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  • December 3, 2008 | International Edition

    Slaughters, SJB lead on BA-Qantas merger talks

    Slaughter and May and SJ Berwin have landed leading roles as British Airways (BA) and Qantas enter into merger talks. Slaughters M&A head Stephen Cooke has taken the lead for regular client BA which confirmed yesterday (2 December) that it was exploring a potential merger with Qantas via a dual-listed company structure.

    1 minute read

  • November 28, 2008 |

    Beringer calls for rethink of measures of success

    Former Allen & Overy (A&O) senior partner Guy Beringer has called for law firms to grasp the opportunity to redefine their notions of success in the wake of the credit crisis. Speaking in his acceptance speech for the City of London Law Society Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2008 British Legal Awards, Beringer outlined his advice for law firms facing a challenging year ahead of them.He said: "One of the things I have tried to steer people away from is definitions of success which relied largely on them comparing themselves financially to others, which always seemed as a measure doomed to failure."

    1 minute read

  • November 28, 2008 | International Edition

    Eversheds, Links honoured at British Legal Awards

    Eversheds was among the winners at the 2008 British Legal Awards, beating a strong field of competition to scoop the coveted Law Firm of the Year award.Former Allen & Overy senior partner Guy Beringer - who now holds non-executive positions at investment managers Fleming Family & Partners and on the board of Her Majesty's Courts Service - was honoured with the City of London Law Society Lifetime Achievement award after 30 years at the magic circle law firm.

    1 minute read

  • November 28, 2008 |

    Eversheds, Links honoured at British Legal Awards

    Eversheds was among the winners at the 2008 British Legal Awards, beating a strong field of competition to scoop the coveted Law Firm of the Year award.Former Allen & Overy senior partner Guy Beringer - who now holds non-executive positions at investment managers Fleming Family & Partners and on the board of Her Majesty's Courts Service - was honoured with the City of London Law Society Lifetime Achievement award after 30 years at the magic circle law firm.

    1 minute read

  • November 27, 2008 |

    ITV switches off billable hour after panel review

    ITV has become one of the first major British companies to entirely phase out the billable hour as the broadcasting giant unveils its new roster of legal advisers. Group legal director and general counsel Andrew Garard has cut ITV's advisers from almost 50 to nine, with each firm agreeing to use alterative billing methods.Slaughter and May, Lovells, Addleshaw Goddard, DLA Piper, Olswang, Charles Russell and Goodman Derrick have all landed roles on the panel, with US law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf and media boutique Wiggin also on the roster.

    1 minute read

  • November 26, 2008 |

    BHP racks up $450m costs in failed Rio bid

    BHP Billiton has racked up costs of around $450m (£291m) over the last 18 months in relation to its aborted bid for Rio Tinto. The company said the bulk of the costs related to a $55bn (35bn) debt facility put in place to help finance the bid with most of the remainder paid out to legal and tax advisers. City law firm Slaughter and May is likely to have picked up the biggest share of the legal fees after being drafted in to advice the Australian mining giant on its hostile takeover bid with rival firms estimating the figure to be in the region of £5m.

    1 minute read

  • November 25, 2008 |

    City trio see $66bn Rio-BHP mega-deal abandoned

    A trio of City firms have seen a mega-mandate come to an end, after the collapse of the $66bn (£43bn) hostile takeover of Rio Tinto by BHP Billiton. BHP pulled out of its bid to take over its rival mining company today (25 November), citing risks to shareholder value in the wake of the economic crisis.Slaughter and May, Linklaters and Allen & Overy (A&O) had all taken headline roles on the multibillion-dollar bid, which was set to become the second-largest M&A deal of all time after Vodafone's 1999 $180bn (£120bn) takeover of German telecoms rival Mannesmann.

    1 minute read

  • November 24, 2008 |

    Slaughters and Links lead on £1.78bn rights issue

    Slaughter and May and Linklaters have taken the lead roles on Standard Chartered's £1.78bn rights issue. The bank's largest shareholder, Singaporean sovereign wealth fund Temasek, came out in support of the deal, which was approved today (24 November), and will also underwrite the issue along with JPMorgan, UBS and Goldman Sachs.Slaughters has advised longstanding client Standard Chartered with corporate partner Nilufer von Bismarck leading the team along with pensions and employment partner Eddie Codrington and tax partner Jeanette Zaman.

    1 minute read

  • November 19, 2008 | International Edition

    Bird & Bird joins list of LLP firms

    Bird & Bird is set to become the latest firm to convert to a limited liability partnership (LLP), leaving fewer than 10 of the UK's top 50 law firms yet to convert. Partners at City IP/IT firm voted to approve the conversion within the last few months, with the firm hoping to formally adopt the new status with effect from 1 December. It registered as an LLP with Companies House at the end of September.

    1 minute read

  • November 19, 2008 |

    Bird & Bird joins list of LLP firms

    Bird & Bird is set to become the latest firm to convert to a limited liability partnership (LLP), leaving fewer than 10 of the UK's top 50 law firms yet to convert. Partners at City IP/IT firm voted to approve the conversion within the last few months, with the firm hoping to formally adopt the new status with effect from 1 December. It registered as an LLP with Companies House at the end of September.

    1 minute read