Legal Business

Clydes, Kennedys and Auntie Beeb latest to back legal apprenticeship drive

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Education Clyde & CoKennedys
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Today (7 March) marks the end of the 7th National Apprenticeship Week, an initiative coordinated by the National Apprenticeship Service, which this year has seen announcements about the launch or expansion of legal training programmes by Clyde & Co, Kennedys, the BBC and Oldham Council.

BBC director-general Tony Hall revealed on 3 March that the broadcaster’s London-based legal department will offer three legal services apprenticeships, with recruitment to start in September 2014.

‘I’m passionate about giving everyone the chance to shine in our industry. That’s why we’re opening up opportunities in new areas of the BBC to the brightest talent from the broadest range of backgrounds,’ Hall said.

Clyde & Co, meanwhile, announced that its Manchester-based personal injury team will take on apprentices, who will follow an 18-month civil litigation learning programme.

‘We understand the need to recognise and recruit talent at a grassroots level and believe that widening access to the legal profession is key to ensuring access to a greater pool of talent,’ said Clyde & Co HR director Charlie Keeling.

Kennedys will also be recruiting a minimum of five more legal apprentices this spring. The chosen school-leavers will begin work in the top 50 UK law firm’s Manchester, Sheffield, Chelmsford and London offices this September. This additional intake follows two initiatives in 2012 and 2013, when ten and seven apprentices were taken on respectively.

Oldham Council will be adding two apprentices to its in-house legal team, with one school leaver to be recruited for the local authority’s property team, and the other to join the civil litigation team.

The new apprentices of all four employers will be pursuing training programmes organised by the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives (CILEx), which this week disclosed that it is part of phase two of the governmental Trailblazer project that will standardise apprenticeships across the legal sector.

ruxandra.lordache@legalease.co.uk

This article first appeared on Lex 100, Legal Business’s sister title

Legal Business

Clyde & Co loses 15-strong US litigation team to LeClairRyan

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Strategic recruitment Clyde & CoLeClairRyan
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Latest exits add to departures of two partners from City headquarters

The expiry of Clyde & Co’s three-year post-merger partner lock-in appeared to pass almost unnoticed last April, but the UK top-20 firm has lost two London partners in recent months as its established US practice was hit in January with a 15-strong team walk out, which included three litigation partners.

London commercial partner Alan Meneghetti, who joined the firm five years ago as a legal director and became an aviation partner in 2010, left the firm on 31 December 2013 for Locke Lord’s corporate practice in London. Meneghetti’s experience within the aviation and aerospace sector includes handling regulatory issues surrounding procurement, data protection and privacy, intellectual property, information technology and the drafting and negotiating of commercial agreements.

Legal Business

LLP Latest – Freshfields sees drop in equity partners and highest paid earner as Clydes grows across the board

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Financial results 2012/13 Clyde & CoFreshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
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Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has become the second Magic Circle firm to release its 2012/13 limited liability partnership (LLP) filings with Companies House, revealing a drop of 5% in average equity partner numbers and a reduction in the pay packet of its highest paid member.

The LLP, which saw its 2012/13 profits fall to £312.3m from £329.1m in the previous year, while overall revenues increased by 4% to £1.23bn, saw the average number of members fall from 350 to 332.

Freshfields’ latest accounts show that its highest paid equity member took home £2.5m including retirement payments, down from £2.9m the previous year.

The firm’s loans and other debts due to members grew to £532.1m from £454m, while its total assets, including unbilled revenue, amounts due from members, property and cash, grew to £895.5m from £876.6m in 2011/2012.

However, the number of overall staff at the firm increased by 81 to 4,561, consisting of a rise in fee-earners from 2,459 to 2,514 and support staff from 2,017 to 2,047 the year before. The firm paid more in overall salaries during 2012/13, up to £449.3m from £413.8m.

The results comes as Legal Business top-15 UK firm Clyde & Co also filed its LLP accounts for the same period, reporting a 22.7% hike in profits from £66.5m to £81.6m. Its revenues were also up 17% to £334.6m from £285.8m in 2012.

