Pinsents mourns death of former Masons chief

The former global managing partner of Pinsent Masons legacy firm Masons Tony Bunch has died after suffering a brain tumour.

A litigator, Bunch became a partner at 27 and went on to hold the roles of Hong Kong senior partner and UK managing partner. In 1997 he took on the Masons global managing partner role and was instrumental in the 2004 merger between Pinsents and Masons.

Head of sectors Alastair Morrison, who worked with Bunch for 11 years, including on the Masons negotiating team, said: “Tony helped deliver the merger from a theoretical thing into reality. He saw the opportunity and really worked it through.”

He added: “He was a wonderful family man, incredibly thoughtful and had a wide command of issues. He could lead on construction law or on merger discussions.”

After the tie-up between the two firms Bunch became a member of the merged entity’s board and served as its international operations partner. In that latter role he oversaw the firm’s Beijing office launch as well as expansion in Hong Kong and Shanghai (15 January 2007).

He remained as international operations partner until stepping down last year as a result of ill health.

Pinsent Masons senior partner Chris Mullen commented: “Tony was a hugely impressive litigator with a great reputation in construction circles worldwide, as well as making a major contribution to the firm’s own development.

“He was a highly intelligent, gentle man, who leaves behind a loving family, and he will be greatly missed by all of us - his partners and colleagues, clients and many friends around the globe - who knew and worked with him over his 35-year career.”

Allen and Goetz to launch UK base for Boston's Ropes & Gray

Ropes & Gray has hired finance partners Maurice Allen and Mike Goetz to spearhead its London office launch.

Allen and Goetz had been linked to a number of firms, including Greenberg Traurig Maher, since their August departure from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, where they had been for just over a year (3 August 2009).

The pair will build a City finance practice for the Boston-headquartered firm, which has been looking at a London launch for the past decade.

Ropes private equity partner David Chapin said: “We’ve been exploring the idea of a London office for ten years, but haven’t found the right opportunity until now.

“In the past we haven’t been able to advise on deals for our longstanding clients because we haven’t had the right international capabilities.”

The firm’s traditional expertise are in private equity, investment management and finance and it counts private equity houses TPG and Bain Capital among its longstanding clients.

Allen and Goetz will capitalise on Ropes’s longstanding relationships by advising the firm’s private equity clients on their debt positions.

Allen said: “This and our relationships with underwriters creates a real opportunity for us.”

Allen added that Ropes aims to build a high-yield practice in London to take advantage of the resurgent European high-yield bond market.

London will be the US firm’s third office outside the US. The firm, which has offices in Boston, New York, Washington DC, Chicago and San Francisco, also has bases in Tokyo and Hong Kong.

For Allen and Goetz, who joined Freshfields from White & Case, the move to Ropes is an opportunity build a practice from scratch. At White & Case they were instrumental in building a London banking and finance practice that consolidated the US firm’s relationship with key financial institution client Deutsche Bank.

Ropes corporate partner Newcomb Stillwell said: “They have a lot of experience with start-ups and this is what attracted us to them.

“We’ve put together a five-year plan for London, but we’re realistic and realise that we’ll need to be flexible about how we develop.

“If they say we need to head in a certain direction we’ll certainly respond to that.”

Ropes does not have a formal network of international referral firms, but has developed strong ties with several UK firms including Ashurst, Herbert Smith, Macfarlanes and SJ Berwin.

Stillwell said: “We hope to continue to work with these. We have a real focus with our new venture. There’ll continue to be many opportunities for us to work with those firms we have close ties with.”

Baker & McKenzie revamps management committees

Baker & McKenzie London partner Beatriz Pessoa de Araujo has been elected to the firm’s international executive committee, freeing a space on the London management committee.

Araujo, who has been with the firm since 1985, has served on the London management team for the past five years. Disputes partner Tom Cassels has taken her place on the London team.

Araujo joins Mexico City partner Raymundo Enriquez and Brussels partner Koen Vanhaerents as new members of the executive committee. They replace Barcelona partner Rafael Jimenez-Gusi, Caracas partner Roberto Mendoza and Paris partner Eric Lasry, who return to full-time practice.

Firmwide chairman John Conroy said Araujo, Enriquez and Vanhaerents have been strong contributors to the firm during their time as partners, adding that their leadership skills would be valuable in advancing firm strategy.

The executive committee is the firm’s leadership body, responsible for areas such as developing and executing the strategy, financial performance and partner relations.

Other members of the committee include Peter Engstrom in San Francisco, Alan Harvey in Dallas, Jeremy Pitts in Tokyo and Poh Lee Tan in Hong Kong.

Following Cassels’ appointment the London management committee now consists of managing partner Gary Senior, professional development partner John Evason, HR director Martin Blackburn, marketing director Julia Hayhoe, chief financial officer Mark Carter, partner Peter Strivens and Cassels.

