Filter This View

  • August 7, 2008 |

    Ashurst China debut gets Green light

    Ashurst is set to make its long-awaited Hong Kong debut, with senior partner Geoffrey Green earmarked to head up the new practice. The top 10 City law firm is planning to open in Hong Kong at the beginning of next year, fitting in with the end of Green's term as senior partner. Ashurst already has offices in Singapore and Tokyo and is initially planning to focus on corporate, M&A and finance work in Hong Kong - practice areas it already has in its other Asian bases. The firm is also thought to be considering making an application for a licence to practise in mainland China but has not yet decided between Shanghai or Beijing. Managing partner Simon

    1 minute read

  • August 7, 2008 |

    Gartmore hires Bear vet to head legal team

    Bear Stearns' former European legal chief Bill McGowan has joined independent fund manager Gartmore as its general counsel. McGowan, who joined Bear Stearns in 2005 from Lehman Brothers, where he was head of transactional management for Europe, started working at Gartmore earlier this summer

    1 minute read

  • July 31, 2008 |

    Elections to push back India liberalisation

    Attempts to open up the Indian legal market to foreign law firms look set for further delays as the country gears up for a general election. The fears come despite expectations that this autumn the Indian Government will pass a long-awaited bill allowing limited liability partnerships (LLPs) and lifting the country's 20-partner limit. A hearing concerning international firms' right to practise foreign law in the country is also expected to take place over the summer, months before the election is scheduled to take place next spring.

    1 minute read

  • July 31, 2008 |

    BP turns to top City firms for help in resolving Russian TNK dispute

    A raft of international law firms have lined up to advise in the high-profile TNK-BP dispute, as some advisers fear straining UK/Russian relations could impact on the country's legal sector.City players Linklaters, Lovells, Herbert Smith and SJ Berwin have joined the likes of New York leader Cravath Swaine & Moore and Russia's Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners in the proceedings, which took a dramatic twist last week when TNK-BP chief executive Robert Dudley left Russia to try and run the business from outside the country. BP has turned to Linklaters and Egorov for advice with Link-laters' London litigation and arbitration partner Michael Bennett advising on the £181m tax case BP has brought against the four Russian oligarchs making up the Alfa-Access-Renova (AAR) consortium that owns the other half of the joint venture. The case looks set to go to arbitration in Sweden.

    1 minute read

  • July 31, 2008 | International Edition

    MoJ India liberalisation spending totals £100k

    The UK Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has spent more than £100,000 over the last five years on trips to India, as part of its ongoing efforts to liberalise the local legal market.The government department has spent more than £75,000 sending representations to India over the period, according to figures released to Legal Week under a Freedom of Information Act request.

    1 minute read

  • July 31, 2008 |

    MoJ India liberalisation spending totals £100k

    The UK Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has spent more than £100,000 over the last five years on trips to India, as part of its ongoing efforts to liberalise the local legal market.The government department has spent more than £75,000 sending representations to India over the period, according to figures released to Legal Week under a Freedom of Information Act request.

    1 minute read

  • July 30, 2008 |

    Ashurst plucks projects partner from Lovells

    Ashurst has added to its London energy, transport and infrastructure (ETI) team with the hire of a partner from City rival Lovells. Jason Radford, who trained at Lovells and became a partner at the firm in 2002, advises on all aspects of national and international project finance, public-private partnership/private finance initiative and infrastructure M&A deals. Radford, whose start date is still to be confirmed, will take Ashurst's London ETI team to 19 partners.

    1 minute read

  • July 30, 2008 |

    Herbies and Ashurst take headline roles on private equity fund's £250m LSE IPO

    Herbert Smith and Ashurst have landed lead roles on the $500m (£250.3m) float of Global MENA Financial Assets (GMFA) on the London Stock Exchange.Herbert Smith advised longstanding client JP Morgan Cazenove as sole sponsor, global co-ordinator and joint-bookrunner for the offering, fielding a team under London corporate partners Alex Bafi and Scott Cochrane.

    1 minute read

  • July 29, 2008 |

    CC set for Abu Dhabi launch after licence win

    Clifford Chance (CC) is set to become the latest City firm to launch an office in Abu Dhabi, with an opening date set for the end of this week (3 August) after the firm won a license to practise last month. A ten-lawyer team will be led on the ground by Dubai-based banking and finance partner Richard Ernest, and overseen from Dubai by Gulf managing partner Graham Lovett. The office will be manned by three partners, including Ernest, Peter Deegan and Chris Walsh.

    1 minute read

  • July 29, 2008 |

    ...Legal Week Lunchbox: 29/07/08...

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

    1 minute read