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LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT: Employee benefits

Employee benefits work sits at the cross-section of various regulatory bodies, namely the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Department of Labor (DOL) and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC). It is therefore useful to have a presence in Washington, DC to ensure regular dialogue with these government agencies, and to make sure that clients are not stung by the volatile regulatory climate. Read more...

LITIGATION: Sub-prime

The financial crisis of 2007 saw billions of dollars lost and has left people somewhat stunned. With a raft of stringent financial regulations, countless regulatory bodies and a host of early-warning systems, people are struggling to believe that there was nothing to be done to abate this crisis. The behavior of key financial institutions, underwriters, rating agencies and insurers is also being analyzed carefully, checking for potential negligence or signs that the crisis could have been foreseen. Read more...

Germany

Such focus on transactional work has to some extent been at the expense of other departments; for example, firms have either been axing their intellectual property and media departments, or at least reducing their numbers. And the focus in these fields has shifted towards major transactions, which have been carried out by corporate and M&A partners working at the interface between practice areas. Nowhere has this development been more noticeable than in Linklaters LLP’s decision to close its Cologne office, and scale back its German IP practice, in the context of the firm’s restructuring. Read more...

INVESTMENT FUNDS FINANCE: Bank-lending

The situation in the leveraged finance market can perhaps best be categorized in terms of pre- and post-credit crunch. Prior to the chaos that hit the sub-prime housing sector in the second half of 2007, the market was awash with cheap money. Banks desperate to get a piece of the action and win the lead arranger mandate in syndicated transactions were falling over themselves to accommodate the increasingly acquisitive private equity firms, often under terms that were wildly generous to the borrowers. Read more...

Law firms in Israel are becoming increasingly divided between the very large firms, which are growing larger year by year, and aiming to provide a one-stop-shop to clients across most major practice areas, on the one hand, and the boutique firms, which are often specialised in one or two key practice areas, on the other. While many large firms are growing organically or through lateral hire, some large firms have chosen to merge to achieve critical mass. Recent examples include Gross, Kleinhendler, Hodak, Halevy, Greenberg & Co’s merger with Berkman, Wechsler, Bloom & Co in mid-2007 to form Gross, Kleinhendler, Hodak, Berkman & Co.

Israeli companies have become increasingly active abroad in the last year, especially in Eastern European real estate and projects work. Such work is keeping many of the larger firms with the sophistication to advise Israeli clients on international outbound work busy. Read more...

The most noteworthy development in 2007 was the break away of a group of 18 fee-earners (including five partners), from PLMJ - A. M. Pereira, Sáragga Leal, Oliveira Martins, Júdice e Associados Sociedade de Advogados, RL, Portugal’s largest firm. The group was led by Gabriela Rodrigues Martins and has set up its own practice under the name AAA. Read more...

Belgium

Belgium certainly has a thriving legal market, into which international interlopers have integrated more or less successfully, with some developing full-service domestic practices of their own. The ‘full-service’ distinction is important, and can be defined here by the level of integration that a law firm has with the host nation, or by the number of competencies it offers in European law. Many law firms maintain no domestic legal presence, whereas others are defined more by their national competencies than any great interest in EU matters. The best law firms maintain an excellent presence in both markets. If one adds to this public affairs and lobbying, it is clear there are a number of important legal markets that are disproportionately influenced by the presence of the EU’s policymakers. Read more...

Spain

The last few years have been particularly buoyant for Spanish lawyers, and 2007 was no exception. Leading Spanish firms had yet another extremely busy year both in mid-market and high-end M&A and finance transactions. According to the Spanish venture capital association, ASCRI, investment in the first six months of 2007 reached €1.9bn, a 57% increase compared with the same period in 2006. At the high end of the market, the restructuring of the Spanish energy sector has been one of the main sources of work for the leading firms. Gas Natural’s €25bn hostile takeover bid for Endesa back in 2005, was improved upon by E.ON’s €42.3bn offer in 2006. But it was last year that Acciona and Enel effectively took over Endesa, following their successful joint €42.5bn bid for the Spanish energy conglomerate. The IPO market has also generated numerous mandates for leading law firms, with highlights including Iberdrola Renovables’ €4.5bn IPO and Criteria CaixaCorp’s €3.45bn IPO, Spain’s largest-ever IPOs. Outbound Spanish investment has also been booming, with headline-grabbing deals including Banco Santander’s joint €71bn offer, together with Fortis and RBS, for ABN Amro, and also Iberdrola’s £11.6bn acquisition of Scottish Power. Read more...

Russia and the CIS

Russia has come a long way since the days of the Wild East. Although the country’s economy remains heavily reliant – dangerously so, many feel – on its huge oil and gas reserves, the onset of a burgeoning middle class has driven dramatic growth in the consumer sector, helping to bring much needed stability and diversity. And with the country now officially an ‘investment grade’ prospect, it’s fair to say that Russia has gone mainstream. Read more...

Finland

2007 was another excellent year for Finland’s leading law firms, with the top ten posting an average turnover increase of 23% on the previous year. Success was fuelled by continued momentum in the M&A market with a surge in the real estate sector, as private equity houses, banks and other investors clambered to cash in on Finland’s rosy commercial property market. The economy slowed during the summer’s credit crunch, but picked up by Q3. Read more...

Poland

Real estate remained buoyant throughout 2007, holding against other forms of investment. M&A also thrived, especially for foreign private equity entrants, although Polish investors roaming overseas are increasingly common. Poland has been relatively unaffected by the global credit crunch, although banks are treading more cautiously. Indeed, many lawyers cite the weak dollar as a more significant concern. New trends in property include developer/fund JVs, and transactions structured as forwarded funding; furthermore the arrival of international players such as Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley has been noted. Interestingly, in terms of regional activity Wrocław is currently considered the country’s most dynamic city and is enjoying a raft of development work. Read more...

Switzerland

Switzerland was affected by the domino effect of the American sub-prime lending crisis in the summer of 2007; the fall-out manifested itself through a slow-down of Swiss refinancing, leveraged buy-outs and financing of M&A transactions. However, this small downturn of corporate finance instructions in some Swiss law firms has led to an increase in renegotiations of pre-existing deals and additional work for dispute resolution departments.

Many law firms in Switzerland choose to base themselves in one location in the country and travel when necessary, but several have offices in more than one city and offer a fully integrated service. Even so, old ties tend to live on between clients and firms in particular locations, so attempts to break across French/German-speaking borders have not always been as fruitful as some firms would have liked. Read more...