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  • November 1, 2007 |

    Watson Farley/Chadbourne merger talks hit delays

    Long-running merger talks between New York law firm Chadbourne & Parke and City outfit Watson Farley & Williams appear to have stalled. While negotiations between the two firms, which kicked off in January this year, are still continuing, Legal Week has learned that the issue of a potential merger took a back seat during a recent Watson Farley partners' conference.

    1 minute read

  • November 1, 2007 |

    Susskind predicts demise of lawyers in IT-led future

    Top business lawyers have played down talk that increasing commoditisation and use of IT will bring about the death of the industry, following claims made by leading technology expert Richard Susskind. The predictions come in Susskind's new book, The End of Lawyers?, in which he says the legal profession needs to undergo a significant transformation to avoid extinction. He argues that lawyers need to ask themselves what elements of their workload could be undertaken more cheaply and efficiently as "the market is unlikely to tolerate expensive lawyers" for work that can be better done by "smart systems and processes"

    1 minute read

  • November 1, 2007 |

    Ashurst joins the London LLP gang

    Ashurst has become the latest firm to convert to a limited liability partnership (LLP). The top 10 City firm will officially become an LLP on 1 November after months of internal debate. Its offices in Italy, Japan and Sweden will not join the LLP but will remain separate legal entities affiliated with the partnership. Ashurst's conversion leaves Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Slaughter and May and Simmons & Simmons as the only top 10 City firms still to convert.

    1 minute read

  • November 1, 2007 |

    Ashurst names new Spain head

    Ashurst's Spanish arm has appointed a new managing partner following the return of Steven Fox to the UK. Spanish international finance head Gonzalo Jimenez-Blanco will now head the Spanish office, in a move announced internally at the firm last week (25 October).

    1 minute read

  • October 31, 2007 |

    Brother, can you spare a tranche?

    When three private equity groups arranged to buy HD Supply early this summer, the deal looked like simply another in a long chain of blockbusters. Then sub-prime loan defaults shot up, banks tightened their lending policies, and the credit markets ran dry. With the real estate market already in a tumble, the long-term prospects of HD Supply, a division of The Home Depot that caters to building contractors, were uncertain. Like dozens of others signed before the credit market shut down, the deal was stuck in limbo. For lawyers at Debevoise & Plimpton, which represented the consortium of buyers, the work they would have done after the close - and time they would have billed - was suddenly in doubt.

    1 minute read

  • October 24, 2007 |

    Credit squeeze set to prompt private equity IPO exit flurry

    Equity capital markets (ECM) lawyers are hoping for an increase in initial public offering (IPO) activity as the effects of the credit crunch spill over into the public markets, where IPOs could be seen as an increasingly attractive exit route.

    1 minute read

  • October 24, 2007 |

    Dickinsons looks after £218m NHS project

    Newcastle's Dickinson Dees has advised on an NHS healthcare project in Manchester worth a total of £218m.

    1 minute read

  • October 24, 2007 |

    Deal Week Dispatch: 24/10/2007

    Deal Week Dispatch brings readers an early taster of news from Legal Week's unparalleled deals coverage, with Travers Smith, Linklaters and DLA Piper among the movers and shakers

    1 minute read

  • October 19, 2007 |

    Its good to talk

    "People increasingly ask employers 'what can you do for me?'" says Clare Roberts, a human resources (HR) consultant with PA Consulting. "Ten years ago, that would have been unheard of. They have a different attitude to work and employers are having to rethink their proposition to potential recruits."

    1 minute read

  • October 19, 2007 |

    Know your leader

    Leadership undoubtedly makes a difference to a law firm's performance, as well as morale among staff. Depending on their style, a managing or senior partner considers factors such as job satisfaction, commitment to the firm, levels of innovation and fee income in their leadership approach. Encouraging a supportive culture within a firm is crucial to keep retention rates down, whether that is done by the managing partner walking the floor regularly, or by holding regular firm-wide meetings for staff to air their grievances.

    1 minute read