LB100 firms forced to make own luck as tough times continue

Posted on |

The headline isn’t great, but it’s not bad either. Judging our annual Legal Business 100 (LB100) results, the industry has done better than expected overall, at least compared to 2015, when the group barely achieved growth despite a relative rebound in the UK and global economy.

This year, revenues across the LB100 dipped 2% to £20.2bn, heavily influenced by the removal of Dentons and Squire Patton Boggs from our tables. Back-of-the-envelope calculations show the group managed to hike income by roughly 3% on a like-for-like basis. Given the slowing of deal activity since the start of 2015 and some easing of investment ahead of the EU referendum, it could have been worse.

Continue reading “LB100 firms forced to make own luck as tough times continue”

Fighting back – a golden opportunity to take on the Big Four in tax services

Posted on |

Bakers City head Alex Chadwick argues that law firms are increasingly primed to take core tax work off Big Four rivals

As the international tax framework becomes subject to increased scrutiny and legal change, the demand for strategic global advice has never been stronger. In the UK, law firms have traditionally played second fiddle to the Big Four accountants when advising on tax. Today, however, law firms with the right infrastructure are incredibly well positioned to take more of a leading role in the tax affairs of their clients. This is down to a combination of greater regulation of audit services, tougher restrictions on the provision by accounting firms of non-audit services, such as tax, valuation and legal services and deregulation of the legal profession.

Continue reading “Fighting back – a golden opportunity to take on the Big Four in tax services”

A Brexit veto? The best-laid plans for Scotland’s future in the UK and in the EU

Posted on |

Brodies’ Christine O’Neill looks at the constitutional and legal position north of the border

It might be premature to say that the dust has settled on the result of the EU referendum. Although the initial shock of the outcome has worn off, there has been ongoing upheaval with a change of prime minister, the abrupt ending (and revival) of several political careers and the launch of a leadership challenge within the opposition.

Continue reading “A Brexit veto? The best-laid plans for Scotland’s future in the UK and in the EU”

The Last Word – Place your bets

Posted on |

‘People want to be in a firm that is winning better work and achieving better results. There’s been a shift in expectation levels.’

Juan Picón, DLA Piper

From post-Brexit investment to the threat of accountants, LB100 leaders tell us how the cards are stacked


Moving quickly

‘As a firm which is investing outside the UK, the cost of investment has gone up, but the returns have also gone up, so you’ve got to put a premium on being able to identify the right opportunities and be able to get return back quickly. When times are uncertain people often try to hang on to cash.’

Peter Hasson, chief executive, Clyde & Co

Continue reading “The Last Word – Place your bets”

The Last Word – Brexit

Posted on |

‘The idea that regulation is all from Brussels and the UK is deregulatory is a fantasy. That is just rubbish.’

James Palmer, Herbert Smith Freehills

In the wake of the shock 23 June referendum result on EU membership of the UK, we asked leading lawyers for their thoughts

 

Relationship counselling

‘The important thing we need to remember is that this vote doesn’t only change the UK’s relationship with the EU, it changes its relationship with the rest of the world as a lot of our trade deals are through the EU.

On a human level, we have a number of lawyers and business services people in the UK who will want to know what their position will be. I said: “You’re an important part of Linklaters, so don’t worry about it.”‘

Gideon Moore, managing partner, Linklaters

 

Continue reading “The Last Word – Brexit”

Global 100: It’s hard going all over

Posted on |

The headline numbers from this year’s Global 100 report do not make upbeat reading, even before the Brexit effect and resulting vote began to chill the market in Europe. While total revenue moved forward 3% to $95.99bn and lawyer headcount grew 6% to 122,945, the per lawyer and per equity partner metrics are flat: average revenue and profit per lawyer (RPL and PPL) are down 2% to $781,000 and $308,000 respectively, while average profit per equity partner (PEP) stood still at $1.6m.

With income growth flattered by consolidation – primarily Dentons’ merger-mania and the digestion of Bingham McCutchen – the world’s 100 largest firms are not, as a breed, growing at all.

Continue reading “Global 100: It’s hard going all over”

KWM becomes Rogers & Wells II but with less staying power

Posted on |

A fêted global giant acquires a punchy mid-tier player to provide coverage in a key global region. Hopes are high. Yet just a few years later the combined firm is plagued by culture clashes, an identity crisis and damaging departures. Buyer’s remorse sets in and the ‘acquired’ firm longs for freedom or even just the good old days.

As we report this month in our cover feature on King & Wood Mallesons (KWM), the painful reality is that SJ Berwin has become, for the global legal market, the modern equivalent of Rogers & Wells, the troubled US acquisition that halted Clifford Chance (CC)’s once unstoppable momentum.

Continue reading “KWM becomes Rogers & Wells II but with less staying power”

Elite indies carve out role as the one-stop shop shuts in Europe

Posted on |

Much like British voters ahead of this month’s vote on EU membership, City law firms have been shaped in recent decades by mainland Europe, even as they have become increasingly ambivalent about that mingled destiny. It was the huge bet on European integration that gave birth to the global law firm as pioneered by London’s legal elite through the 1990s. At the turn of the millennium, the key strategic battles among City law firms were as likely to be fought in Frankfurt or Milan as London.

Continue reading “Elite indies carve out role as the one-stop shop shuts in Europe”

Not ‘looming’, the judiciary is already in crisis

Posted on |

If there was much to celebrate amid the continued rise of London as an international disputes centre at Legal Business‘ second Commercial Litigation Summit on 24 May, the cloud on the horizon was apparent: the mounting conviction that the UK judiciary is near crisis.

Growing administrative burdens, earlier retirements, cuts to judges’ pensions and court funding – not to mention far higher earnings on offer for commercial silks. Chairing our debate on the state of the judiciary, Sir Bernard Eder remarked: ’80-100-hour working weeks are nothing to commercial judges.’ Ashurst partner Ed Sparrow picked up the theme, highlighting terrible morale in the 2014 judicial attitudes survey – a report which the veteran litigator branded a ‘terrifying document’ for those concerned with the reputation of the London courts. Sparrow added that thanks to the loss of kudos for judges in austerity Britain: ‘Judges feel that they are treated like assets and I would say sweated like assets.’

Continue reading “Not ‘looming’, the judiciary is already in crisis”

The Legal 500 view on EMEA – more ways than ever to skin a cat

Posted on |

The shifting interests of international business are echoed in recent law firm moves across Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and reflected in the recently published 2016 The Legal 500 EMEA, which added 15 countries to its coverage over the past two years to address growing interest in Africa, as well as the return of international work to jurisdictions such as Iran and Iraq.

Looking at EMEA results, two core themes emerge: a realignment of priorities among international practices and an emergence of firms positioned as the go-to contender for regional work.

Continue reading “The Legal 500 view on EMEA – more ways than ever to skin a cat”