Blake Lapthorn is set to merge with Morgan Cole on 1 July 2014 to create a firm with a combined turnover of £72m. The merged firm will be named Blake Morgan. It is to be led by Blake Lapthorn managing partner Walter Cha, who has overseen four mergers at his firm since 2001. Blake Lapthorn […]
A report from the 10th IBA Employment and Discrimination Law Conference The 10th IBA Employment and Discrimination Law Conference took place last week in Cape Town, South Africa. The conference was presented by the IBA Employment and Industrial Relations Law Committee and the IBA Discrimination and Equality Law Committee and was supported by the IBA […]
Our treasure trove of briefings from law firms includes a host of practical tips aimed at in-house lawyers. From employment and cyber security to cloud computing and why e-discovery matters, our in-house readers will find plenty to chew over Allen & Overy: The European employment agenda for 2014 Baker Botts: The future of cyber-security. Threats […]
Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE) has cut Herbert Smith Freehills from its defence roster in favour of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer as part of its first ever panel review. The ‘Big Six’ energy company is set to appoint its inaugural panel in the next few weeks having chopped Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) as its defence adviser following conflict […]
New research by the LGB charity Stonewall has revealed that 90 per cent of the top 20 firms have openly gay partners or senior managers. The survey also showed that the profession is making great strides in embracing LGB diversity. The research shows that at least 70 per cent of the top 20 firms have […]
US firm Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman has boosted its energy and projects practice in Japan with the hire of practice leaders from Hogan Lovells and Simmons & Simmons. Anthony Raven and Simon Barrett will join Pillsbury from Hogan Lovells and Simmons & Simmons respectively. They will become partners in the firm’s finance practice in Tokyo. […]
All the latest partner hires and other appointments within Continental European firms and offices. Benelux Competition and EU partner Efthymios Bourtzalas has quit Ashurst’s Brussels outpost (6 March 2014). It is understood that Bourtzalas is set to join Bird & Bird’s office in the city, which is currently home to 10 partners. Greek-qualified Bourtzalas has […]
Baker & McKenzie is to be joined in its London financial services group by RPC’s former head of financial services and regulatory Steven Francis. Francis joined RPC from the Financial Services Authority in 2008 and founded and led the firm’s financial services and regulatory group until it was subsumed into the corporate team led by […]
Khawar Qureshi wants to start a debate about costs in the Commercial Court and he’s not afraid to ruffle some of the more conventional legal profession feathers in the process. The QC from Lincoln’s Inn chambers Serle Court recently published research into the court in double-quick time after being asked by the Lord Chief Justice […]
Research from the 30% Club has revealed that women are failing to get to boardroom positions due to lack of recognition, rather than because of taking time off to have children. Eversheds believes the sponsorship approach is key to tackling the lack of women on boards. John Heaps, chairman at Eversheds, said: ‘In any walk […]
Eversheds partner Naeema Choudry has commented on the EU’s decision in two cases concerning surrogate mothers, in which it held that EU law does not require that a mother who has had a baby through a surrogacy arrangement should be entitled to maternity leave or its equivalent. Choudry focused on last year’s issue of maternity […]
Wierzbowski Eversheds has advised the Insurance Guarantee Fund (UFG) on a multilateral agreement on gathering and providing access to information in the Polish insurance industry, and has represented UFG in negotiations with dozens of insurance companies. The purpose of the agreement, which has been joined so far by 24 insurers (together representing more than 90 […]