The firm’s average number of equity members increased by 39 to 218 in 2013, while its highest paid member’s remuneration remained static at £1.3m. Staff costs at the firm however, rose 24.7% to £144.4m from £115.8, largely due to the cost of total salaries rising 26.4%, while overall staff numbers increased by 314.

jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Breaking: Clyde & Co loses 15-strong US litigation team as two London partners exit

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US Clyde & CoLeClairRyan
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The expiry of Clyde & Co’s three year post-merger partner lock-in appeared to pass almost unnoticed last April but the top 20 firm has lost two London partners as its established US practice is this month hit with a 15-strong team walk out including three litigation partners.

London commercial partner Alan Meneghetti, who joined the firm five years ago as a legal director and became an aviation partner in 2010, left the firm on 31 December 2013 for Locke Lord’s corporate practice in London. Meneghetti’s experience within the aviation and aerospace sector includes handling regulatory issues surrounding procurement, data protection and privacy, intellectual property, information technology and the drafting and negotiating of commercial agreements.

Separately, project finance partner James Varanese, who joined Clydes as a partner in 2003, left the firm at the end of October last year to join oil and gas company Siren E&P as its executive chairman, although his exit has previously been unreported.

The departures follow the exit of energy partner George Booth also in October last year for Pinsent Masons.

In the US, a 15-strong litigation team left Clyde & Co’s New Jersey office on 1 January to boost the disputes offering of the local Newark office of Virginia-founded firm LeClairRyan. These include litigation partners Jeffrey O’Hara, Matthew Bauer, Bryan Couch and of counsel Matthew Schultz, who joins LeClairRyan as a partner.

Also joining LeClairRyan are six associates, one law clerk, two paralegals and two staff members, all having joined Clydes from New Jersey based firm Connell Foley.

The new team will significantly boost LeClairRyan’s commercial and corporate litigation, professional liability and transportation practices.

The team has experience in franchise litigation, product liability and toxic tort claims with a special focus on defending casualty cases involving large exposure and catastrophic events.

LeClairRyan’s litigation chair Erik Gustafson said: ‘There is a long-standing personal and working relationship between our firm and this team. As such, there is a great deal of mutual respect for the calibre of our trial practices.’

O’Hara adds: ‘We chose to join LeClairRyan for a number of reasons, but one of the most compelling was becoming a part of a highly entrepreneurial, growing law firm. LeClairRyan’s geographic footprint and nationwide reach will benefit our clients.’

In a prepared statement sent to Legal Business Clyde & Co said: ‘Jeff O’Hara, Matthew Bauer and Bryan Couch will be withdrawing as partners and leaving the firm to join LeClair Ryan in its Newark, New Jersey office as of 1 January 2014. We would like to thank all three of them for their contribution to the firm, not just in the U.S. but across our global network. Jeff, Matt and Bryan’s departure has been amicable and we wish them all the very best for the future.’

jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Asia-Pacific: Clydes eyes further China expansion as it hires Eversheds Asia employment head

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Asia Clyde & Co
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Clyde & Co has further expanded its China operations with the hire of Eversheds’ Asia head of employment Iris Duchetsmann to lead its Shanghai office.

Duchetsmann will focus on expanding the firm’s regional employment law capabilities, its overall China offering and comes with a particular focus on cross-border issues and international human resources management.

Also joining Clyde’s Shanghai office are three employment associates from Eversheds – Lisa Li, Cynthia Zheng and Vivien Xu – bringing the lawyer headcount up to 23 and five partners in total.

Duchetsmann has spent the past year at Eversheds in Shanghai, before which she worked at Salans in a counsel role in the Chinese city from 2010. She confirmed to Legal Business that Clyde & Co was her first choice of firm because of its strong international platform and its plans to expand further in China.

