Corporate

catching up race

Slaughters and Linklaters can breathe a huge sigh of relief

Hooray, big-ticket M&A is having a mini-revival and so are the firms that make so much of their money out of it. Already in 2024, major European M&A deals to have been announced include International Paper’s £5.8bn planned acquisition of London-listed packaging company DS Smith, which trumped another offer from rival Mondi. Other significant matters […]

Two exits in a day: Linklaters M&A partner joins Paul Weiss

Linklaters has lost two partners today, with Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison being the latest to swipe an M&A hire from the magic circle firm. Matthew Hearn has joined Paul Weiss in London as a partner in the corporate department. Hearn has spent just over 10 years with Linklaters, which is where he completed […]

Kirkland, Gherkin

Kirkland’s ex-Paul Weiss and STB hires lead on KPS deal

Kirkland & Ellis has banded together its high-profile recruits from Paul Weiss and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett in its recent transaction for KPS Capital Partners. Leading for the private equity group’s majority stake purchase of sports surfaces business Sport Group, the US firm’s London team was made up of partners and associates from Kirkland’s hiring […]

Redundancy

Knights joins wave of firm redundancies

Listed firm Knights has become the latest firm to make lawyers redundant across the country, The Lawyer can reveal. It is understood that both partner and associate roles have been cut across the firm’s restructuring and insolvency, corporate, and real estate teams. The redundancies have taken place across the firm’s offices in the UK, with […]

Business people meeting, shaking hands

City talk: Charles Russell Speechlys’ corporate team has a secret weapon

Charles Russell Speechlys has hit the ground running on partner hires in the first quarter of 2024. The recruitment of corporate partners Alexis Karim and Giles Dennison in January from DWF and Eversheds respectively, immediately followed by Edwin Coe finance partner James Walton and firm alum Richard Ellis, have been just a glimpse of the firm’s […]

Ted Baker

Ted Baker fallout: Slaughters and Simmons among firms in leading roles

Slaughter and May and Simmons & Simmons are respectively on to represent Authentic Brands Group and Ted Baker’s holding company No Ordinary Designer Label as the fashion retailer files its intention to appoint administrators. Hundreds of high street jobs were put at risk after Tuesday’s announcement that Ted Baker would be in want of a […]

ice cream

Linklaters takes the lead on Unilever’s ice cream split

Unilever’s longstanding advisers at Linklaters have secured the lead role on the consumer goods conglomerate’s split with its ice cream business. The Linklaters team was made up of repeat advisers to the client, including corporate partners Charles Turner and Michael Fanner, Netherlands’ national managing partner Guido Portier and tax partner Lynne Walkington. Capital markets partner […]

PE partner returns to private practice after seven-year break

The former head of Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson’s London office – Graham White – has taken on a new role in the City after retiring in 2017. White joins McDermott Will & Emery in London as a senior partner. He had formerly run Fried Frank’s London office between 2014 and 2017. McDermott’s London […]

10 Upper Bank Street Clifford Chance

Clifford Chance PE partner exits for Paul Weiss

Paul Weiss is continuing its London office expansion, hiring another private equity partner from Clifford Chance. Oliver Marcuse is set to join the US firm, just months after former magic circle colleague Chris Sullivan made the same move. Marcuse was promoted to the firm’s partnership in 2022, having spent his career at Clifford Chance. Secondments […]

vodafone

Slaughters and Travers among firms advising on Vodafone’s €8bn Italian sale

Slaughter and May has represented long-time client Vodafone on the telecommunications giant’s latest sale of its Italian business to Swisscom. The Slaughters team was steered by corporate partners Victoria MacDuff and James Cook, along with associates Serena Hopkins, Anika Sethy and Iain Meiklejohn. The firm also fielded a sizeable team of tax, commercial and employment […]