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  • 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

  • April 15, 2009 |

    Linklaters racks up £33m on Lehman bankruptcy

    Linklaters notched up more than £33m in fees for its first six months of work advising on the collapse of Lehman Brothers.A progress report from administrator PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has revealed that the law firm billed PwC £33.5m for advice given between September 2008 and March this year.

    1 minute read

  • April 14, 2009 |

    Camerons offers £7.5k for deferring trainees

    CMS Cameron McKenna has become the latest City firm to ask trainees to defer their start dates.The top 20 UK firm has asked trainees due to start in August 2009 and February 2010 to defer for 12 months - offering a no-strings payment of £7,500. The firm is hoping that around 15 of the 65 offered a training contract will accept the offer on a first come, first served basis.

    1 minute read

  • April 9, 2009 |

    Linklaters asks trainees to defer start dates

    Linklaters has become the latest firm to push back its trainee start dates in response to the recession, with the magic circle firm offering future trainees £10,000 to defer for a year. The firm is offering all those in its September 2009 and March 2010 intakes the opportunity to defer, with the firm planning to select 15 deferrals from across the two intakes. It is offering a £10,000 cash incentive to those due to start in September 2009 for a 12-month deferral, while those due to start in March 2010 can either defer for 12 months and receive £10,000 or defer for six months for £5,000.

    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 |

    Debt funding shortage blamed as UK M&A takes a nosedive

    UK M&A volumes fell by more than 70% between Q1 2008 and Q1 2009 while European deal activity fell by 64% in the same period, according to Mergermarket statistics, making the first three months of this year the worst for corporate activity since 2003. Most City partners are predicting that M&A activity will continue to stagnate for the remainder of 2009, although some are now willing to admit that the bottom of the market is close. Allen & Overy (A&O) M&A partner Alan Paul said: "I am always optimistic and activity will come back, but not for the foreseeable future. We may well be at the bottom now, but we could be here for some time. The volume of traditional M&A work will not come back until bank behaviour returns to some sort of normality."

    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

  • April 7, 2009 |

    CC and A&O push back partner promotions

    Clifford Chance (CC) and Allen & Overy (A&O) have delayed their 2009 partner promotions, making them the only magic circle firms to do so. CC is pushing back this year's promotions process until the firm completes its restructuring, which was approved by a vote late last month (23 March) and is likely to see the firm's partnership cut by between 10% and 15%.CC said it expects the review to be completed by the summer and that it will begin the partner promotions process once the restructuring is finalised.

    1 minute read