Guest post: Topline heroin – how global law became addicted to the wrong measure of success

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Guest blogs

One lens through which to view a large part of the corpus of business and management literature is that of metrics. Simply consider how much of what’s written consists of discussions about what to measure, what to optimize, and how to enhance all those numbers.

So, in retailing, we have such yardsticks as sales per square foot, same-store sales, sales per employee, inventory turn, store traffic, percent average markdown, and so forth. For mobile phone providers it would be customer churn, net customer growth/decline, network reach/coverage and network speed, cost per customer acquisition, and much more.

NQ retention and pay: Good news for NRF and Bird & Bird but FFW puts 5 trainees on extended contract

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Salaries Bird & BirdFieldfisherNorton Rose Fulbright

If you see a rabble of trainees at the pub this lunchtime they may well be from Norton Rose Fulbright (NRF), which today (13 August) announced it has increased its newly-qualified (NQ) salary by £1,500 and offered in excess of 90% of its trainees a permanent position.

The newly merged, 3,800-lawyer firm has announced a trainee retention rate of 92% after offering 24 of its 26 trainees a NQ role, up from 89% in its last round in May. It has also increased its NQ salary from £61,500 to £63,000, effective 1 July (and backdated to 1 May this year). First and second year trainees will remain constant at £38,000 and £43,000 respectively.

Revolving Doors: Macfarlanes, LG and Howes Percival boost commercial real estate as CMS takes on RPC reinsurance head

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Strategic recruitment Gowling WLGHowes PercivalMacfarlanes

A resurgence in commercial real estate work has seen heightened lateral activity in the sector with hires by Macfarlanes, Lawrence Graham (LG) and Howes Percival in a week that has also seen CMS Cameron McKenna boosts its reinsurance capability with the hire of RPC head Simon Kilgour.

Macfarlanes continues to focus on growing its non-contentious construction and real estate practices with the hire of Ashurst’s head of construction, Ann Minogue.

Trainee Retention: Hogan Lovells, Travers and RPC reveal numbers

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Trainee retention Hogan LovellsJones DayRPCTravers Smith

The trainee retention rates rollercoaster continues to bring with it good news and bad as today firms including Hogan Lovells, Reynolds Porter Chamberlain (RPC) and Travers Smith are on something of a high.

Top 50 UK firm Travers Smith has posted a 95% retention rate while at transatlantic firm Hogan Lovells – where out of a total of 33 trainees, 28 offers were made and 25 were accepted – the firm achieved a retention rate of 76%.

Deal Watch: Dentons & King & Spalding act on HR Owen hostile takeover bid as Freshfields and Skadden secure Asian M&A roles

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Corporate DentonsFreshfields Bruckhaus DeringerKing & SpaldingReed Smith

While the traditional August lull in corporate work may have seen Asia relax, the giant is far from asleep and has gifted a number of transatlantic and Magic Circle firms with eye-catching international M&A deals.

Dentons led by corporate partner Jeremy Cohen is advising luxury car dealer HR Owen on the £32.5m hostile takeover bid by Malaysian billionaire Vincent Tan’s Berjaya Philippines, which HR Owen last week rejected as ‘derisory’.

Redundancy 2013: Watson Farley latest top 40 firm to review secretarial jobs

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Job cuts Watson Farley and Williams

With 2013 offering all the dubious promise of being the toughest legal labour market since 2013, Watson, Farley & Williams has become the latest top 40 firm to announce it is to review its secretarial support function in its London office.

A firm spokesperson said: ‘Secretaries in WFW’s London office were recently advised that a review of our secretarial support function will be taking place over the next five weeks, following which the team may be restructured if required.

‘This aims to ensure that we have highly skilled and specialised roles that meet the needs of our fee earners.’

UK legal services regulation ‘steals a competitive march’ as Jacoby & Meyers launches European venture

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Legal affairs Jacoby & MeyersSlater and Gordon

Jacoby & Meyers is to establish a new joint venture in the UK as the major US consumer law firm says the UK’s external funding and ownership regulation has ‘stolen a competitive march from the other key legal jurisdictions, including the U.S’ that will see Jacoby now focus much of its growth in London.

The joint venture with City-based private equity and corporate law firm MJ Hudson – founded by heavyweight ex-Proskauer Rose London head and former SJ Berwin partner Matthew Hudson – is called Jacoby & Meyers Europe and the group is likely to seek Alternative Business Structure (ABS) status in the UK, allowing it to attract non-lawyer equity ownership and funding.

We’ll take that: BPP’s university status welcome news amidst challenging times for education providers

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Education

With the Legal Education and Training Review (LETR) having just last month thrown down some spiky if not unexpected challenges to education providers, yesterday’s (8 August) news that BPP has been awarded university status was a welcome boost.

The decision by the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS) to award the university title to BPP – which provides undergraduate and graduate business degrees across the law finance and tax space and is the sole provider of the Legal Practice Course to many of the top City firms – will elevate its standing globally, Dean and Chief Executive Peter Crisp told Legal Business: ‘Firstly, it’s the recognition, the reputation and the standing it gives us worldwide, so obviously in terms of our appeal to students both in this country and internationally. It puts us on a par with other universities who also recruit onto the LLB and the vocational legal training practice.

Hong Kong drive: Addleshaws makes foray into local law two months after HK launch

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Hong Kong Addleshaw Goddard

Addleshaw Goddard’s objective to offer capability across the major disputes and arbitration centres has been given a boost by its launch today (8 August) of a local law practice in Hong Kong through a formal tie up with a newly established local firm led by partners from Minter Ellison and DLA Piper.

The new office will be led by former head of litigation and employment at Minter Ellison, Nigel Francis, and DLA Piper corporate partner Brett Stewien, who have practiced in Hong Kong for 25 and 14 years respectively.

Retention round up: mixed bag as Shoosmiths, Dentons, Taylor Wessing record reduced rates

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Associates DentonsShoosmithsTaylor Wessing

Following last week’s round of positive trainee retention rates within a mix of Magic Circle, international and regional firms; the latest batch of results has revealed a substantial reduction in the number of newly qualified lawyers offered a position at their respective firms.

It’s bad news for the junior lawyer at Shoosmiths as the national firm announced yesterday (7 July) that it will only retain 41% of NQ trainees. Out of a cohort 22, nine out of 11 trainees have so far accepted jobs while out of the remaining 13 newly qualifieds (NQs), seven have been offered jobs at other law firms, and one will return to a non-legal career.