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  • October 6, 2008 |

    Cooley hires 35-strong tech team from Heller

    Cooley Godward Kronish has secured a deal to take on a 35-lawyer team from the Venture Law Group of dissolving West Coast giant Heller Ehrman, writes The Recorder. It is the first major group of Heller lawyers to depart since the 118-year old Heller voted to dissolve a week ago becoming one of the largest US legal collapses.

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  • October 2, 2008 |

    Heller Ehrman announces dissolution as rivals move to pick up star teams

    San Francisco law firm Heller Ehrman is to dissolve after months of speculation about its future. The firm's chairman, Matthew Larrabee, told the partnership late last week (25 September) that dissolution was unavoidable. The collapse followed a series of failed merger talks between the 118-year-old law firm and rival US players including Mayer Brown and Baker & McKenzie. Law firms are now scrabbling over Heller's practice both in the US and internationally. Morriston & Foerster, Bakers, Proskauer Rose and Vinson & Elkins are among the law firms currently being linked with Heller teams in the US, along with Cooley Godward Kronish. West Coast-based Cooley is also thought to be considering a London launch, with Heller's London venture law team seen by rivals as a good fit. The team, which includes corporate partners Richard Eaton, Christopher Grew and Struan Penwarden, joined in early 2007 from WilmerHale. Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati is also understood to be interested in a number of Heller's partners in the US. The US technology leader is additionally being touted by some as a possible contender for some of Heller's London office, even though it currently has only one international office - in Shanghai. One City recruiter said: "It is never nice to see a decent firm go under but the opportunities this represents to firms looking to break into the London market don't come around often."Heller's employees will be paid for the next 60 days but partners will not receive their September draw. See Editor's Blog, page 23.

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  • October 2, 2008 | International Edition

    Withers invests in corporate after hiring department head from Bevan

    Withers has hired a new European head of corporate after targeting national outfit Bevan Brittan for the law firm's practice head Adam Duthie.Duthie joined Withers this week (1 October) as a partner after two years at Bevan Brittan, where he was national head of corporate. He replaces Tim Taylor, who is stepping down to return to full-time fee earning after 10 years as head of the European corporate group.Duthie's practice covers general corporate, including mergers and acquisitions, public and private equity, debt finance and Alternative Investment Market transactions. He has particular in emerging markets as well as in the UK leisure and retail sectors.Prior to joining Bevan Brittan in 2006, Duthie also held roles with law firms including Baker & McKenzie and Ashurst, as well as serving as a senior counsel at Guinness/Diageo. Anthony Indaimo, Withers' chairman and international corporate head, said: "Adam is a first-rate corporate practitioner and we look forward to him joining the London team. We act for ambitious entrepreneurs who value commercial acumen and understanding as highly as technical ability."Duthie's departure from Bevan Brittan follows a difficult period at the southwest law firm. Last year profits per equity partner fell to £184,000 from the previous year's figure of £234,000. Meanwhile in May, the firm announced a redundancy consultation which affected six fee earners and 24 support staff. The number was less than the original 40 that were expected to be hit. Commenting on his departure the firm's chief executive, Andrew Manning, said: "Adam is keen to focus on international corporate work, particularly in emerging markets and acting for highly entrepreneurial clients, while we are concentrating on further growing our blue-chip corporate client base. "With this in mind, we have now agreed with Adam that his ambitions will be better met at another firm."Bevan Brittan has yet to decide on a replacement for Duthie as corporate head.

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  • October 2, 2008 |

    Withers invests in corporate after hiring department head from Bevan

    Withers has hired a new European head of corporate after targeting national outfit Bevan Brittan for the law firm's practice head Adam Duthie.Duthie joined Withers this week (1 October) as a partner after two years at Bevan Brittan, where he was national head of corporate. He replaces Tim Taylor, who is stepping down to return to full-time fee earning after 10 years as head of the European corporate group.Duthie's practice covers general corporate, including mergers and acquisitions, public and private equity, debt finance and Alternative Investment Market transactions. He has particular in emerging markets as well as in the UK leisure and retail sectors.Prior to joining Bevan Brittan in 2006, Duthie also held roles with law firms including Baker & McKenzie and Ashurst, as well as serving as a senior counsel at Guinness/Diageo. Anthony Indaimo, Withers' chairman and international corporate head, said: "Adam is a first-rate corporate practitioner and we look forward to him joining the London team. We act for ambitious entrepreneurs who value commercial acumen and understanding as highly as technical ability."Duthie's departure from Bevan Brittan follows a difficult period at the southwest law firm. Last year profits per equity partner fell to £184,000 from the previous year's figure of £234,000. Meanwhile in May, the firm announced a redundancy consultation which affected six fee earners and 24 support staff. The number was less than the original 40 that were expected to be hit. Commenting on his departure the firm's chief executive, Andrew Manning, said: "Adam is keen to focus on international corporate work, particularly in emerging markets and acting for highly entrepreneurial clients, while we are concentrating on further growing our blue-chip corporate client base. "With this in mind, we have now agreed with Adam that his ambitions will be better met at another firm."Bevan Brittan has yet to decide on a replacement for Duthie as corporate head.

