Property
Berwin Leighton acted for Imry Holdings in the £248m sale of the Shires shopping centres and 14 other properties to Rodamco UK. Allen & Overy acted for Barclays Bank, Imry’s owners. Rodamco was advised by Cameron Markby Hewitt.
Flotations
Berwin Leighton acted for Close Brothers in the flotation on the London Stock Exchange of home furnishing retailer Heal’s with a market capitalisation of £21.3m. Travers Smith Braithwaite advised Heal’s.
Flotations
Bird & Bird acted for interactive educational publisher The Q Group on its £4m flotation on AIM. Titmuss Sainer Dechert acted for Deloitte & Touche corporate finance
Season of staff disruption over pay kicks off at Law Society
Accountants and investigative staff are set to follow the first strike in the Law Society’s 172-year history by a work-to-rule aimed at causing maximum disruption. On Monday the majority of the 45 staff at the society’s monitoring unit and investigation accountants department were due to go out on a one-day strike over pay, and not […]
Boycott legal aid pilot, says Law Society
The Law Society has advised legal aid firms not to take part in the Legal Aid Board’s green form block funding pilot project amid anger over the LAB’s handling of the scheme. Members of the Law Society’s council passed a resolution “recommending” firms to shun the scheme at a full council last Thursday. The pilot […]
Moscow office builds up Lovells' eastern muscle
City firm Lovell White Durrant is to strengthen its Central and Eastern European practice by becoming the latest Western firm to open for business in Moscow. The practice was given the go-ahead by the Russian Ministry of Justice earlier this month, and plans to be up and and running as soon as May this year. […]
Taking economy classes
The quest for post-recession growth is forcing an increasing number of firms to take stock of how they manage their expenses. One of the main subjects that should be scrutinised by finance directors and senior partners is business travel and related expenses. European companies spend almost £94bn on business travel each year. This is often […]
In brief: Partner offer tempts assistant to Berwins
Clifford Chance senior banking assistant Jennifer Mackerras has joined Berwin Leighton as its third banking partner. Mackerras was at Clifford Chance for 12-and-a-half years and said she had moved because the opportunity for partnership had arisen at Berwins.
Law Soc reneges on promise to survey number of masons
The Law Society is retreating from a promise to find out how many council members are freemasons, because it says MPs have already published their report on masons in the police and the judiciary. In February, Derek Sands, chair of the Law Society’s criminal law committee, agreed to a request by the Home Affairs committee […]
French Bar embraces Goldsmith
Peter Goldsmith QC of Fountain Court Chambers has received the unique honour of becoming the first barrister to be invited to join the French Bar. He was sworn in as a full member of the Bar last month at a ceremony that took place at the Court of Appeal in Paris. Goldsmith did not have […]
Courts could slash staffing following PFI privatisation
The Lord Chancellors Department is proposing to cut 10 per cent of magistrates court staff under a new scheme to privatise court fines collection under PFI. Rosie Eagleson, the general secretary of the Association of Magisterial Officers (AMO), which represents more than 50 per cent of court staff, claimed: “This will inevitably lead to compulsory […]
In brief: Students to face freeze on LPC places
A three-year restriction on granting additional places on Legal Practice Courses has been imposed by the Law Society, although it has stressed that it is not seeking to limit entry into the profession. Training committee member and society deputy vice-president Michael Mathews said just under 7,000 of the 8,000 LPC places had been taken up. […]