Like a certain football team that has been in the headlines of late, fortune rarely favours Simmons & Simmons. True, the firm has won notable recent appointments as lead corporate adviser to HMV and New Look, but for many it is more significant to see the firm twice failing to get a crack of the whip on Philip Green’s £9bn Marks & Spencer bid.
Not that there was much surprise when Freshfields took the role for what seemed like 10 minutes. But Simmons then missing out to Ashurst, which has never advised Green and, despite being the more accomplished M&A practice, does not have much of a track record with contentious public work, must be frustrating.
