Rising stars: David Gibson – ‘There are so many great new technologies and medicines with potential to make a difference to populations and treatment pathways but key challenges remain in regulating them’

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Rising stars: David Gibson – ‘There are so many great new technologies and medicines with potential to make a difference to populations and treatment pathways but key challenges remain in regulating them’

David Gibson, senior associate at McDermott Will & Emery

Why did you decide to specialise in life sciences law, and what’s the best thing about being a life sciences lawyer?

I find the subject matter fascinating, and I am genuinely curious about new technologies and medicines and how they can be used, shared and applied to improve healthcare for patients across the world. We are often involved in helping our clients with strategic projects and transactions, partnering with other organisations and bringing products to market and to scale – often across different jurisdictions. As a transactional and projects lawyer, I enjoy working with clients to bring the commercial, financing, regulatory and other legal elements together: it is an area of law that has a bit of everything! Continue reading “Rising stars: David Gibson – ‘There are so many great new technologies and medicines with potential to make a difference to populations and treatment pathways but key challenges remain in regulating them’”

If you build it – firms put together infra dream teams as market booms

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If you build it – firms put together infra dream teams as market booms

If there was any doubt remaining that infrastructure is a hot asset right now, BlackRock just eradicated it with its market-moving $12.5bn acquisition of Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP). The combined business will have infrastructure assets under management of more than $150bn worldwide, including London’s Gatwick Airport.

The planned transaction is the latest evidence of the sector’s resilience even against the backdrop of high inflation and interest rates and geopolitical uncertainty that have caused M&A and IPO levels generally to falter in recent years. Continue reading “If you build it – firms put together infra dream teams as market booms”

The road to recovery – how Türkiye’s law firms are pulling through

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The road to recovery – how Türkiye’s law firms are pulling through

Following the devastating earthquakes that rocked Türkiye and Syria in February 2023, rescue, recovery and rehabilitation remain some of the dominant topics of conversation among the Turkish legal community.

The tragedy resulted in the deaths of more than 55,000 people across the two countries, with more than 17 million estimated to have been affected in some way. Inevitably this has meant that a large swathe of the legal fraternity has been directly impacted on a personal level, with many family and friends affected, but law firms have more than risen to the challenge and made themselves available to aid in the recovery. Continue reading “The road to recovery – how Türkiye’s law firms are pulling through”

Infrastructure profile: Sara Pickersgill – ‘Pick something you love doing and do it only for as long as you love it’

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Infrastructure profile: Sara Pickersgill – ‘Pick something you love doing and do it only for as long as you love it’

Kirkland & Ellis’ Sara Pickersgill on switching track from opera singer to infrastructure lawyer and why The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe offers salient lessons for a career in the City

Why did you want to be a lawyer and why infrastructure in particular? Has it delivered what you expected?

Continue reading “Infrastructure profile: Sara Pickersgill – ‘Pick something you love doing and do it only for as long as you love it’”

Global 100 Overview: Spinning around

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Global 100 Overview: Spinning around

The contrast between last year’s Global 100 report and this year’s could hardly be starker. Last year saw firms blow away even optimistic predictions to post extraordinary results. Total revenue increased by 15% to $147.5bn – more than double the previous year’s already impressive rise of 7%. Average profit per equity partner (PEP), meanwhile, shot up 19% to $2.37m.

This year, gross revenue increased by just 1% to hit $149.2bn, while average PEP dropped by 3% to $2.29m. Last year, we deemed a firm to be struggling in relative terms if it did not put both revenue and PEP up by 10% or more. This year, double-digit increases are far rarer: only eight firms increased revenue by 10% or more, and only two – Gibson Dunn (see analysis) and Polsinelli – managed double-digit increases in both revenue and PEP. Continue reading “Global 100 Overview: Spinning around”