It won’t rank near the summit of publicity-hogging mis-conduct cases seen at major law firms in recent years but two Addleshaw Goddard partners have each been fined £5,000 after being summoned to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) this week.
The financial penalty, which came following an investigation into discrepancies over disbursements, had been agreed by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) and endorsed by the SDT. The hearing on Tuesday (5 November) was uncontested.
I flew into Manhattan to The New Yorker chronicling the death of Big Law with a pacey dissection of the fall of Dewey & LeBoeuf. Three days later I flew out to The New York Times covering the fee bonanza for Wall Street lawyers generated by J.P. Morgan’s regulatory nightmare.
There you have it – Manhattan’s legal market remains as contradictory and seductive as ever. Eighteen months since Dewey collapsed, it’s not apparent that the world’s largest legal failure has had much impact at all. Certainly, there has been no discernible hard look in the mirror or serious questioning of the elevation of the star system that contributed – combined with a score of other failings – to Dewey’s final chapter.
Long-running negotiations have now concluded between Burges Salmon and Simmons & Simmons over the start date of funds partner Mahrie Webb, who in May became the City practice’s fourth hire to its low-cost Bristol office.
Simmons launched the South West base in September last year with the hire of financial services litigation partners Tim Boyce and Ed Crosse from Osborne Clarke.
However, Webb has yet to join and it is understood that Burges Salmon initially tried to hold the highly regarded funds lawyer to two years gardening leave but that figure has now been reduced to a year, with Webb expected to join Simmons in May.
Undeterred by the Bar’s reaction to its recent grading scheme for criminal advocates, the Bar Standards Board (BSB) today (5 October) announced new, more rigorous supervision arrangements for Chambers, aimed at curbing ‘ineffective governance and inadequate pupillage training.’
From January 2014, all Chambers will be required to participate in the new process, which will see the BSB assess how efficiently sets and sole practitioners are managing potential risks, while those identified as ‘high risk’ will be targeted by the BSB for remedial measures.
As Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) continues to lose London partners so Hogan Lovells is in the midst of aggressively bulking up in the capital and today (5 November) announced internally that HSF environmental partner Louise Moore will re-join the firm.
Moore – who focuses on M&A and private equity and has advised high profile clients including Energy Capital Partners, Chevron, BP and EDF – will re-join the transatlantic firm’s London office in early 2014, having trained with legacy Lovells and become an environmental partner before moving to HSF in 2007.
Ashurst’s lengthy governance elections have come to a close as the top 15 firm announces the results of its final board elections and unveils the members of its executive committee (ExCo).
The 1006-lawyer firm’s new board comprises fourteen members from Ashurst and Big Six Australian merger partner Blake Dawson, with the eight newly-elected members announced today (5 November) including competition partner Peter Armitage and corporate partner Ian Williams in Sydney; London corporate partner Simon Beddow; Madrid real estate partner Cristina Calvo; Perth corporate partner Roger Davies; Frankfurt corporate partner Reinhard Eyring; Hong Kong corporate partner Robert Ogilvy Watson and London banking partner Mark Vickers.
Touted as one of the potential game changers likely to enter the post Legal Services Act arena, the AA has fulfilled market expectation – albeit a little later than its closest rivals – by securing alternative business structure (ABS) status and entering into a joint venture with Bristol-based Lyons Davidson.
AA Law, which will initially handle personal injury (PI) work and other litigation associated with car accidents suffered by AA members and customers, will start trading on 1 December, with employment and contract services likely to be added in the future.
The London Boroughs’ Legal Alliance (LBLA) has joined the rising number of organisations to drastically slim down its roster of legal advisers in a bid to achieve better value after revamping its panel for the third time in four years.
The LBLA, which includes the London boroughs of Kensington & Chelsea, Brent, Camden, Ealing, Hackney, Hammersmith & Fulham, Harrow, Hillingdon, Hounslow, the City of London Corporation and the West London Waste Authority, more than halved its legal panel to seven in its latest review.
The only new entrant to the two-tier panel, which is worth an estimated £5m over three years, is Freeth Cartwright, which has been appointed to advise on complex regeneration, development, property and planning work alongside Ashfords, Bevan Brittan, Sharpe Pritchard, and TLT.
Clifford Chance (CC) has been handed a role advising the ailing Co-operative Bank on its recapitalisation due to a conflict of interest at Allen & Overy (A&O) as the bank prepares to float next year.
CC capital markets partner Iain Hunter and insurance and corporate partner Hillary Evenett are advising the bank on its recapitalisation after A&O’s dual role as adviser to the Co-operative Group and its banking arm came under question in light of bondholder action that will now see a group of hedge funds take over a 70% stake in the bank.
Only four days after its merger went live with King & Wood Mallesons and SJ Berwin has lost leading real estate partner David Ryland to Paul Hastings in London, as US firms also continue to reap the benefit of offering better later life partner opportunities than their UK counterparts.
Ryland, who was the relationship partner for clients including Hilton and private equity fund Evans Randell, specialises in commercial real estate with a focus on UK and European property funds.
