Top Stories

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  Ashurst, Perkins Coie Go Live With 950-Partner Firm

  By Marialuisa Taddia

  Ashurst LLP and Perkins Coie LLP said Monday that their merger has gone live, creating a transatlantic law firm ...(read more)

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  Shoosmiths Posts Record £80M Profit Despite Sale Drag

  By Ashish Sareen

  Shoosmiths said Monday that selling its serious injury business had slowed turnover growth, but the firm still p...(read more)

• FCA's £7.5B Motor Finance Schemes Paused Amid Legal Row

  By Ronan Barnard

  The U.K. finance regulator's £7.5 billion ($9.9 billion) redress schemes for motor finance customers will be partly suspended after the first hearing at a London tribunal Monday of a series of legal claims challenging them.

• 'Nerds' Candy Owner Says Rival Infringed TMs In UK

  By Jamie Lennox

  The owner of "Nerds" candy has accused a Dutch rival of infringing its trademark over the fruit-flavored confectionery brand, telling a London court that its opponent's "Nippers" brand is similar enough to cause confusion.

• Orrick-Led Ipsen To Buy US Cancer Biz For Up To $1.75B

  By Dawood Fakhir

  French biopharmaceutical company Ipsen said Monday that it has agreed to acquire cancer-focused pharma business Kartos Therapeutics Inc. for up to $1.75 billion to expand its blood oncology drugs portfolio.

• FCA Cuts Consumer Protection Rules For Overseas Insurance

  By Martin Croucher

  The City watchdog said on Monday that it will strip back consumer protection rules for cross-border insurance business written in London.

• Simpson Thacher Steers Bridgepoint On $1.4B Investor Buy

  By Najiyya Budaly

  Private investment company Bridgepoint Group PLC said Monday that it will buy Kayne Anderson, an alternative real estate investor, for $1.4 billion in a deal steered by Simpson Thacher and Kirkland.

• Top Court To Weigh In On FRAND Rate-Setting In Apple Case

  By Alex Baldwin

  The U.K.'s highest court will hear arguments Monday on the right way to set global licensing rates for essential patents in Apple's high-profile battle that could fundamentally change licensing deals for telecommunications tech going forward.

• Meta Addiction Lawyer On Taking Social Harms Fight To UK

  By Joanne Faulkner

  Social media litigation pioneer Matthew Bergman believes the legal foundations for claims against technology companies for designing harmful products already exist in the U.K. — and that the only thing missing is lawyers willing to test them.

• SRA's Merger Notice Plan Adds Risk For Law Firm Deals

  By Marialuisa Taddia

  The bid by the Solicitors Regulation Authority to tighten oversight of law firm mergers with a proposed notification regime is unlikely to dent U.K. deal activity but could introduce confidentiality risks without tackling the regulator's core concerns, industry experts warned.

• Tether Unit Can't Block Crypto Biz's JV Trade Secrets Claim

  By Sophia Dourou

  A Tether company failed on Friday to block a crypto trading company from pursuing litigation in England accusing it of stealing the crypto business' trade secrets in a bitter dispute over a failed bitcoin mining joint venture.

• Modi Must Pay Bank Of India $10.7M Over Loan Guarantee

  By Sophia Dourou

  Jewelry magnate Nirav Modi has been ordered to repay the Bank of India $10.7 million for guaranteeing to cover loans to his diamond company after a court rejected his argument that the deal was unenforceable under Indian law.

• Gov't Sets Out State Pension Comms Plan After WASPI Fallout

  By Joel Poultney

  The U.K. government has said it will develop a communications strategy to provide accessible and targeted information on the state pension age in response to a report that found it failed to properly set out legislative changes to women's state pension age.

• Aircraft Lease Investor Exits LSE After £190M Qatari Takeover

  By Tom Fish

  Amedeo Air Four Plus Ltd. said Friday it has ceased trading on the London Stock Exchange after a subsidiary of Lesha Bank LLC (Public) in Qatar completed its £190 million ($251 million) acquisition of the aircraft leasing investor.