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  • June 4, 2008 |

    Technology, media and telecoms: Under the influence

    Among the various disputed origins for the word lobbying, the 18th President of the United States Ulysees S Grant claims the most noteworthy. He apparently coined the term at Washington DC's Willard Hotel, using it to describe the machinations of political hustlers who frequented the hotel's lobby, where Grant habitually enjoyed a cigar and brandy, to gain an audience with the him. Big money is now commonplace in day-to-day lobbying in Washington DC, and few are more successful than those major law firms that have a substantial presence within the shadow of Capitol Hill. As the 50 highest-grossing lobbying practices in the US were recently reported to have passed $1bn (£505m) in annual revenues for 2007 - a new landmark - the specialist lobby shops in the top 50 were notably outpaced by Washington DC law firms. Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld ranked number one on the list with $89.8m (£45.3m) in lobbying income, just ahead of Patton Boggs with $89.3m (£45.1m).

    1 minute read

  • June 4, 2008 |

    What the papers say

    Sources at Bryan Cave suggest that the US upstart employs an in-house librarian at its City outpost to pore over the hallowed pages of Legal Week before reporting back to any lawyers lucky enough to get a mention (hi Dave, by the way).

    1 minute read

  • June 4, 2008 |

    Slaughters joins Freshfields on £2bn TNS deal

    Elite City firms Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Slaughter and May have gone head to head on the £2bn merger between information and research groups Taylor Nelson Sofres (TNS) and GfK Aktiengesellschaft. Freshfields has taken the lead for UK group TNS fielding a team led by London corporate partner Jeff Roberts and also including corporate partners Stephen Hewes in London and Heiner Braun and Rick Van Aerssen in Frankfurt.

    1 minute read

  • June 4, 2008 | International Edition

    Slaughters joins Freshfields on £2bn TNS deal

    Elite City firms Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Slaughter and May have gone head to head on the £2bn merger between information and research groups Taylor Nelson Sofres (TNS) and GfK Aktiengesellschaft. Freshfields has taken the lead for UK group TNS fielding a team led by London corporate partner Jeff Roberts and also including corporate partners Stephen Hewes in London and Heiner Braun and Rick Van Aerssen in Frankfurt.

    1 minute read

  • June 2, 2008 |

    DAC latest to go LLP after City merger

    Davies Arnold Cooper (DAC) has become the latest firm to covert to a limited liability partnership (LLP), it was announced today (2 June). The conversion, which took effect from the beginning of the month, was backed via a partner vote at the end of last year and will apply to the firm's UK offices in London, Manchester and St Albans as well as offices in Spain and Mexico.

    1 minute read

  • June 1, 2008 |

    Only Links boosts FTSE 100 clients in Q2

    Linklaters was the only City firm to increase its FTSE 100 client tally over the last quarter, according to the latest quarterly rankings from Hemscott. The firm gained two FTSE 100 clients over the quarter running from 6 Feb to 9 May, taking its tally to 21 with a market cap of £588bn. The firm's position was bolstered through the listing of Kazakhstan mining company Kazakhmys and Tate & Lyle and Alliance Trust, which entered the FTSE 100 over the quarter.

    1 minute read

  • June 1, 2008 |

    Global 100: restructured Freshfields smashes into PEP elite

    Last year it was Linklaters that proved you could be big and global and among the most profitable firms in the world. This year it looks like Freshfields’…

    1 minute read

  • May 29, 2008 |

    Editor's Comment: The pace-setter

    As if it needed saying again, recent weeks and speculation among rivals regarding Linklaters' strategy in the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) region have underlined the extent to which the firm has become established as the pace-setter that peers follow. That's not to say the firm is 'better' than rivals, simply that the strategic momentum Linklaters has shown in recent years has established it as the City's most influential top-tier operator. As such, management figures at magic circle rivals have been keeping a watchful eye to get a sense of what the CEE review says about the firm's direction.

    1 minute read

  • May 28, 2008 |

    Lord's of the manor

    The Saturday of the first Test of the summer at Lord's is always a good time to catch up with old friends and colleagues. So imagine Maurice Allen's delight, mere weeks into his new career at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, to find that he had time to share a cup of tea with his former White & Case mates in the Mound Stand shortly before play started against the Kiwis on the third day.

    1 minute read

  • May 22, 2008 | International Edition

    City leaders tough on promotions but expansive band powers forward

    Partner promotions across the top 10 City firms fell by 10% over the last financial year, according to Legal Week research which suggests law firms are already tightening their belts in preparation for a downturn.The group made up 207 partners in total compared with 231 in 2007, even though across the top 50 as a whole new partner promotions are marginally up on 2007.

    1 minute read