National player Weightmans has expanded into North East England after acquiring Newcastle-based firm Watson Burton, adding nine partners to the firm’s bench. In total, 64 employees will join Weightmans’ ranks, with Watson Burton having offices in Newcastle, Leeds and London. Though the cost of the acquisition was not disclosed, Watson Burton turned over £6.9m in …
The Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) has today (29 October) laid down a marker in the ongoing trucks cartel dispute, giving the go ahead for claimants to bring their case to court through litigation funding. The truck cartel dispute concerns six of the world’s largest truck manufacturers facing collective action claims. The European Commission dealt a …
Continue reading “CAT rules in favour of claimants and funders as trucks cartel dispute intensifies”
Paul Hastings is shutting up shop in Milan as its office head leaves for a US rival while K&L Gates has seen an exodus of partners in Australia. Bruno Cova has been a corporate partner at Paul Hastings for over 14 years and currently chairs the firm’s operation in Milan. However, Cova is set to …
Industry pioneers are attracting public and private interest in alternative models While many lofty predictions of New Law’s rise remain unrealised, the market’s traditional champions have all made major contributions to its growth in recent weeks. Flexible lawyering business Axiom engaged in a surprise private equity (PE) sale; US alternative provider UnitedLex turned over $350m …
Continue reading “Growth and investment define New Law as frontrunners make big gains”
Lee Ranson was restless. It was late 2018 and Eversheds Sutherland’s co-chief needed something different: a viable plan to double revenue over the next five years. A few months earlier, he and US-based co-chief executive Mark Wasserman had joked about telling the firm’s partner conference in New York they were floating on the stock exchange. …
Continue reading “New tricks – Can law firms beat New Law disruptors at their own game?”
The University of Oxford has been awarded £213,000 to fund a study into the legal tech ecosystem as a trio of Magic Circle firms join Latham & Watkins in creating a financial data consortium. The University of Oxford project – funded by the UK Government’s Economic and Social Research Council – will analyse the career …
The long-running saga around Slater and Gordon’s (S&G) invidious Quindell acquisition settled on the eve of trial this week for a slither of the initial claim. A tough week for the national firm was then compounded by the closure of its Leeds office and consultation over a further closure at its Watford call centre.
Walking trees. High-fives. A cinema. Virtual reality headsets. Arcade games. Disco balls. General counsel (GCs) dressed as Willy Wonka. Filing cabinet piñatas. T-shirts reading ‘no bullshit’ and nobody in a suit and tie. Since its debut in 2016, legal tech community Legal Geek’s annual conference has grown dramatically from a respectable 500 attendees to more …
Cash flowing into UK legal tech start-ups rose to £61m in 2018, a considerable increase on the previous year’s £22m, according to a Thomson Reuters report published today (16 October). Over a five-year period the increase is even more drastic, with just £1.5m invested into legal tech companies in 2014 according to the report, created …
Big Four accountancy firm EY is finalising the combination of its two high-profile acquisitions, Riverview Law and Pangea3, into one managed services business under the EY Law brand. The rebranding means that both Riverview and Pangea3, acquired over the last year, will be absorbed into EY Law’s global managed services delivery, while also keeping an …
Continue reading “Riverview Law and Pangea3 brands to be dropped following EY acquisition”
