Legal Business

Q&A: Dechert’s Miriam González Durántez on how City firms missed a trick on EU law, the WTO legacy and ‘Inspiring Women’

Posted on |
Dechert
legal-business-default

Miriam González Durántez’s profile is sky-high. She’s one of the most successful EU lawyers in the City, has persuaded over 15,000 women to volunteer for her Inspiring Women campaign and is the wife of Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg. In an interview with Tom Moore she argues that the EU is undervalued in the City and how law can smash its glass ceilings.


Your practice is something of a rarity outside Brussels. Why have City law firms neglected EU law?

Legal Business

Significant mandates: Hogan Lovells among raft of firms on GE’s financial restructuring

Posted on |
Corporate Davis Polk & WardwellDechertHogan LovellsSimpson Thacher & BartlettSullivan & CromwellWeil, Gotshal & Manges
legal-business-default

Hogan Lovells plus a host of US firms have won roles on GE’s major financial restructuring, including the $26.5bn sale of its real estate assets, as it tries to create a ‘simpler and more valuable company’ by selling most of GE Capital’s assets.

Under the agreement, GE will sell the bulk of the GE Capital Real Estate assets – in what has been dubbed one of the largest real estate deals on record – to funds managed by Blackstone with Wells Fargo also acquiring a portion of the performing loans at closing. The company also has letters of intent with other buyers for an additional $4bn of commercial real estate assets, totalling a $26.5bn disposal.

Hogan Lovells’ cross-border team, which comprised over 75 lawyers, advised GE on the real estate sale led by partners Warren Gorrell, Bruce Gil‎christ, Prentiss Feagles, Lauren Bellerjeau, Waajid Siddiqui and Lee Berner, based in New York and Washington DC. The GE legal team was led by former Hogan Lovells partner Mark Landis, currently executive legal counsel–M&A at the company.

On the other side was Dechert representing Wells Fargo with US based partner Richard Jones leading, alongside London-based Jeremy Trinder, Jason Butwick, Mark Stapleton plus US partners Kahlil Yearwood, Philippe Phaneuf, David Linder, Daniel Dunn and, out of France, Philippe Thomas.

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett represented Blackstone with partners Greg Ressa, Sas Mehrara and Krista Miniutti leading. Bank of America and Kimberlite Advisors provided financial advice on the real estate deal.

On the wider restructuring of the business GE took advice from Weil, Gotshal & Manges on corporate and restructuring matters with Sullivan & Cromwell advising on the regulatory aspects led by Sullivan’s senior chairman Rodgin Cohen. 

Davis Polk & Wardwell led on tax matters for the company with a team including corporate partners Richard Sandler and John Meade, tax partners Neil Barr, Michael Farber and Michael Mollerus, partners Randall Guynn and Luigi de Ghenghi handling regulatory matters and investment management partners Nora Jordan and Gregory Rowland. 

GE expects to return more than $90bn to investors through to 2018, the majority of which will come from the $50bn share repurchase program with the remainder generated from the current dividend and the spinoff of its remaining 85% stake in Synchrony. The company expects that by 2018 over 90% of its earnings will be generated by its high-return industrial businesses, up from 58% last year.

jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

‘I have to refuse maybe four out of five cases’: Dechert arbitrator exits to establish boutique

Posted on |
Litigation Dechert
legal-business-default

Dechert partner Pierre Mayer is set to depart the firm to establish his own boutique in Paris due to reasons of client conflict, a move which will see the disputes lawyer share office premises with former Jones Day arbitration counsel Sigvard Jarvin who broke away from his firm last year to set up his own offering.

Before joining Dechert as a partner in 2006, Mayer was counsel at Coudert Brothers in Paris for nearly 20 years and then at Clifford Chance. Mayer will launch his boutique on 1 April with one associate and re-locate to 20 Rue des Pyramides where he will share the premises with former Jones Day counsel Jarvin, who established his own arbitration practice in January 2014. The disputes specialists will also share the space with arbitration lawyer Jacques Pellerin who currently serves as vice chair of the French Arbitration Committee and as a lawyer at the Court of Appeal of Paris.

