CRIMINAL barristers are being urged to give details about their experiences getting into high security prisons as part of a campaign to make access to prisoners easier. The Criminal Bar Association is spearheading the initiative following a Prison Service crackdown on security after the breakout of six IRA prisoners from Whitemoor prison. The association says […]
Litigation department head Harvey Williams last week took over as senior partner of international maritime firm Sinclair Roche & Temperley, filling the shoes of John Morris who stepped down after 20 years in the position. Williams, a qualified master mariner, became a partner with the firm in 1971 and specialised in charter party, contract and […]
Mundays acted for the purchasers of Welmack Properties, the operators of the Market Cafe Covent Garden, London. Howard Kennedy advised the vendors.
Dibb Lupton Broomhead partner Andrew Kerr is defecting to Nabarro Nathanson. Kerr is moving from Dibbs’ Leeds office and will join Nabarros’ company commercial team in Sheffield where he will specialise in public and private company acquisitions and disposals, management buy-out/buy-ins, venture capital work, joint ventures and acquisition finance. Kerr follows Dibbs partner Paul Houghton […]
LITIGANTS in person will receive greater help in the High Court after the Lord Chancellor handed over £130,000 to boost services offered by the Citizens Advice Bureau. The grant, offered to the Royal Courts of Justice over two years, comes after a working party chaired by Lord Justice Otton identified the CAB as in need […]
THE JOINT leaders of the Legal Aid Practitioners Group have called on the Law Society to seize back the quality initiative by introducing more specialist panels and pushing ahead with quality accreditation. In a message to their group, co-chairs Jon Lloyd and Bill Montague have accused the profession of being “too slow off the mark […]
New York-based Weil, Gotshal & Manges’ plan to open a major London office advances this week with the recruitment of two top capital markets lawyers – a Linklaters & Paines partner and a director of US finance house, Merrill Lynch. The lawyers will work with two New York partners to form the nucleus of Weil […]
LINKLATERS & Paines junior corporate finance partner Casper Lawson has been chosen to replace Tony Hickinbotham as joint head of the firm’s practice in Frankfurt. Lawson, currently working in London, is expected to head out to Germany in January to work in the firm’s new joint venture practice with Hamburg and Berlin lawyers Schon Nolte […]
In the South West, relationships between firms and merchant banks and other London institutions are becoming stronger rather than weaker. The strengthening of relationships has required much effort on the part of regional firms to overcome City prejudices, but work remains to be done. For example, although it is now common for big ticket capital […]
The Law Society has officially authorised David Bridgeman, of QLG Burstows, as a ‘Qualified Person’ to advise on corporate pensions. The firm can now advise on all aspects of financial asset management and company benefit planning, including occupational pension schemes and private medical insurance. The three-person department has subcontracted its investment side to Lewes stockbrokers […]
ONLY 3 per cent of criminal offences committed lead to an offender being convicted or cautioned, says a report on the criminal justice system in England and Wales. However, variations occur between offences. The report says 14 per cent of woundings result in a caution or conviction compared to 1.6 per cent of vandalism cases. […]
Baker & McKenzie partner Hugh Stewart led a team of lawyers acting for UK-based Ispat International in its recent acquisition of Kazakhstan’s Karmet Steel Works. Stewart, a corporate partner at the firm’s London office, was assisted by Phillip Rosenblatt, who worked from the firm’s Almaty base. Due diligence work on the transaction was carried out […]