Linklaters and A&O join Magic Circle peers in associate salary race to attract US talent

Linklaters and A&O join Magic Circle peers in associate salary race to attract US talent

Linklaters and Allen & Overy (A&O) have joined Magic Circle peers Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Clifford Chance to hike associate salaries in the US as competition to recruit top-flight lawyers heats up. A&O said today (28 June) it would pay US associates a starting salary of $190,000 rising to $340,000 for associates in their eight year. The salary …

Financials 2017/18: Ashurst posts 4% revenue uptick and second year of double-digit PEP growth

Financials 2017/18: Ashurst posts 4% revenue uptick and second year of double-digit PEP growth

In what management has billed as ‘a strong performance globally’, Ashurst has reported a modest 4% uptick in revenue for 2017/18 while the firm sustained the 11% growth in profit per equity partner (PEP) achieved last year. The firm’s revenue for the last financial year was £564m, up from £541m, while PEP stood at £743,000 …

Ashurst targets funds and Brexit business with Luxembourg launch

Ashurst targets funds and Brexit business with Luxembourg launch

Ashurst is a step closer to building out its European funds offering having today (22 June) received licence approval for a new Luxembourg office from the country’s Bar association. Corporate partner Isabelle Lentz – currently head of the firm’s Luxembourg desk in London -will take the helm at the new outpost, which is set to …

A&O lures FinReg head Penn back from Cleary as White & Case makes City funds play with partner hire

A&O lures FinReg head Penn back from Cleary as White & Case makes City funds play with partner hire

In a surprise move, Allen & Overy (A&O) has taken back its erstwhile financial services regulation head Bob Penn from Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton after only two years away, while White & Case eyes the lucrative funds market with the addition of a new partner to its global banking practice in London. Penn’s departure in …

Full disclosure: Links and HSF usher in personal relationship policies in bid to face #MeToo demons

Full disclosure: Links and HSF usher in personal relationship policies in bid to face #MeToo demons

City firms Linklaters and Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) have been spurred into action by the swathe of sexual misconduct allegations that in recent months have plagued the industry, launching personal relationship disclosure and whistleblowing initiatives within a fortnight of one another. In early May, Linklaters issued ‘guidance on how to manage relationships at work’, with …

All restless souls – City firms braced as partnership goes Millennial

All restless souls – City firms braced as partnership goes Millennial

‘It was so long ago,’ reflects Malcolm Sweeting, Clifford Chance’s (CC) senior partner, of his promotion to partner in 1990. ‘My only involvement in the process was playing football in Hackney one winter when a junior partner sidled up. “It’s all looking good,” he cryptically confided, before sidling away. Later, the senior partner rang me …

Partnership Perspectives

Partnership Perspectives

‘The Dickensian management role of closed doors is a thing of the past.’ Jonathan Kewley, partner and co-head of Clifford Chance’s tech group. Made up in 2017 What attracted you to partnership? I’m working in tech, a space that didn’t exist 30 years ago. There are challenges facing clients that didn’t exist five years ago. …

White & Case sets ambitious Chicago growth plans after opening office with corporate and white collar hires

White & Case sets ambitious Chicago growth plans after opening office with corporate and white collar hires

White & Case is continuing its dynamic growth drive apace as the US vanguard opens an office in Chicago to be spearheaded by Jason Zakia, the head of its disputes practice in the Americas. The firm has nailed its colours to the mast with a pair of laterals in corporate and white collar, in the form …

Deal watch: Slaughters tunes into Sky bidding war as Links and Ashurst waste no opportunity on Cory Riverside disposal

Deal watch: Slaughters tunes into Sky bidding war as Links and Ashurst waste no opportunity on Cory Riverside disposal

Slaughter and May has been drafted in by the Walt Disney Company on its Sky News bid while Linklaters and Ashurst took the lead as infrastructure investors scoop UK waste management business Cory Riverside Energy. The latest twist in the multi-billion pound takeover of Sky has seen a team led by Slaughters corporate partner Richard Smith advising Disney …

Tidswell goes unchallenged in securing second term as Ashurst chair

Tidswell goes unchallenged in securing second term as Ashurst chair

Ben Tidswell has been handed another term as chair of Ashurst following an election which last week culminated in his leadership going unchallenged. The City firm launched an election process at the start of May, giving opponents until the end of that month to put themselves forward for the role. But it is understood no …