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  • March 7, 2007 |

    Eversheds signs off first deal for Sony Ericsson with UIQ takeover

    Eversheds has closed its first corporate deal for Sony Ericsson after advising the mobile phone giant on its recent acquisition of Swedish software company UIQ Technology from Symbian.

    1 minute read

  • March 6, 2007 |

    Bakers aces audition for BBC Trust role

    Baker & McKenzie has scooped a prize place on the BBC's roster of advisers, being named as legal adviser to the BBC's new governing body, the BBC Trust. The appointment, which carries no fixed term, will see Bakers' City head of competition, Samantha Mobley, and public law partner Tom Cassells provide competition, public law and regulatory advice to the client. The firm will advise the Trust on fair trading policies and will also be consulted initiatives such as the BBC's proposed free-to-air digital TV satellite platform.

    1 minute read

  • February 28, 2007 |

    Management: Tact is the best form of defence

    Many years ago, I received the sort of phone call that any public relations adviser dreads - a solicitor client had been accused of assaulting a woman at his Belgravia offices and the press were all over the story. Allen Chubb, then senior partner at a firm called Child & Child, had apparently rugby-tackled Laura Harold, the wife of a wealthy property developer, following a dispute in which he refused to hand over the deeds of her home before an outstanding bill was settled. Chubb was ultimately convicted of falsely imprisoning and causing actual bodily harm to Harold and faced a three-month suspension by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal. The tale, unsurprisingly, resulted in reams of salacious media coverage - and that was in 1996.

    1 minute read

  • February 21, 2007 |

    Deals: M&A 22/02/2007

    CMS Cameron McKenna has advised Galliford Try, a UK construction and house-building company, on its acquisition of residential building company Linden Holdings for £244.5m. Galliford will acquire 100% equity value of Linden for £108.5m and will assume Linden's net debt of £136m. Corporate partner Gary Green led the team at Camerons, while partner Adam Greaves at Jones Day led the team advising Linden.

    1 minute read

  • February 21, 2007 |

    Deals: Finance 22/02/2007

    Pinsent Masons has advised a club of arranging banks, Lloyds TSB, HSBC and Icelandic bank Glitnir Banki HF, on the £45m refinancing of the fruit and snack specialists The Whitworths Group. The team at Pinsents was led by banking partners William Oliver and Martin Bishop. European Capital, which acquired the Whitworths Group in November last year, retains £14m of mezzanine debt. It was advised by Weil Gotshal & Manges banking associate Faisal Ramzan.

    1 minute read

  • February 21, 2007 |

    BLP ally Beiten Burkhardt to axe Cologne arm

    Beiten Burkhardt is to pull the plug on its Cologne office and re-house the bulk of the team in its Duesseldorf office, it was announced today (21 February). The German independent - which is the local ally of top 20 UK firm Berwin Leighton Paisner - is closing the office in March. The move follows a management review of the firm's domestic practice, which concluded that Duesseldorf would be the more profitable location for the team.

    1 minute read

  • February 20, 2007 |

    Latham is latest LA firm with strong '06 figures

    Latham & Watkins has unveiled double-digit growth in turnover and profits per equity partner for 2006, joining a growing band of US firms to have posted robust year-end figures. The Los Angeles giant pulled in $1.624bn (£832m), up 15% from last year's mark of $1.412bn (£724m). Partner profits, meanwhile, rose 16% to $1.86m (£950,000).

    1 minute read

  • February 14, 2007 |

    Beiten Burkhardt adds six lawyers to Kiev arm

    Beiten Burkhardt has raided Salans, Debevoise & Plimpton and Baker & McKenzie for six new lawyers. The lawyers all join Beiten Burkhardt's Kiev arm, and bring the total number of legal staff to 25 locally. Corporate lawyers Oleksander Fefelov and Oleksandra Gorak join with real estate lawyer Oleksandr Tytov from Salans. Corporate lawyer Anna Gorkun joins from Baker & McKenzie. German lawyer Felix Haffner and US lawyer Cameron Hall also join the firm's corporate department.

    1 minute read

  • February 9, 2007 |

    Name partner departure prompts Abreu rebrand

    Name partner Pedro Cardigos is to leave Portuguese firm Abreu Cardigos by the end of February, prompting a re-brand of the practice. The firm relaunched itself as Abreu Advogados from 7 February and will have around 70 lawyers - including 16 partners - across offices in Lisbon and Porto.

    1 minute read

  • February 8, 2007 |

    Law firms braced as five top banks review panels

    UK firms are gearing up for a surge of panel reviews by major financial institutions, with a number of Europe's biggest banks set to review their advisers in the coming months.

    1 minute read