“The idea that females are primary carers is archaic – the time has come for male lawyers to embark on a new parental journey.” As the new law on shared parental leave (SPL) makes its final passage through Parliament, the findings of a report of the Law Society on the ‘Diversity profile of the profession’ […]
Clifford Chance, Macfarlanes and Mayer Brown are rolling out CV-blind recruitment policies to try and counter unconscious bias in favour of privately-educated applicants. Will it really make a difference? Why have so few firms followed suit? CV-blind policies are just one step in right direction Macfarlanes rolls out CV-blind policy to training contract applicants Clifford […]
Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan and litigation boutique Leon Kaye have formally joined the £4bn shareholder battle brought against the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) over its 2008 rights issue. Leon Kaye, Quinn Emanuel, Stewarts Law and Bird & Bird are now all representing claimants suing the bank over a 2008 £12bn rights issue which investors […]
Withers has opened a new office in San Francisco, its first new base in more than two years. The firm, which is known as Withers Bergman in the US, officially opened its doors on the West Coast in January 2014 with the hire of Louis Mezzullo as a consulting partner from McKenna Long & Aldridge […]
Bristows has seen its revenue dip by 3.6 per cent in 2013/14, ending a half-decade of strong growth. Turnover at the Unilever House-based firm doubled between 2007/08 and 2012/13, when it reached a high of £35.4m, but in 2013/14 that amount was down to £34.1m. Profit per equity partner (PEP) was also down significantly, from […]
Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom and Jones Day are among the firms advising the Coca-Cola Company on its partnership deal with energy drink business Monster. The global drinks brand is also to pay $2.15bn (£1.3bn) in exchange for a 16.7 per cent stake in Monster, gaining two seats on the its board of directors. […]
That lawyers are verbose is not exactly earth-shattering news. The default position is to write long sentences without troubling the punctuation keys unduly – or indeed, often at all. But that tendency has just jumped up and bitten one set of legal advisers in a recent High Court action. In Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander Ltd […]
Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) and Taylor Wessing have advised on the £97m sale of Heron Plaza by Heron International to Singaporean UOL Group. Mourant Ozannes and Jersey firm Ward Yates also played roles on the deal as the transaction involved UOL incorporating two Jersey companies, which acquired units in an existing Jersey Property Unit Trust. […]
DLA Piper has advised long-term client Linc Energy Ltd on the successful offering of $125m (£74.8m) 9.625 per cent due-2017 first-lien senior secured notes. The notes were issued by the company’s wholly owned subsidiaries Linc USA GP and Linc Energy Finance (USA), through which the company is engaged in the production, development, exploration and acquisition […]
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has announced that it will not take any action against former Times legal chief Alastair Brett, who had been facing allegations of perjury and perverting the course of justice related to phone-hacking at News International. In a statement released today (15 August), senior CPS lawyer Gregor McGill said: “In April […]
It has taken just over two years, but for those standing patiently at the ABS bus stop for a local authority to gain a licence the wait is finally over. And predictably, two have come along at once. Last week (8 August 2014) Buckinghamshire County Council became the first local authority to gain ABS approval […]
Amsterdam-headquartered telecoms giant VimpelCom has appointed Scott Dresser, formerly at Virgin Media, as its new group general counsel. VimpelCom confirmed Dresser as the company’s new group general counsel today. He will replace Jeffrey McGhie as general counsel from 1 September. Dresser moves from his current role as vice president of Global Strategic Initiatives, a global […]