Legal Technology Journal

London team complete deal for UK emerging companies client
 
28 November 2008 - LONDON -  Richard Eaton, who joined Orrick as a partner less than two weeks ago, led a team advising longstanding client MessageLabs on its acquisition by Symantec. The  $700 million deal is the second significant corporate transaction that Richard's team have completed in recent years for MessageLabs, following the spin out last year of MessageLabs' ISP division, Star Technology. MessageLabs provides a range of managed services to protect, control, encrypt and archive electronic communications with over 19,000 clients in 86 countries.  "We are delighted to have closed such a significant deal within two weeks of our arrival at Orrick." commented Richard Eaton " This deal shows that the emerging companies market is holding up strongly, despite the economic downturn."
 
Other members of the team include new associates Leah Cairney and Sarah Milligan.
 
Symantec, a global leader in providing storage, security and management solutions were advised by Graeme Sloan at Latham & Watkins.

Richard Eaton and two further partners, Christopher Grew and Struan Penwarden joined the London office of Orrick on 3rd November, with associates Sarah Milligan, Leah Cairney and Giles Hawkins. The new partners join Orrick from Heller Ehrman, where they represented nearly a hundred venture-backed European emerging growth companies, as well as AIM and main-listed emerging growth companies.  They also represent numerous U.S. companies with strategic operations in Europe, and U.S. and European venture capital funds and investment banks.  The three partners have been top ranked for Venture Capital in the U.K. Legal 500 for the last three years.