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  • May 13, 2009 |

    Offshoring - outside the box?

    During the past few months law firms have announced a raft of cost-saving measures, with hardly a day going by without news of job cuts, pay freezes or trainee deferrals. But increasingly the focus is turning to the long term - and with it the challenge of adapting to a harsher new economic reality. Last month, Simmons & Simmons announced a proposal to use external lawyers in jurisdictions such as India and South Africa for certain litigation-related and corporate due diligence tasks - following similar moves by Clifford Chance, Lovells and Eversheds. It is a trend that some expect to continue.

    1 minute read

  • May 11, 2009 |

    Arsenal to sign up full-time in-house adviser

    Arsenal Football Club has begun the hunt for its first-ever in-house lawyer. The Premier League club is currently scouting for suitable candidates to fill the senior-level role, which as yet has no fixed title.Senior City lawyers and leading in-house counsel have been invited to apply.The decision to recruit a dedicated in-house lawyer follows a recommendation from

    1 minute read

  • April 30, 2009 |

    US education provider floats £300m BPP acquisition

    The parent company of top UK law school BPP looks set to be taken over after a US education provider made a preliminary approach for the company worth £303.5m. BPP Holdings today (29 April) made a stock exchange announcement confirming a preliminary offer for the education and training business by Apollo Global, a subsidiary of US private equity house Apollo Group.Apollo Global - an education investment fund with a portfolio of around $3bn which is 20% owned by the Carlyle Group - has made a cash offer of 620p per share, representing a 70% premium on BPP's closing price on Tuesday (28 April).

    1 minute read

  • April 30, 2009 |

    Links boosts associate pay but cuts salary bands

    Linklaters has bucked the trend for associate pay freezes, with the magic circle firm announcing that its London lawyers will receive a marginal salary increase. The firm told lawyers today (30 April) that, in contrast to rivals such as Allen & Overy (A&O), they will progress through the associate lockstep bands as normal. However, Linklaters has cut the level of all of its pay bands, leaving associates with a pay rise of between 2% and 4%.

    1 minute read

  • April 29, 2009 | International Edition

    Legal Week Independent Law Firms Forum: Independently speaking

    Coming a day after the UK budget was announced, HSBC senior economist Mark Berrisford-Smith's economic forecast for independent law firms in the coming years could be forgiven for being a little gloomy.Speaking at Legal Week's annual Independent Law Firms Forum, Berrisford-Smith commended delegates for attending a session on the economy after a budget which "rammed home the message of how long it will take to clear up the mess" that the major economies are in.

    1 minute read

  • April 29, 2009 |

    Legal Week Independent Law Firms Forum: Independently speaking

    Coming a day after the UK budget was announced, HSBC senior economist Mark Berrisford-Smith's economic forecast for independent law firms in the coming years could be forgiven for being a little gloomy.Speaking at Legal Week's annual Independent Law Firms Forum, Berrisford-Smith commended delegates for attending a session on the economy after a budget which "rammed home the message of how long it will take to clear up the mess" that the major economies are in.

    1 minute read

  • April 22, 2009 |

    Top firms share roles in Taylor Wimpey debt restructure deal

    A raft of City and US firms have advised as troubled house-builder Taylor Wimpey agreed £2.47bn of debt facilities. The deal, agreed earlier this month, generated roles for firms including Ashurst, Allen & Overy (A&O), Slaughter and May and Davis Polk & Wardwell as the company restructured its borrowings.

    1 minute read

  • April 20, 2009 |

    Cleary takes top role on $3.6bn GSK buyout

    Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton has advised GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) on a $3.6bn (£2.5bn) buyout as the pharma giant completes its second major deal in a week. The firm acted for regular client GSK on its acquisition of dermatology specialist Stiefel Laboratories in a deal announced today (20 April).Cleary's New York-based team was led by corporate partner Benet O'Reilly, alongside tax partner Sheldon Alster, employee benefits partner Arthur Kohn, real estate partner Kimberly Brown Blacklow and antitrust partner David Gelfand.

    1 minute read

  • April 17, 2009 |

    Top firms line up on Glaxo/Pfizer AIDS treatment JV

    A raft of City firms have landed roles advising pharmaceutical giants Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) on a joint venture that will see the creation of a new HIV and AIDS treatment company. Allen & Overy (A&O), Slaughter and May, Clifford Chance (CC), Jones Day and Morgan Lewis & Bockius have all won instructions on the deal, which will see the drug companies merge their treatment companies into one entity.Slaughters was instructed by GSK as lead counsel, fielding a team led by M&A partners David Johnson and Simon Nicholls. Johnson and Nicholls provided corporate advice, alongside intellectual property (IP) partner Susie Middlemiss, tax partner Steve Edge, competition partner Bertrand Louveaux, and employment partner Sandeep Maudgil.

    1 minute read

  • April 15, 2009 |

    ING and CMC set to review legal panels

    ING and CMC Markets are gearing up to review their rosters of external legal advisers. Dutch financial group ING has already launched a review of its global legal panel, with the process being run by general counsel Jan Willem Vink, who last overhauled the bank's panel in 2003. Allen & Overy (A&O), Clifford Chance, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Linklaters, Lovells, Sullivan & Cromwell and De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek all sit on the group's current global panel.

    1 minute read