On his decision to leave Dechert due to client conflict Mayer told Legal Business: ‘I realise now as a partner at Dechert that the conflict of being appointed as an arbitrator is systematic. I have to refuse maybe four out of five cases. That’s a recent development for the firm because it has been growing and the policy has changed. They are not only actual conflicts, meaning one of the parties to arbitration would be a client of a partner, but also commercial conflict which means they hope to get one of the parties as a client. In all big US or English law firms it’s the same, but it’s gotten worse at Dechert.’

Set to bring over his entire client portfolio, including three ongoing ICSID arbitrations, Mayer will still continue to work with Dechert’s arbitration department on a non-exclusive basis where he may act as counsel. Major highlights during his career have included acting as counsel to an Asian state entity on a $2bn dispute arising out of a military procurement contract and the payment of illicit commissions and as an arbitrator in an UNCITRAL case between two major pharmaceutical companies regarding the joint development of a drug.

Breakaway arbitration boutiques are increasingly common with several established last year while a big impact was made in the market when Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer’s London arbitration group head Constantine Partasides alongside Paris-based partner Georgias Petrochilos, and former co-arbitration chair Jan Paulsson established Three Crowns in April 2013.

sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

US financials 2014: Baker Botts grows revenues 11% as turnover picks-up at Dechert, McDermott and Goodwin Procter

Posted on |
US firms Baker BottsDechert
legal-business-default

Following Weil Gotshal & Manges’ impressive profit increase, other US firm numbers continue to paint a positive picture Stateside with Baker Botts recording 11% revenue growth while Dechert, Goodwin Procter and McDermott Will & Emery all see increased turnover.

Baker Botts’ firm-wide revenues saw an 11.4% jump as they leapt from $586m in 2013 to $653m in 2014. Profits rose even faster, moving from $244m to $299m, a 22.6% growth rate, while profit per partner was boosted 25.5% from $1.36m to $1.7m as partner numbers fell from 180 to 176.

Andrew Baker, managing partner at Baker Botts said that the results had been achieved while ‘making sizable new investments in our long term growth in the form of substantial new marketing, business development, practice management, pricing and information technology systems.’

Turnover at disputes shop Dechert also grew strongly at 8%, increasing to $893.4m in 2014 from $777.2m the year before, while revenue per lawyer stood at just over $957,000 – up 4% on last year’s total of $920,000. Profit per equity partner (PEP) also rose to $2.3m from $2.2m posting a 7.7% increase while including non-equity partners brought that average down to $1.6m.

Nearly three quarters of the revenues were derived from the firm’s offices in North America, followed by Europe with just under a quarter, and around 1% of revenue coming each from the firm’s Asia and Middle East offerings.

Dechert’s partnership comprises 164 equity partners, just one more than in 2013, while the number of non-equity partners grew from 119 in 2013 to 124. Total lawyers at the firm grew 4% from 845 to 877. However, the firm’s figures show that only 11% of the equity partnership are female, with the remaining 89% being male.

Meanwhile, Goodwin Procter posted a revenue increase of 4% to $785.5m for the year ending 31 December 2014, up from $752.5m in 2013, and leading to revenue per lawyer breaking the million dollar mark posting an increase of 6% from $979,000 to $1.04m. The firm’s PEP also rose by 7% to $1.7m from $1.6m.

Slightly slower growth of 2.1% at McDermott Will & Emery still saw the firm increase its turnover from $881m to $900m and generate profits of $311m. Revenues were created by fewer lawyers with headcount at the firm dropping 2.4% from 1021 to 997. However, the number of equity partners rose by 11 to 203 resulting in a slight drop in PEP from $1.54m to $1.53m while non-equity partners remained broadly flat going from 369 to 368.

jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

‘We are deeply saddened’: Dechert disputes star Antony Dutton dies

Posted on |
Partnership Dechert
legal-business-default

Antony Dutton, a leading disputes partner who had been at Dechert since January 2012, died suddenly in early January.

Dutton, who was 49, became a partner at Dechert after being hired from legacy Norton Rose, where he had served as global head of dispute resolution between 2007 and 2011 and was a member of the partnership council. He is survived by his wife and children.