‘The maturing Chinese market has been evolving, prompting international companies to look for specialised advice tailored to their industries,’ she said. ‘Supporting clients on their inbound and outbound work also means executing projects on a regional and global level, which fortunately is a core strength of Clyde & Co. The firm’s international presence and its strong experience in core industries will enable us to support our clients in delivering practical legal HR advice that increases compliance, boosts productivity and is compatible with their local culture.’

Clyde & Co’s chief representative in Shanghai and global management board member, Ik Wei Chong, said: ‘Asia is a strategically important region for Clyde & Co, and China is at the heart of Asia. The addition of Iris and her team will further extend the range of services and support we can provide to our Chinese and international clients.’

In November last year, the firm established a joint law venture in Asia with Chongqing law firm Westlink Partnership to service its international clients with Chinese interests on foreign investment, advisory and employment work in western China.

This came after the firm was granted a licence in May 2013 by China’s Ministry of Justice to open an office in Beijing, marking the firm’s third office in China after Hong Kong and Shanghai.

Jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

H1 2013/14: Clyde & Co, Weightmans, Trowers and Gateley reveal figures

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Financial results 2013/14 Clyde & CoTrowers & HamlinsWeightmans
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As the first of the top 100 firms reveal their 2013/14 half-year (H1) results the early story is positive, with Gateley and Trowers & Hamlins seeing revenue growth of 4%, while Weightmans reports a 7% uplift and Clyde & Co sets a high bar for the top 20 with a turnover increase of 16.5% on figures this time last year.

The top 15 insurance firm confirmed that its H1 turnover for 2013/14 is £169m, which it said in a statement ‘has been achieved through a combination of underlying growth and improvements in our working capital management.’

Senior partner James Burns added: ‘It’s pleasing to see that we’ve maintained the rate of growth that we achieved in the second half of the last financial year, particularly after a tough first half of 2012/3.’

At Weightmans, meanwhile, which reported a H1 revenue of £41m, 7% up on £38.3m at the same point last year, managing partner John Schorah attributed the positive results so far to an around 20% increase in the firm’s corporate practice like-for-like on last year.

Schorah also highlighted a strong performance in the firm’s core insurance team, particularly in its large-loss and disease group, with commercial litigation and family also doing well.

The firm boosted its family capability earlier this year, picking up a legacy Challinors’ family team in Birmingham in August.

Elsewhere at Gateley, where activity levels have reportedly risen over the last two months, the 432-lawyer firm’s 4% rise in turnover is in part explained by a rise in property work, which now accounts for 30% of its total revenue.

Also enjoying a 4% rise in both turnover and profit is Trowers, where senior partner Jennie Gubbins similarly attributes the lift in revenue in part to an uptick in real estate work. ‘It’s an area that we’re putting a real focus on, and when I was appointed senior partner earlier this year we recognized it was a really big area for us and I don’t think the market realized what a big area it is for us, particularly some of the really high-end and interesting deals,’ Gubbins said.

‘Our litigators also had a good first half and our international division is pushing on better after a publicly torrid time last year,’ added Gubbins, after the top 50 firm saw its 2012/13 profit per equity partner drop by 37% to £304,000.

francesca.fanshawe@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Burns to maintain Clydes’ expansive form as he takes charge of insurance giant

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Leadership Clyde & Co
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Jaishree Kalia talks to Clyde & Co’s new senior partner as veteran head Payton hands over the baton after 29 years

There are succession issues and succession issues. James Burns, the incoming senior partner at Clyde & Co, is facing the latter category as he takes the helm of the world’s largest legal insurance specialist, which has been one of the most successful UK practices of the last decade and run by a respected figure for nearly three decades.

Two years on from the top-15 firm’s merger with Barlow Lyde & Gilbert (BLG), its strategy is to grow its disputes practice, expand internationally (on the back of significant expansion this year) and gear up for its next global management board election.

Legal Business

More news from Asia – Clydes first to enter South West China under JV deal

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China Clyde & Co
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Long a trailblazer in the insurance sector, Clyde & Co has now become the first international law firm to launch in southwest China after setting up a joint law venture (JLV) in China with local practice West Link Partnership in Chongqing.

