Legal Business

H1 2015/16: Double-digit growth for TLT as Browne Jacobson praises London for revenue lift

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Bristol-headquartered TLT has continued its strong growth into the first half of this financial year, posting double digit revenue growth of 14%, as Browne Jacobson has praised its London office for 7.5% revenue growth.

Revenue for the first six months of 2015/16 rose from around £31m to £35.3m and the firm said it expected turnover for the full-year to approach £70m.

Over the next three months TLT’s managing partner David Pester (pictured) will lead a series of briefings with partners and associate groups on a new strategy, to be ready for summer 2016. The current three-year strategy which was launched in 2012 has seen headcount grow by a third from 669 to 928. Last month the firm made six partner promotions, bringing total partner headcount to over 100.

The firm will also use an outside consultant and access wider market data in preparation for its new strategy.

The double-digit growth continues a string of strong financial performances in recent years, building on the 8% revenue increase for the full financial year 2014/15. In June the firm posted a revenue figure of £62.5m, which took the firm past £60m for the first time and meant revenue has grown by a total of 27% over three years.

Some of the revenue was ploughed into investments with the firm saying it spent £2m on IT with around a further £3m on infrastructure and people.

Significant client wins for the national firm in the year to 30 April include making it onto both Barclays and Sainsbury’s panels.

Meanwhile LB100 firm Browne Jacobson has praised its London office as it continued its strong financial performance for the first half of 2015/16 with revenue growth of 7.5%.

The first half lift in revenue from £28.6m to £30.8m builds on impressive results for the full year 2014/15 which saw revenues rise 17.2% to £58.9m, while profits per equity partner (PEP) soared by 24% to £412,000.

Chief operating officer Sarah Walker Smith said the firm continued to reap the benefits of investment in people and technology in recent years.

‘All our offices are performing well, particularly in London which is driving growth domestically and internationally in key areas such as the financial services, dispute resolution and international asset recovery arena.’

Managing partner Iain Blatherwick added growth was generated across the business with the corporate, public, health and education teams performing particularly well since the beginning of the year.

He added: ‘The pipeline of high quality work across the board remains strong and gives us a robust platform for the next six months which has traditionally been a stronger period for us.’

In January, Blatherwick was rewarded with a further three year term with the partnership unanimously re-electing him. As well as overseeing the firm’s rapid turnover growth, his tenure has included the opening of new offices in Manchester and Exeter, plus a new London office at 6 Bevis Marks.

Last year’s turnover figure represented the fifth year in a row in of record results for the firm and consolidated the strong growth shown in 2013/14 when the firm generated in revenue £50.2m – up 11.5% from £45m in 2012/13.

kathryn.mccann@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Revolving doors: TLT and SPB expand in the regions while Ashurst bolsters its finance practice

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The UK’s regional hubs saw a spree of hiring as TLT strengthened its corporate practice in Manchester after a law firm’s collapse and Squire Patton Boggs bulked up in Leeds. Meanwhile, Ashurst enlarged its finance practice in Europe with the addition of two new partners and Fladgate recruited an employment partner.

Squires expanded its office in Leeds with the appointment of Nabarro’s construction partner James Duckworth. Specialising in major projects such as PPP/PFI and energy deals, Duckworth focuses on renewables in particular wind, biomass, solar, carbon capture and energy-from-waste sectors, both in the UK and internationally.

He will be reunited with infrastructure partner Robin Baillie who joined Squires last year in London and is part of a wider construction push in the regions for the firm with Matthew Mulqueen joining as a partner in Leeds in June.

Meanwhile TLT benefitted from the closure of local outfit Milbank Edge in Manchester this September with the hire of corporate partner Ian Roberts; Andrew Needham, who had previously been a partner at Addleshaws and led DWF’s corporate and commercial team; and commercial partner Pauline Cowie. The trio was joined by two other lawyers and will help bulk up the firm’s north-west offering.

