Filter This View

  • May 14, 2009 |

    Bakers makes 70 City staff redundant as LLP accounts filed

    Baker & McKenzie has cut 70 staff in London following a six-week redundancy consultation. Twenty-one fee earners, 28 secretarial staff and a further 21 support staff in London have been affected by the consultation, which was first announced on 13 March. The final number is in keeping with the firm's initial statement about the restructuring, which said that between 60 and 85 jobs were at risk in the City.

    1 minute read

  • May 6, 2009 |

    Management: Greasing the training wheels

    In response to constrained budgets for 2009-10, most learning and development teams have focused on real and immediate needs and driving down costs. This has most commonly meant that career-critical training programmes have remained sacrosanct, attendances at external conferences require strong justification and the use of external training providers has been significantly curtailed.

    1 minute read

  • May 1, 2009 |

    Taylor Wessing seals alliance with Polish firm

    Taylor Wessing has sealed an alliance with seven-partner Polish law firm BSJP, it has been announced. The deal, which comes effect from today (1 May), formalises a five-year-old referral relationship into an exclusive alliance which has been touted as a precursor to a possible merger.Taylor Wessing and the Warsaw-based firm expect to collaborate on corporate, banking, real estate, infrastructure, intellectual property (IP) and technology work.BSJP has 20 fee earners and services clients including HSH Nordbank, windfarm developer Ventotech and real estate investors SachsenFonds.

    1 minute read

  • April 30, 2009 |

    Cuts sweep turbulent Moscow market as six international firms wield axe

    A raft of international firms have made redundancies in Moscow as the continued economic downturn in the region pushes both law firms and clients to slash costs. Allen & Overy (A&O), Simmons & Simmons, White & Case and Denton Wilde Sapte have followed Clifford Chance (CC) and Baker & McKenzie in making redundancies in Russia.

    1 minute read

  • April 20, 2009 |

    Dell kicks off review of UK legal advisers

    Dell has kicked off a review of its UK panel of law firms in an effort to streamline its current adviser roster.The multinational technology company has given all of its existing panel firms until 22 April to submit their tender documents. The company has previously worked with firms including Baker & McKenzie, Lewis Silkin and Clyde & Co.

    1 minute read

  • April 8, 2009 |

    Partners hint at better times ahead

    Business confidence at City law firms appears to have bottomed out, despite a record number of partners predicting falls in revenue over the next 12 months.The latest Legal Week Business Confidence survey found 7% of respondents expect increases of revenue of 10% or more over the next 12 months, marking a slight increase on the 5% making the same prediction in January - a record low for the quarterly survey since Legal Week started recording figures in 2001.

    1 minute read

  • April 8, 2009 |

    The international high-flier

    "Evolutionary" is how British Airways' head of legal and government affairs Maria da Cunha describes the internal overhaul that saw her take over the main duties of departing general counsel Robert Webb QC last week.Da Cunha will continue her previous role, while also taking a place on the corporate security board, and will now report directly to BA chief executive Willie Walsh. Meanwhile, BA head of security Tim Steeds will take on Webb's safety and security duties.

    1 minute read

  • April 8, 2009 |

    Shearman acts for Dow Chemical on $1.7bn sale

    Shearman & Sterling has reprised its role for Dow Chemical, advising the company as it agrees to sell Rohm and Haas unit Morton International to a German agrichemicals company for $1.7bn (£1.14bn). The company will use the sale to help finance its $16.5bn (£11.1bn) buyout of Rohm, which closed last week (2 April) - a deal on which it also turned to Shearman.

    1 minute read

  • April 8, 2009 | International Edition

    Generation why?

    When it comes to law firm prestige there is no denying that the magic circle tag still works its, well, magic. And there are few other groups that buy into the brand power of these five firms more so than the student population.Given free choice to name five law firms they would rate highly, students consistently turned to the magic circle group, viewing them as offering the best career options, work-life balance, partnership prospects and training - not to mention prestige - of all law firms.

    1 minute read

  • April 8, 2009 |

    Generation why?

    When it comes to law firm prestige there is no denying that the magic circle tag still works its, well, magic. And there are few other groups that buy into the brand power of these five firms more so than the student population.Given free choice to name five law firms they would rate highly, students consistently turned to the magic circle group, viewing them as offering the best career options, work-life balance, partnership prospects and training - not to mention prestige - of all law firms.

    1 minute read