Friederike Heine

January 10, 2011 | International Edition

BPP Law School is set to become the first Legal Practice Course (LPC) provider to offer the fast-track LPC to all students, according to its chief executive Peter Crisp. The condensed course is currently available exclusively to students within the framework of the City LPC consortium, which comprises Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Herbert Smith, Hogan Lovells, Norton Rose and Slaughter and May.

By Friederike Heine

2 minute read

January 07, 2011 | International Edition

Howrey has closed its intellectual property (IP) practice in London following the departure of London managing partner Mark Hodgson to Field Fisher Waterhouse. Hodgson's move comes after three partner departures from Howrey's London IP practice during 2010 - Marjan Noor, Paul Inman and Richard Willoughby, who joined Simmons & Simmons, Wragge & Co and Rouse Legal respectively.

By Friederike Heine

3 minute read

January 06, 2011 | International Edition

Portuguese law firm Vieira de Almeida & Associados (VdA) has taken a lead role alongside Linklaters and Allen & Overy (A&O) on the €3bn (£2.5bn) restructuring of Portuguese highway construction and development company Brisa. VdA advised the road toll company on its restructuring, fielding a team led by finance partner Joao Vieira de Almeida, alongside banking partner Pedro Cassiano Santos and corporate partners Helena Vaz Pinto and Paulo de Barros Baptista.

By Friederike Heine

2 minute read

January 05, 2011 | International Edition

Reed Smith has made up new four partners in its London office as part of a 25-strong global promotions round. The City promotions, which took effect on 1 January, are spread across the US firm's London litigation, finance and shipping practices.

By Friederike Heine

2 minute read

January 04, 2011 | International Edition

Clifford Chance (CC) and Mayer Brown have taken lead roles on JP Morgan's £495m acquisition of Lehman Brothers' former London headquarters. The 25 Bank Street building in Canary Wharf will now serve as JP Morgan Investment Bank's new European headquarters, with the bank granted a 999-year lease on the building, which has more than one million sq ft of floor space. The building's current tenants include the Financial Services Authority, NYSE Euronext and Jones Lang LaSalle. However, it will be completely vacated by March this year and will then be occupied exclusively by JP Morgan.

By Friederike Heine

2 minute read

December 22, 2010 | International Edition

Jones Day has made two partner promotions in London as a part of a 36-strong global partnership round, which will take effect in the New Year (1 January). Alex Millar, who is joining the partnership in the US firm's City real estate practice, has worked on the development of and investment in business parks, retails parks, hotels and industrial estates.

By Friederike Heine

2 minute read

December 22, 2010 | International Edition

Ashurst has closed down its intellectual property (IP) litigation practice following the departure of its sole partner Ian Starr. Starr will join IP boutique D Young & Co on 1 January alongside senior associate Tamsin Holman, who will become a partner at the firm. They will also be joined by junior associates Cam Gatta and Anna Reid and two secretaries. Prior to joining Ashurst in 1993, Starr had been a partner at Clifford Chance (CC) since 1984. His practice focuses on the protection, enforcement and licensing of IP and related technology rights.

By Friederike Heine

2 minute read

December 21, 2010 | International Edition

Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan associates could take home up to $82,500 (£53,300) in bonus payouts after the US firm confirmed its 2010 associate bonuses. Bonuses will range from $8,438 (£5,449) for associates who joined in 2009 and worked between 2,000 and 2,099 hours, through to $82,500 (£53,256) for the most senior associates (class of 2003) working at least 3,000 hours during 2010.

By Friederike Heine

3 minute read

December 20, 2010 | International Edition

DLA Piper has been appointed as a preferred adviser to Northern Ireland Water, following a competitive tender process led out of Belfast by the company's legal director Callum Sinclair. The national firm competed with four other firms for the role - Eversheds, CMS Cameron McKenna, Dundas & Wilson and Herbert Smith.

By Friederike Heine

2 minute read

December 17, 2010 | International Edition

Linklaters has been named as the UK's most diverse law firm in 2010 according to the Black Solicitors Network (BSN) Diversity League Table, which ranks firms based on information from 48 law firms. The ranking combines law firm demographics across four different strands of diversity - disability, ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation - with policy and practice information from the firms.

By Friederike Heine

2 minute read