TLT’s head of commercial Bill Hull said: ‘We are ramping up the strength of our UK corporate and commercial offering and this team arrival from Millbank Edge in Manchester showcases that. This is a talented and experienced team; and a great fit strategically, deepening our expertise across the UK and in Manchester.’

Other partners at the firm left for Hill Dickinson and Member Land Law.

In London, Fladgate added on Howard Kennedy employment partner Taj Rehal. Advising listed companies, private businesses and individuals Rehal is listed as a leading individual in The Legal 500 for employment work.

Rehal said: ‘Given the synergies that exist with my own client base and that of Fladgate and their ambitious plans for future growth, this move presents a great platform for my existing clients and an exciting opportunity for me to further develop and grow my practice.’

Finally, Ashurst strengthened its European finance practice with the addition of partner Fernando Navarro from Cuatrecasas. Having also served as in-house counsel at Stanander Investment and Grupo Ahorro Corporación, Navarro specialises in syndicated and bi-lateral loans though also has experience of derivatives, debt restructuring, direct lending, alternative funding, purchase and sale of debt portfolios and debt trading.

Ashurst also hired Detmar Loff from Allen & Overy, bringing him in as a partner in its financial services regulatory group.

michael.west@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

TLT boosts City financial services offering with Barclays’ team head hire

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TLT has boosted its financial services offering with the hire of Barclays’ investigations and enforcement head Jake McQuitty, who joins the firm as a partner.

McQuitty, who currently heads up the team in Europe and the Middle East, has been at Barclays since 2010 and will join TLT’s London-based financial services litigation and investigations team, which is headed up by Andrew Lyon, in August.

Commenting on the appointment, the firm’s financial services and investigations head Jonathan Hoey said that McQuitty’s experience at Barclays would provide further support to the firm’s clients, particularly in retail and wholesale banking.

He added: ‘Jake has advised on a range of large scale and complex litigation and investigation matters, with a detailed understanding of corporate and investment banking products. This deep expertise will play a critical part as we continue to grow our investigations and contentious regulatory practices.’

McQuitty, who has experience overseeing some of the bank’s internal and regulatory investments over the last five years, was a senior associate at Lovells and Berwin Leighton Paisner prior to his role at Barclays.

His departure from the bank follows a string of high-profile exits. Just last month Barclays announced that its deputy group general counsel (GC) Michael Shaw would be leaving his post in September with a spokesperson saying the exit was down to ‘family reasons’.

Other recent exits include EMEA GC Erica Handling, who recently took up a position at BlackRock, global head of financial crime Jonathan Peddie, and global corporate and investment banking GC Judith Shepherd.

Last month TLT announced that its turnover had grown 8% to £62.5m in the 2014/15 financial year.

kathryn.mccann@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Financials 2014/15: TLT passes £60m in revenue with 8% growth

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Bristol-headquartered TLT has continued a string of strong financial performances in recent years by growing turnover 8% in the 2014/15 financial year and posting revenues of £62.5m.

The increase takes the firm past £60m for the first time and means that revenue has grown by a total of 27% over three years. It follows the launch of a three-year strategy in 2012 which has also seen headcount grow by a third from 669 to 928 while last month the firm made six partner promotions, bringing total partner headcount to over 100.

Some of the revenue was ploughed into investments with the firm saying it spent £2m on IT with around a further £3m on infrastructure and people. Significant client wins for the national firm in the year to 30 April include making it onto both Barclays and Sainsbury’s panels.

Commenting on the results, TLT’s managing partner David Pester (pictured) said: ‘This has been a year of investment and growth. We have invested in our offices, people and infrastructure to cement our UK-footprint and deepen our expertise. Over the next 12 months we will continue to grow our market share by focusing on maximising the return from the investments that we have made.’

