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  • October 6, 2009 |

    Barratt Homes almost halves regional panel

    Barratt Homes has put the finishing touches to its regional legal panel, with the housebuilder almost halving the number of firms on its roster. The company has cut its panel - which does not cover mainstream corporate work - down from around 40 firms to 19 as a result of the review, which was completed over the summer. All of the successful firms will sit on the panel for three years.

    1 minute read

  • October 6, 2009 |

    Ex-Bar Council chair Vos appointed as High Court judge

    Former Bar Council Chairman Geoffrey Vos QC has been appointed as a High Court judge. The appointment will see the 3 Stone Buildings member take up his new role as a Justice of the High Court in the Chancery Division later this month (27 October) following the retirement of Mr Justice Blackburne.

    1 minute read

  • October 6, 2009 |

    Emerging markets will provide greatest growth opportunities

    In the last year, businesses worldwide, including international law firms, have been watching the market, reacting to it and trying to predict and prepare for the next phase. The impact of the credit crunch has been well documented and will be familiar to all. For major law firms the market started to slow in October last year. By December there was a dramatic drop in activity across all areas, in stark contrast to a year earlier. As companies focused on their own survival and financial institutions waited for signs of stability in the market, lawyers quickly found they had to react to their clients' needs by switching focus from one type of work to another. Finance and disputes teams got busier, advising clients on the impact of the fall-out on the clients' businesses. M&A activity all but stopped, and corporate teams went from negotiating transactions for business expansion to shoring up the businesses with equity capital raisings.

    1 minute read

  • October 5, 2009 |

    Law Society report backs role for self-regulation

    Major law firms should take a major step towards regulating themselves, according to Lord Hunt of Wirral's report on the regulation of the profession. The report, published by the Law Society today (5 October), sees Hunt advocating a system of Authorised Internal Regulation (AIR), which would usher in substantial elements of self-regulation for firms able to demonstrate they have robust internal governance structures.

    1 minute read

  • October 5, 2009 |

    Slaughters looks at outsourcing options after client request

    Slaughter and May is considering outsourcing some legal work for a client in a bid to reduce costs. The magic circle firm is in the early stages of discussions with a legal process outsourcer about outsourcing due diligence and document review work relating to a specific transaction. The move comes in response to a request from the client to look at options to reduce legal spend.

    1 minute read

  • October 2, 2009 |

    Orrick and Taylor Wessing sign up Clifford Chance partner trio

    Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe and Taylor Wessing have boosted their European practices with Clifford Chance (CC) partner hires. Orrick's French base, Orrick Rambaud Martel, has added former CC Paris partner Diane de Mouy as a partner in its finance team. Her practice focuses on infrastructure finance, asset finance and debt restructuring.

    1 minute read

  • October 1, 2009 |

    Stars at the Bar

    Without the well-honed PR teams of many a law firm and legally unable to promote themselves, barristers rely to a great extent on the recommendations of peers and instructing solicitors for reputation and referral. Unlike the majority of their solicitor counterparts, many commercial barristers will turn their hand to several sectors of the law. And not only do they need to be team players, working closely with law firm partners, they also need to be savvy with strong client skills.

    1 minute read

  • September 30, 2009 |

    Slaughters opens new Beijing base

    Slaughter and May has opened offices in Beijing almost a year after it announced its move into mainland China. The magic circle law firm has yet to place lawyers in the office, which opened last month (7 September) with support staff only. Incoming office managing partner, Hong Kong-based corporate and commercial partner George Goulding, is expected to relocate later this month along with one associate.

    1 minute read

  • September 30, 2009 |

    Quartet of firms lead on second-largest IPO of the year so far

    Four international firms have landed roles on Metallurgical Corporation of China's (MCC's) initial public offering (IPO) - the second-largest listing of the year so far. The $5.2bn (£3.2bn) raised from the sale of shares on the Shanghai and Hong Kong exchanges makes MCC the second-largest IPO this year after the $7.4bn (£4.6bn) raised by China State Construction Engineering Corporation in July.

    1 minute read

  • September 29, 2009 |

    Ex-Slaughters and SJB senior partners lauch litigation support company

    Two former senior partners of Slaughter and May and SJ Berwin have teamed up to help launch a new litigation support company. Former Slaughters chief Tim Clark and SJ Berwin's David Harrel are both involved in the launch of Proven, which will form a separate branch of strategic advisory company G3, where Clark was named deputy chairman earlier this year.

    1 minute read