Shoosmiths has advised the shareholders of Permanent Health Company Limited on the sale of the entire issued share capital of the company to AXA. Shoosmiths’ corporate partner Adam Dowdney led a team of corporate specialists, comprising solicitors Robert Pook and Catherine Wigmore. Additional specialist legal advice was also given by Tom Wilde (partner, tax), Paul […]
Dentons is in merger talks with London-headquartered Matthew Arnold & Baldwin (MAB) as part of its international expansion plan, The Lawyer understands. This would be Dentons’ third merger in eight months, following its union with Chinese firm Dacheng and McKenna Long & Aldridge earlier this year. After announcing those mergers, Dentons entered into non-disclosure agreements […]
DLA Piper’s South Africa ally Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr pulled out of the relationship after it became apparent that partners would be forced into giving up control of the firm, chief executive Brent Williams has revealed. In an interview with The Lawyer Williams said Cliffe Dekker decided to end the alliance with DLA Piper when plans […]
Linklaters’ partnership board has finalised its official shortlist of managing partner candidates to replace Simon Davies when he steps down a year early in January. The board, led by senior partner Robert Elliot, will narrow the list over the next two months until it decides on one final candidate, whose nomination will be ratified by […]
In an article about barristers chambers (the Bar Top 30: small sets, big ambition, 3 August) we made a mistake when referring to the well-known set 4-5 Gray’s Inn Square. We are happy to report that 4-5 Gray’s Inn Square, www.4-5.co.uk, is both flourishing and successful.
DLA Piper has hired the chief operating officer (COO) of its South African ally Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr to lead the opening of its own Johannesburg office. Michael Whitaker resigned from Cliffe Dekker this week after almost a decade as COO and director of the firm. He will assist with the establishment of DLA’s South African […]
A host of US and UK firms have scooped top roles on one of this year’s largest private equity takeovers of a technology company, as co-investors Carlyle Group and GIC agreed to acquire Veritas from Symantec for $8bn. Information security company Symantec, which also owns Norton, turned to Baker & McKenzie Palo Alto partners Matthew […]
In response to Bruce MacEwen’s article on future law firms, Overture’s strategy director Mark Brandon argues that a corporate structure is not the way to go. Bruce MacEwen’s stimulating article in The Lawyer about how you’d build a [big] law firm from the ground-up takes another asymmetric swipe at that annoyingly perennial kudzu – law […]
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Linklaters, Macfarlanes and Italian firm Pedersoli have scooped top roles on Pearson’s £469m sale of a stake in the Economist Group, less than a month after the publisher sold the Financial Times. Partners Ollie Lazenby and Simon Marchant led the Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer team, as Pearson agreed to sell its 50 per […]
Matthew Brook, a member of No5 Chambers’ crime group, has prosecuted a father and his son for cruelty to a child. The two teachers, Mohammed Siddiqu, 60 and Mohammed Waqar, 23, have admitted to slapping and hitting a 10-year-old boy during religious lessons at a mosque in Sparkbrook, Birmingham. They had been due to stand trial […]
Conyers Dill & Pearman has provided Cayman and BVI legal advice to Harmonicare Medical Holdings Limited, in connection with its HK$1.59bn IPO on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Harmonicare Medical Holdings Ltd is the largest private obstetrics and gynecology specialty hospital group in China and ranked first in terms of group […]
Bircham Dyson Bell has reported an 18 per cent increase in net profit and average profit per equity partner (PEP) on the back of a 10 per cent rise in turnover to £34.5m. The firm’s turnover rose from £31.3m in 2013/14, with net profit rising 18 per cent from £9.3m to £11.1m last year. PEP […]