Irwin Mitchell has secured a £60m four-year finance package with an additional £30m ‘accordion’ facility with HSBC, Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland to fund its strategic plan to grow its business ‘substantially’.
RBS: some recovery in sight but weak demand and 5,000 surplus solicitors still define turbulent legal market
Disaggregated, wrestling with tight margins, reliant on defensive mergers and probably still with more than 5,000 un-needed solicitors in England and Wales – the good news is that there actually is some good news in a new report on the profession from the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS).
Skadden latest US firm to enter Seoul after obtaining local licence
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom has announced it is opening in Seoul, South Korea, joining a growing number of UK and US firms who have already entered the market.
‘Definitely more interest in the EU’ – OC’s Silicon Valley head talks San Francisco launch and US strategy
Building on its existing offices in the Silicon Valley and New York, Osborne Clarke (OC) is rolling out its strategy of providing European legal advice to digital businesses in the US with the launch of a new San Francisco base, which office head Steve Wilson says will help the firm engrain itself in the area’s budding digital business community.
Clifford Chance’s third-party £130m professional negligence claim settles
The high profile £130m derivatives dispute between JP Morgan and German public transport provider BVG, during which Clifford Chance (CC) was brought in as a third-party defendant over allegations of professional negligence, has settled.
Noerr cites uptick in cross-border work for revenue growth of 12.3% to €190.8m
German independent Noerr has posted a record turnover of €190.8m for 2013. The Munich-headquartered firm’s revenue grew by 12.3% from €170m in 2012, although turnover in its Central and Eastern European offices fell by around 3% to €26.3m, the firm said today (26 March).
‘We have always been committed to growing our presence there’ – Trowers expands lower cost Birmingham site
Only shortly in the wake of the announcement that Hogan Lovells is to launch a low-cost nearshoring venture in Birmingham, Trowers & Hamlins has said it is to build up its existing Birmingham base with the relocation of three public sector City lawyers.
When futurology becomes reality – LexisNexis gains ABS licence to launch compliance service
The UK arm of legal publishing giant LexisNexis has been awarded an alternative business structure (ABS) licence by the Solicitors Regulation Authority and hired Duane Morris compliance and technology partner Jonathan Armstrong to spearhead its new business, Cordery Compliance.
Post Excalibur litigation victory, Gulf Keystone enters the main market led by Memery Crystal
The sometimes nail-biting growth of independent oil and gas exploration companies was illustrated this week with the entry onto the London Stock Exchange (LSE) of Gulf Keystone Petroleum, led by City firm Memery Crystal, just months after the company successfully defeated a $1.6bn claim by Excalibur Ventures in one of the biggest cases of 2013.
Former Shell legal head Rees joins Thirty Nine Essex Street
With the global arbitration market currently powered by a string of high stakes energy disputes, Thirty Nine Essex Street Chambers looks to have secured itself a trophy tenant with the London set this morning announcing the arrival of former legal director of Royal Dutch Shell Peter Rees QC.