In March, the CCUG endorsed the creation of a working party after concluding it was ‘unfair on good witnesses that all they can do is put in their statement, and then face cross examination; there is no opportunity for them to tell their story live.’

The working party coincides with Julian Acratopulo, Clifford Chance partner and newly-appointed president of the London Solicitors Litigation Association, recently calling for changes.

He told Legal Business: ‘If the reform is appropriate and it will improve things, then it should be embraced, whether that’s for witness statements or disclosure.’

The creation of a working group mirrors the strategy for recent disclosure reforms, where a group of private practitioners, barristers, in-house lawyers and members of the judiciary came together to form the Disclosure Working Group (DWG).

Ed Crosse, Simmons & Simmons partner and member of the DWG, told Legal Business: ‘For some time there has been criticism by the courts and practitioners about the length of witness statements and the fact that very often they do not reflect the witness’ own words. Clearly this is an area that merits review.

‘We do not want to pay the consequences of not going ahead with reforms that are much-needed because rival courts around the world will make their procedures as attractive as possible and we could lose ground to them if we fail to react quickly to feedback.’

Meanwhile, the UK finally ratified the UPC agreement (UPCA) on 26 April. In late 2016 the UK government signalled it was moving ahead with preparations to ratify the UPCA, but the snap election of June 2017 and resulting minority government had put this in doubt.

The UPC is designed to provide cross-border judgements on patent disputes across its contracting states, seen as an easier alternative to the current regime which requires IP rights to be asserted before the court system of each individual state.

Former Nokia head of IP litigation and current Bird & Bird partner, Richard Vary, commented: ‘Ratifying the UPCA will be advantageous for UK industry as we tend to have more patent holders. Therefore we want a strong patent system, and the UPC means you can get an injunction covering the whole of the EU at a much-reduced filing cost.’

Elsewhere, Hausfeld has won a class action settlement on behalf of Southern African gold miners in the first case utilising South Africa’s collective action regime.

A unanimous three-judge panel at the Johannesburg High Court authorised the case in May 2016 as an opt-out class action against the majority of the nation’s gold mining industry.

Hausfeld subsequently won compensation in the region of 10,000 to 500,000 South African rand for each eligible gold miners who had suffered from silicosis or tuberculosis as a result of their work.

Hausfeld partner Richard Lewis said: ‘This ground-breaking settlement brings much-needed relief to thousands of workers whose legal rights were ignored and forgotten. It brings an important measure of justice to a system where it has been absent for decades.’

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The outpost of the London-headquartered firm opened this week. Initially focused on finance and funds work, the office is being managed by country managing partner Ingrid Dubourdieu, who has joined from local firm D.Law where she was a partner.

Dubourdieu has a broad practice, advising domestic and international financial institutions on Luxembourg legal, regulatory and compliance issues. She also has experience acting for EU and non-EU asset managers on their activities in Luxembourg, and has been a member of the Luxembourg Bar since 1998.

The firm expects the office to grow into other areas, namely corporate M&A, tax and international tax.

Currently Dubourdieu is the only partner in the office, supported by two associates. However the firm expects to bring in a corporate partner and a tax partner in the coming months.

Fieldfisher managing partner, Michael Chissick, told Legal Business: ‘The Luxembourg launch has been in the pipeline for nearly 16 months, and I’m glad it’s over the line because it’s been the missing piece of the puzzle. It complements our Brussels and Amsterdam offices to form a Benelux connection.

‘A lot of our investment fund work and corporate activity includes a Luxembourg angle. So it’s a great location and in Ingrid we have a great managing partner.’

Luxembourg marks the latest in a string of new jurisdictions for Fieldfisher, with the firm now having a presence in nine different markets and 20 offices worldwide.

Chissick, who contends that over 50% of the firm’s work has an international element, has made no secret of his desire to have an office in every major European capital city. Openings in Barcelona and Madrid are also slated to take place in the coming months.

Among the openings in 2017, Fieldfisher added a fifth Italian office via a tie-up with Bologna firm Lucchini Gattamorta & Associates (LGA). With four other offices in Milan, Rome, Venice and Turin, the LGA combination grew Fieldfisher’s Italian arm to 210 lawyers and 28 partners.

The firm also launched an office in Amsterdam last year, staffed by a team of five partners who arrived from local TMT specialists Kennedy Van der Laan.

