Jeremy Hodges

May 12, 2010 | Law.com

Herbert Smith and Latham & Watkins have taken roles on opposite sides of the �1.5 billion sale of Harrods to the Qatari royal family. Herbert Smith advised the Al Fayed Family Trust, while Latham acted for the Qataris. Latham has a strong presence in the region, after advising the Qatari Ministry of Economy and Finance last December on a $7 billion offering, the largest-ever bond issuance in the Middle East.

By Jeremy Hodges

2 minute read

March 09, 2010 | Law.com

Lovells is set to change the way it pays bonuses to its non-equity partners to bring them in line with merger partner Hogan & Hartson. The new system will see Lovells' salaried partners receive a fixed sum paid out of a central bonus pool directly related to the overall profits of the firm. The system will be phased in over a two-year period and ultimately lead to a bonus pool that amounts to 15 percent of the overall profits of the firm -- the percentage currently used by Hogan & Hartson.

By Jeremy Hodges

2 minute read

October 27, 2009 | Law.com

Ropes & Gray has made its first London lateral hire, just days after announcing the firm's entrance into the London market. Jonathan Bloom is set to join the nascent office's debt finance group from White & Case. His departure is a blow to White & Case's wider banking and capital markets practice, which has seen a number of departures over the year. Bloom had practiced in the firm's London office since January 2007, prior to which he was at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson.

By Jeremy Hodges

2 minute read

November 01, 2009 | Corporate Counsel

Court sets trial date for three accused of insider trading.

By By Jeremy Hodges

2 minute read

October 16, 2009 | Law.com

Ashurst has seen 22 partners leave its limited liability partnership since January -- equating to around 10 percent of its partnership as it stood at the beginning of the current financial year. The top 10 London law firm had 235 partners at the beginning of May. The number of departures is higher than the figure initially predicted in January, when it emerged that 10 partners were to leave Ashurst's equity over the course of this year in response to the economic downturn, including retirees.

By Jeremy Hodges

3 minute read

September 04, 2009 | Law.com

New partner promotions across the U.K.'s top 50 law firms plunged by a third between 2008 and 2009, with the downturn impacting lawyers' opportunities to make partner. Taking into account promotions at firms such as Clifford Chance and Simmons & Simmons, which pushed their decisions back until the summer, there were 399 promotions across the U.K.'s 50 biggest firms by revenue in 2009, compared with 598 in 2008.

By Jeremy Hodges

3 minute read

September 02, 2009 | Law.com

DLA Piper has bolstered its Europe, Middle East and Africa corporate practice with the addition of Linklaters partner Jon Hayes. Hayes, who trained at the Magic Circle firm and became a partner in 2001, joined DLA on Tuesday with the aim of boosting client ties with London corporations and international clients. He will work alongside DLA's EMEA corporate head Juan Picon.

By Jeremy Hodges

2 minute read

August 19, 2009 | Law.com

Sullivan & Cromwell's London office has sealed its second deal for Rio Tinto in little more than a month, advising on the $2 billion disposal of four packaging business units of its subsidiary Alcan. The mining giant is offloading Alcan's tobacco and drug packaging units as well as its European and Asian food packaging arms to Australian group Amcor. Sullivan enlisted about 10 other firms for specialist advice across Europe.

By Jeremy Hodges

2 minute read

July 08, 2009 | Law.com

Sullivan & Cromwell has completed its first U.K. corporate deal for Rio Tinto, acting opposite Baker & McKenzie on the $1.2 billion disposal of Rio's Alcan Food Americas division to U.S. packaging company Bemis. The disposal comes little more than a month after Rio announced a $15.2 billion rights issue and joint venture with one-time merger partner BHP Billiton and the collapse of a $19.5 billion deal with Chinese resource giant Chinalco.

By Jeremy Hodges

2 minute read

March 19, 2009 | Corporate Counsel

Terra Firma general counsel Tim Pryce is taking over from Guy Hands as the buyout house's chief executive. Pryce's promotion makes him one of only a handful of general counsel to make the leap to chief executive in Europe. However, recent general counsel appointments such as Weil Gotshal & Manges' Alison Hampton at HgCapital and Travers Smith's Charles Barter at Bridgepoint Capital suggest that the scope is expanding for lawyers within private equity houses.

By Jeremy Hodges

2 minute read