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  • October 8, 2008 |

    Bullish, bearish and clueless…

    Another day, more extraordinary developments in the financial markets that top the last era-defining episode dating back all of two days ago. What does…

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  • October 8, 2008 |

    Commentary: Tough M&A markets provide flight to Square Mile's finest

    If the M&A world is proving unsurprisingly turbulent right now, a very select band of law firms have become highly adept at riding the hurricanes of international deal markets. Bids may be collapsing on funding problems, and the UK's deal market plainly slumped over the summer, but banking turmoil and the global run of consolidation in energy and commodities have proved a boon to a small group of leading firms.And none more so than Linklaters, which was already riding high in the rankings on the back of its lead role on the E144bn BHP Billiton/Rio Tinto bid and Q2's largest deal: InBev's takeover of rival drinks firm Anheuser-Busch.

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  • October 8, 2008 |

    Akin Gump launches new Abu Dhabi office

    Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld has launched an office in Abu Dhabi today (8 October). The launch comes after the firm closed down its office in Dubai in January this year. The US firm's Abu Dhabi presence will be headed by corporate partner Natasha Kohne who has relocated from New York.

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  • October 8, 2008 | International Edition

    Freshfields, Slaughters land £50bn banking bailout roles

    Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Slaughter and May are among a raft of top City firms to win roles on the Government's £50bn bailout of the UK banking system.Freshfields is understood to have reprised its role for longstanding client the Bank of England on the rescue plan, with corporate partner Michael Raffan leading.

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  • October 8, 2008 |

    Freshfields, Slaughters land £50bn banking bailout roles

    Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Slaughter and May are among a raft of top City firms to win roles on the Government's £50bn bailout of the UK banking system.Freshfields is understood to have reprised its role for longstanding client the Bank of England on the rescue plan, with corporate partner Michael Raffan leading.

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  • October 7, 2008 | International Edition

    Linklaters and Cleary lead on Fortis takeover

    Linklaters and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton are continuing to cash in on the turmoil in the global banking markets, with the pair taking leading roles as BNP Paribas' takes control of Fortis.Linklaters is advising stricken Benelux financial services group Fortis on the €14.5bn (£11.2bn) deal, announced today (6 October), which will see BNP Paribas take over the main banking and insurance operations of Fortis. Brussels corporate partners Jean-Marie Nelissen Grade and Eric Pottier is leading the team for the magic circle firm.

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  • October 7, 2008 |

    Linklaters and Cleary lead on Fortis takeover

    Linklaters and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton are continuing to cash in on the turmoil in the global banking markets, with the pair taking leading roles as BNP Paribas' takes control of Fortis.Linklaters is advising stricken Benelux financial services group Fortis on the €14.5bn (£11.2bn) deal, announced today (6 October), which will see BNP Paribas take over the main banking and insurance operations of Fortis. Brussels corporate partners Jean-Marie Nelissen Grade and Eric Pottier is leading the team for the magic circle firm.

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  • October 2, 2008 |

    Nomura finalises closely-watched Euro line-up as Lehman deal goes through

    Japanese investment bank Nomura has finalised its new European legal panel.Allen & Overy, Linklaters, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, SJ Berwin, Ashurst and Osborne Clarke are all understood to have been re-appointed to the panel following a review led by European general counsel Mark Chapman. Norton Rose has been cited as a new addition to the roster, with the panel appointment coming within weeks of the London law firm also securing a new appointment to the panel of insurer Ace European Group. Nomura last reviewed its preferred adviser list three years ago when former Linklaters managing partner Terence Kyle, then the bank's European general counsel, led the process. Kyle retired from the bank last year to join mentoring consulting group IDDAS with Chapman appointed as his replacement late in 2007. Chapman, previously a lawyer with Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, joined Nomura's legal department in 2000.News of the panel review comes after Nomura sealed a deal to take on fallen investment bank Lehman Brothers' Asia-Pacific operations as well its European and Middle Eastern equities and investment banking businesses.The deal, which generated roles for law firms including Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom and Freshfields for Nomura, is expected to save thousands of jobs at the defunct bank. It had initially been feared that the entire Lehman legal team in the UK could lose their jobs but last month's rescue deal by Nomura is expected to save many of the 2,500 jobs across those divisions. Details are still to be finalised but a number of London legal staff are already understood to have been granted a temporary reprieve - including as many as 14 members of staff from the bank's Canary Wharf-based documentation team, who had initially been thought likely to leave the bank last week. In addition, the future of the bank's equity derivatives and structured products legal team, headed up by Bhavesh Dattani, also looks more certain, with both legal teams likely to remain in place at least until the end of October. Nomura declined to comment on either the panel or the number of legal staff likely to join from Lehman.

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  • October 2, 2008 |

    A&O opens Sao Paulo arm led by NY partner

    Allen & Overy (A&O) has formally launched in Sao Paulo, opening an office led by New York-based project finance partner Bob Kartheiser, who also co-heads the law firm's Latin America practice groupKartheiser will split his time between New York and Brazil while senior counsel Bruno Soares has relocated to Brazil full time. The office will start out with three full-time lawyers on the ground in Sao Paulo. Around 30 of the magic circle firm's lawyers have a Latin America focus.Kartheiser said: "There was a clear client-driven need to open in Sao Paulo. Brazil is a very large, very dynamic market. Servicing our clients there requires a day-in, day-out presence and specialised dedication of resources. We are excited to provide that."A&O senior partner David Morley added: "This is a natural extension of the work we have been doing throughout the region for years."A&O's launch follows several openings in the Brazilian city over the last year, however most have been US firms. These include Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom, which opened in Brazil earlier this year, and Proskauer Rose. New York's Simpson Thacher & Bartlett is also planning to launch in the city.

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  • October 2, 2008 |

    LG taps Financial Services Authority for new partner to build fledgling regulatory practice

    LG has hired its first dedicated regulatory partner with the addition of a senior lawyer from the Financial Services Authority (FSA). Richard Everett joined the law firm as a partner in London last week (22 September).Before joining LG, Everett spent the last three years heading the in-house legal team advising the FSA's Regulatory Decisions Committee. He initially joined the organisation to work in its legal group 11 years ago from Allen & Overy, where he was an associate.Everett's expertise covers both contentious and non-contentious financial services regulatory issues dom-estically and in the European Union.For the time being he will be the sole partner dedicating his time to regulatory law. However, the firm intends to build a specialist team at LG. Commenting on his decision to join LG, Everett said: "I was attracted by the fact that they have some good clients in the regulatory sphere. "Also they are fantastically enthusiastic about the potential for continued growth and the need for regulatory work, especially in the financial services field."LG managing partner Hugh Maule said: "The need has never been greater for our clients to exercise great care in managing their corporate and regulatory risk. We are glad to welcome such a widely respected figure to our financial services team."LG's hire comes as the FSA takes an increasingly proactive stance in the wake of the global credit crisis. The body kicked off a panel review earlier this year and is currently preparing to unveil the line-up on its first ever formal adviser roster.

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