During a busy week with the announcement of the A&O Shearman merger, news came that Shearman & Sterling has lost five partners to Ashurst in both the UK and Asia – around the same time the planned tie-up was made public. London-based Shearman partners Sanja Udovicic and Julia Derrick have moved over to Ashurst to expand the firm’s global energy team along with three others based in South Korea and Singapore. Udovicic specialises in project finance and has spent more than 25 years at Shearman. Speaking about her move to Legal Business, Udovicic said: ‘I couldn’t pass up the opportunity ..read more

Herbert Smith Freehills has announced the launch of its new multi-disciplinary practice in Riyadh following the reforms made to the Saudi Code of Law Practice last year. Managing partner, Joza AlRasheed, will be joined by energy and infrastructure lawyer Alexander Currie and projects and project finance specialist Phil Hanson. They will work in union with HSF’s regional team, consisting of eight partners and 30 associates. Before last year’s changes to the code, non-Saudi law firms were required to enter into a contract with Saudi-licensed lawyers in order to advise on Saudi law. However, und ..read more

Juliet Oliver, general counsel of the Solicitors Regulation Authority A panelist at our recent conference for in-house solicitors compared the client-lawyer relationship to a romantic one. If private practice is a fling, working in-house is a marriage. As someone who has worked both in-house and in private practice, I can say that both rely on the ability to build and maintain strong long-term relationships, balancing the need for familiarity with independence, trust with due inquiry. But there is no question that the more embedded, permanent nature of the in-house role creates a different dy ..read more

Cooley has bolstered its London corporate and life sciences practice through its acquisition of new partner Simon Amies, ending an impressive 21-year stretch at Covington & Burling.  Amies advises a variety of clients, including investors, investment banks and companies in the technology and life sciences space on M&A, IPOs and capital transactions. Amies explained the rationale behind his move: ‘I have been really impressed with how Cooley in London has developed since its launch in 2015. The firm has built an exceptionally strong technology and life sciences platform, and my pr ..read more

In what the firms describe as ‘the first fully integrated global elite law firm’ Allen & Overy and Shearman & Sterling today (21 May) announced a planned merger to create a ‘unique global law firm’ named Allen Overy Shearman Sterling – A&O Shearman for short. In a statement, the firms said: ‘This merger will combine two of the world’s most prestigious law firms, leaders in their respective markets, to create an integrated global elite firm. ‘Together A&O Shearman will have  3,900 lawyers and 800 Partners across 49 offices. Allen & Overy and Shearman & Sterling hav ..read more

ClientEarth has been granted an oral hearing to seek permission to proceed with its derivative action claim against Shell, the firm announced in a statement released today. ‘On Friday last week, the High Court of England and Wales refused permission for the lawsuit to proceed’, ClientEarth said in a 19 May statement. ‘An oral hearing has now been granted, at which ClientEarth will ask the Judge to reconsider his decision.’ Shell is represented by Slaughter and May’s Peter Wickham, while Pallas Partners’ Will Hooker leads for ClientEarth. Neither firm would comment at this time. The court ..read more

‘Law firms are stupid. They were stupid last time round. People forget but, after Lehman Brothers collapsed, salaries still went up. Almost automatically they still increased salaries.’ So commented Scott Gibson, director at legal recruitment consultancy Edwards Gibson, as he reflected on the recent round of NQ salary increases at the Magic Circle. While the market may be cooling, the NQ pay war marches on with both Allen & Overy and Linklaters recently raising their NQ offerings. A&O, which last June froze NQ pay at £107,500, citing a ‘more challenging business environment’, said: ‘W ..read more

 The energy sector was the focus again for a number of London firms amid a busy round of hires last week, as were the Middle East and Africa regions.  International dispute resolution partner and chartered arbitrator Philip Norman has left Clyde & Co for CMS, where he will join the firm’s infrastructure, construction and energy (ICE) disputes team. He will work from the London office, and will maintain his focus on the Middle East and Africa.   ‘I will be picking up work and supporting clients on major projects in Saudi Arabia and I will continue doing work in Qat ..read more

Amid a continued dearth of big-ticket deals, Sika’s €5.3bn acquisition of Master Builder Construction Chemicals (MBCC) Group has been the standout in recent weeks, landing lead mandates for Baker McKenzie and Weil. The deal saw Swiss construction chemicals group Sika acquire MBCC from private equity firm Lone Star Funds, which acquired it in 2019 after BASF disposed of that part of its business. Headquartered in Germany, MBCC (formerly BASF Construction Chemicals) supplies chemicals and solutions within the construction industry across the globe in over 60 countries, turning over a total of ..read more

‘Very much business as usual,’ Samantha Palmer replied when asked about Ince & Co’s future following its acquisition by Axiom. Palmer, a finance and projects partner at Pinsent Masons, is the appointed solicitor manager for Ince’s administration and is overseeing all regulatory aspects of the acquisition. The sale was completed on 28 April, just over two weeks after the Ince Group, the listed parent company of Ince, was placed into administration following a tumultuous year. Pinsents has advised Ince throughout the administration process. ‘The senior management team [Ince] reached out as ..read more