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International Edition

Modern magic

The expansion of the Walt Disney Company has brought fresh challenges for its European general counsel, Peter Wiley. He speaks to Leigh Jackson about international growth, bringing Disney into the digital age and life at Disney castle
6 minute read

International Edition

UBS in-houser quits over securities investigation

UBS investment banking general counsel David Aufhauser has resigned from his post following allegations of involvement in the bank's alleged sale of auction-rate securities (ARS) based on inside market knowledge. The Swiss bank is currently being investigated by New York attorney general Andrew Cuomo as part of a wider probe into securities on Wall Street.
2 minute read

International Edition

Compensation for America's top GCs - world-leading and still defying gravity

Give Gary Lynch credit for making a dramatic entrance. The chief legal officer for New York-based Morgan Stanley debuted on Corporate Counsel's annual survey of general counsel compensation with a whopping $6.3m (£3.15m) bonus. That large pot of cash earned him the number two spot overall on our elite roster. A look at America's 100 top-paid general counsel in 2007, as measured by the 2008 general counsel (GC) compensation survey, shows that he's in good company. Simply put, the top legal officers at Fortune 500 companies raked it in. And that was true even for those heading the law departments at such financial institutions as Morgan Stanley, which are reeling after the collapse of the subprime mortgage market.
14 minute read

International Edition

OFT stays in-house to appoint new general counsel

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has ended its search for a new general counsel with the internal appointment of Frances Barr.Barr, a competition specialist and a legal director with the OFT, has worked for the regulator for the last 10 years, having previously worked in private practice at Slaughter and May.The appointment follows the retirement of former general counsel Brian McHenry, who stepped down from the post in May. Senior director of policy, Ali Nikpay, had been holding the position on a temporary basis for the last two months.
2 minute read

International Edition

Ride to the rescue

Lawyers at Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae got word of the plan on 11 July, a Friday, after they and company executives had spent a week watching their stocks tank. To restore public confidence in the mortgage giants, the US Treasury Department was stepping in with a sweeping plan that would allow them access to billions of dollars in public money.In Washington DC, where Fannie Mae is based, and across the Potomac, at Freddie Mac's home base in McLean, in-house lawyers got to work. It was going to be a very long, sleep-deprived weekend. "We were basically there around the clock", and living on "stale sandwiches and bags of potato chips", says Robert Bostrom, Freddie Mac's general counsel.
7 minute read

International Edition

Germany: Internal affairs

On 15 November, 2006, more than 200 policemen descended on the Munich headquarters of German technology giant Siemens and the homes and offices of 30 Siemens executives around Germany to comb the premises for incriminating documents. It was one of Europe's dreaded 'dawn raids', a term that bears little relation to the time of day but usually denotes the start of a tiresome ballet between the government and a company suspected of wrongdoing. In the traditional European model of prosecution, corporations stonewall and fight to the bitter end.
17 minute read

International Edition

Fund management company hires first GC

Investment management company FourWinds Capital Management has appointed former Herbert Smith partner Louise Freestone as its first-ever general counsel. Freestone joined the Boston-based natural resources fund management company's London office earlier this month (21 July) and will report directly to chief executive Kimberley Tara.
2 minute read

International Edition

OFT names Barr as new general counsel

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has ended its two-month search for a new general counsel with the internal appointment of Frances Barr, Legal Week can reveal.Barr, a competition specialist and a legal director with the OFT, has worked with the regulator for the last 10 years.
2 minute read

International Edition

BAE hunts for senior talent ahead of legal review

Aerospace and defence giant BAE Systems is set to expand its in-house legal team as part of an extensive overhaul of its legal function that will ultimately see external advisers reviewed. The department, led by general counsel Philip Bramwell, has already made a series of hires - with Clyde & Co lawyer Jo Talbot joining this week to head dispute resolution and risk management across the group. Talbot's appointment marks the half-way point in Bramwell's three-year restructuring of the legal team, which began when he joined from telecoms company O2 in January 2007. A series of further hires are also expected over the next few months.
2 minute read

International Edition

Energy giant United Utilities merges in-house teams in legal restructuring

United Utilities general counsel Tom Keevil has overhauled the energy giant's legal function and made a number of senior internal appointments within the team. As part of the revamp Keevil has merged the FTSE 100 company's distinct regulatory and non-regulatory legal teams into a single unit, with four teams put in place to deal with commercial, litigation, property and environmental matters.
2 minute read

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