Adrian Keeling QC and Matthew Brook prosecuted the care home poisoning case Melissa Swift of West Bromwich admitted three charges of attempted murder and two counts of making threats to kill. Birmingham Crown Court heard that Swift added bleach to drinks bottles in a communal fridge at Goldfield Court, a care home in West Bromwich. […]
Wragges’ investment funds team has advised Gabelli Value Plus Trust on a fundraising worth £100m. Gabelli Value Plus is a new investment trust that will invest predominately in equity securities of US companies, deploying its investment manager’s proprietary Private Market Value with a Catalyst methodology. The assets are managed by Gabelli Funds, a New York-based investment […]
Shoosmiths has been appointed to a new Mercedes-Benz UK panel alongside Nabarro after dropping off the roster in 2009. Nabarro has been on the German automotive brand’s panel since 2009, when it picked up a spot alongside legacy Wragge & Co following a beauty parade of 11 firms that saw Pinsent Masons and Shoosmiths ousted […]
Arnold & Porter grew its revenue by 1.2 per cent in 2014, boosting its total income from $686m to $694m (£449m). The increase marks a sea change for the firm, which saw its revenue tumble by 6 per cent the previous year. Its global net profit also grew by 1.2 per cent to $322.8m in […]
Known as Southeast Asia’s hub for financial institutions and Islamic finance, Malaysia has been a closed shop to international law firms – until now. Last year the country passed laws to allow foreign firms to enter the country via a partnership with an established Malaysian firm. It also unveiled plans to issue up to five […]
Brown Rudnick European IP head Alexander Carter-Silk has been advising the inventor of non-reusable syringes as the life-saving invention receives World Health Organisation (WHO) backing. The WHO announced yesterday (23 February) that it was mandating Marc Koska’s K-1 Auto Disable syringes for all therapeutic use in a bid to save millions of lives. The policy […]
McCann FitzGerald has been appointed as the adviser to Allied Irish Banks (AIB) on its proposed capital restructuring by the Irish government. The mandate follows news last week that fellow Irish firm William Fry had won the tender process to act for the government on the work (13 February 2015). The proposed restructuring could include […]
Insurance and drinks cans aren’t usually the most scintillating of topics. But they’ve certainly had tongues wagging among public M&A lawyers over the past couple of weeks. First up, insurance. Last week saw Toronto-based Fairfax Financial Holdings’ offered £1.22bn for UK insurance company Brit. That deal handed mandates to a whole raft of law firms, […]
The Law Society has instructed Kingsley Napley to bring legal action against the Government over court fee hikes that it claims are “tantamount to selling justice”. The body has launched proceedings for a judicial review to challenge ministers’ plans to raise court fees by up to 600 per cent for claimants using the civil, family […]
Mergers in the legal world are not rare and they may yet become commonplace. So says a recent report into consolidation in the legal marketplace*. Ninety-five per cent of more than 100 of The Lawyer’s UK 200 that responded to a recent survey forecast further consolidation in the top tier over the next two years. […]
The Lord Chief Justice, Lord Thomas, called on lawyers to be prepared to pay the “heavy” price of maintaining the rule of law and access to justice as part of the opening keynote speech at the Global Law Summit (GLS) in London this morning (23 February). Thomas LCJ opened proceedings by emphasising the need for […]
General counsel of big companies have many challenges, but for Royal Mail’s in-house team the past few years have seen a near-constant string of changes. As general counsel Neil Harnby reveals in today’s cover story, in the last three years he has helped Royal Mail deliver an IPO, a new industrial relations agreement, a panel […]