Kirkland departures rack up as Paul Weiss makes major London and New York plays

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Kirkland departures rack up as Paul Weiss makes major London and New York plays

August’s reputation as a slow month for lateral hires has been turned on its head in recent weeks, particularly considering the shock departure of debt finance rainmaker Neel Sachdev from Kirkland & Ellis. In what is one of the biggest City law moves in the last five years, Sachdev moves to Paul Weiss, taking with him a team made up of debt finance partner Kanesh Balasubramaniam and capital markets partners Matthew Merkle and Deirdre Jones.

The moves establish an English law offering at Paul Weiss for the first time, in a display of serious intent from the firm. Sachdev, previously a top earner at Kirkland and one of its longest-serving partners, has a book of top-tier financial sponsor clients including Apollo, Bain Capital and Strategic Value Partners. Continue reading “Kirkland departures rack up as Paul Weiss makes major London and New York plays”

Numbers unveiled: 2022/23 financial results show 8% average revenue growth

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Numbers unveiled: 2022/23 financial results show 8% average revenue growth

The annual flood of financial results has engulfed the market once again, with Legal Business 100 firms observing how the Magic Circle firms in particular have performed compared to City peers.

Financial performance reported among UK firms so far reveal an estimated average growth of 8% in revenue, only slightly down on the average revenue growth of 9% recorded in our 2022 LB100 report. However, the picture is different for profit per equity partner (PEP), where growth has been minimal or flat and falling short of average performance in 2022, where PEP also grew by 9%. Continue reading “Numbers unveiled: 2022/23 financial results show 8% average revenue growth”

‘The investment opportunity of a lifetime’: could a booming infrastructure sector offer firms a route into high-value transactional work?

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‘The investment opportunity of a lifetime’: could a booming infrastructure sector offer firms a route into high-value transactional work?

According to Dealogic, 2023 saw the lowest Q1 global deal volume and value since 2012, with just 9,400 deals worth almost $591bn.

But the infrastructure, energy, and projects sector has remained resilient. Dealogic reports 1,953 utility and energy deals worth over $253m in 2022 – a drop in value of just over 16% on 2021, and still higher than all but one of the years 2013-19. Firms on both sides of the Atlantic have noted this, and have invested heavily in infrastructure in recent years, as evidenced by Clifford Chance (CC)’s recent Houston launch. UK-based firms argue that their full-service capabilities give them an edge in the sector. But opinion on this strategy remains split. Some question the importance of full-service capabilities – in the US market in particular. Continue reading “‘The investment opportunity of a lifetime’: could a booming infrastructure sector offer firms a route into high-value transactional work?”

The social mobility conundrum: a quantitative or qualitative approach?

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The social mobility conundrum: a quantitative or qualitative approach?

Following Slaughter and May’s July announcement that it would be setting ambitious social mobility targets for 2033, Holly McKechnie spoke to Magic Circle peers to see how they are each approaching the issue

Slaughter and May has pledged to increase its representation of individuals with a lower socioeconomic background (LSEB) by 25% across its total workforce population from a baseline of 19% by 2033. This includes a target to increase its lawyer population from a LSEB to 15% from a baseline of 10% and its business services population to 40% from a baseline of 35%. The metric used by Slaughters to determine an individual’s socioeconomic background is parental occupation at the age of 14.

Continue reading “The social mobility conundrum: a quantitative or qualitative approach?”

‘The raconteur’s raconteur par excellence’: Industry mourns loss of ESG luminary Paul Watchman

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‘The raconteur’s raconteur par excellence’: Industry mourns loss of ESG luminary Paul Watchman

‘Have I told you my friend’s story about being a munchkin in The Wizard of Oz in Aberdeen in the 1980s? Phone me when you are bored.’ Such messages – as apparently apropos of nothing as they were impossible to ignore – were not uncommon from Professor Paul Quayle Watchman, former Freshfields partner and ESG guru who sadly passed away at the start of July.

Paul’s more irreverent missives were often intermingled with ‘serious’ work-related emails about ESG initiatives, the climate crisis and other subjects which were close to his heart. Another of the best reads: ‘I’m having a few days away at a spa hotel. I can’t loosen the knots. Help me Nathalie. Send scissors to Room 125. Better make it bolt-cutters.’ Paul always used good humour as an antidote to the more depressing side of modern life and for that, he earned a tremendous following, both professionally and personally. Continue reading “‘The raconteur’s raconteur par excellence’: Industry mourns loss of ESG luminary Paul Watchman”

Sponsored briefing: Ask the private banker to senior lawyers

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Sponsored briefing: Ask the private banker to senior lawyers

Emily Bernstein is an experienced private banker at Investec who specialises in supporting legal leaders and senior lawyers. Here, she tackles the unique financial challenges facing senior legal professionals

‘Currency markets have been volatile and I’ve lost control of my US dollar income. What can I do?’ Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: Ask the private banker to senior lawyers”

Life During Law: Jeroen Ouwehand

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Life During Law: Jeroen Ouwehand

I never thought I would be a lawyer. I’m from Amsterdam, and I did a student traineeship in 1991, which was quite a common thing for Dutch law students back then. It’s like a summer internship at a law firm. I was blown away by Clifford Chance – the dynamism, the people, the quality of the work. I just loved it. I was given the chance to apply for a job to start the year after and I got it. That was quite unusual in those days because the job market wasn’t easy.

If you’d asked me at the age of 23 or 24, I would have said I wanted to go into international relations or business. Before I studied law, I was thinking of going to a university in the US which was strong on international relations, then go and work at an international organisation. My fascination with international relations very much came into force in my former role as senior partner and now as leader of our global ESG board. Continue reading “Life During Law: Jeroen Ouwehand”

Departures from Shearman and Allen & Overy as merger is unveiled and energy dominates lateral hiring

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Departures from Shearman and Allen & Overy as merger is unveiled and energy dominates lateral hiring

Following the announcement of the proposed A&O Shearman merger, news came that Shearman & Sterling had lost two partners to Ashurst in London, which leads the headline moves – dominated by energy and infrastructure hires – in recent weeks.

London-based Shearman partners Sanja Udovicic and Julia Derrick moved over to Ashurst to expand the firm’s global energy team. Continue reading “Departures from Shearman and Allen & Overy as merger is unveiled and energy dominates lateral hiring”

Getting its mojo back: How A&O Shearman could redefine the Magic Circle

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Getting its mojo back: How A&O Shearman could redefine the Magic Circle

The proposed merger of A&O and Shearman & Sterling has got the market talking about the biggest news in the legal industry for decades. LB finds commentators sanguine on the deal – but management will have much work garnering partner support this summer ahead of the vote.

‘Allen & Overy and Shearman & Sterling to create the first fully integrated global elite law firm,’ proclaims the 21 May joint statement from the two firms, stating their intent to merge to create Allen Overy Shearman Sterling. Thankfully, the branding gurus also came up with the far snappier (and not quite so ampersand-devoid) A&O Shearman, ‘for short’. The combined firm would boast 3,900 lawyers across 49 offices and roughly $3.4bn in combined revenues. Continue reading “Getting its mojo back: How A&O Shearman could redefine the Magic Circle”