City banking lawyers were working around the clock to advise worried institutions after the collapse of Barings, London’s oldest merchant banking group, which crashed after losing more than u700 million on derivatives contracts. Literally hundreds of City clients were clamouring for legal advice at every top law firm following the failure by the Bank of […]
* City firm Ince & Co has ordered Elite’s legal billing, nominal and purchase ledger, conflict of interest and marketing systems. They will run on a central Hewlett Packard Unix server integrated with the firm’s front office PC LAN. Andrew Jennings, Ince’s director of finance and IT says: “The only way our requirement for a […]
Robert Lindsay reports Details of deals should be sent to the City editor, Robert Lindsay. Please include all other law firms acting on deals and the value, where possible. Freshfields acted for Nestle SA on its £715m acquisition of Spillers Petfoods from Dalgety, advised by Slaughter and May. Addleshaw Booth & Co acted for the […]
THE LAW Society has welcomed the end of the legal battle which it claims has been conducted “against a background of constant adverse and at times unpleasant publicity”. Head of communications Walter Merricks says the coverage of the case, spanning three decades, has portrayed Peggy Wood as the poor pensioner taking on authority. But Merricks […]
LIVERPOOL firm Bermans has acknowledged the failure of its London venture with the sale of its City office to the team it hired to set it up four years ago. Bermans senior partner Alan Middleton says the firm may not have recouped all its investment with the sale to the London management team headed by […]
A FOUNDER member of the Sole Practitioners Group is considering resigning from the committee because he claims it has been hijacked by the Law Society. Leslie Dubow says the SPG, which has been beset with internal squabbles, has no future as an effective forum for small firms. In a separate development vice-chair Naomi Turl is […]
Barristers practising in the field of family Law may be forgiven for thinking they have become insufficiently appreciated over the last year, wondering if the family Bar might go the way of the defended divorce. For over two decades, the family Bar has flourished. The scarcely justifiable clockwork routine work of undefendeds at £12.50 for […]
Tim Miller reports TWO North East authorities are ringing in the changes at the top as they prepare for competitive tendering. Peter Watts has taken over as head of legal at Northumberland following Henry Warne’s switch to Newcastle. The combined legal and administration department at Newcastle has been split in two with Valerie Dodds heading […]
Lincoln’s Inn firm Trowers & Hamlins is spending u250,000 on its computer system upgrade, including hardware and software from Norwel. The hardware includes a Data General Aviion 8500 and Clariion disk array, providing mass storage for the 43-partner firm.
THE EX-CHAIR of the Eversheds National Intellectual Property Group, Philip Woods, has set up as a sole practitioner specialising in intellectual property. Woods, who left Eversheds Alexander Tatham at the end of last year, cannot practise in Manchester for a year because of a restrictive covenant. As a result, he has set up in Stockport. […]
Patrick Elias QC has earned the highest ever praise from solicitors in three years of The Lawyer’s specialist Bar features. Matheu Swallow finds out why. It might seem strange for one of England’s most prestigious employment barristers to be so outspoken on such a delicate issue. But Patrick Elias QC is adamant. “Hoddle must go,” […]
* The House of Lords is considering an application by Murex Diagnostics to challenge a Court of Appeal ruling made last October in a patent infringement action relating to kits designed for the treatment of hepatitis. Murex in defence has argued that the Chiron Corporation abused its dominant market position and charged unfairly high prices, […]