Cherie Blair’s Law Firm (And Cherie, Too) Are Doing Very Well, Thank You

/ Featured, LawStars, Lawyers, UK Law / / By
cherie blair is doing well, thank you.

Cherie Blair, the wife of former British PM Tony, has been doing alright since her husband left Number 10 Downing Street.

Like husband Tony, who has operated lucrative business broking deals and various charitable and peace-keeping missions (the results of which are perhaps less notable), Cherie Blair operates her ultra-private law and strategy firm from the top floor of a building in London overlooking Hyde Park.

As a lawyer who still operates as a barrister and part-time Judge, Cherie Blair is busy.  Making money like her husband but also quietly building up her own empire too.

Sixty-year old Cherie fields a variety of business and charitable activities, as the Daily Telegraph report.  She’s been doing very well, thank you very much.

An analysis by The Telegraph of her various commercial and philanthropic enterprises can disclose that Mrs Blair is having her best year yet.

While Tony Blair spends much of his time criss-crossing the globe securing business deals that have earned him a fortune estimated at £70 million, Mrs Blair, a mother of four, has found herself increasingly occupied with ventures of her own.

Her law firm, Omnia Strategy, of which she is chairman, has opened an office in Washington DC but it also works on cases as far afield as Nigeria, Ghana, Gabon and Cameroon in west Africa.

Unlike most law firms, Omnia does not advertise its telephone number nor its address.

It is registered officially in Baker Street, in central London, in a gleaming office building, although no one at the building’s reception desk was aware of the law firm’s existence.

In fact, the firm’s accountants are based there and Omnia is actually located on the top floor of another building, near Hyde Park. There is no mention of the legal practice on the name plate, either inside or outside.

The firm said its whereabouts were kept secret for “security reasons”.

Its success mirrors that of Mr Blair’s. He too has extensive interests in Africa, including a charity which advises several governments including that of the despotic ruler of Rwanda.

It is understood that Mrs Blair – through her foundation, her law firm and her own private office – now employs almost 50 staff with a wage bill estimated at more than £2 million a year.

Her private office, which mainly answers her post, updates her personal website and arranges her busy diary, employs five people, including a newly appointed chief operating officer on about £80,000. Its total wage bill is estimated at £200,000. Her law firm employs about 15 people and her charity another 25 people.

Read more at The Telegraph.

Cherie Blair then is a busy lady.  Busy and prosperous, building a dynastic empire in the Clinton mould.

 

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CFTC Deadlines Approach for Swap Dealer Margin Segregation Notifications and Buy-Side Responses

/ Briefing / April 2, 2014 / By
Skadden

LawFuel.com – Skadden Arps – Market participants that enter into uncleared swaps should expect to receive notifications from swap dealer (SD) and major swap participant (MSP) counterparties regarding segregation of initial margin for swaps.

Dodd-Frank amended Commodity Exchange Act Section 4s(l) to provide SD and MSP counterparties with the right to have any initial margin posted in connection with an uncleared swap to be held by an independent custodian. Recently adopted Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) rules require SDs and MSPs to notify counterparties of their right to segregate initial margin, to obtain confirmation of receipt of the notice, and to obtain the counterparty’s election of whether to segregate initial margin (Segregation Notification Rules).1 Market participants that do not respond to these notices risk that their SD and MSP counterparties will cease trading with them.

Although many market participants currently do not post initial margin or an independent amount at the outset of entering into uncleared swaps, the Segregation Notification Rules require that SDs and MSPs obtain an election from each counterparty. Moreover, the CFTC currently does not require either counterparty to an uncleared swap to post margin, although it and other regulators have proposed uncleared margin rules.2 However, not posting initial uncleared margin (either because CFTC rules do not so require or the parties did not so agree) does not obviate the need to respond to notifications from SD and MSP counterparties of the right to segregate this margin.

The CFTC’s Segregation Notification Rules

The Segregation Notification Rules require that before an SD or MSP can confirm the terms of an uncleared swap transaction with a buy-side counterparty, it must:

  1. notify the counterparty of the right to segregate initial margin for uncleared swaps; and
  2. receive confirmation from the counterparty that its officer “responsible for management of collateral” has received the notification and made an election whether to segregate.3

The Segregation Notification Rules became effective on January 6, 2014. SDs and MSPs that on-board “new counterparties” (e.g., execute an ISDA Master Agreements with a counterparty) on or after this date have until May 5, 2014, to comply with the Segregation Notification Rules; for “existing counterparties” (e.g., those which have ISDA trading relationships that existed prior to the effective date), SDs and MSPs have until November 3, 2014, to comply. Entities that are subject to the earlier May 5 deadline or that do not want to delay responding to their SD and MSP counterparties should keep in mind that the CFTC rules allow a market participant to change its initial uncleared margin segregation election at any time,4 (and that there will be a cost to establishing a segregated account).

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  See:  Skadden Here

1 See Protection of Collateral of Counterparties to Uncleared Swaps; Treatment of Securities in a Portfolio Margining Account in a Commodity Broker Bankruptcy, 78 Fed. Reg. 66621 (Nov. 6, 2013). For additional information on the rulemaking, please refer to a prior Skadden client alert, available at here. The right to segregate margin only applies to initial margin (such as the “independent amount” in ISDA credit support annexes) and does not extend to variation margin, which typically is collected on a mark-to-market basis throughout the life of the swap.

2 The CFTC, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and the prudential banking regulators each have proposed uncleared margin rules. See Margin Requirements for Uncleared Swaps for Swap Dealers and Major Swap Participants, 76 Fed. Reg. 23732 (proposed April 28, 2011) (CFTC); Capital, Margin, and Segregation Requirements for Security-Based Swap Dealers and Major Security-Based Swap Participants and Capital Requirements for Broker-Dealers, 76 Fed. Reg. 70,213 (proposed Nov. 23, 2012) (SEC); Margin and Capital Requirements for Covered Swap Entities, 76 Fed. Reg. 27,564 (proposed May 11, 2011) (banking regulators).

3 See 17 C.F.R. § 23.701. The Segregation Notification Rules must be satisfied at least once annually for each counterparty with which the SD or MSP will trade uncleared swaps.

4 See 17 C.F.R. § 23.701(f).

This memorandum is provided by Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and its affiliates for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended and should not be construed as legal advice. This memorandum is considered advertising under applicable state laws.

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