At the end of a dramatic year for the Scottish legal market, the recently announced union between Glasgow and Edinburgh star Burness and one of Aberdeen’s strongest firms, Paull & Williamsons, looks set to redefine the Caledonian top-tier. The merger, which was announced last month and takes effect on 1 December, will see the two …
Continue reading “Consolidation changes the face of Scottish elite again”
Last month, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton did something that it has only done once before – open two non-US offices in the same year. Seoul became the firm’s sixteenth office, launching just a month after Cleary opened its fifteenth office in Abu Dhabi. The only time the firm has previously opened two offices in …
Continue reading “Lateral thinking required with international expansion”
Extracting greater value from dwindling resources is top of the agenda as general counsel look to flex their muscles. Welcome to our first-ever in-house survey ‘It’s just like a marriage: a relationship between a law firm and a company is one that needs to be nurtured to make sure both are on the same page.’ …
DLA Piper’s recent takeover of French corporate boutique Frieh Bouhenic is the most significant development in a spate of activity involving UK-based international firms in Paris at the end of the summer. The international giant officially joined forces with the corporate firm on 1 October. Eleven-partner Frieh Bouhenic is ranked in the second tier for …
Continue reading “DLA Piper ramps up French offering with boutique addition”
Results from our first-ever in-house survey show that companies’ legal budgets have largely stayed the same or even increased while demand for external services has risen, debunking the myth that widespread cuts to legal budgets have forced general counsel (GC) to instruct law firms less. Canvassing the views of more than 100 in-house lawyers worldwide, …
Continue reading “No drop in demand for external legal advice”
There’s good news and bad news for law firms in our first-ever survey of in-house counsel this month. The good news is that clients need their external lawyers now more than ever. The bad news is they’ll need more effort from their firms for the same amount of money.
In 1992, Bill Clinton was elected US president; the Maastricht Treaty was signed and Legal Business published the financial data of 35 firms with revenues over £20m. Over the last 20 years, as the information age has developed, total revenues of the 100 largest law firms based in the UK have swelled from £2.7bn to …
Continue reading “Twenty years on and the numbers still add up”
US firm Katten Muchin Rosenman remains on the charge in London following the hire of tax partner Sanjay Mehta from Stephenson Harwood in August. The latest hire comes at the end of a highly acquisitive year that has seen the Chicago-based firm make five lateral hires in six months. This follows a triple hire to …
Continue reading “Katten Muchin Rosenman continues hiring spree”
The global diversification of wealth continues to drive the efforts of law firms’ private client teams as the world’s population of affluent individuals continues to climb. LB tracks the latest developments. The international private client teams at major law firms are thriving. The practice area, for decades regarded as the black sheep of the family, …
Long live the Verein. The overwhelming majority of firms in this year’s Global 100 report are still single-partnerships, but with seven of the top 100 firms in the world now comprising multiple partnerships, it’s clear that the mantra of ‘one partnership, one firm’ is being challenged.
