Comment: Magna Carta, bribery and a bit of confusion – Global Law Summit starts the countdown

Posted on |
Legal affairs

It turns out that hundreds of years of legal history waits not even for Bob Crow so Thursday evening (6 February) saw an opening countdown to the planned Global Law Summit, the sort of Government-backed venture to celebrate the Magna Carta, English traditions of rule of law and the UK’s role as a legal services leader.

As such, a sizeable group of senior figures from across the profession braved a grid-locked London and variable security arrangements at Mansion House to hear a debate on bribery law and flag up the Global Law Summit planned for next year to mark 800 years of the drafting of Magna Carta.

O Canada! DLA Piper in talks with Heenan Blaikie partners to set up in Toronto and Calgary

Posted on |
Strategic recruitment DLA Piper

Long having eyed a Canadian presence, DLA Piper confirmed today (7 February) that it is in talks with a group of partners from the Toronto and Calgary offices of top-tier local firm Heenan Blaikie, which announced earlier this week that it is to wind down its operations following a wave of partner departures.

The discussions, which come as a management re-shuffle at the top 10 LB100 firm announced this week will see current co-chief executive and managing partner Sir Nigel Knowles take over from Tony Angel as co-chair, could provide a long sought after entry to a market that has in recent years seen the arrival of firms such as Norton Rose Fulbright (NRF) and Clyde & Co.

Revolving Doors: Key transactional and antitrust hires for Bakers, Bird & Bird, K&L Gates, Trowers, Reed Smith and Mayer Brown

Posted on |
Strategic recruitment Baker McKenzieBird & BirdReed Smith

With transactional activity on the rise international firms including Bird & Bird, K&L Gates, Trowers & Hamlins and Reed Smith have bolstered their European corporate and banking capability, while Baker & McKenzie and Mayer Brown have made appointments in the buoyant pharmaceutical and antitrust sectors respectively.

In London, Bakers on Monday (3 February) announced the hire of highly rated pharmaceutical lawyer Julian Thurston, a former partner and consultant at Morrison & Foerster, who joins the firm’s 450-lawyer global pharmaceutical and healthcare industry group as a consultant.

In-house: BT selects Axiom to replace UnitedLex as new LPO provider

Posted on |
In-house AxiomBT

An innovator long at the vanguard of transforming the traditional in-house legal function, BT has just entered into a three-year contract with Axiom to provide legal support services across the UK, US, Africa, Middle East and Asia, replacing a contract formerly held by legal process outsourcing (LPO) provider UnitedLex.

All work previously undertaken by UnitedLex, which includes 30% of BT’s global services division’s legal work in the UK, transferred to Axiom on 1 February after a successful tender process that concluded towards the end of last year.

Remaking legal education – after 18 years at Europe’s largest law school, Savage confirms retirement

Posted on |
Education

In a career spanning dead-end jobs and the upper echelons of the global legal market, Nigel Savage, the man who almost certainly did more than any other individual to shake up legal education in the UK, has announced his retirement.

In a statement issued today (6 February), Savage confirmed his retirement as the president and provost of the University of Law after 18 years heading the institution. He stands down from 1 April 2014 to be succeeded by chief executive John Latham.

LLP latest: Mayer Brown sees revenue dip by 9.5% as Pinsents gains £20m from McGrigors merger

Posted on |
Financial results 2013 Mayer BrownPinsent Masons

Mayer Brown has released its LLP results for the year ending 2012/13 for the UK business, reporting a 9.5% loss in revenues while profits are down by 5.5%.

The top 30 Global100 firm’s UK results filed with Companies House on 3 February show its turnover dropped from £105.9m in 2012 to £95.8m last year. Profits also dropped from £22m to £20.8m over the same period, while its operating profits fell from just under £31m in 2012 to £29.1m in 2013.

The firm’s net debt however, also fell to £25.6m in 2013 from nearly £34m in the previous year.

In-house lawyers to be affected by impact of ABS as hundreds of corporates consider conversion

Posted on |
ABS

Up to 700 companies, public authorities and charities could currently be considering the business case for applying to become an Alternative Business Structure (ABS) according to a report commissioned by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) on the in-house market.

Published yesterday (4 February), the report, simply called ‘the role of in-house solicitors’, surveyed over 2,000 in-house solicitors as well as 213 representatives from organisations employing in-house solicitors.

Legal innovation – Connect2Law’s Jabbari to join Parabis to extend ABS portfolio and set up regional network

Posted on |
Innovation

Just weeks after resigning from Manchester-based consumer services and personal injury (PI) firm Pannone following its £33m acquisition by ASX-listed Slater & Gordon, the firm’s former executive board member and chief executive of Connect2Law David Jabbari has joined Parabis as a partner.

At Parabis, which last month partnered with Direct Line Group as the insurance giant obtained authorisation from the Solicitors Regulation Authority to become an Alternative Business Structure, Jabbari (pictured) will establish a Connect2Law-style branded network of leading regional law firms in the UK.

Guest post: The New World of Legal Work vs Global Behemoths

Posted on |
Innovation

There’s an interesting tension between Sir Nigel Knowles prediction of legal behemoths straddling the globe with investment bankers outriders (or is it the other way round) whilst the remainder squabble over the scraps, downsize or fail (I may have sexed it up a bit, which it does not need; it’s a very interesting piece) and Jordan Furlong’s New World of Legal Work (a supercharged, short Susskind-esque parlez with the world of legal work in 2020 where firms are expected to be smaller). It too is an excellent read.

Let me pick up some of Jordan’s key points:

‘Go on, have a go’ – TLT partner joins DWF drawn by ‘huge number of opportunities’

Posted on |
Strategic recruitment DWFTLT

The momentum and energy surrounding DWF’s rapid growth has been credited for its latest hire, TLT corporate partner Richard Tall, who arrived in the London office this month with two associates, bringing the top 30 firm’s national corporate practice to 31 partners.

Acting for bidders, targets and financial advisers including major listed companies, Tall (pictured), who joins with solicitors Joe Cobley and Caroline Urban, has experience in schemes of arrangement and rule 9 dispensations under the Takeover Code, as well as securities offers from unlisted bond issues to the Official List.