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The firm’s ‘guidance on how to manage relationships at work’ says it expects partnership and staff members to discuss such relationships with an office, group or practice head or an HR contact so as to manage the impact of any ‘actual or potential’ conflict of interest.

People at the firm insisted this was not about banning relationships between colleagues but rather about transparency when these involve someone who is in a position of deciding on career progression, bonuses or work allocation of their partner. The measure is also aimed at avoiding any abuse of power.

‘It is not about prying into personal information but about acting as a responsible business by supporting our people,’ Linklaters said in a statement.

In the wake of the #MeToo movement, the firm also announced it has established an external whistleblowing hotline for people to report harassment, discrimination and bullying.

Called SpeakUp, it will be managed by an independent company and allow people to report anonymously. Issues raised will be reported to a selected group of people within the firm to allow investigations to take place.

A spokesperson for Linklaters said it had always encouraged people to discuss any issue within the firm and aimed at avoiding any repercussions for doing so, adding: ‘However, we understand that in certain circumstances individuals may feel more comfortable speaking to an independent, external party.’

SpeakUp is currently available in the UK, Americas and Asia, and the firm plans to extend the service to its other offices ‘in due course’.

A number of firms have carried out investigations on inappropriate behaviour from partners lately.

An Australia-based Herbert Smith Freehills partner was suspended after an internal investigation discovered evidence of misconduct, while Baker McKenzie previously issued a review of complaints handling following a historic allegation of sexual assault against a high-ranking partner at the firm.

In Germany, former Linklaters partner Thomas Elser was sentenced to three years and three months in prison by a court in Munich for assaulting a student at a firm party several years ago. And a former Scottish partner left Dentons in February after the firm launched an internal investigation into allegations of past inappropriate sexual behaviour.

#MeToo also hit the highest levels of law in March as Latham & Watkins chairman Bill Voge resigned from the firm after a series of ‘voluntary disclosures relating to personal conduct’.

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1. Cayman Islands considers legal action to stop public scrutiny by UK [via The Guardian]

2. Suppliers fear Sainsbury’s price squeeze after Asda deal [via BBC News]

3. Legal watchdog may investigate Christian group over Alfie Evans case [via The Guardian]

4. Watch out, Tinder, Facebook is getting into online dating [via CNN Money]

5. Gay marriage cake: bakers ‘forced to act against their beliefs’ [via The Guardian]

6. 6,500 jobs to be lost in modernisation of UK courts [via The Guardian]

The new office, which opened its doors today (1 May), is Clydes’ tenth in the UK and will be focused on professional and financial disputes in addition to infrastructure work.

Among the incoming partners is Ian Peacock, a professional indemnity litigator who joins from Womble Bond Dickinson, the recent transatlantic tie-up of UK shop Bond Dickinson and US firm Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice.

Peacock, who is credited with setting up Bond Dickinson’s Bristol-based insurance practice in June 2000, typically represents solicitors, accountants, brokers and financial advisers.

Also joining is John Eastlake from Kennedys’ London office. Eastlake served as the firm’s head of professional indemnity in London, and largely mirrors Peacock’s client-base.

Completing the trio is Peter O’Brien, who was previously a partner at Bristol-headquartered Clarke Wilmott. O’Brien has over 14 years’ experience in construction industry disputes, representing both contractors and sub-contractors in the energy and infrastructure spheres.

The Bristol office will also soon boast five associates, with three focused on professional and financial disputes and two on projects and construction.

The new outpost will be seen as a significant strengthening of the firm’s already robust professional and financial disputes group. The group, now consisting of more than 150 lawyers in the UK, sees Clydes recognised as a leader in the professional liability space.

Robert Hill, employment partner and Clydes’ chair of the UK board, told Legal Business: ‘Bristol is a strong centre for liability disputes, a large number of insurers and brokers have set up there in the last few years. It was the obvious missing office for us.

‘Our view of the regional offices has always been insurance-based but we have also grown out other practices. In Manchester for example we added employment, marine cargo and property. It’s not out of the realms of possibility that Bristol could develop in a similar way.’

Simon Konsta, Clydes’ senior partner, added: ‘Bristol is a key centre for professional and financial disputes and infrastructure work, so having John, Ian and Peter on board gives us a great foundation, as well as a platform for further growth.’

