Advisers from Latham & Watkins and Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom have led on US conglomerate Danaher Corporation’s recent acquisition of Cambridge-based life science innovator Abcam in a $5.7bn transaction. Since Abcam’s AIM delisting in December 2022, Latham is understood to have been working closely with the company’s executive board as it faced calls […]
Bird & Bird is set to defend a life sciences patent dispute in September in what will be the first-ever oral hearing before the brand new Unified Patent Court (UPC). The UPC was created to unify patent litigation across the European Union, meaning cases can be heard in one court instead of individual jurisdictions. The […]
The sale of DWF to private equity house Inflexion has so far racked up a combined legal bill exceeding £3m. According to public documents, DWF estimates that its legal advice fees will total £1.3m. This is far lower than its expected expenses for financial and corporate broking advice of £5.1m. DWF is set to leave […]
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has dropped its investigation into the Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation (ENRC) after 10 years. The SFO announced today that following a “review of the investigation”, it has concluded there is “insufficient admissible evidence to prosecute”. The SFO opened opened a criminal investigation into ENRC, a Kazakh and Central African mining […]
Advisers from Latham & Watkins and Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom have led on US conglomerate Danaher Corporation’s recent acquisition of Cambridge-based life science innovator Abcam in a $5.7bn transaction. Since Abcam’s AIM delisting in December 2022, Latham is understood to have been working closely with the company’s executive board as it faced calls […]
Bird & Bird is set to defend a life sciences patent dispute in September in what will be the first-ever oral hearing before the brand new Unified Patent Court (UPC). The UPC was created to unify patent litigation across the European Union, meaning cases can be heard in one court instead of individual jurisdictions. The […]
The sale of DWF to private equity house Inflexion has so far racked up a combined legal bill exceeding £3m. According to public documents, DWF estimates that its legal advice fees will total £1.3m. This is far lower than its expected expenses for financial and corporate broking advice of £5.1m. DWF is set to leave […]
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has dropped its investigation into the Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation (ENRC) after 10 years. The SFO announced today that following a “review of the investigation”, it has concluded there is “insufficient admissible evidence to prosecute”. The SFO opened opened a criminal investigation into ENRC, a Kazakh and Central African mining […]
Jones Day is the latest firm to be instructed in relation to Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard, with the firm leading for video game publisher Ubisoft on its licence to stream Activision’s catalogue of games over the next 15 years. The cross-border Jones Day team led on the deal with US-based corporate partner Dave […]
Does anyone need any confirmation of the gradual takeover of the City by rampaging US law firms? No, thought not. If, however, your answer is yes, then more evidence of the Americanisation of London can be found in the upcoming edition of the UK Corporate 50. Much of the focus in this year’s report is […]
Mexico is set to welcome thousands of lawyers later this year when the capital city plays host to the International Bar Association’s (IBA) showpiece event. Partners and support staff will mingle from dawn until way after dusk, discuss strategies and scan way off into the horizon. However, Mexico’s been high on the interest list for […]
At times, Clyde & Co appeared dangerously close to squandering the growth opportunities presented by its July 2022 acquisition of BLM. The firm’s most recent financials, however, suggest BLM was the fuel Clydes needed to grow in the UK. Not that it has been without casualties, with a significant proportion of former BLM partners having […]
The M&A rankings for the first half of 2024 confirmed one thing we already felt was true: that Linklaters and Slaughter and May have had a lot of acquisitive or targeted clients this year. According to data provided by the London Stock Exchange Group, the pair rank first and second respectively in terms of the […]
When Stephenson Harwood chief executive Eifion Morris set a target for doubling revenue to £400m by 2027, he knew it would be a tough challenge. “A profitable growth strategy will probably take more than individual lateral joiners and internal promotions to achieve,” he told The Lawyer back in 2021. This protective view came as the […]
BDB Pitmans partners have voted through proposals that will see the firm transition to a CMS-style network model, having called off merger talks with Womble Bond Dickinson in 2023. The firm has signed a letter of intent with Alvarez & Marsal Legal Services (AMLS) to help internationalise the business. Both BDB Pitmans and AMLS issued […]
Welcome to The Passport, your regular round-up of the most important stories to come from the European legal market. In this edition, we look at how CMS zoomed past Dentons in the Polish lawyer headcount stakes; why you might have to get used to the idea of three firms with ‘Snellman’ in their name; and […]
Akin Gump has recruited three of Cooley’s London partners, including its City managing partner Justin Stock. Stock moves to Akin along with Stephen Rosen and David Bresnick. The three focus on transactions with a life sciences and technology element. At Akin, Stock will become the firm’s international head of technology. Both Stock and Bresnick joined […]
For elite firms with ties to big banks, the first half of 2024 has been fruitful for corporate transactions. Sainsbury’s banking business was sold to NatWest Group last month, with Linklaters and A&O Shearman advising, while Addleshaw Goddard, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Paul Hastings led on Co-operative Bank’s sale to Coventry Building Society in an […]
Mills & Reeve’s turnover rose by double digits in 2023/24 to a new record high that has resulted in the firm’s highest-ever all-staff bonus pool of £3m. The firm’s turnover rose by 14.1 per cent to £168m, beating its 2025 strategic target of £150m a year ahead of schedule. The firm has not yet revealed […]