Legal Business

DWF overhauls business model with launch of consultancy, paralegal and flexible lawyer offerings

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National firm DWF has launched a range of new client services as it seeks to overhaul its business model including a centralised legal support centre with paralegals, a consultancy and a contract lawyer service.

The Manchester-based Legal Support Centre will initially cover two areas: Volume Legal Service providing process-led work for insurers and financial clients and Project Support providing stand-alone work such as document review. The centre will start with 25-30 paralegals plus other specialist legal advisers but will expand headcount to meet demand. Paralegals will work across practices including real estate, employment, corporate and commercial and, though initially based in Manchester, will operate on a ‘hub and spoke’ system with pockets of aligned teams across the country under the same management structure and using the same IT platforms.

In addition, the firm has also launched DWF Resource, a contract lawyer service offering flexible resource to clients and consisting of both paralegals and legal professionals. Also based in Manchester, the service includes a technology-based option developed in conjunction with recruiter Douglas Scott.

The new flexible delivery model is being spearheaded by the firm’s head of employment and service delivery Andrew Chamberlain. The model also includes a client consulting arm called DWF Consultancy, which will house a 10-strong team of business managers and process analysts, and DWF Draft, which provides documentation software that will be loaned out to clients as an alternative to developing their own technology in-house.

Chamberlain has been working on the project since he joined the firm in September last year from Addleshaw Goddard, with a pilot process sounding out clients’ views. He will be supported by development director Jonathan Patterson, also ex-Addleshaws, on the Legal Support Centre and contract lawyer sides while legal document automation specialist Catherine Bamford has been brought in as a consultant on DWF Draft.

Speaking to Legal Business, Chamberlain said: ‘It’s bringing together a lot of different things that have been going on in the market under the banner of new models of delivery really. The difference here is the appetite to do it broadly across the business as opposed to just a tactical response here and there.’

He added: ‘What clients have said to us and said to us consistently is that there aren’t people in the market really offering this service. You go to a standard consultancy practice and they can give you consultancy advice but they don’t really understand the legal sector and law firms typically understand the legal sector but don’t necessarily have the consultancy expertise. We have delivered an offering that seems to go down well with clients.’

Chamberlain led the launch of Addleshaw’s transaction services team (TST) in November 2010 which is made up of paralegals supporting each of the divisions/practice areas of the firm: real estate; litigation; finance and projects; corporate; and commercial. The TST, now headed up by partner Mike Potter, is based across the firm’s three UK offices, with a large central team in Manchester, a smaller team in Leeds and paralegal roles that are embedded within the divisions in each of the UK offices as well as with clients in the UK and Europe.

kathryn.mccann@legalease.co.uk

For more on the strategies law firms are adopting see: Coming Soon – assessing the big forces shaping the future of law

Legal Business

Revolving doors: Cooley, Pannone, DWF and K&L Gates all bolster UK numbers

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Strategic recruitment CooleyDWFK&L GatesPannone Corporate
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Last week saw a quartet of US and UK firms, namely Cooley, Pannone Corporate, DWF and K&L Gates, all make lateral hires in the areas of tax, regulatory, real estate, and finance.

Continuing on its upward trajectory since its January launch in the City was Cooley which, on Friday (15 May), announced it will enhance its London business and finance practice with the hire of London-based tax partner Natasha Kaye from Olswang.

Kaye advises on both domestic and international tax issues for corporate, real estate, outsourcing and IP transactions and planning. She has a particular focus on private equity deals advising both institutions and management teams, as well as advising more generally on M&A, reorganizations, joint ventures and corporate restructurings.

Cooley’s London managing partner Justin Stock said: ‘Natasha is a highly-respected tax lawyer with a broad skillset across all areas of complex corporate tax work who will prove incredibly valuable to our corporate client base active in the UK.’

It follows a flurry of partner hires by the US firm which recently recruited Olswang’s longstanding corporate partner Stephen Rosen, as well as Reed Smith life sciences partner duo John Wilkinson and Nicola Maguire in March.

Just over a year after deciding against joining Slater & Gordon following its acquisition of Pannone’s consumer law business, Manchester-based Pannone Corporate is in expansion mode and has appointed two partners, Tristan Meears-White and Dermot Preston, from DWF and Gateley respectively.

