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  • January 21, 2009 |

    Linklaters: partners to go and firm set for job cuts

    Linklaters is gearing up for plans to cut back its partnership in a move that is expected to see more than 35 partners worldwide leave the City giant.Legal Week has learned that the firm's City headquarters could see around 10 partners depart by the end of the current financial year in April, though its European practice has been cited by some outside the firm as the most vulnerable.Three of the departing City partners are in the capital markets, banking and corporate practices, but it is not yet known where the remaining cuts will be made.

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  • January 13, 2009 |

    Jones Day seals Lat-Am launch with Mexico merger

    Jones Day is set to launch its first office in Latin America with a merger with its referral partner in Mexico City. The firm is set to consolidate 20 years of referral work with De Ovando & Martinez del Campo with a full merger, which will gift the firm its 31st branch worldwide. The combined office will focus on M&A, banking and finance and transactions along with real estate and capital markets work.

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  • January 9, 2009 |

    Bakers announces associate layoffs in New York

    Baker & McKenzie has become the latest firm to announce redundancies, with the firm cutting six of its New York associates as a result of the ongoing economic downturn. The international firm's New York office houses around 140 lawyers including 60 partners and the cuts come as part of a range of cost-cutting measures introduced in response to market conditions.Bakers said in a statement issued today (9 January): "We are in strong financial health, thanks in part to a sound strategy and fiscal discipline, as well as our firm's geographic and practice diversity. However, over the last few months, as a consequence of the downturn affecting the global economy, we have seen declines in some areas."

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  • December 11, 2008 |

    London office of the year

    There are more than 200 international firms with London offices and this award - a new category - demonstrates the myriad of strategies being employed. Bingham McCutchen has had a London base since 1973, but has resisted the temptation to stray beyond its core areas. Its powerful financial restructuring group has been heavily involved in many of Europe's largest workouts and restructurings, acting for bondholders and other creditors. A sign of the US firm's confidence in its City outpost is shown by the fact that London managing partner James Roome oversees its Hong Kong office, which was launched in 2007.

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  • December 11, 2008 |

    Capital markets team of the year

    To say there has been turmoil in capital markets would perhaps win an award for understatement of the year. These extraordinary times have placed new demands on lawyers, and the finalists demonstrated that they have what it takes to help clients through the turbulence. The judges hailed the way Allen & Overy's (A&O's) capital markets team has adapted to the downturn. Much of A&O's recent work has involved crisis management, whether restructuring transactions, making existing structures more resilient or advising on derivatives and structured finance. A&O has been particularly active in the structured investment vehicles field and the covered bond market, while its equity capital markets work includes advising Imperial Tobacco on a £4.9bn rights issue, the second largest underwritten issue in the UK ever.

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  • December 11, 2008 |

    Managing/senior partner of the year

    Running a modern law firm is a complex challenge, and many a talented lawyer has been burnt by the experience. The judges agreed that all six finalists showed they have what it takes to deliver outstanding performance. David Gray is stepping down as Eversheds' chief executive after five years, having notched up a litany of achievements. These include a £10m investment in the project management skills of its lawyers as well as the Global Account Management System. Gray has led from the front - partners can rate his performance on an intranet page. But he can be tough too, introducing a yellow and red card scheme to improve partners' approach to cash management.

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  • December 11, 2008 |

    Law firm of the year

    This award is always one of the most hotly contested, and 2008 proved to be no exception.Ashurst has continued to invest heavily in its international network, doubling its headcount in Dubai, opening an office in Abu Dhabi and recruiting shrewdly in Tokyo and Singapore. A Hong Kong office is planned for 2009. With a focus as well on identifying new areas of demand for legal expertise, Ashurst is showing the initiative required to succeed in turbulent conditions, the judges said.

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  • December 10, 2008 |

    Spain: Versatile movers

    The credit crunch that is walloping the rest of Europe has not spared Spain. The Spanish real estate market began slumping in early 2007, and all but collapsed last year. Stringent regulation by Spain's central bank saved banks from exposure to toxic mortgage-backed securities, but financial turmoil elsewhere in the world has depressed lending in Spain, and credit has become extremely tight.Nevertheless, the lawyers at Spain's independent law firms are busy because, notably, they've been able to redeploy themselves from one practice area to another. All of the lawyers who commented to Legal Week's Independent Law Firms in Europe supplement about what effect the financial crisis is having on their practices in Spain hit an upbeat note. All but one said that the shuffling of lawyers from practice area to practice area was a key to their success during hard times.

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  • December 10, 2008 |

    Sweden: Swede success

    Stockholm's legal market has long been dominated by the major Swedish firms, such as Mannheimer Swartling and Vinge, and international firms including Linklaters, White & Case, DLA Piper (DLA Nordic), Baker & McKenzie and Eversheds. However, three years ago top Finnish firm Roschier launched a Stockholm office, while in September its Helsinki-based rival Hannes Snellman announced it was planning to do the same.Hannes Snellman's imminent launch in the Swedish capital has been met with much interest, not least because the firm's entry comes with five big-name lateral hires. New office head Fredrik von Baumgarten, an M&A specialist, arrives from Vinge, one of Sweden's top firms, while capital markets partners Soeren Lindstroem, Richard Aakerman and Jan Jensen have been recruited from 150-lawyer Swedish firm Setterwalls. Linklaters' Stockholm head of litigation Martin Wallin, who had initially announced he was going to join Setterwalls, has been persuaded to follow them.

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  • December 3, 2008 |

    Eye of the storm

    For lawyers working in banking, the bad news just keeps coming. Ever since the credit crunch gripped the financial services sector in August 2007 it has been a worrying time for anyone in finance, but there is now no doubt that the dramatic escalation of the crisis facing the industry, thanks to the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September, has raised the stakes considerably.Before Lehman, lawyers, particularly those working in the central legal teams, were seen as being among the least vulnerable staff in banking. Sure there were widespread claims that lawyers working in badly-hit transactional departments and legally-trained staff working on document management had been hit. But the general consensus was that, in an environment in which regulation, compliance and litigation had become greater issues, in-house legal teams were viewed as some of the most secure jobs.

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