Clydes this week became the first among its peers to launch an office in South West China after local regulators permitted the London-headquartered practice to form an association with West Link.

The new office will operate as Clyde & Co West Link JLV and act as a hub for foreign investment, advisory and employment work for Western China and service domestic clients on outbound investment and dispute resolution services. The joint venture model – which few international firms have yet deployed in China – allows the firms to share profits and revenues but Clydes lawyers remain barred from providing PRC law.

The JLV adds a fourth local location in China for the 281-partner firm, which already has offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. Clydes corporate partner Michael Cripps said that booming growth in southwest China made this an ideal market to enter. He added: ‘Chongqing is the beachhead for the development of Western China and we see a lot of potential, both from a regional perspective, and from the point of view of connecting international markets and opportunities.’

Ik Wei Chong, Clydes partner and Asia-Pacific board member, said: ‘The establishment of our joint venture with West Link Partnership is directly in line with Clyde’s global strategy. As a firm we have a strong focus on facilitating international trade and on sectors aligned to the real economy.’

West Link managing partner Carrie Chen said: ‘The ability of the JLV to provide international legal services in a local context is an attractive offering to current clients of West Link, as well as to corporates generally in southwest China. Importantly, the process of outbound investment will be streamlined and made more transparent, efficient and effective through working directly via the JLV with Clyde & Co’s international office network.’

The last 18 months have seen the top 20 UK law firm sustain heavy investment in Asia with new offices opening in Beijing, Sydney and Perth, a joint venture set up with Singaporean firm Clasis, and the forging of referral relationships with Indonesia’s Lubis Ganie Surowidjojo and Khan Lex in Mongolia.

Jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Panel win: £15bn Pension Protection Fund reveals new line up

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Adviser reviews Clyde & CoDentonsGowling WLG
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Labelled one of the most important institutions in the pensions industry with £15bn of assets under management, the Pension Protection Fund yesterday (7 October) announced its new slimmed down legal panel, with Wragge & Co winning a first time appointment for the body as one of three core advisers.

International firms Clyde & Co and Dentons also won core advisory roles on the panel, which has shrunk from a total of 27 firms in 2007 to 23 following a comprehensive tendering process.

Ten firms including Addleshaw Goddard, Berwin Leighton Paisner and Bond Dickinson have been appointed to the PPF’s insolvency and corporate panel, which will be called on to advise where it ‘makes recoveries from insolvent employers and in particular on those occasions where there is consensual restructuring.’

In addition, 18 firms, including a number of those appointed to the insolvency panel as well as first-time appointees such as Ashurst and Herbert Smith Freehills, have won a place on a ‘specialist and reserve’ panel, to give added ‘strength and depth’ in specialist areas such as litigation and investment work.

However, the PPF anticipates that where possible the three core firms will provide it with the majority of its service requirements, the body said in a statement today.

Both Clydes and Dentons have worked for the PPF previously. Clyde & Co partner Mark Howard was previously seconded to the in-house legal team at the PPF, which included advising on legislation to establish the organisation, while Dentons has advised the organisation on IT procurement matters.

The organisation has also entered a sharing agreement with the Regulators’ Procurement Forum under which 12 separate regulatory bodies including the Postal Service Commission, the Office of the Rail Regulator, the OFT and the Civil Aviation Authority are allowed access to the PPF’s panel firms under terms agreed.

PPF director of strategy and legal affairs David Taylor said: ‘Legal issues pervade everything that we do – so it was important that we spent the time and resource making sure that we have the right firms to provide the right advice and support as we continue to grow and develop.

‘With the benefit of eight years’ experience we have a clearer idea of our medium-term legal needs and I am delighted that we have reshaped our panel accordingly.

‘The PPF now protects hundreds of thousands of pension scheme members, is increasingly involved in complex restructuring deals and litigation and manages an expanding asset portfolio which currently stands at around £15 billion. I look forward to working with all our panel firms on the many interesting and novel issues that continue to arise on a daily basis.’

