Lovell White Durrant solicitor Alexander Janes is sold on the value of secondments after spending six months with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Janes was working in the EBRD’s legal department, the Office of the General Council, which includes 36 foreign lawyers and three from the UK. The EBRD is a public organisation, […]
Norton Rose corporate finance partner David Lewis has been elected as the senior partner to lead the firm into the new millennium. Lewis, currently involved in advising SBC Warburg, the merchant bank representing US utility Southern Company, will take on his new role on the retirement of senior partner, Tony Kay, on 30 April 1997. […]
The board of Solicitors Indemnity Fund has appointed Elizabeth Mullins as new chief executive with effect from 1 September. Mullins joined the SIF in 1992 as head of claims handling. She has been involved with the compulsory scheme of indemnity for solicitors for the past 11 years. She commented: “I am absolutely delighted. I see […]
The Insolvency Law-yers Association is calling for applications for research projects in insolvency law and practice. The association is offering grants to fund one or two projects, costing up to £10,000. Shashi Rajani, chair of the technical committee, said the association will only consider a focused project likely to make a long-term contribution to insolvency […]
City firm McKenna & Co is opening an office in Washington DC to take advantage of the restructuring activity affecting the electricity industry in Canada and the US. Managing partner Robert Derry-Evans said the firm had recruited two senior American lawyers from US firm LeBoeuf Lamb Greene & MacRae. they join the new office as […]
City and Home counties firm Penningtons is taking the knife to costs by quitting its headquarters building in London and giving staff a formal warning about the possibility of redundancies. Penningtons has recently been hit by a string of high level resignations with eight partners giving notice before Easter this year (The Lawyer 9 April). […]
Figures claiming to show a resurgence in mortgage lending have been met with caution by conveyancing lawyers. The figures, released by the Building Society’s Association last week, reveal an upturn in the total value of mortgage loans advanced by building soc- ieties in March this year. Gross advances were £3,242 million, compared to £2,531 million […]
A bid by the Law Commission to employ more lawyers has been rejected by the Lord Chancellor’s Department due to cuts in public expenditure. Pressure on public finances also means that the commission is being forced to cut its budget by 5 per cent this year, to near 1994 levels. Secretary Michael Sayers is hopeful […]
Richards Butler has appointed Katharine Baragona as the head partner of the firm’s all-female Brussels office. Baragona’s appointment marks the first time a woman has been appointed to head one of the firm’s overseas offices. She qualified as an attorney in California before joining Richards Butler in 1990 and training as an English solicitor. Baragona […]
A business information service has been launched on the Internet last week by on-line data provider Maid. Claimed to be “invaluable” to commercial law firms, the Profound service offers detailed and up-to-date on-line information on all aspects of international business. It gives users access to more than 4,000 international trade and press titles, information on […]
Alasdair Simpson, Manches & Co senior partner, knows how tough it can be at the top. As one of the City’s leading golden handshake lawyers, he has to deal with the executives of top UK companies who find themselves on the receiving end of a P45. Packages that looked fantastic over lunch suddenly fall victim […]
The speech given by outgoing Law Society secretary general John Hayes on the future of the legal profession neatly encapsulated the problems facing the profession. Addressing the European Policy Forum last Thursday, Hayes discussed the lack of confidence in the profession’s future direction, the search for scapegoats when things go wrong and, most importantly, lawyers’ […]