Revolving Doors: Disputes hiring picks up pace as Global 100 players make key appointments

Revolving Doors: Disputes hiring picks up pace as Global 100 players make key appointments

Allen & Overy has hired cyber security incident response partners, Ffion Flockhart, and Charlie Weston-Simons, with Flockhart taking on the role of global head of cybersecurity.  The pair previously worked together at Norton Rose Fulbright, where Flockhart was global co-head of information governance, privacy, and cyber security. The team will assist clients with cyber incidents …

SFO opens criminal investigation into Axiom Ince

SFO opens criminal investigation into Axiom Ince

A criminal investigation has been launched into Axiom Ince, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) announced today (14 November). Seven individuals have been arrested in connection with the investigation and searches have been carried out across nine sites. More than 80 SFO investigators, alongside Metropolitan Police officers, went to locations across the southeast of England early …

International round-up: Global 100 firms expand in the Middle East and Asia

International round-up: Global 100 firms expand in the Middle East and Asia

Ahead of our annual Global 100 report in our November/December issue, firms have made concerted efforts to consolidate and expand in the Middle East and Asia in recent months. Bird & Bird has announced a new office in Shenzhen, to be led by the firm’s Greater China intellectual property practice co-head Hank Leung, a Legal …

New brooms for Travers Smith as partnership elects Gillen to senior partner

New brooms for Travers Smith as partnership elects Gillen to senior partner

Travers Smith today (6 November) announced the election of Andrew Gillen as senior partner. With a term commencing on 1 January 2024, Gillen will succeed acting senior partner Siân Keall, who has been in the role, first in a part-time capacity since January 2023, and then full-time since 30 June following Kathleen Russ’s decision to …

Axiom Ince appoints administrators as Law Society questions compensation fund levy

Axiom Ince appoints administrators as Law Society questions compensation fund levy

Axiom Ince has filed documents with the High Court to appoint Neil Bennett, Alex Cadwallader and Andrew Poxon of Leonard Curtis as joint administrators. They will be responsible for closing the firm’s business, realising its assets, and reporting to its creditors. The joint administrators will operate separately from intervening agents Gordons, Shakespeare Martineau and Stephensons, …

LB100 – The second 25: Riders of the storm

LB100 – The second 25: Riders of the storm

It has been another muted performance from the second 25, typically the strongest-performing group in the LB100 historically. Average revenue may be up 8% to £180.4m – in line with the LB100 as a whole – but revenue per lawyer (RPL) stayed flat at £289,000. Profit per lawyer (PPL) barely moved at £74,000 and neither …

Social mobility: An invisible problem

Social mobility: An invisible problem

‘We have yet to make significant strides in fostering systemic change for social mobility. Our focus around diversity and inclusion has only been for the past 15 to 20 years, while the legal industry has a history spanning hundreds of years. So, when we gauge the progress made in proportion to this vast timeline, it …

The Client Profile: Alessandro Galtieri, Colt Technology Services

The Client Profile: Alessandro Galtieri, Colt Technology Services

It is fair to say that Colt Technology Services does not look out of place in its trendy environs of Shoreditch, East London. Decorated with the UK’s largest wall mural, which the company commissioned a collection of graffiti and street artists to create, the building comes complete with its own beehive, shortly to produce its …

‘A salutary lesson’: Axiom Ince closed by SRA following months of turmoil

‘A salutary lesson’: Axiom Ince closed by SRA following months of turmoil

Drawing a long-running saga to its inevitable conclusion, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) announced on 3 October that it had closed down Axiom Ince with immediate effect following its intervention to protect the interest of clients and former clients of the firm. Regarding the intervention, the SRA said: ‘We will stop the firm from operating, …

Revolving Doors: lateral hiring market picks up pace again

Revolving Doors: lateral hiring market picks up pace again

The beginning of October has seen the lateral hire market leap back into action following the summer lull, with several high-profile hires across disputes, arbitration, and IP. Goodwin has strengthened its litigation offering with the appointment of government investigations and enforcement partner Mark Beardsworth.  Beardsworth is a Legal 500 Leading Individual for white-collar crime and …