Gerard Starkey

February 06, 2013 | International Edition

Pinsent Masons is to launch a freelance lawyer service, offering businesses temporary legal professionals on an ad hoc basis.Dubbed 'Vario', the new service which will go live in the spring will provide competition to similar ventures such as Eversheds' Agile service and Berwin Leighton Paisner's (BLP) Lawyers on Demand.

By Gerard Starkey

2 minute read

February 05, 2013 | International Edition

DAC Beachcroft saw its net debt climb from £10m to £34m during the last financial year, with accounts recently filed with Companies House revealing that £8.3m of this was used to fund Beachcroft's acquisition of legacy Davies Arnold Cooper. The limited liability partnership (LLP) accounts show the debt comprised £29.6m of bank overdrafts, compared with £5.1m the previous year, with a slight increase in bank loans as well to just over £8m.

By Gerard Starkey

3 minute read

February 05, 2013 | International Edition

Eversheds has appointed corporate partner Stephen Kitts as its new Asia managing partner following the departure of Nick Seddon last month. Kitts, who recently relocated to Asia from the UK, will preside over a brand new Asia management team consisting of head of corporate Stephen Mok, head of litigation Ivan Ng, and head of finance King Tak Fung.

By Gerard Starkey

2 minute read

February 04, 2013 | International Edition

DLA Piper is expected to unveil an 8.6% increase in worldwide revenues for 2012, with turnover at the global giant set to rise to $2.44bn (£1.55bn), reports The American Lawyer. According to the report, profits also grew significantly, with profits per equity partner (PEP) rising 6.9% to $1.31m (£833,000) while lawyer headcount also grew, up 291 on last year's figure to around 4,000.

By Gerard Starkey

3 minute read

February 04, 2013 | International Edition

DWF is set to finalise a pre-pack deal to acquire Cobbetts tomorrow (5 February), Legal Week understands, with some Cobbetts partners expected to leave the firm as a result of the deal. The expected confirmation of the deal comes after DWF last Thursday (31 January) announced its intention to acquire Cobbetts, with the process of transferring people across to DWF expected to start "in the next seven days", pending final approval.

By Gerard Starkey

2 minute read

February 01, 2013 | International Edition

Brabners Chaffe Street and Walker Morris have advised on some of the biggest football transfers during the January transfer window, with the firms taking roles on multimillion-pound moves involving the two major Manchester clubs. This January's transfer window, which reportedly saw Premier League clubs spend as much as £120m, included a £19m deal which saw controversial Manchester City striker Mario Balotelli return to his adopted homeland to join Italian giant AC Milan.

By Gerard Starkey

2 minute read

February 01, 2013 | International Edition

Osborne Clarke (OC) has added three partners to its London office with the hire of a Dundas & Wilson team along with ex-partner John Pike. Pike - the former CEO of Stephenson Harwood - quit Dundas in September after just six months at the firm, and is joined at OC by finance associates Ben Truman, who is joining OC as a partner, Richard Hathaway and Pauline Ho.

By Gerard Starkey

3 minute read

January 31, 2013 | International Edition

Baker & McKenzie and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer are among a group of top firms leading on a £700m refinancing deal for Spire Healthcare Group, which has seen the sale and leaseback of 12 UK hospitals to a consortium of international investors. The consortium features Malaysian pension fund Employees Provident Fund (EPF) – which was last year part of a group of Malaysian investors that bought London's Battersea Power Station – alongside US hedge fund Och-Ziff Capital Management and private equity group Moor Park Capital Partners.

By Gerard Starkey

2 minute read

January 31, 2013 | International Edition

With three major law firms announcing sizeable job cuts before the end of January, 2013 already looks near certain to be marked by a fresh run of legal redundancies as the UK economy flirts with a triple-dip recession. As Legal Week went to press, Clyde & Co and Olswang had also indicated that they may make a small number of redundancies, potentially adding to the roll call of major law firms making cuts in the past three months. Ominously, news also emerged on Wednesday (30 January) that Manchester firm Cobbetts was set to enter administration.

By Gerard Starkey

4 minute read

January 31, 2013 | International Edition

DWF is set to acquire financially stricken Cobbetts in a pre-pack deal, Legal Week can reveal. The deal, which is subject approval from the courts, will be pushed through after Cobbetts yesterday (30 January) filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators ahead of a fire sale of its business.

By Gerard Starkey

4 minute read