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  • May 20, 2009 |

    CC, Slaughters and Davis Polk take on top roles on £510m Taylor Wimpey fundraising

    Clifford Chance (CC), Slaughter and May and Davis Polk & Wardwell have all won roles advising on troubled house builder Taylor Wimpey's £510m fundraising. The fully underwritten placing, which is subject to shareholder approval this month, will cut the company's debt by around one-third. Slaughters reprised its role for regular client Taylor Wimpey, with corporate partner Jeff Twentyman leading the firm's team. Davis Polk advised the house-builder on US aspects, with London-based corporate partner Nigel Wilson advising.

    1 minute read

  • May 14, 2009 |

    Slaughters partner joins Competition Commission

    Slaughter and May's head of competition, Malcolm Nicholson, has retired from the magic circle firm to join the Competition Commission. After 25 years at Slaughters - including 15 of as head of the firm's competition practice - Nicholson will now begin an eight-year, part-time post at the Commission. Nicholson had been re-elected as head of competition in March 2008, but has now been succeeded by Phillippe Chapatte, who will serve the remaining two years of the three-year term.

    1 minute read

  • 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