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  • July 9, 2009 |

    Confidence edges up as firms bank on Asia

    Business confidence at City law firms has edged up, driven by hopes of a swift recovery in Asia, with more than a third of partners now expecting revenue growth over the next 12 months. The latest Legal Week business confidence survey found 42% of responding partners were expecting increases in fee income at their own firm over the next year, including 18% who were expecting fee income growth of more than 5%.

    1 minute read

  • July 9, 2009 |

    GE appoints CC and Ashurst to Europe adviser roster

    General Electric (GE) has finalised its European non-M&A legal panel, with a clutch of UK firms winning roles including Clifford Chance, Allen & Overy (A&O), Ashurst and Norton Rose.

    1 minute read

  • July 9, 2009 |

    Diageo hands CMS pan-Euro mandate and reviews advisers

    Diageo has handed CMS Cameron McKenna a flagship appointment, with the UK firm and its eight-firm CMS alliance appointed as preferred adviser for commercial work across continental Europe. The news comes as the drinks giant - which owns brands including Guinness and Smirnoff - launches an informal review looking at how it can cut legal spend globally without creating a formal legal panel.

    1 minute read

  • July 9, 2009 |

    Santander and JP Morgan put legal advisers under review

    Banco Santander is finalising a shake-up of its external advisers in the UK, as JP Morgan has launched a review of its preferred law firms. Santander has turned to procurement company Aquanima for the first review of its merged UK panel, which covers the legacy Abbey, Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley brands.

    1 minute read

  • July 8, 2009 |

    Deals hit a low but M&A lawyers wary of predicting turning point

    Freshfields and Links top UK and Euro tables, but overall figures fell

    1 minute read

  • July 2, 2009 |

    CC's cautionary tale of scale (or how City firms fell out of love with big)

    With financial results from CC, Freshfields and Linklaters coming out pretty much as expected, I haven't currently got much to add. You can feel the tectonic plates of the industry and its hierarchy shifting, but that has been evident since late 2008. However, there is one aspect that stands out from talking to City firms, and that is the extent to which the concept of scale has become almost a bogeyman for top law firms. In particular, there is much discussion from Linklaters and Freshfields about how no one cares about size anymore. What else could explain both firms making so little of ending CC's long reign as the UK's largest law firm in revenue terms?

    1 minute read

  • July 2, 2009 |

    GE appoints CC and Ashurst to Europe adviser roster

    General Electric (GE) has finalised its European non-M&A legal panel, with a clutch of UK firms winning roles, including Clifford Chance and Ashurst. DLA Piper, Weil Gotshal & Manges and Baker & McKenzie are also among the firms appointed to GE's 80-firm roster.

    1 minute read

  • July 2, 2009 |

    Addleshaws wins Barclays role as bank confirms new panel line-up

    Barclays has completed its panel review, with Addleshaw Goddard winning a coveted spot on the bank's main panel. The national firm joins Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance , DLA Piper, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Linklaters, Lovells and Simmons & Simmons on the bank's general advisory roster, with Barclays also appointing a string of firms to 10 specialist panels.

    1 minute read

  • June 25, 2009 | International Edition

    Commentary: A&O bets on the IP market – but will it go the distance?

    It's not often you see magic circle firms turn to national players for lateral partner hires, but Allen & Overy (A&O) recently made an exception with the hire of intellectual property (IP) litigators Neville Cordell and Huw Evans from DLA Piper and Wragge & Co respectively. The most interesting thing about the pairing is not where the hires came from, but that a firm like A&O made them at all. Coming after a prolonged boom that saw many of the larger City firms' commitment to IP questioned while more lucrative corporate and finance work was on offer, the latest additions take A&O to six IP partners in London, three of whom will primarily focus on disputes.

    1 minute read

  • June 25, 2009 |

    Commentary: A&O bets on the IP market – but will it go the distance?

    It's not often you see magic circle firms turn to national players for lateral partner hires, but Allen & Overy (A&O) recently made an exception with the hire of intellectual property (IP) litigators Neville Cordell and Huw Evans from DLA Piper and Wragge & Co respectively. The most interesting thing about the pairing is not where the hires came from, but that a firm like A&O made them at all. Coming after a prolonged boom that saw many of the larger City firms' commitment to IP questioned while more lucrative corporate and finance work was on offer, the latest additions take A&O to six IP partners in London, three of whom will primarily focus on disputes.

    1 minute read