His high profile arrival at Dechert signalled the firm’s push into the London disputes market, with his move following that of DLA Piper’s global co-head of litigation Neil Gerrard.

Dutton’s specialism in insolvency disputes helped to bring in a case for Standard Chartered Bank after Bahrain’s Arcapita Bank, of which it was a major creditor, entered into Chapter 11 proceedings in New York and for Turkey’s Ithmaar Bank following the collapse of a $90m real estate fund. Ithmaar Bank was a longstanding client of Dutton’s, having instructed him during his time at both Norton Rose, where he held client relationships with HSBC, BNP Paribas and the Royal Bank of Scotland, and Dechert.

Dutton, a graduate of Auckland University, was a member of the International Bar Association and the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. Prior to his 21-year stint at Norton Rose, Dutton practiced as a barrister and solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand.

Andrew Levander, chairman at Dechert, told Legal Business: ‘We are deeply saddened at the death of our partner, colleague and friend, Antony Dutton. Antony was a skilled litigator, an advocate for our clients and a generous co-worker. He made extensive contributions to the firm over the last three years and was a very visible figure in both our London and Dubai offices. Our thoughts are with his family at this difficult time.’

Joe Tirado, co-head of international arbitration at Winston & Strawn and a former colleague of Dutton’s during his time at Norton Rose, told Legal Business: ‘Everybody is still taking it in. It’s a very tragic loss for his family, friends, colleagues and the profession. Antony was a very accomplished litigator and professional. He will be greatly missed.’

tom.moore@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

US partner promotions: Sidley Austin and Dechert place different weight on City

Posted on |
Partnership promotions DechertSidley Austin
legal-business-default

Dechert made London a core focus in its promotions this year with three associates making the grade in the City, over 25% of the firm’s 11-strong round, while Sidley Austin elected just two London lawyers to partner as part of its 32-lawyer list.

The US dominated Sidley Austin’s promotions round this year, with 23 of its 32 lawyers who made partner coming from six US offices. London featured less prominently, with two promotions, having last year made up four associates. Following on from its US rivals, the firm boosted its finance practice as European offices attract clients looking to tap into US investment pools and products. Finance lawyer Aparna Sehgal was made a partner in the City, alongside competition specialist Patrick Harrison.

With sanctions work on the rise and an increasing concern for businesses, Geneva was also a core focus during this year’s promotions, with international trade specialist Iain Sandford joining the partnership. Home to the World Trade Organization, which recently noted its concern about the rising tide of state disputes it is having to administer, international arbitration specialist Dorothee Schramm also made the grade as political distractions in Europe’s other major arbitral centres push parties, particularly those in the Middle East and Russia, towards Geneva due to its perceived neutrality.

Dechert made a stronger push in London than its US compatriot, with three out of its 11 promotions based in the City. The gains made by US investment banks in the capital, and the knock-on benefits for US law firms due to their longstanding relationships with them, was again witnessed, with the firm promoting debt capital markets specialist Patrick Lyons to help meet demand.

Litigator Caroline Black, who advises clients on UK Serious Fraud Office cases and is often on the frontline when dealing with raids on corporate or personal premises, was also promoted, along with corporate lawyer Andrew Harrow. Harrow recently advised the Mohamed Al Fayed family trust on its sale of Fulham Football Club to Shahid Khan, who also owns American Football team Jacksonville Jaguars.

tom.moore@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Dechert gains Singapore licence after eight-month wait as PwC completes local tie-up

Posted on |
Asia DechertPwC
legal-business-default

Dechert and PwC step into Singapore as global players sustain push into key Asian hub

This summer saw continued interest by advisers in the Asian legal market, as top-50 US firm Dechert finally received the green light to open an office in Singapore eight months after applying for a Foreign Legal Practice licence. Meanwhile, Big Four accountancy giant PwC made a move to enhance its legal offering in the Asia-Pacific region, having entered into a tie-up in Singapore with local firm Camford Law.

