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  • April 16, 2008 |

    Corporate Counsel: Credit where it's due?

    Swiss banks are probably not accustomed to playing practical jokes on 1 April, but the business community could have been forgiven for thinking that UBS was engaging in some April Fool's Day shenanigans when it announced that its general counsel, Peter Kurer, would be the new chairman.Such a move does not happen very often and, according to a raft of City commentators, neither should it. Indeed, if proof were needed of the suspicion in which lawyers are held by large parts of the business community, Kurer's appointment provided it.

    1 minute read

  • April 16, 2008 |

    Diary sports special: jogo bonito comes to Legal Week

    Never mind the pulse-quickening Premiership climax or English clubs' magic circle-like hegemony of the Champions League semi-finals - the beautiful game will be at its most dazzling later this month as the sixth annual Legal & Financial Cup, in association with Legal Week, fast approaches. Thirty teams will be taking part (and taking each other apart) in this year's competition, which is held in sunny Lisbon on 18-20 April and is organised for the legal and financial services sectors by London sports agency Top Corner.

    1 minute read

  • April 14, 2008 |

    Top law schools tighten hold on US elite

    The US' top law schools have tightened their hold on jobs at the country's largest law firms, according to new research by the National Law Journal. Fifty-five percent of 2007 law graduates from the 20 top-ranked law schools took jobs with firms in the NLJ 250 - up from 51.6% in 2006.

    1 minute read

  • April 10, 2008 |

    Top lawyers rally in support of under-fire UBS chair Kurer

    City lawyers have jumped to the defence of Peter Kurer whose promotion from general counsel to chairman of troubled banking giant UBS last week drew extensive criticism from the press and banking community. Kurer has been accused by critics - including former UBS chief executive Luqman Arnold - of lacking the relevant experience to do the job. In a widely published letter Arnold explicitly criticises the appointment of a lawyer to replace former chairman Marcel Ospel.

    1 minute read

  • April 9, 2008 |

    Ex-Coudert partners face $12m bill to settle bankruptcy

    Former partners at Coudert Brothers will need to pay about $12m (£6.02m) to help liquidate the defunct law firm according to a plan produced by an examiner in the firm's bankruptcy, writes the National Law Journal. In a report issued on 27 March, court-appointed examiner Harrison Goldin determined that former Coudert partners should pay $11.8m (£5.92m) in exchange for liability release from creditors and the firm itself, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after a mass exodus of partners.

    1 minute read

  • April 3, 2008 |

    Kurer under siege: that's what you're really up against

    Citing the nomination of UBS general counsel Peter Kurer as chairman, Legal Week noted that the credit crunch would push lawyers centre stage to help stabilise…

    1 minute read

  • April 2, 2008 |

    Bryan Cave hires four as Appleby promotes seven

    Bryan Cave has boosted its US and Asian practices with the hire of four new partners. Corproate finance specialist David Beauchamp joins the firm as a partner in Phoenix from Gammage & Burnham, while litigation partner Joshua Sable joins from Foley & Lardner in the Santa Monica office. Intellectual property (IP) lawyer Edward Hejlek, meanwhile, joins Bryan Cave's St Louis office from local IP outfit Senniger Powers. He also becomes a partner.

    1 minute read

  • April 1, 2008 |

    Gibson Dunn bags Bakers man in Munich

    Gibson Dunn & Crutcher has hired an new employment partner from Baker & McKenzie in a boost for the US firm's European network. Mark Zimmer joined the firm's Munich office from Bakers today (1 April). He advises on employment law in restructurings, M&A, collective dismissals and union negotiations.

    1 minute read

  • March 26, 2008 |

    Double hire gives SJ Berwin European boost

    SJ Berwin has added to its European offering with partner hires in France and Italy. Antitrust specialist Davide Balboni joins as a partner in the City firm's Milan office, while insolvency lawyer Nicolas Theys joins the partnership in Paris.

    1 minute read

  • March 20, 2008 |

    Norton Rose a winner as Standard Chartered names new UK panel

    Standard Chartered Bank has unveiled its new panel of UK advisers, with Norton Rose making its debut on the roster and City rivals SJ Berwin and Bird & Bird among those to miss out. The new line-up, which follows the first review of the bank's domestic panel in four years, sees City firms Denton Wilde Sapte and Herbert Smith retained alongside southwest outfit Burges Salmon and national giants Addleshaw Goddard and DLA Piper.

    1 minute read