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  • October 2, 2008 |

    Baker Mac secures Premier IP role

    Baker & McKenzie's London arm has scored a role advising The Premier League on anti-counterfeiting issues. The law firm has been named as the football league's preferred adviser on its anti-counterfeiting programme (ACP).Intellectual property (IP) senior associate Peter O'Byrne will lead the relationship alongside Bakers' global IP head Paul Rawlinson.The mandate will be seen as a significant win for the firm which landed the instruction through its previous work advising the Premier League's Cheshire-based IP crimes unit, which manages the ACP. The firm expects the team set up to deal with the Premier League will be expanded to include lawyers in Bakers' international offices - particularly across Asia.Rawlinson said: "We are excited to be assisting the Premier League and its ACP to ensure it is equipped to fight counterfeiting worldwide. The global set-up of our IP team puts us in the perfect position to provide the right advice where help is needed to halt the fakes trade."Baker's UK IP team advises clients including Unilever, McLaren and L'Oreal

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  • October 2, 2008 |

    Lovells expands Vietnam practice with Hanoi launch

    Lovells is set to open a second office in Vietnam, launching in Hanoi.The top 10 City law firm already has an office in Ho Chi Minh City but is now hoping to be up and running in Hanoi by the end of the year. The office will be led by of counsel Gregory Buhyoff, who previously worked in Baker & McKenzie's Ho Chi Minh City branch until relocating to his native US. Most recently he ran his own practice in the US.The Hanoi office will advise on mergers and acquisitions, infrastructure projects and intellectual property and will ultimately have two to three lawyers.The strategy mirrors that of Lovells' Ho Chi Minh office, which was launched in 1994 and is expanding with the hire of corporate lawyer Nasir Abdul from local firm Ngo Migueres & Associes as counsel. The hire takes the office to around eight lawyers - none of whom are partners.Lovells Asia head Crispin Rapinet told Legal Week: "We are looking to establish our presence and invest in Vietnam. It is a very strong manufacturing centre and we get a lot of anti-counterfeiting instructions from our clients. We do a lot of raids and brand protection. On the corporate side there are a lot of major corporations and financial institutions that have business there."The Vietnamese market has been open for international firms to practise local law and hire local lawyers since a law change in 2003. Other international firms with a presence in the country include Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer - which has offices in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City - and French independent Gide Loyrette Nouel.

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  • October 1, 2008 |

    Thinking inside the box

    Management gurus at Baker & McKenzie have recently hit upon a brand new motivational tool to help their partners brush up on their client relationship skills. The firm has introduced the legal equivalent of Supernanny's famed naughty step, in the shape of a giant Perspex box emblazoned with what appears to be a giant target, presumably to encourage passing lawyers to pelt the unfortunate captive with rotten veg. Bakers managing partner Gary Senior definitely didn't say: "After a three-month consultation we decided that this was the most efficient way to ensure billable hours targets were hit. It reminds me of prep school." In reality, those caring types at Bakers were actually raising money for Richard House Children's Hospice by sitting in a box phoning up clients for donations - and in just two hours, the Boss in a Box initiative racked up an impressive total of £14,000.

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  • September 26, 2008 |

    Heller Ehrman announces dissolution

    After 118 years, San Francisco law firm Heller Ehrman will dissolve in a partnership vote today, writes The Recorder. In a firm-wide 'all hands' videoconference on Thursday afternoon, chairman Matthew Larrabee said the partnership had concluded that dissolution was unavoidable. Larrabee described the dissolution of the firm as a tragedy for the entire legal industry and, after about 10 minutes, turned the meeting over to partners in each of the firm's offices for in-person question-and-answer sessions.

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  • September 26, 2008 |

    US firms eye Heller talent after firm's collapse

    In the wake of Heller Ehrman's dissolution, attention will now turn to where various practice groups and offices of the San Francisco firm will end up, reports The Recorder. Two legal recruiters said they had heard that Los Angeles office managing partner Nancy Cohen, a rainmaker in Heller's insurance recovery practice, will move to Proskauer Rose. One legal consultant close to the situation said that Heller's insurance recovery group, which includes 40 lawyers, will make the move with Cohen.

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  • September 25, 2008 |

    Eversheds set for Hong Kong office launch

    Eversheds is launching an office in Hong Kong after hiring Heller Ehrman head of Asia Nick Seddon. Seddon, who previously headed DLA Piper's Asian practice until the end of 2007, will join Eversheds next week (1 October) and will start building the office immediately.It will be Eversheds' second base in the region as the law firm already has an 18-lawyer practice in Shanghai. Seddon's move comes only seven months after he joined Heller in March this year and as California-based Heller seemingly heads closer to dissolution following the collapse of a series of US merger talks. The law firm has held failed talks with both Baker & McKenzie and Mayer Brown in recent months and has lost rafts of partners in the US and Asia. Seddon told Legal Week that his decision to leave Heller stems from a difficulty to do his job during the current circumstances.He commented: "In reality the problem has been that with the merger discussions it did not make sense for me to do what I do, which is to grow the practice."He added: "My ambition would be to have a practice of around 50 lawyers in about three years time. If we got up to 50 we would have the critical mass to support Eversheds' client base."Eversheds has no other imminent hires in Hong Kong and does not yet have any office space but intends to build a full service office. Seddon cannot talk to other potential recruits from Heller until he formally leaves the partnership.Eversheds incoming UK managing partner Bryan Hughes said: "Hong Kong is a key jurisdiction. It will integrate effectively with the Shanghai office and be another piece of the jigsaw for Eversheds."

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