‘Feels good to be bold’ – Freshfields executes on New York private capital ambitions with hire of Latham PE pair

‘Feels good to be bold’ – Freshfields executes on New York private capital ambitions with hire of Latham PE pair

In what will be viewed by rivals as a further shot across the bows, Freshfields has continued to make determined inroads with its US strategy, this time hiring private equity M&A partners Neal Reenan and Ian Bushner in New York from Latham & Watkins. The investment is another coup for a firm that has become …

Euro Elite 2024: Ireland – Under pressure

Euro Elite 2024: Ireland – Under pressure

Despite recent laments from London corporate pundits over a depressed deals market, the view of many is that the Irish market is bucking global trends. Stephen Keogh, William Fry’s head of corporate, says: ‘From a transactional point of view, the big feature this year so far has been a smaller amount of multi-billion deals and …

No shoo-ins at the Legal Business Awards, and beware the perils of TL;DR

No shoo-ins at the Legal Business Awards, and beware the perils of TL;DR

Awards season. It should be viewed as a time of joy and anticipation, when law firms clamour to showcase their finest achievements of the last year, whether that’s an especially standout deal or matter, or an extraordinary individual moving the dial for the profession. Amusingly, one of my colleagues forwarded this message onto me in …

Reasons to be cheerful: the hustle is back for 2024

Reasons to be cheerful: the hustle is back for 2024

Whether it is the prospect of another few weeks still left of winter, many law firm leaders seem to have started the year under an uncharacteristic cloud of despondency. Of course, it doesn’t take a genius to work out the other reasons why even the peppiest of senior partners might appear noticeably dispirited. The US …

The Global 100 debate: Going hard and betting long

The Global 100 debate: Going hard and betting long

Nathalie Tidman, Legal Business: How have your businesses been performing over the last year? What have been the highlights? Deborah Finkler, Slaughter and May: Remarkably well. I certainly think that we have all been holding our breath for the last two years for the downturn, which still has not entirely happened. The biggest issue we …

The in-house debate: Look to the future now

The in-house debate: Look to the future now

David Halliwell, Pinsent Masons Vario: The world is now seen through a ‘VUCA’ lens – it’s Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous. Are the risks that businesses are facing much more uncertain? What does that mean for how you are working in your roles? John Ventress, Lombard Odier Investment Managers: As in-house lawyers, we need to …

Life During Law: Natasha Luther-Jones

Life During Law: Natasha Luther-Jones

When I was 12, I was a competitive swimmer, and I used to swim every morning before school. If you’re swimming that much, your swimsuits get see-through, so for training, sometimes you’d have to wear double swimsuits, and that’s a bit of a drag when you’re in a competition. I’d asked my mum for a …

Global 100: When the music stops – it’s time for the global elite to play a different record

Global 100: When the music stops – it’s time for the global elite to play a different record

It has long been a peccadillo of business publishers to measure financial performance in five-year increments and for this, our final issue of the year, it seems churlish to break with tradition now. Revisiting our Global 100 coverage from 2018 calls to mind a time capsule, with some of the contents uncannily familiar and others …

Doing the robot – Five years on, the same old AI debate rages on

Doing the robot – Five years on, the same old AI debate rages on

‘It is very difficult to see how AI competes with what David Higgins does.’ Looking back five years to our 2018 Global 100 debate, this remark from Milbank’s Suhrud Mehta, one of many eminent City leaders around the table, is striking in more ways than one. The industry has come to think of the now …

The onslaught continues: Paul Weiss raids Kirkland again to hire City IP partner

The onslaught continues: Paul Weiss raids Kirkland again to hire City IP partner

Just when the market thought Paul Weiss had eased up on its hiring spree in the run-up to Christmas, the firm has hired John Patten, a partner in the London technology and intellectual property (IP) transactions practice of Kirkland & Ellis. The move sees the Wall Street giant continue to pursue with gusto the build-out …