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International Edition

Lehman cost-cutting seals panel place for Simmons

US investment bank Lehman Brothers has extended its main UK legal roster, adding top 10 City firm Simmons & Simmons to its list of preferred advisers.Simmons, which has been doing an increasing amount of work for the bank over the last 12 months, joins Lehman's established UK advisers - Linklaters, Allen & Overy, Ashurst, Lovells, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Weil Gotshal & Manges - following a review that also saw the bank crack down on fee arrangements with outside counsel.
2 minute read

International Edition

NHSLA keeps faith with panel firms after six-month review

The National Health Service Litigation Authority (NHSLA) has left its line-up of clinical negligence advisers largely untouched following the influential body's closely-watched panel review. The organisation has retained 11 of its 12 existing advisers following the review, with south of England practice Brachers the only firm to miss out.
2 minute read

International Edition

Pinsents loses out as National Grid completes panel review

FTSE 100 energy giant National Grid has finalised its UK-based general commercial and disputes panel with historic adviser Pinsent Masons missing out on a place on the main roster. Wragge & Co and Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) have won places as general advisers to National Grid, with Eversheds mandated to advise on commercial litigation and construction work. National rival Hammonds will advise on general commercial and health and safety matters. Pinsents, while missing out on a formal place on the panel, will continue to provide competition advice.
2 minute read

International Edition

Clydes loses lawyer to mobile operator 3

Clyde & Co competition lawyer Mark Warrington has been swiped by mobile phone operator 3 to head up its in-house competition capability. Warrington, who worked on the UK's first-ever class action against JJB sports last year, will work alongside the mobile company's in-house regulatory division and report to general counsel Stephen Lerner. His appointment brings the operator's in-house legal team to a total of 15 lawyers.
1 minute read

International Edition

Corporate Counsel: Legal regeneration

Since making the move to the London Development Agency (LDA) from air traffic control company NATS last year, general counsel Debbie Adams has set in motion the wheels of change at the body's legal team. After inheriting a skeleton legal team of nine secondees and temporary lawyers, Adams earlier this year began hiring a raft of new lawyers at all levels of seniority. She says that her new team will be able to tackle a daily diet of contracts and projects work as well as playing a major role in Adams' ambitious plan to slash the LDA's annual legal costs by £3m. It is no mean feat for a body that is charged with tackling a raft of major projects, including a wealth of complex legal issues surrounding the 2012 Olympics and ensuring the legacy of related development
6 minute read

International Edition

McDermott in for F&C on £13m Switalski claim

McDermott Will & Emery is advising F&C Asset Management as the company appeals a multimillion-pound sex discrimination claim upheld by an employment tribunal earlier this year. McDermott City chief David Dalgarno is leading the team advising F&C as it attempts to overturn the tribunal's decision last month to uphold a discrimination claim brought by F&C's former head of legal services, Gillian Switalski.
2 minute read

International Edition

NHSLA keeps faith with panel after six-month review

The National Health Service Litigation Authority (NHSLA) has declined to make major changes to its line-up of clinical negligence advisers following the influential body's closely-watched panel review. Eleven of 12 existing advisers are retained following the review, with south of England practice Brachers the only firm to miss out.
2 minute read

International Edition

City giants top slashed LS Trillium panel

Land Securities Trillium (LST) has slashed its roster of external advisers, with two-thirds of its previously preferred firms missing out, following the property outsourcing giant's first-ever formal panel review. Allen & Overy (A&O) and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer are handed coveted roles as LST's main strategic advisers at the top of a three-tier panel system.
2 minute read

International Edition

Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank makes first general counsel hire

Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB) has appointed Simon Copleston as its first-ever general counsel. Copleston joined the bank from the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) on 8 January to become the first lawyer to hold the post. The appointment is Copleston's latest in-house position in the Middle East after leaving Olswang in January 2006 to join investment house Dubai International Capital. It is understood he will be responsible for building up the bank's legal function to around five lawyers by the end of the year.
2 minute read

International Edition

Corporate counsel: Information overload?

Legal directories, those weighty tomes ranking lawyers in league tables according to jurisdiction and practice area, have long been an established feature on the bookshelves of general counsel. Yet while many general counsel are hesitant to confirm that they are useful, the growth of UK-based directories such as Chambers and Partners and the Legal 500 and US directory Lawdragon during the past decade is testimony to the fact that they have filled a gap in the market. But are they, as some corporate counsel argue, a self-perpetuating marketing-arena for law firms, or a useful tool for clients?
7 minute read

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