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  • September 10, 2008 |

    Slaughters, Lovells and A&O advise on £1bn Cable & Wireless bulk annuity deal

    Slaughter and May, Lovells and Allen & Overy (A&O) have won lead advisory roles on a £1bn bulk annuity deal between Cable & Wireless and Prudential, thought to be the biggest of its kind in the UK to date. The deal saw the trustees of the Cable & Wireless Superannuation Fund agree to the £1bn buy-in of an insurance policy for its pensioner liabilities with Prudential. Lovells advised the scheme's trustees, fielding a team led by pensions partner Stephen Ito with support from business restructuring partner Joe Bannister and financial institutions partner Dominic Hill.Lovells has traditionally advised Prudential on this type of transaction but on this occasion the firm had already chosen to advise Cable & Wireless trustees as the company is also a longstanding client.Instead, Prudential turned to Slaughter and May, where pensions and employment partner Philip Bennett headed the team. He was assisted by corporate finance partner Oliver Wareham, capital markets partner Guy O'Keefe and financial regulation partner Jan Putnis.Prudential is an established client of the firm, but this is the first transaction of this kind on which Slaughters has advised.

    1 minute read

  • September 10, 2008 |

    Diary: Yawns truly

    In these new-fangled days in which brand management is everything, it's not unusual to see firms shelling out vast amounts of money to spruce up their websites.Just look at magic circle monolith Slaughter and May's swanky new site, where it seems the firm forked out 7.9% of Chris Saul's car fund just to inform clients how many jelly beans staff at the firm are scoffing.So your correspondent was somewhat surprised this week when clicking onto the homepage of SJ Berwin, to be greeted with a picture of a yawning lawyer.The Diary is not quite sure what the brand consultants thought this would say about the firm. Either they have some very boring clients, the quality of the coffee could do with a revamp, or Jonathan Blake could do with rethinking the content of his motivational speeches.

    1 minute read

  • September 10, 2008 |

    Slaughters wins lead on £1bn buy-out house IPO

    Slaughter & May has landed the lead role on the planned £1bn initial public offering of buy-out specialist Resolution. The acquisition vehicle, set up by entrepreneur Clive Cowdery, is planning to raise the money through a stock market flotation this November.Cowdery is a longstanding client of Slaughters, despite the firm missing out on Resolution's takeover of the Pearl Group earlier this year due to conflicts.

    1 minute read

  • September 3, 2008 |

    Commercial and Chancery Bar: 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

  • September 3, 2008 | International Edition

    Cleary confirms exclusive College of Law deal

    Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton's City arm has sealed an agreement with the College of Law that will see the College become the firm's exclusive provider of the Graduate Diploma in Law, the Legal Practice Course (LPC) and the Professional Skills Course (PSC). The agreement will start in September 2009 when Cleary will send 12 of its future trainees to the College for the LPC. The trainees will be able to study in any of the College's centres around the UK, although most are expected to attend the Moorgate centre, where the LPC and PSC electives will be taught in firm-specific groups.

    1 minute read

  • September 3, 2008 |

    Cleary confirms exclusive College of Law deal

    Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton's City arm has sealed an agreement with the College of Law that will see the College become the firm's exclusive provider of the Graduate Diploma in Law, the Legal Practice Course (LPC) and the Professional Skills Course (PSC). The agreement will start in September 2009 when Cleary will send 12 of its future trainees to the College for the LPC. The trainees will be able to study in any of the College's centres around the UK, although most are expected to attend the Moorgate centre, where the LPC and PSC electives will be taught in firm-specific groups.

    1 minute read

  • September 3, 2008 |

    ...Legal Week Lunchbox: 03/09/08...

    The five most popular articles on legalweek.com today; the pick of the day's posts; and more

    1 minute read

  • September 1, 2008 |

    Slaughters retains FTSE client rankings top spot

    Slaughter and May has held onto its position as the firm with the largest number of FTSE 100 clients, according to the latest research from Hemscott. The rankings show the elite magic circle firm picked up two additional FTSE 100 clients over the three-month period from 9 May to 4 August, taking its tally to 27 clients with a market capitalisation of £267bn.

    1 minute read

  • 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 27, 2008 |

    Benelux: Dutch courage

    The fanfare surrounding last year's E71bn (£56bn) hostile takeover of Dutch banking giant ABN Amro is now over and, in its place, local criticism of the deal is growing. Although the deal was unparalleled in the local market for its size and for the number of law firms involved, are Dutch advisers about to feel long-term pain and a dearth of lead-adviser finance instructions at the expense of a few months of short-term gain?

    1 minute read