Meears-White has joined as head of regulatory compliance. He advises on regulatory and compliance issues including anti-trust, competition, bribery and corruption, and health and safety law. Preston has joined the insolvency and corporate recovery team and advises on non-contentious insolvency issues including advising banks, asset based lenders, companies and directors.

Commenting on the partner hires, Pannone Corporate managing partner Paul Jonson said: ‘This investment in our regulatory and compliance, and insolvency and corporate restructuring practices further enhances our offering to the firm’s growing client base of corporate and commercial clients who want a quality service delivered in a clear, unstuffy way at sensible rates.’

Meanwhile, DWF invested in its Scottish team with the appointment of real estate partner Moray Thomson in Glasgow. Joining from MacRoberts, where he served as head of planning, Thomson is tasked with increasing the ‘scale and visibility of DWF’s planning capability in Scotland and nationally’. Thomson is specialised in onshore wind and grid connections and reinforcements, which DWF hopes will increase its contentious planning and consenting capability. His recent work in this area includes the consent for the various parts of the South West Scotland Renewables Connection project and the re-powering of the Cockenzie Power Station.

Lastly, K&L Gates enhanced its City investment management practice with the recruit of Berwin Leighton Paisner partner Jacob Ghanty. Ghanty advises asset managers, insurers, banks, payment institutions, and intermediaries about financial regulation, investment funds, insurance/reinsurance, and structured debt and capital markets.

Tony Griffiths, administrative partner of K&L Gates’ London office said: ‘Jacob joins a growing UK investment management team. His arrival further strengthens the advisory side of our practice, where we have seen significant client demand from alternative capital providers for guidance on the myriad of existing and new financial services regulations.’

Ghanty constitutes the second new partner addition to K&L Gates in London this year, following the March arrival of intellectual property partner Arthur Artinian from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.

sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

News in brief – May 2015

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DWFHogan LovellsKing & Wood Mallesons
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WHITTAKER STEPS DOWN AS LLOYDS GC

Group general counsel (GC) Andrew Whittaker is stepping down from his role at Lloyds Banking Group with deputy GC Kate Cheetham set to replace him. Whittaker joined the bank in May 2013 after having served as the legal head of the Financial Services Authority. The bank also saw the departure of disputes chief Philippa Simmons last month and began a redundancy consultation looking at cutting up to 25 mid-level positions.

 

Legal Business

Consolidation: DWF to merge with City-based insurance practice Watmores

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The acquisitive DWF shows no signs of slowing down with the announcement today that it is to acquire niche insurance practice Watmores Solictors.

The merger, expected to complete next month, will boost DWF’s local authority work and add weight to the firm’s insurance, rail and local authority sector capabilities.

Watmores, which employs 26 people including five partners, has a turnover of £2.5m and is led by Simon Johnson and Ron Mullins. Specialising in delivering dispute resolution and litigation insurance services to many of the UK’s major insurers, the practice is currently based on Chancery Lane but will relocate into DWF’s office space in the Walkie Talkie building.

Commenting on the merger DWF’s managing partner and chief executive, Andrew Leaitherland (pictured), said: ‘Watmores has first-rate niche expertise which complements, and will add depth to, our own enabling us to deliver enhanced service to our existing clients and also to grow our client base of insurers, local authorities and rail operators.’

Watmores’ Johnson added: ‘Combining forces with DWF will enable us to capitalise on the firm’s infrastructure, tech capability and reach to strengthen our shared focus and capability in key industry sectors for the benefit of our clients, a significant number of whom we have in common.’

Last month DWF launched its first international outpost with a four-lawyer team in Dubai. The firm, which is targeting rising levels of construction work in the region, purchased a 1000 sqft office located in the Dubai International Finance Centre which will focus on construction, energy, insurance and transport.

kathryn.mccann@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Latham halves its offices in the Middle East

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DWF picks Dubai for first international office and puts three-year growth plan in place

With just 35 lawyers spread across four offices, Latham & Watkins admitted last month it had made a mistake in how it launched in the Middle East in 2008, and told staff in Abu Dhabi and Doha that their offices will close by the end of the year with the firm using Dubai and Riyadh to service the region.

Legal Business

International ambitions: DWF picks Dubai for its first international office

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DWF has chosen Dubai as the location for its first international office as it targets rising levels of construction work in the MENA region with a team of four lawyers including a construction partner hired from Holland & Knight.

