FTSE 100 water company Severn Trent recently re-appointed Eversheds as its sole adviser for a five-year term, commencing 1 April. Deputy general counsel Stuart Kelly and legal counsel Kristin Garret talk to Kathryn McCann about the mandate, getting monthly updates and the key performance indicators (KPIs) the firm will be judged on.
So much for the rule of law – Ted Greeno on court fees and undermining the City
Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan disputes veteran Ted Greeno (pictured) argues that a self-defeating stance on hiking court fees will undermine London.
Continue reading “So much for the rule of law – Ted Greeno on court fees and undermining the City”
Mounting departures: Another senior exit for Barclays as EMEA investment bank GC steps down
Barclays’ EMEA investment bank general counsel (GC), Erica Handling, has left the bank, which has already seen global GC of corporate and investment banking Judith Shepherd and global head of financial crime Jonathan Peddie announce their departures recently.
Comment: It’s the ‘decade of the lawyer’ – Law firms beware
Our third annual GC Power List report looks more like a state-of-the profession piece than its two predecessors. While the earlier reports focused on standout individuals, in 2015 we highlight 50 exceptional in-house teams, which inevitably addresses how clients operate.
Continue reading “Comment: It’s the ‘decade of the lawyer’ – Law firms beware”
An opportunity to ‘build something’: KWM’s City litigation head Alex Leitch leaves for Covington
US firm Covington & Burling has bolstered its European disputes capabilities with the hire of King & Wood Mallesons London head of litigation, Alex Leitch (pictured), to its City office, as its plans to bulk up the practice this year.
Senior appointments: Linklaters appoints new US head as Dentons picks Jones’ successor as UKMEA chief
Yesterday saw two high-level legal appointments with Linklaters appointing Scott Bowie as head of its global US practice and Dentons selecting London partner Jeremy Cohen as UKMEA CEO.
Panel review: Clyde & Co, DAC Beachcroft and Kennedys among seven on revised NFU Mutual panel
The NFU Mutual has appointed seven law firms including Clyde & Co, DAC Beachcroft and Kennedys to its revised English and Welsh legal panel following a comprehensive review and tender process.
Global London: King & Spalding hires Latham’s Daniel Friel as it builds City office
King & Spalding has hired Latham & Watkins’ former European vice chair of tax Daniel Friel, the latest in a number of strategic hires over the last 12 months as it looks to grow its London offering.
Mass hires: Fresh wave of Pillsbury partners join move to Winston & Strawn
Eight more Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman partners have resigned in New York, Washington DC and San Francisco to join Winston & Strawn, taking the firm’s haul of Pillsbury partners up to 11.
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Aftershocks – hard decisions for Swiss lawyers amid a turbulent market
When even that most venerable of Swiss industries, watch-making, comes under threat, you know the country has a problem. But this proved to be the case in the early weeks of 2015: global brand Swatch saw its share price slump 15% after the Swiss National Bank (SNB) announced on 15 January that it would abandon the cap on the Swiss franc against the euro that it first introduced in September 2011. Keeping the franc at CHF1.20 to the euro had became increasingly expensive for the SNB, as it sold its own currency and bought up euros, sterling, US and Canadian dollars and yen, usually in the form of government bonds.
Many were shocked by the move, which has left investors worrying that with the CHF now floating against the euro, Swiss companies will struggle to maintain export levels. Swatch chief executive Nick Hayek called the decision ‘a tsunami’ for Switzerland’s economy. Mark Haefele, chief investment officer of UBS, has estimated that the policy will cost Swiss exporters close to CHF5bn (£3.3bn), equivalent to 0.7% of Swiss economic output.
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The 2015 Risk Report – What lies beneath
Law firms have benefited from a relatively settled risk environment, despite a run of crisis-linked claims. But Legal Business’ annual risk survey finds dangers new and old lurking beneath the surface.
