• August 27, 2008 |

    Dealmaker: Adam Levin

    Dechert's Adam Levin on his move from New Zealand to the City, his love of Virgin Radio and his son's valuable advice

    1 minute read

  • August 21, 2008 |

    Editor's Blog: Six of the best from the silly season

    We're in the depths of what is commonly dubbed the silly season - that time of the year when the trains are half-empty and newspapers splash on 'killer shark' sightings off the coast of Cornwall. In fact, the last couple of weeks have produced their fair share of interesting legal stories.

    1 minute read

  • August 14, 2008 |

    Bakers breaks £1bn mark with 20% revenue boost

    Baker & McKenzie has broken the £1bn revenue mark for the first time, reporting a 20% increase in global fee income. The firm has posted revenues of $2.19bn (£1.17bn), up from last year's total of $1.82bn (£918m). Firmwide profits per partner have also seen double-digit growth from last year, with a 20% increase up to $1.206m (£644,000) from last year's total of $1.063m (£567,000).

    1 minute read

  • August 12, 2008 |

    Heller cites conflicts as Bakers merger collapses

    Following months of speculation and rumours, merger talks between Heller Ehrman and Baker & McKenzie have been called off, writes The Recorder.In a voicemail sent to partners on Monday morning, Heller chairman Matthew Larrabee cited conflicts as a key reason for the end of the talks. He also said there was an alternative plan in the works and promised to be more communicative.

    1 minute read

  • July 30, 2008 |

    Germany: Internal affairs

    On 15 November, 2006, more than 200 policemen descended on the Munich headquarters of German technology giant Siemens and the homes and offices of 30 Siemens executives around Germany to comb the premises for incriminating documents. It was one of Europe's dreaded 'dawn raids', a term that bears little relation to the time of day but usually denotes the start of a tiresome ballet between the government and a company suspected of wrongdoing. In the traditional European model of prosecution, corporations stonewall and fight to the bitter end.

    1 minute read

  • July 24, 2008 |

    Bakers adds Strivens to top-level UK board

    Baker & McKenzie's City arm has added leading corporate partner Peter Strivens to its UK management committee. Strivens, who heads the London telecommunications group, will take up the post on 1 September for an initial period of two years. He replaces infrastructure partner Mike Webster, who stood down after five years on the committee.

    1 minute read

  • July 18, 2008 |

    US firm faces departures and looks for merger

    Amid a rash of recent departures, San Francisco-based Thelen Reid Brown Raysman & Steiner has notified staff that the firm wants to pursue another merger, writes The Recorder. Thelen Reid announced the firm's interest in a new merger -- two years after the one that produced the current firm -- in an internal memo last week, as first reported on the Above the Law blog.

    1 minute read

  • July 16, 2008 |

    Rising in the east

    UK-qualified lawyers are in huge demand in China, with law firms looking for people with partnership potential. Philip Hoult looks at the state of play in the Asia-Pacific legal markets

    1 minute read

  • July 11, 2008 |

    Heller partners given Bakers info amid merger claims

    Partners at Heller Ehrman have been provided with general information on Baker & McKenzie, further fuelling expectations that the two firms are gearing up for a substantial merger. Legal Pad, a blog from Legal Week's US sister title Cal Law, reported this week that partners from Heller were provided with materials on Bakers on Tuesday (8 July). The material apparently covered general background information on the larger firm and did not include any explicit reference to a merger.There have been mounting expectations that Heller is pursuing a merger bid with Bakers in recent weeks.

    1 minute read

  • July 10, 2008 |

    Magic circle trio break into profits top 10 as City firms move up Global 100

    Profits per equity partner (PEP) at top US law firms still narrowly exceed key UK rivals - despite the significant increases the magic circle have achieved in turnover and profitability in recent years. Figures compiled by Legal Week and The American Lawyer show that just three UK firms make it into the global top 10 by PEP - Slaughter and May, Linklaters and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. In contrast, seven US firms make the grade - headed by elite firm Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz.

    1 minute read