Sofia Lind

June 24, 2011 | International Edition

The shell business of legacy firm Dawsons has gone into liquidation after failing to pay back debts to creditors, including a sum of almost £1m owed to Barclays. The firm merged into Penningtons earlier this year, with 40 lawyers including seven partners moving across as of 1 May, but was renamed 2 New Square LLP for the purpose of the wind-up process.

By Sofia Lind

2 minute read

June 22, 2011 | International Edition

Norton Rose has made a number of top-level management changes, including the creation of a new deputy managing partner role for the Norton Rose LLP. Global corporate chief Tim Marsden has been handed the new role in the wake of the enlargement of Norton Rose Group following the firm's recent Canada and South Africa mergers.

By Sofia Lind

3 minute read

June 22, 2011 | International Edition

Stephenson Harwood has added to its City real estate practice with the hire of McGrigors London partner Stephen Sumpton. Sumpton, who made the move between the two firms earlier this month (6 June), had been a partner at McGrigors since 2002. Before that he also spent 10 years at Baker & McKenzie in the firm's London and Moscow offices, as well as two years at legacy KPMG legal arm KLegal.

By Sofia Lind

2 minute read

June 22, 2011 | International Edition

While the initial response to Weil Gotshal & Manges' daring four-partner raid on Clifford Chance's (CC's) private equity funds team focused on what the move meant for Weil Gotshal's UK ambitions, as the dust settles the wider significance for the City market will be defined far more by what the loss ultimately means for CC. There is no doubt that the move punches a sizeable hole in one of the City firm's marquee practice areas. By its own admission, it doesn't currently have the partner ranks to service its existing funds clients once the departing partners – Ed Gander, Nigel Clark and Nick Benson and tax partner Jonathan Kandel – have left. Of course, this is before considering whether clients' patience will hold out – the team having already recently lost high-profile team head Jason Glover to Simpson Thacher & Barlett.

By Sofia Lind

6 minute read

June 17, 2011 | International Edition

Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) is set to open its second Asia base in Hong Kong, in a bid to target work in the Chinese real estate sector. The firm is currently in the final planning stages for a Hong Kong launch, and is expecting approval of its licence application within weeks, with the firm hoping to be able to announce initial staffing for the office at that point.

By Sofia Lind

3 minute read

June 16, 2011 | International Edition

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has been approved as a licensing authority for Alternative Business Structures (ABSs) ahead of the implementation of this October's 'Tesco law' reforms. The Legal Services Board (LSB) rubber-stamped the SRA application at a meeting this week (13 June), with non-lawyer ownership of law firms set to be permitted from this October.

By Sofia Lind

2 minute read

June 15, 2011 | International Edition

Herbert Smith has hired Taylor Wessing's financial services regulatory team head Clive Cunningham in a bid to target more non-contentious regulatory work. Cunningham, who is expected to join Herbert Smith after the summer, has been a partner at Taylor Wessing since November 2006, when he joined from Merrill Lynch's in-house legal team. He previously worked at both Linklaters and KLegal.

By Sofia Lind

2 minute read

June 15, 2011 | International Edition

Linklaters and Norton Rose have won first-time appointments as UK insurer RSA expands its global legal panel from three firms to five. The FTSE 100 company has selected the pair to sit alongside existing panel firms Allen & Overy, Slaughter and May and Ashurst, with all five firms appointed to advise on corporate and commercial matters for a three-year term.

By Sofia Lind

2 minute read

June 15, 2011 | International Edition

Travers Smith’s former senior partner Alasdair Douglas (pictured) has been named as the next chairman of the City of London Law Society (CLLS). Douglas…

By Sofia Lind

2 minute read

June 15, 2011 | International Edition

A trio of magic circle firms have advised on Santander's £3.75bn bond sale, in one of the biggest UK residential mortgage-backed securities deals since the financial crisis. Slaughter and May took the lead role for Santander, while Allen & Overy (A&O) acted for the joint bookrunners, which comprised Barclays Capital, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley and Santander Global Banking & Markets. Linklaters also won a role on the transaction advising the trustee.

By Sofia Lind

2 minute read