Of those financial results already disclosed, Nottingham-based Browne Jacobson posted its second year of double digit increase with a 17% rise in turnover, and a top-line of £58.9m compared with last years £50.2m. Meanwhile national firm Weightmans announced a more modest revenue increase of 2.5% for the 2014/15 financial year to £89.2m from £87m last year, demonstrating a slowing pace of growth.

kathryn.mccann@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Partner promotions: Watson Farley and Brodies promote seven while TLT surpasses 100 partners

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Watson Farley & Williams, TLT and Scottish firm Brodies are the most recent firms to announce their partner promotions with both Brodies and TLT expanding their rounds while Watson Farley nearly halved the number of lawyers it made up.

Watson Farley’s promotion round is almost half of last year’s total when the firm made up 13 associates. Of the seven new partners, three were made up in London, the same as last year, and one each in the firm’s Frankfurt, Hong Kong, New York and Paris offices, bringing the total number of partners to 140.

This year’s promotions went into effect at the start of the month (1 May) and included two female associates being promoted, with one based in Paris within asset finance and another in London’s corporate team. Other practice areas that saw promotions were corporate, disputes, finance and tax.

TLT, on the other hand, promoted two more than 2014’s level, making up six lawyers to partner and bringing the firm’s total partner headcount to over 100 for the first time.

The promotions, which went into effect on 1 May, were in the firm’s commercial services, and banking and lender services groups, with lawyers based in Belfast, Bristol, London and Manchester.

TLT also promoted to 12 associates to legal director. ‘This year’s promotions demonstrate continued growth across all our UK offices and core areas of expertise,’ said TLT senior partner Robert Bourns. ‘Success depends on our clients recognising value in what we do and our people collaborating to better support each other and deliver effectively for our clients.’

Meanwhile, Scottish law firm Brodies has also had a large round of promotions, making seven up to partner, while promoting nine to a newly-created managing associate role.

All seven promotions were made in different practice areas and took the total partnership headcount to 89. Last year the firm made up just four to its partnership.

Christine O’Neill, chairman of Brodies, said: ‘Our newly promoted partners have impressed our clients, demonstrated excellent legal and leadership skills, and are attuned to the marketplace and future direction of the sectors they serve.

‘This new position [managing associate] acknowledges that a number of our experienced associates are already performing important management roles across the firm in delivering our client services. This may include managing teams or being the lynch pin for the delivery of transactions.’

The 2015 promotions are as follows:

Watson Farley Williams:

Ravinder Sandhu – corporate, London

Andrew Ward – disputes, London

Andrew Waters – disputes, London

Daniel Pilarski – tax, New York

Alexia Russell – finance, Paris

Frederik Lorenzen – finance, Frankfurt

Christoforos Bisbikos – finance, Hong Kong

TLT:

Alice Gardner, corporate

James Chadwick, banking and financial services litigation

Paul Gair, banking and financial services litigation

David Gardner, technology and IP

Richard Houliston, banking and restructuring

Sian Ashton, commercial disputes

Brodies:

Tom Boulton-Jones, corporate

Laurence Douglas, retail & leisure, real estate

Matthew Farrell, business disputes and asset recovery

Charles Livingstone, public law and regulatory

Marion MacInnes, banking and finance

Chris McDaid, commercial real estate

Murray Soutar, land and rural business

jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Winning work: TLT picks up Halliwells dispute as Irwin Mitchell loses out

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TLT has been gifted with a key mandate to defend a group of 26 former Halliwells partners in a dispute with the firm’s liquidator, as well as the appeal of a further case involving nine other former partners, after Irwin Mitchell was dropped from both cases.

The dispute, which has been ongoing for five years, involves an argument with the Manchester-based law firm’s liquidator over liabilities related to its collapse in 2010.

The liquidator is seeking millions of pounds from the now defunct firm’s former fixed share partners, following claims that those members had knowledge of the firm’s insolvency prior to it entering a formal administration process.

TLT commercial litigation partner John Lord, who joined the firm from Irwin Mitchell in 2013, is lead partner on the case. Addleshaw Goddard is acting for the liquidator, BDO, with Alison Goldthorp leading.

