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International Edition

Commentary: Who will worship in St Paul's new cathedral?

Where Mayer Brown was, initially at least, a union of a good-but-sleepy London firm with a good-but-sleepy US law firm with too much regard for its own status, the Florida-based Greenberg Traurig exudes entrepreneurialism and drive unencumbered by self-image or the weight of tradition.
5 minute read

International Edition

Stephenson Harwood names new managing partner for China

Stephenson Harwood & Lo has appointed a new managing partner for Greater China, with current post-holder John Gale set to retire. The firm has named Asia business and technology head Voon Keat Lai as its new Greater China head, with Lai to take the helm at the beginning of July.
2 minute read

International Edition

Linklaters and Freshfields take 2009 Euro M&A top spots

Linklaters and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer dominated European M&A activity during the first half of 2009. Research from Mergermarket, exclusively provided to Legal Week, shows that Freshfields has moved to the top of the European rankings by value, working on 63 deals worth €94.29bn (£80bn).
2 minute read

International Edition

M&A lawyers weather slowest deal market for six years in tough H1

City partners have seen the lowest levels of M&A activity since early 2003 during the first half of this year, with few optimistic of a significant recovery any time soon. Figures from Legal Week's data provider, Mergermarket, show that in Europe there were 1,449 deals during the first half of 2009 worth $169.1bn (£102bn), compared with 3,175 deals worth $504.9bn (£315bn) during the same period in 2008 and 3,365 deals worth $846bn (£514bn) during the first half of 2007.
2 minute read

International Edition

Bakers names new chair to oversee Southeast Asia offices

Baker & McKenzie has appointed M&A partner Clive Cook as chair of its Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesian offices. Cook is relocating to the region to take up the newly-created role as of 1 July. He will be based in Singapore and will take overall responsibility for the firm's four branches in the region - Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Manila and Singapore - with each office retaining a managing partner of its own.
2 minute read

International Edition

Former Latham partner jailed for defrauding clients and firm

A former partner at Latham & Watkins has been sentenced to 15 months in prison and ordered to pay a $10,000 (£6,000) fine and $350,000 (£210,000) in restitution to Latham for defrauding both clients and his own firm. Samuel Fishman, an M&A specialist in the US firm's New York office from 1993 to 2005, pleaded guilty to a single count of mail fraud in March 2008. He faced a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
2 minute read

International Edition

Germany and Austria: Broad measures

On April 24, 2009, almost unnoticed by the public, an important amendment to the German Foreign Trade and Payments Act (Aussenwirtschaftsgesetz - AWG) entered into force. The amendment materially impacts a significant number of transactions involving German businesses and allows the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (MET) to prohibit investors outside Europe from buying German enterprises or voting stakes of 25% or more in German companies if such acquisitions constitute a threat to the security or public policy of the Federal Republic of Germany.
9 minute read

International Edition

Dealmaker: John Bennett

BLP's unfailingly upbeat head of corporate on hiring Neville, selling Tottenham Hotspur and 'circling back'
3 minute read

International Edition

Partners predict market consolidation as downturn drives merger interest

Two out of three partners believe the recession will present attractive opportunities to secure opportunistic mergers, suggesting that the UK market could be set for a run of consolidation. The latest Big Question survey found that 68% of partners believe the downturn will present attractive opportunities to secure domestic mergers. A further 28% thought there may be such deals, leaving only 4% claiming such unions were unlikely.
4 minute read

International Edition

Magic circle duo lead on £41bn mega-merger

Linklaters and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer have won lead roles as mining giants Anglo American and Xstrata discuss a potential merger worth £41bn. Anglo-Swiss group Xstrata confirmed this week (21 June) that it had approached the board of Anglo American about a possible union.
2 minute read

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