Financial results 2013/14: BLP’s PEP up 35% and revenue 6%

In one of the most anticipated sets of financial results of the 2013/14 financial reporting season, Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) last month unveiled its latest figures, with the top-20 firm’s revenue and profits per equity partner (PEP) up by 6% and 35% respectively, to £246m and £542,000. As one of the earliest top City firms …

OC joins Magic Circle on Dixons Carphone tie-up

Carphone Warehouse and Dixons merge along with DEMB and Mondelez Major M&A mandates have over the past month seen Linklaters, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Osborne Clarke (OC) secure roles on the £3.6bn merger of Carphone Warehouse and Dixons Retail, as Clifford Chance (CC) and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom led on the $7bn merger …

Life During Law: Nilufer von Bismarck

There were different challenges during the downturn, you had to look to different markets. Challenges are always there and you are always after that next deal or that new client. I don’t think you could be here for 24 years without still being ambitious for that. Working on the bailout was very intense – almost …

Revolving Doors: Strategic UK hires for Irwin Mitchell; Simmons; Speechly and Winckworth Sherwood

A series of lateral hires across the UK last week saw Irwin Mitchell take on a trio of commercial litigation partners from Eversheds, DLA Piper and Matthew Arnold Baldwin (MAB), while Simmons & Simmons bolstered its information technology team with a hire from DLA, and Speechly Bircham and Winckworth Sherwood hired into their planning and …