Legal Business

Accounts for Dechert’s UK LLP show revenues and profit falling

Posted on |
Financial results 2014 Dechert
legal-business-default

Profits at Dechert’s UK LLP dropped 21% from £35m to £27.7m for the 12 months to 31 December 2013, according to filings recently made to Companies House, with total revenue falling to £67.7m from £70.0m.

The sharp fall is down to a reverse in UK fees which, during the course of the year, slipped 9% from £55.88m to £50.97m, while staff and property costs rose hitting the LLP’s profitability. This resulted in the office’s highest earning partner experiencing a fall in take home pay from £2.9m in 2012 to £2.3m in 2013.

With costs increasing across the board, staffing outlay added more than £1m alone as the London office added seven associates and counsel plus nine new administration assistants, seeing operating expenses rise to £39.3m from £34.5m.

The drop in fee income at the LLP was lessened by an 18% rise in fees generated outside of the UK, which rose from £14.1m to £16.8m.

The office’s aggressive hiring strategy that defined 2010-2012, a period that saw it take 25 staff from now defunct Dewey & LeBoeuf, has also ended, with the monthly average of partners at the firm falling from 43 to 41. Records at Companies House show that tax partner David Gubbay, has also recently been removed from the partnership.

Dechert, which was among the first to reveal its financials for 2013, saw its global revenue up by 6.6% to $777.2m from $729m. The firm has been expanding rapidly in the last 12 months and recently secured a Foreign Legal Practice licence to open in Singapore, marking its fourth Asian office.

Tom.moore@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Dechert gains Singapore licence after 8 month wait

Posted on |
Asia Dechert
legal-business-default

Eight months after applying for a Foreign Legal Practice licence to open in Singapore, US law firm Dechert has been given the nod to launch its fourth Asian office.

Partner Dean Collins, who moves across from US rival O’Melveny & Myers, will be the office’s sole lawyer due to delays in obtaining licences for two associates who will continue working out of Hong Kong until authorisation is granted. Collins, a fund formation lawyer who sat in O’Melveny & Myers’ investment funds and securitization practice group in Singapore, was previously of private equity house Actis, which focuses on investing in emerging markets, and has had stints as a consultant at UBS and Merrill Lynch.

The Philadelphia-headquartered firm’s latest opening comes two years after an international push that saw Dechert open offices in Chicago, Dubai, Frankfurt and Kazakhstan.

The firm is once again looking to push its international credentials and last month added two partners in Europe, hiring Olswang’s head of the real estate Eleni Skordaki in London and financial services lawyer Johan Terblanche from Loyens & Loeff in Luxemburg. The opening in Singapore marks the firm’s 27th office, 13 of which are in the US.

A number of law firms have recently sought to bolster their capability in Singapore by relocating top talent, including Freshfield Bruckhaus Deringer’s head of arbitration Lucy Reed and Latham & Watkins’ corporate duo Rod Brown and Luke Grubb. 

Tom.moore@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Olswang’s head of real estate finance quits for Dechert

Posted on |
Strategic recruitment CMS UKDechert
legal-business-default

Olswang’s head of real estate finance Eleni Skordaki has quit the firm after nearly ten years to join Dechert’s City finance and real estate group.

Skordaki specialises in advising banks in real estate financings and restructurings.Last year, she advised Santander and Hypothekenbank Frankfurt on a £177m acquisition facility provided to Legal & General UK Property Income Fund. Prior to joining Olswang in October 2004, Skordaki was a senior lawyer at Allen & Overy for four years.

Her hire follows the top 35 UK firm’s growth of its financial services practice in Luxembourg with the hire of partner Johan Terblanche, who joined from Dutch firm Loyens & Loeff.

Terblanche has experience of advising managers and investors of investment funds, focusing specifically on alternative funds.

Dechert in February this year was among the first of the US firms to reveal its financials for 2013, with revenue up by 6.6% to $777.2m from $729m.

The firm has been expanding more generally in Europe, including launching a life sciences practice in Frankfurt in June, with the hire of Ruediger Herrmann, former corporate head at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr.

Dechert chief executive officer Daniel O’Donnell (pictured) said: ‘We are very pleased to have both Eleni and Johan join us. Their experience helps us expand in two key practice areas. They are a welcome addition to our firm.’

Jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk