The Department for Transport’s (DfT) former general counsel, Christopher Muttukumaru, has taken up tenancy at Monckton Chambers. Muttukumaru retired from the £130,000 DfT role late last year, with former Burges Salmon transport head Nick Olley hired to replace him (13 September 2013). At the time it was not clear if Muttukumaru, who was called to the […]
Ashurst is aiming to ensure that 40 per cent of all partner promotions are female by 2018 as well as handing a quarter of management positions to women in a radical overhaul of the firm’s diversity policy. The gender targets were set at the firm’s first board meeting since its full financial merger with Blake […]
Wizz Air’s general counsel Owain Jones will now manage the low-cost airline’s human resources, communications and public relations arm as well as its legal function. Jones took on the newly-created role of chief corporate officer this week, with the promotion meaning he will continue in his role as general counsel while also managing areas such […]
California’s Silicon Valley remains the Holy Grail for tech titans, for Tokyo’s rising number of start-ups as well as those on the West Coast. Which explains why this week, Tokyo’s TMI Associates has become the first Japanese firm to plant a base in Silicon Valley. Despite being one of Japan’s faster-growing firms, this is a […]
Portuguese firm PLMJ has picked up tax partner Miguel C. Reis from the Porto office of Iberian giant Garrigues. Reis joined Garrigues in 2006 and specialises in all areas of tax. He becomes the fourth partner in PLMJ’s tax team, led by João Magalhães Ramalho. Porto is one of three Portuguese offices for PLMJ, alongside […]
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) has named a new general counsel for the first time in a decade following the retirement of current GC Michael Wholley. The space agency’s deputy general counsel Sumara Thompson-King has taken on the top legal role, having been a deputy associate general counsel at Nasa since 1995. She will […]
Tokyo-based TMI Associates is to become the first Japanese firm to launch in Silicon Valley with an office opening planned in the global technology hub in July. The US launch follows a year of expansion into South East Asia by some of the largest Japanese firms. The list includes Mori Hamada & Matsumoto and Nishimura […]
It is at times like these that you have to wonder why the advent of alternative business structures was ever termed Tesco Law. Did anyone seriously believe that the liberalisation of the UK legal market would result in grocers taking over before the accountants stormed the fort? Perhaps you just didn’t want to believe it. […]
Tokyo-based TMI Associates is planning to open an office in Silicon Valley in July, mainly targeting intellectual property related work. TMI Associates, which has a long-standing joint venture with Simmons & Simmons in Tokyo, will be the first Japanese firm to plant a base in Silicon Valley. The new office will locate in the city […]
Accountancy and consulting giant EY has made another foray into the legal sector, hiring Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer partner Richard Norbruis to lead its global transaction law practice. Norbruis has been a partner in Freshfields’ Amsterdam office since 1999. For the last three years he has held the role of global people partner, responsible for issues […]
Osborne Clarke has hired a team of four partners and three associates to kickstart its new Amsterdam office, which formally launched today (2 June). Of the firm’s new partners, two joined directly from Baker & McKenzie’s Amsterdam office, while one hailed from Norton Rose Fulbright and another from Dutch firm Steins Bisschop & Schepel. Former […]
In his boxing heyday, Giacobbe ‘Jake’ LaMotta was a man of few words – and it’s an odds-on bet that ‘laches’ wasn’t one of them. The ‘Bronx Bull’ – who famously fluctuated between the middle and light heavyweight categories – was portrayed by Robert De Niro in Martin Scorsese’s 1980 film as a chap who […]