The 1000 sqft office located in the Dubai International Finance Centre (DIFC), the firm’s first outside of the UK and Ireland, will focus on construction, energy, insurance and transport. Managing partner and chief executive Andrew Leaitherland said the firm had ‘a pipeline of work from existing clients already underway so we’re off to a very strong start and look forward to consolidating our commitment to this hugely important region.’.

The team of four, which is led by insurance partner Chris Ryan and construction partner Steven Hunt, will advise on contentious and non-contentious construction matters, professional indemnity and non-marine insurance work. Ryan has been a partner at DWF since 2011, however Hunt joins from US-headquartered Holland & Knight, which decided to close its office in the region last year, having practised in the UAE for over 11 years.

The team, which also includes consultant Fernando Ortega and professional liability specialist Jeremy Speller, will be supported by a UK-based group, including partner and head of international, Peter Campion, and head of adjusting, Keith Honeyman, who have both done work in the MENA region before.

In a statement, Leaitherland said this was ‘a real opportunity’ for DWF, adding: ‘We’ve supported clients in Dubai and across the MENA region for many years and it’s become increasingly clear that there is demand for our services on the ground, particularly in relation to construction and insurance work.’

Watson Farley & Williams opened its first office in the region in September last year with asset finance partner partner Andrew Baird leading the way to establish the outpost.

kathryn.mccann@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Significant departures: DWF loses four-partner team to Scottish firm MacRoberts

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MacRoberts has defied the depressed Scottish legal market by expanding to 49 partners, the highest in its history, after poaching four partners from DWF.

The Scottish firm is accelerating its growth drive after registering a slight rise in revenue in 2013/14 to just under £18m by hiring into its construction, real estate and projects groups.

Neil Amner, who was Scottish head of construction, infrastructure and projects at DWF, makes the switch after having advised Transport Scotland on the award of the new ScotRail service late last year. He is deputy president of the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce and is seen as a major coup for the firm.

Amner joins with projects partner Martin Gallaher, real estate partner Robin Corbett and DWF’s head of wind energy Martin Sales. The exits will be a major blow for DWF which merged with Scottish firm Biggart Baillie in 2012.

Like Amner, Gallaher focuses on rail and infrastructure procurement. Sales and Corbett focus largely on the energy sector, with the former’s client list centred on Scotland’s wind farm companies and Corbett’s based around the oil and gas sector. Corbett has had a string of management roles at DWF, having been Scottish head of education and UK chief of the mining and minerals group.

MacRoberts is seeking to add up to 10 lawyers to support the new partners, with the firm already expecting a 10% staffing expansion to over 240 people following the opening of a Dundee office in 2014.

The firm’s managing partner, John Macmillan, who was re-elected for a second term late last year, said: ‘Neil, Martin, Robin and Martin have been working together and therefore their simultaneous recruitment allows us to gain from substantial synergies of their individual practices.’

The firm hired two new partners last October with the arrival of project finance Rod Munro and construction lawyer Craig Bradshaw from Maclay Murray and Spens.

tom.moore@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Revolving Doors: DLA Piper continues Asia rebuild as Eversheds bulks up its Swiss offering

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Matthew Elliott’s long-mooted arrival at Kirkland & Ellis from Linklaters stole headlines last week, but LB 100 firms including DLA Piper, Eversheds and DWF also all made hires.

DLA Piper continued to rebuild its depleted Asia offering with the capture of Morrison & Foerster capital markets partner Melody He-Chen.

He-Chen’s practice is largely made up of Chinese corporates, specialising in securities offerings. Her arrival follows the hire of a group of former Jones Day colleagues in Singapore, with corporate partners John Viverito and Myles Hankin joining from Gibson Dunn & Crutcher and Joseph Bauerschmidt from Jones Day.

Terry O’Malley, chairman emeritus of DLA Piper, said ‘Melody’s experience of working in the United States will help further align the Asia business with the strategic objectives of the firm and reflects the growing business flows we are seeing between the two regions.’

Eversheds, intent on improving its offering in continental Europe, added three partners in Switzerland last week. The firm hired BNP Paribas lawyer Patrick Eberhardt to boost its banking group and made moves to improve its transport group with the addition of two partners.

Barbara Klett, who recently established the national claim centre for the Swiss Federal Railways, joins as a partner from local firm Kaufmann Rüedi Rechtsanwälte. She advises on liability issues in the transport and medical sectors and is a lecturer at the University of Lucerne. The firm also added procurement projects lawyer Bruno Schoch as its head of rail, leaving his position as head of legal at Swiss rail company BLS to take up the post.

