Legal Week

August 06, 2009 | International Edition

Dechert funds heavyweight Peter Astleford on keeping things simple and thinking like a client

By Legal Week

4 minute read

August 06, 2009 | International Edition

Maurice Allen just can't stop hitting the headlines. After joining Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer last year following stints at White & Case, Weil Gotshal & Manges and Clifford Chance, he had resigned himself to being a largish cog in the City giant's recently restructured banking machine. True, some thought Allen would chafe within the institutional confines of Freshfields - but that hardly looked a deal-breaker. Freshfields is as light on process and paperwork as you will get at a top-flight global firm. And while Allen's flamboyant personality may be hard to incorporate, Freshfields has previously proved more than willing to cut slack to big characters who deliver the goods.

By Legal Week

3 minute read

August 05, 2009 | International Edition

Mr Justice Munby has been appointed as the new chairman of the Law Commission, succeeding Lord Justice Etherton. Munby, who took over the position on 1 August for a three-year term, was appointed by the Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor Jack Straw to the non-political independent body set up in 1965 by Parliament.

By Legal Week

2 minute read

August 05, 2009 | International Edition

Allen & Overy's (A&O's) US antitrust chief has left the firm's New York arm to join local rival Howrey. Michael Jahnke joined the US firm this week (3 August) as a partner in its competition practice after seven years at the magic circle firm's US outpost.

By Legal Week

2 minute read

August 05, 2009 | International Edition

LG private capital practice head Andrew Young is leaving the firm to join wealth management business Opus Group. Young has spent more than a decade at LG, having joined as a partner from legacy firm Alsop Wilkinson in 1997. He will continue to be based in Dubai - where Opus recently opened up a new base - having relocated to LG's office in the emirate last year.

By Legal Week

2 minute read

August 05, 2009 | International Edition

Lovells has retained 69% of its September qualifiers, placing the firm broadly in line with its City rivals. Thirty-six trainees from a qualifying intake of 40 applied for a job at the firm, with a total of 25 taken on.

By Legal Week

2 minute read

August 05, 2009 | International Edition

Greenberg Traurig Maher (GTM) has made its first lateral partner hire since it launched in London earlier this summer, with the appointment of former White & Case partner Tim Jeveons. Jeveons, who resigned from the White & Case partnership in July, will launch a capital markets practice for GTM in London.

By Legal Week

2 minute read

August 04, 2009 | International Edition

Heller Ehrman's former employees are demanding better representation on the bankrupt estate's unsecured creditors committee because of what they call a lack of aggressiveness in pursuing former shareholders and collecting accounts receivable, reports The Recorder. The employees say they "lack an adequate voice on the committee" and are demanding the appointment of a former Heller employee to the committee who is not a former shareholder "nor aligned with former shareholder interests."

By Legal Week

2 minute read

August 04, 2009 | International Edition

Bank of America has agreed to pay $33m (£19.5m) for charges of allegedly misleading investors about billions in bonuses it agreed to pay Merrill Lynch executives when it was on the verge of acquiring Merrill for $50bn (£29.6bn) in a 2008 merger. The payment settles a civil suit filed in the Southern District of New York by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The SEC charged that proxy materials sent to Bank of America shareholders on the proposed acquisition stated that Merrill Lynch had agreed not to pay performance bonuses and other compensation to executives prior to the closing of the merger when, in fact, Bank of America had already contractually authorized Merrill Lynch to pay up to $5.8bn (£3.4bn).

By Legal Week

2 minute read

August 04, 2009 | International Edition

Weil Gotshal & Manges and Baker & McKenzie have taken lead roles on the €250m (£212.2m) private equity disposal of two European food distribution companies. South African trading and distribution company Bidvest is to acquire the Czech Republic's Nowaco and Poland's Farutex from funds associated with JP Morgan, and managed by CCMP Capital Advisors, and from Bancroft Private Equity.

By Legal Week

2 minute read