• June 26, 2008 |

    O'Melveny relocates global M&A head to City corporate

    O'Melveny & Myers has moved to rebuild its London corporate team with the relocation of the firm's worldwide M&A head to the City. Greg Gilbert will move to London from New York after the summer, although his moving date is still to be decided. His relocation will take the number of corporate lawyers in O'Melveny in London to four partners and around 16 associates.

    1 minute read

  • June 25, 2008 |

    William Hill slashes panel in latest review

    Bookmaker William Hill has cut down its panel of legal advisers in its latest review. General counsel Thomas Murphy led the review which has seen Pinsent Masons, Ashurst and Addleshaw Goddard appointed to the panel. The company previously used around 10 law firms under Murphy's predecessor, Helen Grantham.

    1 minute read

  • June 23, 2008 |

    SEO launches ethnic minority intern scheme

    The Sponsors for Education Opportunity (SEO) has developed a new corporate law internship programme. The internship, the first of its kind in the UK for the SEO, will combine mentoring and training, as well as summer vacation placements. The programme is aimed at penultimate and final-year undergraduate students from ethnic minority backgrounds. Ashurst, Berwin Leighton Paisner, Herbert Smith and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer are among the firms taking on SEO interns.

    1 minute read

  • June 19, 2008 | International Edition

    Barclays protects partners against weak pound

    Barclays is launching a new service to let law firm partners individually protect their earnings against exchange rate fluctuations. The service, which is to be rolled out in a matter of weeks, will allow partners to hedge their earnings against currency fluctuations individually rather than through their firms, as is currently available.

    1 minute read

  • June 19, 2008 |

    Barclays protects partners against weak pound

    Barclays is launching a new service to let law firm partners individually protect their earnings against exchange rate fluctuations. The service, which is to be rolled out in a matter of weeks, will allow partners to hedge their earnings against currency fluctuations individually rather than through their firms, as is currently available.

    1 minute read

  • June 19, 2008 |

    Magic circle M&A teams hold steady as credit squeeze hits deal markets

    European M&A activity levels have held up across the magic circle despite the downturn in the credit markets. Statistics compiled for Legal Week by Mergermarket show that volume levels fell by a third across magic circle advisers in the first calendar quarter of 2008, compared with Q1 2007. Despite the significant drop, the firms put in a better performance than many would have expected given the slowdown in overall deal activity.

    1 minute read

  • June 18, 2008 |

    Legal Week Strategic Technology Forum: Joining the IT crowd

    Talk about playing to the crowd. The recent Legal Week Strategic Technology Forum featured a pre-recorded interview between David Morley, senior partner of Allen & Overy, and Jeremy Hand, chairman of the British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (BVCA), on the future of legal services.Hand, whose private equity firm, Lyceum Capital, is targeting the legal market for investment, said he believed technology personnel would fare better than some lawyers in the 'brave new world' heralded by the Legal Services Act (LSA).

    1 minute read

  • June 18, 2008 |

    Ashurst, Kirkland and Bonelli lead on PE trio's E1bn share purchase

    Ashurst, Kirkland & Ellis and Bonelli Erede Pappalardo have advised a consortium of private equity houses on their acquisition of a E1.1bn (£869m) stake in a telecoms company. The firms advised Apax, TA Associates and Madison Dearborn Partners on the deal, which saw the three houses come together to buy a 10% stake in holding company Weather Investments.

    1 minute read

  • June 12, 2008 |

    BLP hikes NQ pay to £65,000

    Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) has handed its newly qualified (NQ) solicitors a salary hike of around 5%, taking its rates close to magic circle levels. The above-inflation rise takes NQ pay at the top 20 UK firm to £65,000 - putting it on par with Allen & Overy, which this year froze NQ rates.

    1 minute read

  • June 12, 2008 |

    Nabarro, DLA set new pay standard for associates

    Nabarro and DLA Piper have both announced their associate salary rates for the year, with regional offices at both firms seeing the biggest boost. From September, newly-qualified (NQ) lawyers at Nabarro's City arm will earn £64,000 - an increase of around 2.5% from the current rate of £62,500. NQs in Sheffield will see an 8.5% increase from the same date - taking pay from £37,720 to £41,000.

    1 minute read