Commercially minded: Allen & Overy chooses BPP for business-focused LPC

In what constitutes a major overhaul of its training programme, Allen & Overy (A&O) has announced today (16 December) that it will work with BPP law school to provide its young lawyers with an enhanced Legal Practice Course (LPC) with a Masters business component from 2015. The firm has also chosen BPP to run its Graduate Diploma in Law course from September next year.

The change in legal training institution came after a competitive tender process in which BPP was selected over the firm’s incumbent provider, the University of Law.

Clifford Chance wins double pharma mandate as Merck buys AZ Electronic Materials and Amdipharm buys Acbur

With the pharmaceutical industry driving a number of recent high value M&A deals, Clifford Chance has won mandates on two significant instructions in the sector, including advising AZ Electronic Materials on a £1.57bn cash offer by German pharma giant Merck.

The transaction was led by corporate partner Tim Lewis and includes antitrust partner Alex Nourry, Luxembourg corporate partner Pierre Gromnicki, employee benefits partner Sonia Gilbert and tax partner David Harkness.

Comment: The battle for talent and other phoney wars

Since McKinsey & Co first coined the term in 1997, the ‘war for talent’ has been the focus of a stream of conferences, media articles and consulting assignments. It has spawned a new human resources specialism – talent management – and with that has come concepts such as ‘competency frameworks’ and ‘succession planning’.

One of the most hotly fought fronts in the war for talent is graduate recruitment. Professional service firms, including law firms, accountancy practices, banks and consultancies, pride themselves on battling with other firms, competing aggressively for a very limited number of ‘the brightest and the best’ graduates.

Buy-side story: how CMS and Dundas & Wilson finalised their surprise merger

Talk to any partner at Dundas & Wilson in the early 1990s – when Cameron McKenna launched its fledgling oil and gas outpost in Aberdeen – and any suggestion that the City firm could challenge the Scots leader on its own turf would elicit snorts of derision. The notion that the two most prestigious law firm brands in Scotland – Dundas and McGrigors – would be consumed by Cameron McKenna and Pinsent Masons in 20 years’ time would have been seen as laughable.

But the recent confirmation of a tie-up between CMS Cameron McKenna and beleaguered Dundas still came as a surprise to many in the profession.

Quinn makes record number of promotions as US firms announce partner elections

US firms have begun to announce their partnership promotions with Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan making the largest number of partner promotions in the firm’s history, while Sidley Austin, Bingham McCutchen and Dechert all announced a decrease in associates to be made up on 1 January.

Quinn Emanuel announced today (13 December 2013) it is appointing 13 new partners in the firm’s largest promotion round yet. For the last three years, the firm has steadily increased its number of partner promotions with 10 new partner elections in 2012, up from eight in 2011 and seven the year before.

LLPs face hike in tax bills as legislative changes target salaried partners

Limited liability partnerships (LLPs) are facing significantly increased tax bills after HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) issued draft legislation this week confirming that salaried partners with little or no share in the equity will be classed as employees for tax purposes.

The draft Finance Bill, which will come into effect in April next year, says that partners with less than 20% of their remuneration linked to the profits of the firm will be regarded as having a ‘disguised salary’ and subject to both income tax and national insurance.

Comment: The New New Normal – a changing market beckons for 2014

The last three years have drawn to a close heralding another 12 months much like those that went before: depressing. The eurozone flirting with break-up, fiscal woes holding back Western economies and a subdued legal market. Check, check and check.

But drawing to the end of 2013, commercial lawyers are facing an outlook that is, in highly relative terms, not half bad. The word from senior City partners has been generally upbeat since the summer. The first half financial results have, if anything, exceeded those raised expectations. We are looking at the best set of like-for-like financial results seen for five years from major UK law firms.

Updated merger watch – CMS completes successful tie-up with Dundas & Wilson

CMS Cameron McKenna and beleaguered Scottish firm Dundas & Wilson have merged, the firms announced this evening (12 December), creating a firm of 830 partners and 5,600 employees operating in 57 offices in 31 countries across the world with revenues of around €900m.

The tie-up – led for CMS by managing partner Duncan Weston, senior partner elect Penelope Warne and energy partner Stephen Millar, and for Dundas by chairman Lawrence Ward and managing partners Caryn Penley and Allan Wernham – will give the CMS group additional strength in the UK, particularly in Scotland, where for many years Dundas was considered to have the premier corporate practice.

Guest post: A cannon fodder shortage looms as LPC and trainee numbers head for market over-correction

Nigel Hudson has written an interesting post on LPC numbers. He says (among other things):

‘The number of students enrolled on full-time LPCs has shrunk by 8.4% this year. In 2012/13 enrolments fell 4%, so the trend is downward and falling fast.

In all, 5,198 students enrolled with the 27 LPC providers for 2013/2014, according to data from the Central Applications Board, the admissions service for full-time LPC and Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) applicants.’

In-house hires – TSB appoints Post Office GC as legal head as Mercedes-Benz fills top spot

Following its split from Lloyds, TSB Bank has announced the appointment of former Post Office general counsel (GC) Susan Crichton as its new legal chief, leading the newly separated bank’s legal function in the New Year as it moves towards an initial public offering (IPO).

Crichton played a key role in the Post Office’s separation from Royal Mail, before which she was legal, governance and risk director at Skandia International between 2008 and 2010, and GC at General Electric (GE) Money and Consumer Finance between 1999 and 2008.