The long-awaited tuna bonds litigation kicked off today, being described by Joe Smouha KC as one of the worst cases of fraud that the Commercial Court has ever seen. After a chaotic day of procedural wranglings yesterday, the Essex Court silk set out the Republic of Mozambique’s arguments alongside Serle Court’s Jonathan Adkin KC to […]
RPC has taken over the mandate to defend Payward, owner of US cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, in a class action valued between £51m and £9.9bn brought against several crypto businesses. An estimated 240,000 UK investors of cryptocurrency Bitcoin Satoshi Vision (BSV) have claimed to have suffered losses after trading platforms Binance, Bittylicious, Kraken and ShapeShift delisted the BSV token in […]
The $4bn tuna bonds litigation is set to proceed to opening arguments on Tuesday, after a messy opening day today in London’s Commercial Court threatened to derail the three-month trial. More than a dozen silks jousted over disagreements that emerged last week between the Republic of Mozambique and Credit Suisse, represented by Peters & Peters […]
Today, the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) heard the first amalgamation application of its kind, as two separate class representatives sought to merge their claims against Google, represented by Herbert Smith Freehills, to avoid a carriage dispute. Former director of Ofcom, Claudio Pollack, brought his claim against Google in November 2022. Humphries Kerstetter and Geradin Partners represented Pollack, […]
The long-awaited tuna bonds litigation kicked off today, being described by Joe Smouha KC as one of the worst cases of fraud that the Commercial Court has ever seen. After a chaotic day of procedural wranglings yesterday, the Essex Court silk set out the Republic of Mozambique’s arguments alongside Serle Court’s Jonathan Adkin KC to […]
RPC has taken over the mandate to defend Payward, owner of US cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, in a class action valued between £51m and £9.9bn brought against several crypto businesses. An estimated 240,000 UK investors of cryptocurrency Bitcoin Satoshi Vision (BSV) have claimed to have suffered losses after trading platforms Binance, Bittylicious, Kraken and ShapeShift delisted the BSV token in […]
The $4bn tuna bonds litigation is set to proceed to opening arguments on Tuesday, after a messy opening day today in London’s Commercial Court threatened to derail the three-month trial. More than a dozen silks jousted over disagreements that emerged last week between the Republic of Mozambique and Credit Suisse, represented by Peters & Peters […]
Today, the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) heard the first amalgamation application of its kind, as two separate class representatives sought to merge their claims against Google, represented by Herbert Smith Freehills, to avoid a carriage dispute. Former director of Ofcom, Claudio Pollack, brought his claim against Google in November 2022. Humphries Kerstetter and Geradin Partners represented Pollack, […]
Euronet and Mastercard head to the CAT for trial After an 11th-hour settlement between Euronet and Visa on 2 October, the dispute heads to trial today following a two-week delay with the remaining defendant, Mastercard. Euronet operates ATM networks in countries including the Czech Republic, Greece and Poland. It had alleged that Mastercard and Visa’s rules […]
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 […]