Klett said ‘investment in transport continues to be high on the agenda’ for governments and said her new firm has ‘one of the largest teams of specialist lawyers acting for some of the world’s major transport providers’.

Back in the UK, rapidly expanding DWF has hired Tods Murray’s head of renewables Ben Powell in Edinburgh. The project finance lawyer has had stints at Dundas & Wilson, McGrigors and Hammonds in the past and brings extensive knowledge of the Scottish and UK energy markets.

His hire follows the capture of former Royal Bank of Scotland in-house lawyer Gary MacDonald from Pinsent Masons, where he was a legal director.

tom.moore@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Growing in the City: DWF expands corporate and banking team with two lateral hires

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DWF has carried on its recruitment drive in the City with the appointment of Ince & Co‘s head of corporate insurance Richard Britain and DLA Piper partner Christian Francis to its corporate and banking team in London.

Britain, who specialises in public and private company M&A, equity capital markets and joint ventures, joins DWF’s corporate team from Ince & Co, where he was partner and head of corporate insurance. His clients include retail and investment banks, insurance companies and brokers and asset managers.

Commenting on his move, Britain said: ‘There are strong synergies with my expertise and with a well-respected and established corporate and corporate insurance practice already in place there is an excellent opportunity and platform from which we can build future growth.’

Francis joins the firm’s banking team from DLA Piper, where he was previously a partner in real estate finance with experience acting for senior institutional lenders. He is focused on investment and development financing arrangements across a range of real estate assets including light industrial portfolios, office and retail, and hotel and leisure.

The appointments follow a number of recent high profile hires to DWF’s London office, including real estate finance partners Chris Seel and Nicola Giddens; litigation partners Alan Owens and Stefan Paciorek; and corporate and banking partner Helen Corner.

kathryn.mccann@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Financial results 2013/14: DWF sees revenue up 2% but PEP down 4%

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In its first full financial results following a period of rapid growth through four successive mergers and the acquisition of Cobbetts, DWF has seen its revenue grow by 2% from £188m to £191m.

Net profit was up by 23% from £20.8m in 2012/13 to £25.5m in 2013/14, notwithstanding the firm’s large-scale strategic investments in lateral hires and new IT systems.

However, DWF saw a 4% decrease in its profit per equity partner from £429,000 in 2012/13 to £411,000 in 2013/14, which it blamed on a 12% increase in equity partner numbers.

Over the last 12 months DWF has made 39 lateral partner hires including Stephen Miles, who will join DWF as chief executive officer in its commercial services division from Pinsent Masons, where he was head of financial institutions and human capital and a member of the firm’s leadership team.

Also joining the firm to head its 60-strong employment practice is Andrew Chamberlain, formerly a national head of employment at Addleshaw Goddard and a member of Addleshaw’s executive committee and its governance board.

DWF saw its strongest revenue growth in 2013/14 come in corporate and banking (up 18% to £30m), real estate (up 14% to £29m) and insurance (up 3% to £89m), in line with the firm’s strategic growth plans and reflecting its investment in lateral partner and team hires.

In the last financial year, the firm has invested £12m in technology, undertaking major consolidation of its IT systems to bring all of its 2,500 people across its 12 locations onto the same platforms. This includes consolidating its accounting systems, launching a new e-billing system to facilitate easy invoice processing by clients, and introducing new management information software.

Highlights of the past year include being appointed to the panel for Pension Protection Fund, South Staffordshire and Suffolk Life (Scotland). The firm also recently advised Clipper Logistics on its main market IPO with a market capitalisation of approximately £100m and Transport Scotland on the renewal of the ScotRail franchise, the first passenger rail procurement directly undertaken by the Scottish Government; and Custodian REIT.

DWF’s managing partner & CEO, Andrew Leaitherland, said: ‘This year has been one of major consolidation as we’ve worked hard to fully integrate five separate businesses into DWF, and it’s a real sign of the strength of the business that we’ve been able to increase our net profit and revenue during this time.

‘We’ve invested £12m in technology to drive major operational efficiencies and support the integration of all of our people. We’ve also invested heavily in attracting and retaining the best talent for the benefit of the firm and its clients. We’re driving a significant transformation of our business which has required exceptional large-scale investments over the last year and which are strategically important in achieving our vision.’

Caroline.hill@legalease.co.uk