Manchester-based restructuring partner John Vickery had previously acted for Irwin Mitchell on the case, alongside fellow restructuring partner Chris Jones who left the firm in 2013 to join gunnercooke.

TLT, with Julien Luke as lead, has also picked up the instruction on the appeal of a High Court decision in October which saw Irwin Mitchell successfully act for Steven Fennell. The former Halliwells partner won a declaration to prevent a claim from the liquidators of £125,000 for alleged overdrawings and the case was used as a test for eight other partners – Judith Bloor, Cameron Clarke, Niall Edwards, David Fearon, Suzanne Liversidge, Helen Snowball, Heidi Swales and Gregor Woods – who all left Halliwells for Kennedys and who all agreed to be bound by the decision.

Irwin Mitchell instructed Jonathan Adkin QC of Serle Court, while Addleshaw Goddard represented Halliwells and its liquidators, and instructed Lexa Hilliard QC of 11 Stone Buildings.

kathryn.mcann@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Revolving doors: Senior hires for Withers, Baker & McKenzie, Brown Rudnick and TLT

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The past week saw Withers hire Taylor Wessing’s head of contentious trusts and estates as the BBC’s head of litigation returned to private practice with a move to Baker & McKenzie, and Brown Rudnick and TLT made strategic hires in intellectual property (IP) and real estate respectively.

Steven Kempster will become the thirteenth partner in Withers’ contentious trust and succession group when he arrives in mid-July and brings the group up to seven partners in London. The group was founded 20 years ago by Dawn Goodman, who remains head of the department.

Kempster, who joined Taylor Wessing from Herbert Smith in 2008, brings with him a reputation for handling Russian disputes. He was, however, unsuccessful with a claim brought by his client, Russian oligarch Vladimir Slutsker, against his ex-wife Olga for a 50% share of the £40m London home they purchased using an offshore trust.

Kempster told Legal Business his practice is ‘burgeoning with Russian, Middle Eastern and Far Eastern disputes’ due to their growing number of UK investments and desire to have recourse to English courts.

Given the growing convergence of family law and contentious trusts work, Kempster says ‘the crossover at Withers, which has a high quality family law practice, is very complimentary to my own practice.’ He adds: ‘Taylor Wessing doesn’t have a family law department, which is a shame as it is a practice that crosses over quite well with contentious trusts work, particularly divorce cases.’

Goodman said in a statement: ‘Steven is well-known for his expertise and successes in contentious trust work, and has advised clients from around the world on complex matters for 15 years. His experience and leadership skills will be a real asset to the team.’

Elsewhere, Baker & McKenzie hired Nadia Banno from the BBC, where she was head of litigation. Banno will join Baker’s as of counsel and will particularly focus on the firm’s public law, and regulatory investigations.

Banno has worked at the BBC for the past nine years, of which she spent the last two heading the litigation team. Her experience includes advising in relation to the Jimmy Savile matter, the Pollard Review and the Dame Janet Smith Review, as well as the civil claims compensation scheme.

She also has experience of managing both domestic and international disputes, investigations and crisis management. She has advised on data protection and freedom of information, defamation, privacy, contempt and reporting restrictions.

Baker & McKenzie head of disputes John Leadley said: ‘We’ve worked closely with Nadia for a number of years and know first-hand what a talented and impressive lawyer she is. Having Nadia’s expertise and broad experience in the team will be a tremendous boost to our dispute resolution practice, particularly our public law, and regulatory investigations offering.’

Meanwhile, Brown Rudnick has recruited Speechly Bircham’s head of technology and intellectual property (IP) Alexander Carter-Silk, who has left the firm ahead of its merger vote to combine with Charles Russell. The vote is expected to take place in August this year.

Carter-Silk has 25 years’ experience of advising on contentious and non-contentious IP and technology matters. He headed Speechly’s trade mark designs and brand practice, and has experience of advising on advertising and marketing regulation and reputation management, including privacy and defamation.

