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  • November 19, 2008 |

    Slaughters best friends network acts on Santander rights issue

    Slaughter and May and its network of elite 'best friend' firms have advised Spanish banking giant Santander on its €7.2bn (£6.1bn) rights issue announced last week. Slaughters took the lead for the bank on the UK aspects of the capital raising, working alongside Spanish ally Uria Menendez, which advised in its local market. Meanwhile, Manhattan's Davis Polk & Wardwell advised in the US.

    1 minute read

  • November 12, 2008 |

    Freshfields, Linklaters act on £2.2bn Centrica rights issue

    City rivals Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Linklaters have landed lead roles advising on Centrica's £2.2bn rights issue.Linklaters has been instructed by long-time client Centrica on the fund raising, which will back a potential acquisition of a 25% stake in British Energy (BE). Corporate partners Owen Clay and John Lane are acting alongside Centrica general counsel Grant Dawson.Meanwhile, Freshfields was brought in to advise the underwriters, which comprised a consortium of seven banks - Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse, UBS, BNP Paribas, Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC and Barclays Capital. The magic circle firm fielded a team under City corporate partners Simon Witty and Monica McConville.

    1 minute read

  • November 12, 2008 |

    H1 mystery shows City transparency still work in progress

    I’ve always found Slaughter and May’s obsessive secrecy around its financial results somewhat outdated and melodramatic. It seems at times…

    1 minute read

  • November 7, 2008 |

    Appetising benefits

    "The pay per hour in an investment bank is undoubtedly much better than in a City law firm," concedes David Cheyne, senior partner of Linklaters. "It all turns on whether you're going to find it interesting here. Remember, 80% of the work is not about law. It's about the ability to draft, the ability to negotiate and the ability to give advice." While investment banks are fast losing their glamour - or going out of business - law firms such as Linklaters can offer graduates one significant edge: relative job security. Yet many young lawyers start their working life at commercial law firms with a heavy heart, recognising that the quid pro quo for good money and excellent training is very long hours.

    1 minute read

  • November 6, 2008 |

    An inequal footing

    "The glass ceiling remains a serious problem at the Bar. There still appears to be a preference by some clients to instruct male barristers, particularly in the senior echelons of commercial work." This damning indictment from Tim Dutton QC, chairman of the Bar Council, echoes the belief of Cherie Booth QC that "the law is sexist" and a "very family-unfriendly" profession.

    1 minute read

  • November 5, 2008 |

    Milbank Tweed and Slaughters pick up £2bn sale of Abbey train leasing arm

    Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy and Slaughter and May have taken lead roles on the estimated £2bn sale of Abbey's train leasing arm Porterbrook to a Deutsche Bank-led consortium, in one of the largest leveraged acquisitions of the year in the London market. Milbank scored the lead role for the acquiring consortium, including Deutsche bank, Lloyds TSB and Antin Infrastructure Partners - a BNP Paribas-sponsored infrastructure fund. The US firm fielded a team out of its London office under corporate partner Stuart Harray, along with finance partner Suhrud Mehta and tax partner Russell Jacobs.

    1 minute read

  • November 5, 2008 |

    Commentary: A timely moment to give more love to the bean-counters

    As insolvency lawyers' hopes that they would ever see a major revival in demand for their services began to fade, there was a palpable sense within law firms that the big accountancy firms had lost some of their status as clients. The big four of KPMG, Deloitte, Ernst & Young and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) remained important clients in their own right and good sources of referrals but, as the boom stretched on, accountants fell down lawyers' pecking order - while banks rose upwards.

    1 minute read

  • November 5, 2008 |

    Dealmaker: Mark Hyde

    Clifford Chance head of restructuring and insolvency Mark Hyde on winding up Charlton Athletic, becoming a dad in Hong Kong airport and go-karting shame

    1 minute read

  • November 3, 2008 | International Edition

    Slaughters to hand out 10% bonus to fee earners

    Fee earners at Slaughter and May are set to see their pay packets boosted, with the elite City firm announcing that its lawyers are in line for a bonus of 10% of salary. The magic circle firm has unveiled a new firmwide bonus package, with all fee earners set to see a payout of 10% of their salary. Staff at the firm, meanwhile can expect a windfall of 2.5% of salary.Slaughters first introduced its bonus system for associates and trainees in 2006, with lawyers originally enjoying a 15% payout at Christmas. The firm is one of just a few in the City to not operate billable hours targets.

    1 minute read

  • November 3, 2008 |

    Slaughters to hand out 10% bonus to fee earners

    Fee earners at Slaughter and May are set to see their pay packets boosted, with the elite City firm announcing that its lawyers are in line for a bonus of 10% of salary. The magic circle firm has unveiled a new firmwide bonus package, with all fee earners set to see a payout of 10% of their salary. Staff at the firm, meanwhile can expect a windfall of 2.5% of salary.Slaughters first introduced its bonus system for associates and trainees in 2006, with lawyers originally enjoying a 15% payout at Christmas. The firm is one of just a few in the City to not operate billable hours targets.

    1 minute read