Once a storied institution in the Scottish legal market, Dundas & Wilson has unveiled its last ever financials and has recorded mixed results, with unaudited figures for the 2013/14 financial year showing a revenue decrease of 4.5% to £47m from £49.2m, while profit per equity partner (PEP) increased 8% to £181,006 from £167,625. The fall in revenue constitutes a 29% drop over the last five years.
A London team at Covington & Burling led by corporate partner Lucinda Osborne advised AstraZeneca on a potential $2.1bn deal to purchase Spanish healthcare group Almirall’s respiratory unit in a move that sees the company add to its pipeline of asthma products.
Anglo-German firm Taylor Wessing and City-firm Macfarlanes have both landed leading roles on a major refinancing deal as the real estate market continues to see an upturn.
Fieldfisher has lost key instructions from social networking giant Facebook which is set to direct privacy and information law work to top-ten firm Hogan Lovells.
UK top-30 insurance firm Holman Fenwick Willan has posted a slight increase of 2% in global revenues with receipts growing to £143.8m in the last financial year ending 2013/14, only marginally up from £141m the previous year. Profits per equity partner (PEP) at the firm fared better, coming in at £554,000, an increase of 5% from £528,000 last year.
Global 100 firm Baker & McKenzie has secured a heavyweight real estate mandate advising on the receivership of London’s iconic building, the Gherkin, valued at around £650m and which has been put up for sale after collapsing into receivership earlier this year.
Global top-40 firm Ashurst is scaling back its Adelaide office headcount as its only Adelaide-based partner and office head Tanya Denning relocates to Melbourne to lead its energy practice.
Following a period of upheaval that has seen Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) exit a number of non-performing senior lawyers, the top 20 firm is considering changes to its partnership deed to make it easier to manage partners out.
Reed Smith’s recently elected managing partner, Sandy Thomas, has had his recommendations for a senior management reshuffle, which rotates nearly half the team, approved by the firm’s partnership.
City firm RPC is the latest to reveal its trainee retention rates this summer, and has announced it will keep all 15 trainee solicitors who applied to qualify this year, constituting the second time the firm has achieved a 100% rate since 2010. Meanwhile, CMS Cameron McKenna posted more modest results and confirmed a retention rate of 67.2%, with the firm’s London office keeping the lion’s share of trainees.
