Sofia Lind

March 11, 2011 | International Edition

SNR Denton has taken a lead role on the takeover bid for Watford Football Club. The London office of the transatlantic firm is advising the Championship football club's parent company - AIM-listed Watford Leisure PLC - on the £440,000 bid launched on the London Stock Exchange yesterday (10 March) by Watford FC Limited.

By Sofia Lind

2 minute read

March 11, 2011 | International Edition

Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou has paid Bird & Bird almost £400,000 to settle a claim brought against him by the firm over unpaid legal fees. Bird & Bird sued Sir Stelios in November last year for around £389,000 of unpaid legal fees run up easyGroup IP Licensing on a brand dispute over the use of the easyJet name.

By Sofia Lind

2 minute read

March 10, 2011 | International Edition

Clifford Chance (CC) is set to pay out a new spring bonus to its US associates, following the trend seen in the US legal market in recent months. The magic circle firm informed its New York and Washington DC associates today (10 March) that they will receive a bonus ranging from $2,500 (£1,600) to $20,000 (£12,400), depending on post-qualification experience. The scale starts at $2,500 for associates who qualified in 2010, with the top figure of $20,000 awarded to associates who qualified in 2006 or earlier.

By Sofia Lind

2 minute read

March 10, 2011 | International Edition

Allen & Overy (A&O) and Slaughter and May have taken lead roles on a £1.2bn refinancing for Gatwick Airport. The refinancing, which closed last week ( 2 March), saw Slaughters act for Gatwick Airport and its largest shareholder Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), with A&O advising the lead arranger Royal Bank of Scotland. The two-part refinancing comprised a £600m bond issue combined with a new £600m bank loan, with the deal fully refinancing GIP's £1.5bn acquisition of Gatwick from BAA in 2009.

By Sofia Lind

2 minute read

March 10, 2011 | International Edition

Senior lawyers remain convinced that hiring partners is an effective way to build their firm's business despite concerns over the difficulty of finding and integrating promising candidates. The latest Big Question survey found that 64% of respondents believed hiring partners laterally was an effective means of strategically developing a law firm, including 15% who said it was 'very effective'. A further 32% felt it was 'quite effective' while 4% said it either did not work or was counterproductive.

By Sofia Lind

5 minute read

March 10, 2011 | International Edition

Bird & Bird has strengthened its energy practice with a double partner hire from SNR Denton in the UK. The top 20 UK law firm has hired SNR Denton's joint London heads of climate change, renewables and cleantech, Matt Bonass and Michael Rudd, to join its international energy and utilities sector group.

By Sofia Lind

2 minute read

March 09, 2011 | International Edition

SNR Denton has kicked off a search for a new UK chief executive, as the transatlantic firm prepares to overhaul its global governance structure and amend its partnership deed in line with forthcoming changes to partner pay. Former Denton Wilde Sapte chairman Martin Kitchen has been named as the merged firm's interim UK chief executive, with the firm hoping to have a shortlist of candidates for the role by the end of the month.

By Sofia Lind

3 minute read

March 09, 2011 | International Edition

Many of the City's leading law firms are delaying their preparations for fundamental changes to the way firms are regulated, as they wait for amended guidelines from the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). Only two of the UK's 10 largest law firms by revenue have confirmed that they have started to make changes in preparation for outcomes-focused regulation (OFR), which will see the SRA's detailed rulebook replaced with an approach founded on broader principles, rather than prescriptive rules, from October this year.

By Sofia Lind

3 minute read

March 09, 2011 | International Edition

Ropes & Gray has recruited a Jones Day partner for its London private equity practice, in the second partner addition to the new team this month. The US firm has sealed the hire of Peter Baldwin, who has been at Jones Day since 2008 after joining from Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft.

By Sofia Lind

2 minute read

March 07, 2011 | International Edition

Reynolds Porter Chamberlain (RPC) has taken a two lawyer team from SJ Berwin, including the top 20 firm's head of outsourcing. David Meredith has joined RPC as a partner, alongside senior associate Andrew Sutherland, who will take up the position of legal director.

By Sofia Lind

2 minute read