Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft

McDermott Will & Emery and Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft have become the latest US firms to post rising revenues after recent leans years, reports the Am Law Daily. The Chicago-based McDermott, which has seen revenues drop by a combined total of $100m (63m) during 2009 and 2010, has reversed the trend by recording a 4.7% increase for 2011 to $826m (524m). with profits per equity partner (PEP) inching up 2.7% to $1.5m (950,000).

Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft is launching an office in Brussels with the hire of Linklaters competition partner Alec Burnside. Burnside, who has been recruited with a remit to open and manage the new office, specialises in EU competition law and regularly advises on high-profile cases involving global industries, governments and bluechip corporations.

Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft is set to bring in a high-profile team of energy and commodities partners from McDermott Will & Emery, including the firm’s former London managing partner Doron Ezickson. Ezickson is set to join Cadwalader alongside a group of partners led by Washington-based Paul Pantano, who is a member of McDermott’s management committee and head of the firm’s energy & commodities advisory practice.

Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft and Covington & Burling have taken the lead roles on Pfizer’s $3.6bn (2.3bn) acquisition of King Pharmaceuticals, reports The Am Law Daily. Cadwalader is advising Pfizer, the world’s largest drugmaker, on its takeover of King, a leading provider of pain medications.

Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft has made its first lateral partner hire in the City since losing a seven-partner team to Paul Hastings Janofsky & Walker in January 2009. Simmons & Simmons insurance and reinsurance head Jennifer Donohue is set to join the US law firm in April after three years with Simmons, becoming the fifth partner in Cadwalader’s London office.

Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft’s London head Bob Link is to step down from his post, with capital markets partner Angus Duncan set to take the helm. Former firmwide chair Link is expected to return to the US full time over the next few months, although it is unclear what his exact role with the firm will be.

Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft has posted a 28% increase in profits per partner, the firm’s first positive results since 2007, reports The Am Law Daily. Profits per partner at Cadwalader rose to $2.4m (1.5m) for 2009, while revenue per lawyer climbed by 3% to almost $1m (614,000).

K&L Gates has maintained a high number of partner promotions this year with 24 set to join the senior rank. The total number of appointments is only slightly down on the previous year, when the US firm made up 28.

The pushy Noo Yawk firm that other Manhattan outfits think should calm down a bit. Its City arm is known for its work-hard-then-work-some-more stance but remains a niche finance practice with real bite.

Slaughter and May and Linklaters are among a host of top firms advising as a group of former Barclays bankers set up an offshore company to manage $12.3bn (7.4bn) of the bank’s most toxic debt. In addition to the magic circle duo, Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom, Sullivan & Cromwell and Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft have all won roles in the creation of Protium Finance, a new hedge fund registered in the Cayman Islands.

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft has created an alternative to layoffs, as firms continue to look for more creative ways to engage under-utilised lawyers. The New York firm, which was one of the first to lay off associates back in January 2008, has opted for paid sabbaticals, as reported on Above the Law earlier this week (7 July).

Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft has taken its first step towards rebuilding its London office, which was hit by a seven-partner walkout earlier this year. The New York-based firm has hired Edmond Curtin as a special counsel in its capital markets practice.

A trio of US firms have won contracts worth up to $25.8m (17.6m) to advise on auto industry restructurings, reports The Am Law Daily. The US Treasury Department has awarded contracts, which each carry a ceiling value of $8.59m (5.87m), to Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft, Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal and Haynes and Boone, which will see them provide advice on debtor-in-possession financing for troubled manufactures and suppliers.Cadwalader restructuring partner John Rapisardi is the lead lawyer on the Wall Street firm’s Treasury engagement.

A former Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft associate has set up a website for reviewing partners at US law firms.Securitisation lawyer Sam Smith, previously an associate with Cadwalader in Charlotte until he was laid off with 95 other lawyers in July last year, launched the Rate A Partner site at the end of last month.

A raft of UK and US firms have been handed mandates after chemicals giant LyondellBasell launched Chapter 11 proceedings. Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft has secured a leading role for the company in the US, with financial restructuring group heads Deryck Palmer and John Rapisardi at the helm. In the UK, LyondellBasell is being advised by Clifford Chance, with head of restructuring Mark Hyde taking the lead.

Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft has confirmed that it is set to make redundancies in its London office following the walkout of seven partners last month. The firm said three lawyers, three paralegals and 10 support staff are subject to the redundancy consultation.A statement read: “Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft has today launched a redundancy consultation with certain employees in its London office, made up of both lawyers and support staff. We regret the potential loss of these talented professionals who have served the firm well. The firm remains committed to London and rebuilding the office.”

Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft has threatened all seven departing London partners with legal action for breaching their partnership agreement. The seven-partner group – which includes former London office head Michelle Duncan – handed in their notice at Cadwalader earlier this month to join rival US firm Paul Hastings Janofsky & Walker. Cadwalader has issued the team with letters before action alleging that they have breached the confidence terms of their partnership deed.Under employment law, Paul Hastings may also be obliged take on more of the Cadwalader associates than originally anticipated, as Cadwalader yesterday confirmed that it believes all of the associates connected to the departing partners are covered by the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations (TUPE).

Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft is set to make nine redundancies in the US, with six associates to be laid off in New York and three in Charlotte. The firm has also seen the departure of the chair of its insurance and reinsurance department, Clifford Schoenberg, who has left to join Mayer Brown – the firm’s third partner loss in the US this month.Schoenberg’s move follows the defection earlier this month of the co-chair of the firm’s financial restructuring group, Bruce Zirinsky, along with restructuring litigation partner John Bae – who both quit for Greenberg Traurig – and the walkout of a seven-partner team from the firm’s London office last week.

Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft has appointed Bob Link as head of the London office as the US firm moves to reposition itself in the City in the wake of last week’s (14 January) seven-partner exodus. Link will transfer to the London office in February after last-ditch attempts by Link and firm chairman Christopher White failed to persuade the partners to stay.The seven partners – Michelle Duncan, who was serving as the head of the London office, fellow restructuring litigator Karl Clowry, capital markets partner Conor Downey, real estate finance partner Justin Jowitt, financial services partner Tom O’Riordan and capital markets partners Christian Parker and Charles Roberts – are now set to join Paul Hastings Janofsky & Walker within the next few weeks.

Details have emerged of the impact of falling profits on partners’ earnings at Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft, which suggest some partners could see earnings fall by around 40%. Cadwalader announced this week (13 January) that profits per equity partner (PEP) dropped by 31% in 2008 to hit $1.88m (1.2m), down from $2.725m (1.8m) in 2007. Revenues, meanwhile, fell by 13.8% to $506m (336m) from $587m (389m) in 2007.However, it has emerged that in 2008 each equity point was worth around $240,000 (163,000), whereas the equivalent point in 2007 was worth just over $400,000 (278,000), and $452,000 (307,000) in 2006. Changes in total allocated equity points within a firm’s partnership can make points fall by more than average PEP.