On the face of it, news in December 2014 that the number of professional negligence claims against solicitors had tripled in a year, based on research from RPC, was enough to give law firm risk managers and professional indemnity insurance (PII) specialists pause. RPC reported that High Court cases against law firms for professional negligence had increased by 192% from 143 in 2013 to 418.
Waiting for the other shoe to drop
Law firms have work to do to keep up with market shifts in the post-Lehman world. Here, leading legal industry figures chart the progress so far at a debate organised by Graham Gill.
In December, recruitment consultants Graham Gill hosted the latest in its series of breakfast round tables, which bring together a roster of heavyweight figures from in-house and private practice to discuss the future of the legal profession.
Important decision of Swiss Federal Supreme Court on intra-group financing arrangements
Bär & Karrer’s Till Spillmann and Luca Jagmetti discuss its practical consequences.
The Swiss Federal Supreme Court ruled in a recent decision that up-stream and cross-stream loans granted by Swiss companies must be entered into on arm’s-length terms. If not at arm’s length, the decision seems to suggest that such loans constitute de facto distributions and may only be granted for an amount not exceeding the lender’s freely distributable reserves. If already granted, it reduces the lender’s ability for future dividend distributions by the amount corresponding to the nominal value of the loan. The court also imposed stringent requirements on satisfying the arm’s length test.
Further, the court raised the question of whether Swiss companies are allowed to participate in zero-balancing cash pools at all.
The new Swiss perspective on international arbitration
Gentium Law’s Matthew Parish discusses a quiet revolution.
Switzerland is distinctive as a centre of international arbitration. It packs a punch well above its size. Although statistics about arbitration are by their nature confidential, anecdotal evidence indicates the diminutive country of a mere 7.5 million people is host to several hundreds of arbitrations per year. This is a remarkable figure.
The London Court of International Arbitration has perhaps only 150 cases per annum, while the International Chamber of Commerce hosts roughly double that number. In petite Geneva – a mere 185,000 people – arbitration lawyers may be the largest group of legal specialists in the city. Continue reading “The new Swiss perspective on international arbitration”
In-house: Severn Trent sticks by Eversheds as sole adviser until 2020
FTSE 100 water company Severn Trent has reappointed Eversheds as its sole adviser for a new five-year term, despite having strongly considered appointing at least two firms to its new roster.
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Mass hires: Pillsbury sees partners start to move to Winston & Strawn across three offices
Up to 15 lawyers are set to quit from US firm Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman for Winston & Strawn, with the firm’s Abu Dhabi managing partner Stephen Jurgenson, London-based co-head of energy, infrastructure and projects James Simpson and New York-based structured products chief Jeffrey Stern having already resigned from the firm.
Freshfields plans Manchester hub on radical scale as City leader repositions for changing law market
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer’s decision to jump on the near-shoring wagon with its first low-cost services hub in Manchester is on a scale larger than its peers, with up to 800 support service jobs being transferred – a move which is unsettling some at its Fleet Street headquarters.
A £1bn offer: Linklaters, Ashurst and Gibson Dunn win roles on Domino Printing acquisition
Linklaters, Ashurst and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher have all landed roles on Japanese electronics company Brother Industries’ acquisition of UK technology company Domino Printing Sciences for £1.03bn.
GC Power List 2015: The Team Elite
Human nature – cutting edge legal work looms for the drugs revolutionising healthcare
As patents for pioneering biotech drugs near expiry, life sciences companies are hunting new and controversial products. Can law firms help clients win the race?
For those close to the biotech industry, the events of a 2006 clinical trial at Northwick Park Hospital in London are etched firmly in the memory. In what was later dubbed the ‘Elephant Man’ trial, six healthy young men suffered catastrophic multiple organ failures within hours of testing a biologic – a drug created by a biological process – intended to treat leukaemia and rheumatoid arthritis. The volunteers became critically ill, including the loss of fingers and toes, after the monoclonal antibody TGN1412 caused near-fatal side effects. The drug was immediately withdrawn from development and its German-based creator TeGenero filed for insolvency four months later.