Kate Beioley

It was during her maternity leave that Megan Gray, a corporate lawyer at an elite international firm, realised she could not return to her job as it was. “In corporate, transactional practices the model is being always on, always working, with no shut-off or delineation between work and home,” she says. “I started thinking how could I do this again? It felt physically impossible.” Gray asked her employer at the time, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, if she could work set hours — more like nine-…

Frasers has asked a New York court to order Morgan Stanley chief executive James Gorman to hand over evidence for the British retailer’s High Court lawsuit against the bank over an almost $1bn margin call covering trades in Hugo Boss. In a filing lodged on Wednesday, Frasers called on the court to compel Gorman to produce documents and testimony for its English court proceedings against Morgan Stanley, scheduled to go to trial in February, covering what he knew about the bank’s thinking at the…

When Sarah Cardell announced in August that a takeover she had blocked just four months earlier would be investigated afresh, she was at pains to stress that it “was not a green light” for the controversial deal. The head of the Competition and Markets Authority, the UK’s competition regulator, said the announcement was a response to a new, restructured deal and constituted an entirely new investigation of the proposed takeover of computer game developer Activision Blizzard by Microsoft. It was…

Chief legal officers have crucial responsibility in dealing with security breaches

When troubled New York law firm Shearman & Sterling’s merger talks with its transatlantic rival, Hogan Lovells, collapsed in March, Shearman’s Adam Hakki knew who to call. Days into his role as senior partner last month, Hakki picked up the phone to ring Wim Dejonghe, the long-serving leader of Allen & Overy, one of London’s elite magic circle law firms. In a matter of weeks, the two were cloistered in a Manhattan office hashing out a $3.4bn merger, which — if voted through — will be one of the…

Court battle exposes sale of lucrative fishing rights to company linked to Greek tycoons for fraction of market value

News, analysis and comment from the Financial Times, the worldʼs leading global business publication

Arrest made as FCA asks court to place Newcastle-based wealth manager into special administration

News, analysis and comment from the Financial Times, the worldʼs leading global business publication

Plans to reimburse victims of fraud by handing responsibility to a non-regulatory body sponsored by banks are “fundamentally flawed” and raise serious conflicts of interest, according to MPs. In a scathing report, MPs from the House of Commons Treasury select committee criticised the UK’s Payment Systems Regulator for planning to hand off responsibility for recompensing individuals targeted by scams to payments operator Pay.UK. The regulator must take responsibility for the scheme itself, the…

Silicon Valley travails will help legal sector compete for IT talent

Tactics used against journalists and campaigners are being scrutinised

The UK competition regulator has ruled out further action to help artists earn more money in the music streaming market despite claims from many in the industry that the system is depriving them of a fair wage. The Competition and Markets Authority found that record labels and streaming services were unlikely to be making high levels of excess profits that could be shared with artists. It concluded that streaming had led to more competition, not less, for listeners and musicians. The CMA’s int…

Until last week, anyone wanting to know the ultimate owner of an EU-based company could consult databases held by member states. This public access has helped expose myriad alleged abuses, including by a Czech prime minister and a Lebanese central bank governor. But, in a ruling last week in a case centred on privacy and data protection, the Court of Justice of the EU has in effect shut such registers to public view. Transparency campaigners described Tuesday’s decision as a surprising and dra…

News, analysis and comment from the Financial Times, the worldʼs leading global business publication

UK judge says mining group engaged in ‘corporate corruption on a widespread scale’

News, analysis and comment from the Financial Times, the worldʼs leading global business publication

News, analysis and comment from the Financial Times, the worldʼs leading global business publication

News, analysis and comment from the Financial Times, the worldʼs leading global business publication

News, analysis and comment from the Financial Times, the worldʼs leading global business publication