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  • December 2, 2009 |

    LLP filings show nearly 400 partners left UK top 20 firms in 2009

    The UK's top 20 law firms have seen nearly 400 partners leave since the beginning of 2009, with Clifford Chance (CC), Eversheds and Allen & Overy (A&O) topping the departure rankings. Limited liability partnership (LLP) filings with Companies House show that 384 partners have left the UK's largest 20 firms by revenue since 1 January – in a year in which many firms have been actively restructuring their partnerships and managing out partners. This figure rises to 496 including partners resigning from the LLP but remaining with the firms as consultants or offices outside the LLP.

    1 minute read

  • December 2, 2009 |

    Taylor Wessing posts 15% turnover fall for first half of financial year

    Taylor Wessing has become the latest firm to reveal its half-year financials, posting a 15% drop in revenues. Global fee income for the period ending 31 October fell to £77m, down 15% from the figure of £84.7m the firm took in in 2008-09.

    1 minute read

  • December 2, 2009 |

    Ashurst wins role for Nakheel bondholders on Dubai debt crisis

    Ashurst has become the latest City firm to win a role in relation to Dubai's debt crisis. The top 10 City firm is advising a group of bondholders who collectively hold more than 25% of bonds in Nakheel - the Dubai World-owned property company at the heart of the crisis.

    1 minute read

  • December 2, 2009 | International Edition

    Ashurst wins role for Nakheel bondholders on Dubai debt crisis

    Ashurst has become the latest City firm to win a role in relation to Dubai's debt crisis. The top 10 City firm is advising a group of bondholders who collectively hold more than 25% of bonds in Nakheel - the Dubai World-owned property company at the heart of the crisis.

    1 minute read

  • December 1, 2009 |

    Independent Law Firms in Europe: A model of resilience

    The global recession has done little to alter the faith of Europe's independents in the strength of their law firm models. While the global UK and US-based firms have been busy with internal housekeeping and the struggle for position in their home markets, Europe's independent law firms cannot be accused of having let the opportunity pass them by.

    1 minute read

  • November 27, 2009 |

    Ashurst sees revenues fall by 14% for first half of financial year

    Ashurst has seen revenues fall by 14% for the first half of the financial year, becoming the latest firm to post a double-digit decrease in turnover at the half-year stage. The UK top 20 firm saw revenue levels drop to £136m for the period ending 31 October after a challenging six months.

    1 minute read

  • November 26, 2009 |

    Ashurst names first Middle East chief in regional overhaul

    Ashurst has overhauled its Middle East management structure, appointing a regional managing partner for the first time. Nick Williamson will become Middle East managing partner from the beginning of 2010. Williamson, who relocated to Abu Dhabi from London in early September to boost the firm's corporate offering in the region, will take overall responsibility for tightening up client relations in the region, with local heads in Abu Dhabi and Dubai reporting into him.

    1 minute read

  • November 25, 2009 |

    Raft of UK firms advise as OFT loses out in Supreme Court overdraft charges dispute

    The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has lost its court battle to launch an investigation into the fairness of unauthorised overdraft charges. Five Justices of the Supreme Court, led by Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, ruled this morning (25 November) in favour of seven banks and one building society, ending the two-year case which was initially brought to the High Court in 2007.

    1 minute read

  • November 25, 2009 |

    Restructuring and insolvency: Year of the living dead

    As the economy began to show signs of overheating during the peak of the credit boom between 2005 and 2007, many insolvency advisers were predicting the next big thing would be a wave of increasingly complex restructurings - accompanied by a frenetic round of debt trading. Accordingly, many of the funds and investment banks active in the sector set about bolstering their restructuring teams. Andrew Wilkinson's 2007 move from the leading London restructuring team of US firm Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft, which he built up during the late 1990s and early part of the decade, to head up Goldman Sachs' European restructuring advisory arm was only the most high-profile of a series of such moves.

    1 minute read

  • November 24, 2009 |

    Freshfields and Linklaters lead on £1bn Gartmore listing

    Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Linklaters have taken lead roles on British fund manager Gartmore's £1bn initial public offering (IPO). The float, which will cover 30%-50% of the company, is intended to cut net debt from £400m to £100m.

    1 minute read