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  • March 10, 2010 |

    Diversity dips at US firms as recession hits ethnic minority lawyer headcounts

    The number of ethnic minority lawyers in US firms has fallen for the first time in nine years, with large firms losing 9% of minority lawyers, according to research by Legal Week sister title The American Lawyer. The findings, based on statistics from 202 participating firms including Baker & McKenzie and Latham & Watkins, suggest that minority lawyers were disproportionately affected by job cuts at US firms over the last year.

    1 minute read

  • March 10, 2010 |

    Hanging on the telephone

    Last year was not good for Sony Ericsson. The troubled mobile phone manufacturer found itself recording a $1.1bn (£730m) loss as the recession saw handset sales plummet and competitor products, such as Apple's iPhone, dominate what was left of the market. During the last 18 months the company has cut over 2,000 jobs, including 10 in its legal department. "Although I am very confident about our future, we're very much in protect and survive mode at the moment," admits Sony Ericsson general counsel and company secretary Jonathan Pearl.

    1 minute read

  • February 24, 2010 |

    The outsourcers are coming

    The news that Microsoft is sending out legal work to a team of lawyers at legal process outsourcing (LPO) provider CPA Global in India is the latest indication that one of the most talked-about trends in recent years is no flash in the pan. That the announcement followed the defection earlier this month of former Rio Tinto managing attorney Leah Cooper to a business development role at CPA only adds further credence to the growing acceptance of legal outsourcing - particularly since Cooper herself was the driving force behind an agreement struck between CPA and Rio last June that saw a team of CPA lawyers take on work such as document review and legal research for the mining giant.

    1 minute read

  • February 23, 2010 |

    A&O takes lead role for Vietnam Government on $1bn bond offering

    Allen & Overy (A&O) has advised the Vietnamese Government on a $1bn (£648m) sovereign bond offering. The deal also handed a role to Wall Street's David Polk & Wardwell as lead international adviser to the underwriting banks.

    1 minute read

  • February 19, 2010 |

    Shearman and Linklaters strike gold on billion-dollar mining IPO

    Shearman & Sterling and Linklaters have taken lead roles on Barrick Gold's spin-off of its African mining assets and subsequent listing on the London Stock Exchange. Canada's Barrick, the largest gold miner in the world, will list its Tanzanian mining assets as African Black Gold (ABG) with a pricing set to take place in the next fortnight.

    1 minute read

  • February 17, 2010 |

    Editor's comment: Passage to India

    When a law firm does it, heads are turned - but when a company does it, people really sit up and take notice. Microsoft's decision to follow in the footsteps of the likes of Rio Tinto by outsourcing a chunk of its in-house legal work to CPA Global's offshore operation in Delhi has added further momentum to one of the most talked-about trends of the last few years. The additional news that Rio Tinto's managing attorney Leah Cooper, the driving force behind the mining giant's offshore move, is to join CPA, makes it a pretty good news week for the outsourcing leader.

    1 minute read

  • February 17, 2010 |

    Russia and Ukraine: Standing their ground

    The ongoing turf war between Russia's independent and foreign law firms moved up a gear in 2009. Local lawyers, long resigned to sharing their market with the crowd of international firms that began arriving in droves at the end of the Soviet era, regained a little of that lost ground thanks to the economic downturn.

    1 minute read

  • February 8, 2010 |

    Unilever names former Linklaters lawyer as new legal chief

    Unilever has appointed Tonia Lovell as its new chief legal officer and group secretary, replacing longstanding legal head Steve Williams. Williams will step down at the end of the year after 24 years at the company in a variety of roles.

    1 minute read

  • February 8, 2010 |

    A&O set to launch in Australia with partner hires: comment and reaction

    Allen & Overy (A&O) is set to enter Australia after hiring 17 new partners to open new offices in Sydney and Perth. Fourteen of the partners join from Australian firm Clayton Utz, which announced today (8 February) that the partners had tendered their resignation with the intention of joining the magic circle firm.

    1 minute read

  • January 27, 2010 |

    Dealmaker: Chris Bown

    Freshfields' private equity veteran displays a touch of literary class (and aces the McBeal question)...

    1 minute read