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  • July 3, 2008 |

    National duo recharge with roles on retail group's revamped panel

    National law firms Pinsent Masons and DLA Piper have landed roles on the revamped legal panel of electrical retailing group DSG International (DSGi). The FTSE 250 group, which is the parent company of retail chains Dixons, Currys and PC World, has drawn up a new advisory group, with the other firms on the panel understood to be Baker & McKenzie and Linklaters.

    1 minute read

  • July 2, 2008 |

    Bakers makes up six to partnership

    Baker & McKenzie has promoted six new partners in its London office. The promotions, which became effective earlier this week (1 July), represent an increase on the five lawyers that were made up last year and bring the number of London partners up to 84.The international firm has bolstered its corporate capabilities with Robert Ada, Roy Pearce and James Reed all promoted to the partnership, while Helen Bardell, Daniel Ellis and Frances Okosi were made up in EC competition & trade, employment and banking respectively.

    1 minute read

  • July 1, 2008 |

    Heller losses mount as top litigation duo quit firm

    Covington & Burling has picked up two top litigators from Heller Ehrman's insurance recovery practice, writes The Recorder, in the latest in a series of departures from the West Coast giant. David Goodwin, who joined Heller in 1986 and helped found and later chair two practices, and Lawrence Hobel, who joined in 1989, both begin work at Covington's San Francisco office this week. They join office managing partner Donald Brown, the only other local partner in the Washington DC-based firm's insurance recovery group, which now includes 27 partners nationwide.

    1 minute read

  • June 30, 2008 |

    Heller bobs and weaves on Bakers merger claims

    Heller Ehrman, rumoured to be in merger talks with Baker & McKenzie, was cagey when confronted with the speculation on Friday (27 June), writes The Recorder. Chairman Matthew Larrabee was travelling and unavailable to comment, and a call to managing partner Robert Hubbell was not returned, but Heller's director of communications, Patrick Bustamante, said early in the day that the firm "is not considering" a merger with Bakers and would not comment on whether the firm had talked with the firm in the past.

    1 minute read

  • June 26, 2008 |

    Will Heller secure the big deal?

    Is the Heller Ehrman saga about to reach a new chapter? For those unfamiliar with the Californian legal market, the substantial West Coast firm is widely…

    1 minute read

  • June 25, 2008 |

    Linklaters signs up duo for strategic roles

    Linklaters has made two internal business support appointments, hiring new directors of marketing and information systems and strategy (ISS) David McClune is set to join in September to lead the marketing function from Australian firm, Allens Arthur Robinson, where he was director of strategy client services. He takes over from interim director Ori Wiener.

    1 minute read

  • June 19, 2008 |

    Beiten snaps up ex-Hogan PE heavyweight

    Beiten Burkhardt has hired former Hogan & Hartson partner Uwe Steininger in a boost for the German independent's Munich office. The private equity heavyweight will join Beiten 1 July, having parted company with Hogan at the end of last month.

    1 minute read

  • June 19, 2008 |

    Bakers Bologna arm to go it alone

    Baker & McKenzie is parting company with its office in Bologna, with the six lawyers based in the Italian office spinning off to launch a standalone firm. Bakers acquired its Bologna office after taking over nine-lawyer arbitration and competition boutique Bernini e Associati in April 2002.

    1 minute read

  • June 18, 2008 |

    Norton Rose joins firms on Chinese bank panel

    Norton Rose has landed a place on China Development Bank's (CDB's) legal panel, joining 10 other firms on the sovereign wealth fund's roster. The firm won a place after advising CDB on its investment in Barclays in 2007. The City firm joins magic circle giants Allen & Overy and Clifford Chance as well as US firms Baker & McKenzie, Jones Day, Latham & Watkins, Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe and White & Case. Deacons, Li & Partners and Minter Ellison complete the line-up.

    1 minute read

  • June 18, 2008 |

    Employment, equal opportunities and diversity: Divided by faith

    A recent case involving Islington Borough Council highlights the difficulties faced by an employer seeking to balance the competing legal protections afforded to its employees. Here we consider the inherent conflict created by the rights of employees under the Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003 and identify some trends emerging from the early cases under the regulations. However, in an area where the public often voices strong opinions, the legal protection afforded by the regulations may not be the end of the story. Since 2003, UK employees have been protected from discrimination on grounds of both (i) their religion or belief (or lack thereof) and (ii) their sexual orientation. Problems can arise in the workplace when religious convictions impel employees to behave in a way which may offend colleagues (for example, by making comments that are perceived as being homophobic or sexist). Complicated balancing acts must be performed by employers where protections clash in this way.

    1 minute read