Simmons & Simmons has promoted eight lawyers to its partnership ranks, just one more than the top-20 LB100 firm made up last year. Continue reading “Partner promotions: Simmons adds eight new partners, half in London”
Great expectations – Neuberger speaks
Lauded as the outstanding jurist of his generation, Lord Neuberger carried huge weight of expectation on assuming the leadership of the Supreme Court. Eighteen months in, Legal Business caught up with the UK’s most high-profile judge
Given that the Bar has remained in mourning for the golden generation of the Bingham-era House of Lords, viewed by many advocates and academics as the UK’s finest post-War judicial line-up, Lord David Neuberger had a lot to live up to.
Unleashing talent – highlights from The Legal 500’s Corporate Counsel 100: Latin America
As Latin America increasingly becomes a global economic force, the role of the in-house lawyer in the region has evolved to produce some of the most impressive names in the legal industry.
Below are selected highlights taken from the debut edition of The Legal 500’s Corporate Counsel 100: Latin America, which identifies an array of the region’s most influential in-house counsel.
Unleashing talent – highlights from The Legal 500’s Corporate Counsel 100: Latin America
As Latin America increasingly becomes a global economic force, the role of the in-house lawyer in the region has evolved to produce some of the most impressive names in the legal industry.
Below are selected highlights taken from the debut edition of The Legal 500’s Corporate Counsel 100: Latin America, which identifies an array of the region’s most influential in-house counsel.
Linklaters appoints first female corporate City head
Linklaters has named Sarah Wiggins as its first female corporate head in London, with the home-grown lawyer placing diversity on the agenda for her four-year term. Continue reading “Linklaters appoints first female corporate City head”
Risk and resilience – a booming insurance industry in Latin America
Bristol-based DAC Beachcroft insurance partner David Pollitt is a regular visitor to Miami. But while tourists may be lured by the tropical climate and art deco architecture, his frequent trips from West Country to East Coast are all about his practice. The emergence of Miami as an operational and service centre for Latin America means its importance to major international insurance players cannot be underestimated.
Miami is fast becoming a gateway to Latin America for the insurance and reinsurance industry, in the same way that Singapore operates as an insurance hub for Asia. Swiss Re established a Miami office in 2011 to service Latin America and the Spanish-speaking Caribbean islands. Back in 2007, Zurich (a key client of DAC Beachcroft) moved its Latin American regional headquarters from Santiago, Chile, to Miami. The trend continues: Hiscox announced the expansion of its Miami branch in January this year. Continue reading “Risk and resilience – a booming insurance industry in Latin America”
Taking the lead – the GCs striving for life without a law firm
A growing band of in-house counsel are taking on major projects with little or no support from outside advisers. How far can ambitious GCs push the envelope?
When asked why an in-house legal team would choose to handle the majority of its major projects in-house, head of legal at Marks & Spencer, Robert Ivens, turns the question on its head.
Continue reading “Taking the lead – the GCs striving for life without a law firm”
Back in the machine – opportunity and threats amid much-changed debt markets
After years in the post-Lehman doldrums, the finance markets are springing back to life. Legal Business assesses the forces powering the upgraded ‘Doomsday machine’
‘Having gathered 100 different [sub-prime-backed bonds], they persuaded the ratings agencies that these weren’t, as they might appear, all exactly the same things. They were another diversified portfolio of assets! This was absurd. The 100 different buildings occupied the same flood plain; in the event of a flood, the ground floors of all of them were equally exposed… The CDO was, in effect, a credit laundering service for the residents of Lower Middle Class America. For Wall Street, it was a machine that turned lead into gold.’
Michael Lewis, The Big Short
Continue reading “Back in the machine – opportunity and threats amid much-changed debt markets”