Legal Business (LB): You have both been in charge for nearly four years. What are some of the highlights? David Pollitt (DP), managing partner, DAC Beachcroft: One of the first things we decided was to streamline our governance, which Virginia led on. We wanted to become more corporate, leaner and more efficient in decision-making. But …
‘I have never instructed a Big Four firm on a legal matter,’ says one UK general counsel (GC) of a large multinational. ‘The accountants’ legal offering is not something I’m close to,’ concedes Tesco GC Adrian Morris. The respective legal chiefs at The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Lloyds Banking Group strike a similar …
Bank of England (BoE) general counsel (GC) Sonya Branch puffs her cheeks as she ponders how much work Brexit has created for her team. ‘It has been absolutely vast,’ she says. About 65% of the UK central bank’s legal team, which has grown from 90 to more than 150 since she joined four years ago, …
Continue reading “The Client Profile: Sonya Branch, Bank of England”
Hamish McNicol tracks the progress of public life for four UK-listed law firms Acquisitions, increased publicity and hires have led to strong performances across the board for many of the UK’s listed law firms, with most reporting their first financials since going public.
Kennedys senior partner Nick Thomas will be ‘very disappointed’ if the firm does not have another year of double-digit growth after its revenue broke through £200m for the first time this year. Global turnover at the insurance and shipping specialist for the year to 30 April 2019 grew 11% to £218m, as fee-earner headcount grew …
Continue reading “No Buzz Lightyear complex as Kennedys’ revenue tops £200m for the first time”
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Simmons & Simmons and Lewis Silkin have lost spots on an expanded Transport for London (TfL) legal panel, while the general counsel (GC) of mobile payment platform WorldRemit has left for a regtech start-up. TfL has appointed 15 firms across eight areas – employment and industrial relations, major commercial, rail, routine commercial and real …
Eversheds Sutherland is opening an office in the ‘very competitive’ Chicago market with the hire of two partners, and has plans to bulk out in California, too. The firm announced today (29 May) it was opening its first new US office since the 2017 tie-up of Eversheds and US outfit Sutherland Asbill & Brennan. Chicago …
Continue reading “Eversheds eyes larger California presence following long-awaited Chicago opening”
Osborne Clarke has made up eight partners in an improved promotion round which includes one lawyer on maternity leave and two who are working part-time. The eight promotions are up three on last year, and include five female promotions. The partners are across the energy and utilities, financial services, real estate and infrastructure and digital …
Seven years after Wiggin set up IP technology company Incopro, it has raised $21m and expanded to protect more than 600 brands, Hamish McNicol reports Simon Baggs, co-founder and chief executive of online brand protection provider Incopro, has a friend who designs and sells high-end rugs for tens of thousands of pounds. Within days of …
Companies with thousands of contracts want to not only store them, but manage and learn from them too. It is not just about in-house legal teams, however, Hamish McNicol reports The International Association for Contract & Commercial Management, a 55,000-member representative group spanning 177 countries, estimates that the average company loses more than 9% of …