The Bristol opening marks Clydes’ second new office of 2018, after announcing in February that it was setting up a four-partner Hamburg office.

However last year was particularly expansive, as the firm launched new offices in Los Angeles, Mexico City, Washington and Chicago.

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The proposed $146bn combination sees Washington-headquartered T-Mobile enter into an all-stock deal to merge with Sprint. The transaction gives the Kansas-based target an enterprise value of $59bn and paves the way for the companies’ dual ambition to build the world’s best 5G network.

The combined company will be named T-Mobile and is expected to have the network capacity to rapidly create a nationwide 5G network while having lower costs and greater economies of scale.

Wachtell’s team, led by New York corporate partner Adam Emmerich, is advising T-Mobile and its German parent company Deutsche Telekom. MoFo, meanwhile, is acting for Sprint and its controlling shareholder SoftBank Group with a team led by global M&A practice group co-chair Robert Townsend (San Francisco), corporate partners Brandon Parris (San Francisco) and David Slotkin (Washington DC), antitrust partners David Meyer (Washington DC) and Jeff Jaeckel (Washington DC), regulatory partner Nick Spiliotes (Washington DC), tax partner Bernie Pistillo (San Francisco) and Tokyo office managing partner Ken Siegel.

The team also includes corporate partners Mike O’Bryan (San Francisco) and Scott Lesmes (Washington DC), finance partner Mark Wojciechowski (New York), corporate partner Ivan Smallwood (Tokyo), antitrust partner Mike Miller (New York), technology transactions partner Paul Jahn (San Francisco) and compensation benefits partner Domnick Bozzetti (New York).

Cleary Gottlieb and DLA Piper are acting as regulatory counsel to T-Mobile and Deutsche Telekom. Cleary’s team was led by Washington DC partners Mark Nelson, George Cary, and Jeremy Calsyn, as well as Dan Culley in Brussels. Weil is advising Evercore, the financial adviser to T-Mobile’s committee of independent directors, with a team led by New York corporate partner Michael Aiello and including M&A partner Eoghan Keenan.

Latham & Watkins is advising the committee of independent directors, with a corporate team including partners Charles Ruck in New York and Orange County and Daniel Rees in Orange County. Advising on finance matters are partners Keith Halverstam and Benjamin Cohen in New York and Greg Robins in Los Angeles, while James Barker and Matthew Brill in Washington DC are acting on communications matters.

Steven Croley in Washington DC advised on the Committee on Foreign in the United States (CFIUS) matters, Michael Egge on antitrust and Michele Johnson on compliance. Richards, Layton & Finger served as Delaware counsel to the committee of independent directors of T-Mobile.

Goodwin Procter is legal counsel to the independent transaction committee of the board of directors of Sprint while Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom is regulatory co-counsel and Potter Anderson Corroon is Delaware counsel.

Morgan Stanley is financial adviser to Deutsche Telekom, while Barclays, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and RBC are providing T-Mobile with committed debt financing to support the transaction. PJT Partners is advising T-Mobile on the debt financing associated with the transaction.

After the deal closes – likely between Q4 2018 and Q2 2019 – the new company will be headquartered in Bellevue, Washington with a second headquarters in Overland Park, Kansas.

‘This combination will create a fierce competitor with the network scale to deliver more for consumers and businesses in the form of lower prices, more innovation, and a second-to-none network experience – and do it all so much faster than either company could on its own’, said John Legere, president and chief executive officer of T-Mobile US, who will also head the new company.

He added: ‘As industry lines blur and we enter the 5G era, consumers and businesses need a company with the disruptive culture and capabilities to force positive change on their behalf.’

Sprint chief executive Marcelo Claure commented: ‘Sprint and T-Mobile have similar DNA and have eliminated confusing rate plans, converging into one rate plan: Unlimited. We intend to bring this same competitive disruption as we look to build the world’s best 5G network that will make the US a hotbed for innovation. Going from 4G to 5G is like going from black and white to colour TV – it’s a seismic shift – one that only the combined company can unlock nationwide to fuel the next wave of mobile innovation.’

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The deal announced today (30 April) will establish one of the largest employers in the country, worth £51bn in revenue, operating around 2,800 stores and controlling 31% of the market, a larger share than current leader Tesco.

It sent shockwaves throughout the industry, with Sainsbury’s shares jumping around 20%, while the company was at pains to stress that the deal will lead to a significant reduction in consumer prices without any job cuts or store closures.