Trio of top City firms advise on £1.5bn Gatwick sell-off

Allen & Overy (A&O), Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Slaughter and May have advised on the sale of Gatwick Airport, Britain’s second-busiest airport.

Freshfields partner Laurie McFadden advised airports operator and Ferrovial subsidiary BAA on the £1.5bn sale to Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP).

GIP, a fund backed by GE and Credit Suisse that owns London City Airport, turned to previous adviser Slaughter and May, led by partner Mark Horton.

Herbert Smith real estate partner Julian Pollock gave property-related advice to BAA.

A&O infrastructure partner Conrad Andersen advised a lending consortium of 12 banks comprising BayernLB, Banco Espirito Santo (BES), Calyon, Credit Suisse, Grupo Santander, HSBC, JPMorgan, RBC, RBS, SMBC, Société Générale and WestLB.

The sale ends speculation over a potential buyer for the airport after six groups registered an initial interest (3 February 2009).

Alongside GIP, the other interested parties were Gatwick Future Partnership, Hochtief AirPort, Lysander Gatwick Investment Group, Manchester Airports Group and Borealis, and a final group made up of 3i’s infrastructure arm, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and the Canada Pension Plan.

The sale followed a Competition Commission ruling that said BAA should sell Gatwick and two other airports, a decision that BAA is currently challenging in the Competition Appeals Tribunal with advice from Herbert Smith.

Burges Salmon partner Nick Graves advised the Competition Commission in relation to the Gatwick sale.

Hammonds seeks German patents tie-up following double defection in Munich

Hammonds is in talks with German firm Gulde Hengelhaupt Ziebig & Schneider about setting up a patent prosecution referral relationship following the departure of two partners from the UK firm’s Munich office.

Eversheds has hired Hammonds Munich office head Herbert Kunz, a patent prosecution partner, and partner Michael Schneider to launch a patent services and prosecution practice in Germany.

Hammonds, which is now left with just two associates in patent prosecution in Munich, is in talks with Gulde Hengelhaupt regarding a tie-up that could see the firm farm out all patent prosecution work to the German firm.

Eversheds has hoped to establish a dedicated patent services and prosecution practice group for some time.

Eversheds head of international Stephen Hopkins said: “It’s in response to real demand from our US, European and Far East clients and complements our international corporate, HR and litigation practices.”

The departures come after Hammonds announced two partner resignations at the beginning of this month (2 October 2009). Birmingham-based construction partner Rupert Cowen and Berlin-based real estate partner Martin Fleckenstein both left the firm in September at the end of the firm’s six-month lock-in period.

A Hammonds spokesman confirmed that Kunz and Schneider have resigned and that the firm is currently in talks with the pair to agree their exit terms.

Lehman's UK legal advice costs £60m in first year

he legal advisers acting on the administration of Lehman Brothers in the UK have racked up $112m (£60.5m) in fees during the last year.

Linklaters is leading the advice for PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) administrators Tony Lomas and Steven Pearson, although the £60.5m figure includes all legal fees including those to barristers.

The figures emerged in a report to creditors by PwC, which earned £154m during the first year of winding up the bank.

The legal fees figure covers the total amount billed between Lehman’s collapse in September 2008 and 14 September 2009.

In a statement Linklaters said: “This is the largest and most complicated bankruptcy in history, raising many novel legal issues. The demand for highly specialised, value-added legal advice has been immense, and we continue to have a large multi-jurisdictional, cross-practice team of lawyers working on issues of unparalleled scale and complexity.”

The firm had up to 30 partners working on the Lehman administration in the aftermath of the collapse, although it is understood that the work has now levelled off.

The 100-strong Linklaters team is being led by head of restructuring and insolvency Tony Bugg (pictured), alongside restructuring partner Richard Holden and banking partner David Ereira.

Dickie Dees senior partner leaves for GC role at Middlesbrough FC's owner

Dickinson Dees senior partner Robin Bloom is leaving the firm to become general counsel at Middlesbrough Football Club’s owner Gibson O’Neill Limited.

Bloom, who will step down in 2010, will lead the legal team across Gibson O’Neill’s three businesses - tank container company Bulkhaul Ltd, luxury spa and golf club Rockliffe Hall in County Durham and Middlesbrough Football Club.

He said: “After deciding I wasn’t going to stand for re election I had to think about whether I would be happy to return to practice. My partners were very supportive of this, but I wanted to a new challenge. I would say this opportunity is serendipitous.

After joining Dickinson Dees’ employment practice in 2000, Bloom became senior partner of the firm in 2004. It is not yet clear who is in the running to replace him.

Bloom said: “I think there’ll be some time before there’s an election process. The role of senior partner has evolved with time. The firm needs to decide what it wants the role of senior partner to be.”

The Newcastle-headquartered firm has implemented some significant changes to its management team this year. In February The Lawyer reported that Dickinson Dees cut the size of its partnership with former managing partner Neil Braithwaite being one of four to take non-partner roles within the firm (23 February 2009).