton Rose recruits Freshfields Moscow disputes chief

    Norton Rose has hired the head of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer's Moscow dispute resolution practice, Yaroslav Klimov. Klimov, who was a counsel at Freshfields, joined Norton Rose on 1 January as a partner and the firm's first Moscow and CIS disputes head. He specialises in general commercial, corporate, regulatory and product liability litigation. The hire takes the partner count in Norton Rose's Moscow office to seven. Klimov is also set to be joined by an associate from Freshfields.

    1 minute read

  • December 22, 2010 |

    Ashurst IP litigation team leaves firm for move to City boutique

    Ashurst has closed down its intellectual property (IP) litigation practice following the departure of its sole partner Ian Starr. Starr will join IP boutique D Young & Co on 1 January alongside senior associate Tamsin Holman, who will become a partner at the firm. They will also be joined by junior associates Cam Gatta and Anna Reid and two secretaries. Prior to joining Ashurst in 1993, Starr had been a partner at Clifford Chance (CC) since 1984. His practice focuses on the protection, enforcement and licensing of IP and related technology rights.

    1 minute read