Has there ever been a time of more change among the top levels of law firm management? Not that we can remember, anyway. This week alone has seen Osborne Clarke corporate and commercial head Ray Berg unveiled as the firm’s new UK managing partner elect; Pinsent Masons kick off its managing partner election process, with […]
Linklaters has kickstarted a disputes offering in Singapore, with the relocation of Hong Kong partner Jelita Pandjaitan. Pandjaitan joined Linklaters in 2005, and became partner in 2012. She has been based in Hong Kong for her entire career at the firm, but is set to join the firm’s Singapore office on Monday (10 November). The […]
Irwin Mitchell has acquired Mayfair based private wealth specialists Berkeley Law in a bid to gain ground in London. As well as the Mayfair headquarters, the acquisition includes a separate residential property and conveyancing business, Berkeley Hurrell in Kensington. Berkeley Law is believed to turn over between £3m and £4m per annum and specialises in […]
It’s been all change in the retail banking sector over the last week. Payment processing company Worldpay harked back to its traditional banking roots this week to snap up former Barclays lawyer Mark Edwards. Meanwhile, over at Lloyds Banking Group Jennifer Neilsen was appointed as general counsel on the retail side following the departure of […]
Litigation boutique Stewarts Law has appointed partner David Pickstone from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Legal to head its new tax litigation group. Pickstone has experience of acting for large corporates, financial institutions and high-net-worth individuals in tax disputes before the tax tribunals and in court. He said the new group would focus on both commercial tax disputes […]
BLM has launched a new marine insurance team with the addition of legacy Greenwoods partner Gemma Pearce and two other fee-earners from Parabis’ defunct Bristol office. Parabis closed its offices in Bristol and Colchester following a 40-day consultation last month. This team was among the 41 staff affected (1 October 2014). Parabis has since cut […]
McDermott Will & Emery has named 33 new partners for 2015, three of them in its London office. McDermott’s new London partners are corporate associate Eleanor West, private client associate Dhana Sabanathan and international tax practice associate Matthew Herrington. The new partners were drawn from 12 practice groups in 12 of the firm’s offices worldwide […]
Linklaters, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Taylor Wessing are advising on the multi-billion pound sale of United Biscuits to Turkish trade buyer Yildiz Holding. A private equity consortium consisting of Blackstone and PAI Partners has held a majority stake in the company since 2006. The deal, which is expected to close imminently, is reported to be […]
It’s been a big week for litigation, with a number of crucial rulings on cases identified as part of The Lawyer’s top 20 cases earlier this year. Just yesterday, the High Court threw out most of the claims brought by Swiss bank UBS against a German water company. The $340m case, concerning complex derivatives bought […]
Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz advised French advertising company Publicis Groupe in a £2.3bn deal to buy US digital specialist Sapient which was represented by Cravath Swaine & Moore and Bredin Prat. Wachtell corporate partners Martin Lipton and Adam Emmerich represented Publicis in the deal alongside associates Francisco Morales Barrón and Mark Stagliano. Partners Ilene […]
Conyers Dill & Pearman in Cayman has acted for Exar Corporation, a New York Stock Exchange-listed supplier of high-performance integrated circuits and system solutions, on its $224m (£140m) acquisition of Integrated Memory Logic (iML), a Taiwan Stock Exchange-listed provider of power management and colour calibration solutions for large and medium-sized flat-panel displays used in tablets […]
DLA Piper has achieved a victory for Goodyear Dunlop Tires NA (GDTNA) in a product liability suit claiming defective tyre components caused a highway motorcycle accident. In the case, Billy Goodman et al v GDTNA, the plaintiffs also alleged negligent supply chain and assembly practices and a breach of implied warranty. GDTNA countered with evidence […]