Nomura finalises closely-watched Euro line-up as Lehman deal goes through

Japanese investment bank Nomura has finalised its new European legal panel.Allen & Overy, Linklaters, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, SJ Berwin, Ashurst and Osborne Clarke are all understood to have been re-appointed to the panel following a review led by European general counsel Mark Chapman. Norton Rose has been cited as a new addition to the roster, with the panel appointment coming within weeks of the London law firm also securing a new appointment to the panel of insurer Ace European Group. Nomura last reviewed its preferred adviser list three years ago when former Linklaters managing partner Terence Kyle, then the bank's European general counsel, led the process. Kyle retired from the bank last year to join mentoring consulting group IDDAS with Chapman appointed as his replacement late in 2007. Chapman, previously a lawyer with Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, joined Nomura's legal department in 2000.News of the panel review comes after Nomura sealed a deal to take on fallen investment bank Lehman Brothers' Asia-Pacific operations as well its European and Middle Eastern equities and investment banking businesses.The deal, which generated roles for law firms including Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom and Freshfields for Nomura, is expected to save thousands of jobs at the defunct bank. It had initially been feared that the entire Lehman legal team in the UK could lose their jobs but last month's rescue deal by Nomura is expected to save many of the 2,500 jobs across those divisions. Details are still to be finalised but a number of London legal staff are already understood to have been granted a temporary reprieve - including as many as 14 members of staff from the bank's Canary Wharf-based documentation team, who had initially been thought likely to leave the bank last week. In addition, the future of the bank's equity derivatives and structured products legal team, headed up by Bhavesh Dattani, also looks more certain, with both legal teams likely to remain in place at least until the end of October. Nomura declined to comment on either the panel or the number of legal staff likely to join from Lehman.

October 02, 2008 at 01:57 AM

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