• December 21, 2009 | International Edition

    Training and education: Moving on up

    It was inevitable that the recent report put together by former cabinet minister Alan Milburn would find professions such as law and medicine dominated by affluent, privately-educated individuals. While social mobility has been on the political agenda for years, the professions have seen little change, with the majority of the UK's lawyers still coming from a select group of independently-educated pupils who go on to attend Russell Group universities.

    1 minute read

  • December 21, 2009 |

    Training and education: Moving on up

    It was inevitable that the recent report put together by former cabinet minister Alan Milburn would find professions such as law and medicine dominated by affluent, privately-educated individuals. While social mobility has been on the political agenda for years, the professions have seen little change, with the majority of the UK's lawyers still coming from a select group of independently-educated pupils who go on to attend Russell Group universities.

    1 minute read

  • December 17, 2009 |

    India shuts doors on foreign firms after High Court ruling

    One of India's highest courts has banned foreign law firms from all forms of practice in India, a major victory for a trade group of Indian lawyers and a defeat for firms that opened liaison offices in India during a brief window in the 1990s. Representatives of the three firms immediately affected by the ruling - Ashurst, White & Case and Chadbourne & Parke - have confirmed the nature of the decision and said they are reviewing its implications.

    1 minute read

  • December 14, 2009 |

    Ashurst

    Don't mention that much-vaunted private equity practice as these days the City blueblood hates being written off with the buy-out tag. An ambitious finance team has attracted much admiration in recent years, although the European network could do with a brush-up.

    1 minute read

  • December 13, 2009 |

    Berwin Leighton Paisner

    With Neville Eisenberg at the helm, BLP has been one of the more noticeably upwardly-mobile firms in the UK's mid tier. But what about a bonus scheme that one contributor calls "a masterful display of smoke and mirrors"?

    1 minute read

  • December 13, 2009 |

    Herbert Smith

    There IS a magic circle and this firm is not in it. But Herbert Smith is a class outfit and one of London's most effective high-enders, not to mention the City's top litigation shop. Could yet start to justify its own sales pitch.

    1 minute read

  • December 13, 2009 |

    Hogan Lovells

    The 2010 merger of Lovells and Hogan & Hartson created a a top 10 global practice with 2,500 lawyers and revenues of around $1.8bn (£1.1bn)...

    1 minute read

  • December 13, 2009 |

    Eversheds

    Sprawling national giant that seems to be slowly gaining a bit more direction. One to watch.

    1 minute read

  • December 13, 2009 |

    Latham & Watkins

    A great US practice and renowned as a decent place to work. However, the London office still looks uneven, so approach very much on the basis of your practice area.

    1 minute read

  • December 11, 2009 |

    Freshfields, Simmons head up €2bn sale of German publishing company

    Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Simmons & Simmons have both won lead roles on the sale of Springer Science+Business Media, a deal understood to be worth up to €2.2bn (£2bn). Springer was advised by Freshfields on the sale, announced today (11 December), which sees Swedish private equity fund EQT and the Singapore Government's GIC fund acquire the German publishing company. City-based private equity partner David Sonter led the magic circle firm's team.

    1 minute read