‘The driver behind all this is to generate synergies and cost savings, so that the parties can compete better with Aldi and Lidl and give consumers what they want – quality and convenience at a lower price,’ a partner close to the deal told Legal Business, adding that job cuts or store closures ‘would not fit within the rationale of the deal’. Both Sainsbury’s and Asda will keep their brands.

Linklaters’ corporate partners Iain Fenn and Michael Honan are advising Sainsbury’s, which will acquire Asda from US giant Walmart for £2.97bn. UK head of competition Nicole Kar and antitrust partner Simon Pritchard have also acted on the deal, which values Asda at £7.3bn.

The Magic Circle firm sits on Sainsbury’s legal panel, which was last reviewed in August 2017 and includes ten other firms.

Meanwhile, corporate partners Sally Wokes, Victoria MacDuff and Nigel Boardman led the large Slaughters’ team advising Walmart and Asda, alongside finance partner Guy O’Keefe. Tax expert Steve Edge also acted on the deal, with Jonathan Fenn and Charles Cameron advising on employment aspects, Cathy Connolly on IP and tech, Jane Edwarde on real estate and Ben Kingsley on financial regulation.

Gibson Dunn advised Walmart and Asda on the competition aspects of the deal, led by partners Ali Nikpay and Deirdre Taylor. Review of the deal by the Competition and Markets Authority is expected to take a while, with the deal unlikely to close before the autumn of 2019.

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The announcement today (26 April) will see the combined firm move a stone’s throw from legacy Berwin Leighton Paisner’s (BLP) London HQ at Adelaide House to the 125,000 sq ft Governor’s House office building at 5 Laurence Pountney Hill.

Legacy Bryan Cave’s London office, which has about 39 fee-earners and 12 partners, is already in the process of moving from its previous London base at 88 Wood Street to Adelaide House.

In a statement, BCLP said: ‘The proposed move represents a significant commitment by the firm to a modern, flexible working space, encouraging of collaborative working.’

The transatlantic merger between legacy Bryan Cave and BLP went live this month, creating a 1600-lawyer, financially-integrated practice with 32 offices across 11 countries, good for a combined revenue of more than $900m.

BLP has been based in Adelaide House since 1970, and has occupied the entire building since 2005. It is in talks with its landlord about what space they will keep in that building.

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The firm announced Wednesday (April 25) the second cohort of companies which will join its tech innovation space in London from May, bringing what Fuse chairman and A&O partner Jonathan Brayne describes as a ‘very different’ focus since the first round in September.

Incumbent companies Avvoka, Legatics and Nivaura will transfer from the first cohort to the second, and will be joined by Bloomsbury AI, Kira Systems, Neota Logic, Regnosys and Signal Media. The companies were chosen from 80 applicants – down slightly from last year’s 84 – and had pitched to the Fuse selection committee, which includes Amazon’s Alex Wong and Jordan Elsas, Funding Circle’s Robert Kerrigan, Index Ventures’ Hannah Seal and JP Morgan’s Oli Harris.

Brayne commented: ‘This cohort’s focus is very different to that of the first – there’s a strong AI theme here – but there’s the same sense of anticipation as when we opened our doors last September.’ Fuse head Shruti Ajitsaria added: ‘Opening for the second cohort has enabled us to keep abreast of the constantly changing legal tech ecosystem and we’re really pleased with the standard of the companies joining us next month.’

The second cohort also signals a move to working with more well-established companies, with Kira Systems and Neota Logic already well-known names in the law-tech space. Bloomsbury AI and Signal Media are AI companies without an explicit legal focus, while fintech company Regnosys hits a sweet spot between finance and law in that it focuses on regulatory compliance.

Nearly half of this year’s applicants had a focus on platform solutions, a quarter on workflow, and a fifth were reg tech businesses. About two-thirds of the applicants already have existing users, while 31% are at the prototype phase and 6% only a concept.

A&O says more than 5,500 people from within the firm, clients and others have visited Fuse since it opened last year . The touted benefit the space provides is the ability for the companies to work directly with lawyers and clients as end users to help refine their products.

Other firms with similar initiatives include Mishcon de Reya with MDR LABS early last year, and Dentons’ Nextlaw Labs and Nextlaw Ventures in 2015.