Friederike Heine

September 24, 2010 | International Edition

Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom has taken a lead role advising on Lotus Motorsport's alliance deal with French motor racing team ART Grand Prix. Skadden has advised both parties in connection with the tie-up, which will see Lotus provide technical and engineering support to ART Grand Prix. The US firm fielded a team led by Paris-based corporate partner Armand Grumberg, assisted by corporate associate Norman Sulliman.

By Friederike Heine

2 minute read

September 24, 2010 | International Edition

Shearman & Sterling has signed an exclusive deal with Kaplan Law School to provide the Legal Practice Course (LPC) and Graduate Diploma of Law (GDL) for its London trainees. As a part of the agreement, which will start in Autumn 2011, trainees at the US firm's London office will participate in Kaplan's 'Bridge to Practice' programme, which is designed to ease the transition from the LPC into a commercial law firm. The programme comprises practical modules and work experience, including workshops on topics such as working with partners, negotiation, legal ethics and internal law firm politics.

By Friederike Heine

2 minute read

September 23, 2010 | International Edition

Ashurst's head of securities and structured finance Erica Handling is leaving the firm to take up a new role as EMEA general counsel at Barclays Capital. Handling, who joined Ashurst in 2000, has significantly contributed to the development of the firm's global finance practice, and was part of the team that led the firm's surprise US law launch in February last year with the hire of a 10-partner structured finance team from US ally McKee Nelson.

By Friederike Heine

2 minute read

September 22, 2010 | International Edition

Deutsche Bank has embarked on a full-scale panel review that will see it reassess its legal advisers on a global, jurisdictional and product level. The overhaul, which is being led by UK and Western Europe general counsel Emma Slatter, will focus on cost-savings and risk-sharing as well as value-added extras.

By Friederike Heine

2 minute read

September 22, 2010 | International Edition

Office of Government Commerce agency Buying Solutions has kicked off the first phase of a review of its 48-strong legal panel as the Government looks to cut both legal spend and the number of law firms it instructs. The organisation has begun talks with all of the law firms on its panel, formerly known as Catalist, amid continued questions over the Government's efforts to centralise Whitehall legal spending. A team of procurement officers will compile a comprehensive report on current market trends in order to assess what to expect from advisers in terms of fee arrangements and other value-added services.

By Friederike Heine

3 minute read

September 22, 2010 | International Edition

Nationwide Building Society has kicked off a review of its commercial lending panel, one of a handful of sub-panels not reviewed when the company set up its first-ever group-wide legal roster in July last year. The review, which was started two weeks ago by general counsel Liz Kelly, will see Nationwide assess the current line-up of approximately 60 advisers with a view to significantly reducing the number of firms on the panel.

By Friederike Heine

2 minute read

September 22, 2010 | International Edition

Justice minister Jonathan Djanogly has confirmed that the first Alternative Business Structures (ABS) will be up and running from next October, following prolonged speculation over the coalition Government's intentions for the planned reforms. In a speech to the Law Society this morning (22 September), Djanogly stated that "no one should be under the illusion that I wish to delay ABS introduction, and all lawyers should be preparing for its introduction".

By Friederike Heine

2 minute read

September 22, 2010 | International Edition

Olswang has strengthened its City litigation practice with the hire of an international arbitration and construction partner from Baker & McKenzie. Andrew Aglionby, who will join the firm's London office on 1 October, is based in Bakers' Hong Kong office in the firm's dispute resolution group. He has also headed up the firm's construction group in Hong Kong, as well as its international arbitration practice for the Asia-Pacific region.

By Friederike Heine

2 minute read

September 22, 2010 | International Edition

Field Fisher Waterhouse has strengthened its litigation practice with the hire of litigation partner Jonathan Ray-Smith, who joined the firm last week (13 September) from City boutique McFaddens. Ray-Smith, who has over 10 years' experience as a litigation partner, acts for both corporate and private clients on a diverse range of civil litigation and dispute resolu-tion cases.

By Friederike Heine

2 minute read

September 22, 2010 | International Edition

The Competition Commission and the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) have published joint merger assessment guidelines for the first time, in a move which has intensified speculation that the two bodies could merge to form a single oversight body. The joint guidelines, which were published last week (16 September), have been created to provide greater clarity to companies and their advisers on how both bodies will assess the competitive impact of a merger. The guidelines revise and expand guidance previously issued separately by the two watchdogs, with partners at City firms praising the move as a "productive step forward".

By Friederike Heine

3 minute read