No such thing as a free lunch – first judgment clarifies termination of third party litigation fund

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Litigation funding

Third party litigation funders look set to adopt a similar position to insurers in driving the litigation agenda after a judgment last week confirmed what the market already knew; there is no such thing as a free lunch or litigation.

Sitting as deputy judge of the High Court, Mr David Donaldson QC in Harcus Sinclair v Buttonwood Legal Capital Limited (BLC) and others set out the first judgment to consider termination of third party litigation funding agreements since the arrival of the Jackson reforms.

Swings and roundabouts: DLA Piper announces replacement Birmingham head and double hire as Patrick Somers joins from BLP

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Strategic recruitment DLA PiperEversheds Sutherland

After losing Birmingham managing partner Mark Beardmore to Eversheds last week DLA Piper has announced his replacement plus a double hire to boot, as former Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) partner Patrick Somers joins the firm.

Somers, who was BLP’s Thames Water relationship partner and led its innovative managed legal services (MLS) division, under which it took over the legal work and staff of Thames Water, becomes the second BLP partner this year to join DLA, after corporate partner Rob Salter joined in May.

In-house: Lloyds Banking Group sees knock-on effect at senior level as it fills GC for group legal role

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In-house Lloyds Banking Group

In-house promotions and moves often have a domino effect across the entire legal function and Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) is no exception. The major British financial institution has most recently announced that former corporate M&A head Hugh Pugsley will take over as general counsel for group legal from Kate Cheetham, who was promoted to deputy general counsel in January this year.

Pugsley, a former associate at Magic Circle firm Allen & Overy, has moved up the ranks of the 60-strong team and will now be responsible for advising the global banking giant on financial reporting, M&A, corporate development, HR, and property-related issues.

Competition and Markets Authority wins over doubters as City nerves subside

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Competition

After longstanding debate followed by a consultation launched by the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS) in March 2011, the new umbrella Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has been brought in to reduce duplication of costs, increase confidence in the system, and, so goes the theory, create a more robust system.

Bringing together the Competition Commission and certain consumer functions of the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), the CMA, which will be established as a non-ministerial department governed by an independent board but accountable to Parliament, has been broadly welcomed by the legal profession.

Comment: Why the in-house triumph over law firms may prove short-lived

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In-house

In the decade prior to the collapse of Lehman Brothers, an excess of work masked the corrosive effect to law firms from competition with increasingly sophisticated and growing in-house legal departments (C&I teams). Post-Lehman, the economic downturn has exposed significant structural challenges to overstaffed law firms, which have been ruthlessly exploited by C&I to decisively shift the balance of power in favour of clients. Nevertheless, the triumph of in-house, measured by its rapid growth and ability to wrest increasingly complex work from law firms while simultaneously squeezing them on rates, may prove to be short-lived. 

Mergers push the top 100 firms back into double digit growth

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Financial results 2013 Deloitte

A wave of consolidation in the UK legal industry has sparked double digit growth among the top 100 law firms for the first time in five years.

The latest Deloitte quarterly legal sector survey today (13 September) revealed a 10.5% increase in fee income generated in Q1 (ending 31 July) compared to the same period last year.

The growth was boosted by mergers within the sector, which accounted for approximately half of the fee income increase, with the balance due to an increase in general market activity.

Line up, line up: Twitter, Royal Mail and Foxtons go to market

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Corporate Freshfields Bruckhaus DeringerLinklatersSlaughter and May

After a flurry of initial public offerings (IPOs) earlier in the year, with Esure, Countrywide and Partnership Assurance among the UK companies to go public, a new wave of IPOs are lining up to go to market, including Royal Mail, Foxtons and, most recently in the US, Twitter.

Twitter rather aptly tweeted its intentions to float on the stock market yesterday (12 September) with leading technology IPO specialists Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati tipped for the role.

Hogan Lovells bolsters mental health and workplace stress measures in the wake of tragic IP partner suicide

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Partnership Hogan Lovells

Hogan Lovells has bolstered its policies and procedures around workplace stress and mental health in the wake of the tragic suicide of respected IP partner David Latham earlier this year.

The inquest into Latham’s death, who jumped in front of a tube on 15 February, opened yesterday (12 September) at Westminster Coroner’s Court, when coroner Jean Harkin heard the 58-year-old lawyer was worried about a relatively minor evidence point on a particularly complex case he was working on. Despite constant reassurance from fellow partners and external counsel that his concerns were unjustified, he became ‘inconsolable.’

In-house: Clifford Chance and Slaughter and May lawyers take senior roles at CMA, Shell and PwC

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In-house Clifford ChancePwCShellSlaughter and May

Magic circle lawyers have this week filled a number of senior regulatory and in-house positions, with a Slaughter and May partner unveiled as general counsel of the new Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and a former lawyer named Shell‘s UK legal head; while Clifford Chance‘s head of employee benefits has joined PwC as a director in its employee rewards team.

The CMA – the new body which brings together the Competition Commission and and some consumer functions of the Office of Fair Trading- yesterday (12 September) announced the appointment of former Slaughter and May partner Sarah Cardell as GC as it completes its leadership team in time for its official launch on 1 October.

Record breaking $49bn Verizon bond issue sees Debevoise and Davis Polk secure lead roles

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Finance Davis Polk & WardwellDebevoise & Plimpton

Debevoise & Plimpton and Davis Polk & Wardwell have landed roles on Verizon Communication’s record breaking $49bn US bond issue. The deal is bigger than the three previous record sized deals combined: Apple’s $17 billion deal in April, AbbVie’s US14.7 billion last November and Roche Holdings’ $13.5 billion transaction in 2009, according to Reuters, which also points out that the issue is larger than the GDP of 90 countries.

Debevoise is advising Verizon, with a New York team led by corporate chair Jeffrey Rosen, corporate partners Michael Dis and Steven Slutzky working alongside tax partner Peter Furci.

Davis Polk is advising the underwriters J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Barclays Bank, Merrill Lynch and Pierce, Fenner & Smith as joint lead arrangers and joint bookrunners.