Legal Week

July 31, 2009 | International Edition

The $173.6m (£89m) negligence claim brought by the creditors of failed UK company Stone & Rolls against accountancy firm Moore Stephens was struck out by the House of Lords yesterday (30 July). The failure of the case - one of the largest and most high-profile claims funded by a third party in the UK - will be seen as a blow for backers IM Litigation Funding.

By Legal Week

2 minute read

July 31, 2009 | International Edition

Herbert Smith has bulked up its corporate crime practice with the hire of fraud specialist Graham More from the Serious Fraud Office (SFO).

By Legal Week

2 minute read

July 31, 2009 | International Edition

Paul Hastings Janofsky & Walker's global real estate chief Philip Feder has replaced Mark Eagan as the US firm's London managing partner.

By Legal Week

2 minute read

July 30, 2009 | International Edition

Journalists are sometimes criticised for making lawyers overly focused on profits. The theory is that the profession has become overly bent around the one metric of profits per equity partner (PEP) and that the media has played its part by publishing those numbers. Personally, I think the idea that the media introduced greed to an innocent and unsuspecting profession is nonsense. The legal profession has grown rapidly in recent years, and when that happens to any industry you get more transparency. That's a natural development of a healthy business services market, and it comes with the territory. I also don't know of any industry where a core measure of profitability hasn't become well established.

By Legal Week

3 minute read

July 30, 2009 | International Edition

Norton Rose, Eversheds and Al Tamimi assess the issues in key emerging markets.

By Legal Week

1 minute read

July 30, 2009 | International Edition

Taylor Wessing has announced its partner promotions, with 17 made up to the firm's partnership. The firm's London office received just two new partners, a third of last year's total when six were made up in the City, while one associate was made up in the firm's Cambridge base.

By Legal Week

1 minute read

July 30, 2009 | International Edition

Last week's report on the professions by Alan Milburn, which criticised the legal profession for failing to deliver on social mobility, has generated plenty of debate. But when it comes down to it, the main barrier preventing candidates from poorer backgrounds from getting into a career in law is firms' requirement that recruits obtain a minimum A-level score (usually 320 UCAS points, or ABB).

By Legal Week

3 minute read

July 30, 2009 | International Edition

Linklaters is set to lose a partner in Germany as Berlin-based real estate partner Jens Bock quits to join a local firm. Bock is leaving the magic circle firm to join Clifford Chance (CC) spin-off Sammler Usinger, along with M&A counsel Thomas Rieger. The duo will both join Sammler as partners, with Bock making the move on 1 September and Rieger on 1 November.

By Legal Week

2 minute read

July 30, 2009 | International Edition

Do you want to know how your customer relationship management (CRM) database could do much of your marketing admin for you, as well as automatically ensure you target the right people with the right information at the right time and in the right way? Let's take a look at one contact in your CRM database. James is a good contact - he is in a position to instruct your firm, so he's someone you communicate with regularly.

By Legal Week

5 minute read

July 30, 2009 | International Edition

If the old adage stands true that in adversity there is opportunity, in-house lawyers in the Middle East have never had such a good opportunity to entrench their role as trusted legal adviser. As the global economic slump tightens its grip on the Middle East, in-house legal teams have experienced increased pressure to scale back on resources and mitigate risk. But while there are undoubtedly challenges ahead, in-house lawyers should seize the chance to close the gap on their Western counterparts in Europe and the US, delegates at Legal Week's second annual Middle East Corporate Counsel Forum were told.

By Legal Week

4 minute read