The PPF added that, apart from technical expertise, the primary criteria for choosing firms was quality of service and value for money. The new three-year contracts have the potential to run for a further two years.

Wragge & Co human resources partner Paul Feathers said the win was ‘an excellent opportunity for [the firm] to work in partnership with one of the most important institutions in the pensions industry and to help the PPF continue to provide essential protection for members of defined benefit occupational pension schemes.’

The PPF panel in full:

The insolvency and corporate panel comprises: Addleshaw Goddard, Berwin Leighton Paisner, Bond Dickinson, Mayer Brown, Moon Beever, Nabarro, Osborne Clarke, Pitmans, Squire Sanders and Stephenson Harwood, as well as the three core panel firms Clyde & Co, Dentons and Wragge & Co.

The specialist and reserve panel comprises: Addleshaw Goddard, Ashurst, Berwin Leighton Paisner, Bevan Brittan, Bond Dickinson, Burness Paull, Dundas & Wilson, Field Fisher Waterhouse, Herbert Smith Freehills, Hogan Lovells, Jones Day, Kingsley Napley, Mayer Brown, Nabarro, Osborne Clarke, Sacker & Partners, Squire Sanders and Stephenson Harwood.

 

sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Trainee retention: Eversheds, Clyde & Co, CMS Cameron McKenna and Simmons reveal rates

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Trainee retention Clyde & CoCMSEversheds SutherlandSimmons & Simmons
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The number of training contracts being offered by City firms may have dropped by over 20% but the recently revealed retention rates of Eversheds, Clyde & Co, CMS Cameron McKenna and Maclay Murray & Spens remain high, although Simmons & Simmons has slid to 71%.

Eversheds, which yesterday (10 September) posted an 87% retention rate, offered 40 out of 45 newly-qualified (NQ) lawyers a permanent role at the firm, which 38 accepted. The figures mirror last autumn’s retention round, when the same number of NQs were kept on.

Angus McGregor, HR director at Eversheds, congratulated the successful NQs, commenting: ‘Our training contract is designed to extend the experience and skill sets of junior lawyers across multiple industries and sectors, preparing them for the modern legal world.’

Elsewhere, 1081-lawyer Clyde & Co has reported that it will retain 95% of its trainees, with 36 out of 37 trainees accepting a job at the firm. This follows an equally high retention rate of 94% this time last year.

Meanwhile, top ten LB100 firm CMS Cameron McKenna has announced it will hold onto 28 out of 34 NQs this September, equating to a retention rate of 82%. Of those retained, 23 will join the City office, while two will move to the insolvency and recovery group in Bristol. The others bolster the firm’s practice in Scotland, with one joining the real estate and finance practice in Edinburgh, a further lawyer heading to the Edinburgh office’s disputes department, and the last joining the employment team in Aberdeen. CMS unveiled a similar result last year of 84%.

However, Simmons & Simmons has revealed a retention rate of 71%, a drop on last year’s figure of 89%. The firm offered 17 out of a total of 24 trainees a position, with the vast majority taking on roles in the City.

Outside of the City firms, Weil Gotshal & Manges’ London arm has offered jobs to four out of six NQs, a retention result of 67%. This marks a slide on last year’s figure of 73%.

The beleaguered Scottish market has also seen Maclay Murray & Spens (MMS) offer 15 out of 19 NQ positions this year across its London, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen offices.

MMS chief executive Chris Smylie said: ‘We are delighted to have been able to offer so many opportunities to newly qualified lawyers. It signals our confidence in the future, as we further build our strategy for growth, following last year’s root and branch review. This follows on from our recruitment of three lateral hires at partner level in August and the promotion of two partners from associate in June.’

However, at Dundas & Wilson, out of 21 trainees who applied for positions with the firm, 14 have accepted offers to stay after they qualify.

sarah.downey@legalbusiness.co.uk