Elsewhere TLT has hired Foot Anstey partner Daniel Halstead to boost its real estate offering in the UK. Halstead, who joined Foot Anstey from Osborne Clarke in 2011 to set up the firm’s Bristol office, will join TLT as its third property and development partner in Bristol.

Halstead specialises in real estate development and investment matters for institutions, property companies, developers, housing associations and corporate occupiers. He has particular experience in representing student accommodation projects, and some recent work includes advising on the £45m acquisition of a student village, the redevelopment of a Bristol city centre student scheme, and real estate finance matters for Santander.

Halstead told Legal Business: ‘There is increased investment into the property market as a whole. I aim to use my previous experience in the student accommodation field and work alongside the London and Manchester offices to service the firm’s existing property clients.’

TLT’s head of real estate Andrew Glynn added: ‘We continue to grow our team and expertise in response to client demand. Daniel brings a wealth of experience and expertise that will further boost the support we can offer our clients across the UK.’

Some of TLT’s real estate group clients include BBC, WH Smith and Boohoo.com.

Jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk

Tom.moore@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Financial results 2014: TLT’s ascendancy continues as it posts 18% revenue growth

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The second top-60 UK firm to unveil a high double-digit turnover increase this week, TLT today (13 May) announced that its 2013/14 revenue has increased by 18% from £49m to £57.9m, almost doubling the 10% growth posted last year.

The 300-lawyer firm, which was shortlisted for National/Regional Firm of the Year in this year’s Legal Business Awards, said today that it also expects to report an increase in profits again this year, after profits rose by 7% to £274,000 in 2012/13.

The past year saw a standout performance in Scotland, which posted revenues of £3.1m, an increase of 30% on the previous year.

The firm also pointed to its office opening in Northern Ireland in 2012 and Manchester in 2013, where it hired a 30-strong team from Irwin Mitchell, as factors that have helped to boost its revenues. ‘In both [offices] this is through a mixture of support for the firm’s existing clients and new client opportunities,’ the firm said in a statement today. ‘Both are also attracting new recruits and, from a standing start, now have around 50 people.’

These openings follows a launch in 2012 in Belfast and separately in Glasgow and Edinburgh, following the firm’s merger with Scottish firm Anderson Fyfe in the same year.

Growth has been spread across the firm’s sectors and groups, with financial services and commercial services for large corporates and public bodies seeing particularly strong growth. The firm is also seeing an uptick in work for real estate and litigation.

Managing partner David Pester (pictured) said: ‘We’re continuing to invest and grow. This year’s strong revenue result is, in part, a consequence of new offices and new people. However, it’s also driven by winning market share in focus areas for the firm like retail, leisure and energy & renewables.’

The firm has secured some high profile instructions in recent months, adding Boohoo.com, E.On, and Sainsbury’s to a client list that includes Barclays, BBC, Dyson, Merlin Entertainments, Punch Taverns, RBS and WH Smith.

The results follow the announcement by Osborne Clarke yesterday (12 May) that it’s global revenue is up by 26% to €169m, with UK revenue up by 16%.

caroline.hill@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Partner promotions: Watson Farley; RPC; TLT and McCann FitzGerald unveil numbers

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Top 50 UK firms Watson, Farley & Williams (WFW) and RPC have unveiled their latest partner promotions, making up 13 and three lawyers respectively, as top 60 firm TLT and leading Irish firm McCann FitzGerald both announced today (7 May) that they have promoted four lawyers.

WFW’s 13 promotions – which is a significant increase on last year’s figure, when just four lawyers were made up – brings the total number of partners to 133.

The new partners have been promoted in eight of the firm’s 13 offices, with three apiece in London and Hamburg, two in New York, and one each in Athens, Bangkok, Paris, Rome and Milan.

Promotions were made across six practice areas including the 389-lawyer firm’s energy and projects group, real estate, corporate, maritime, finance and disputes.

Managing partner Lothar Wegener said: ‘I congratulate these 13 outstanding lawyers on their promotions to the WFW partnership. In addition to highlighting our confidence in these individuals as practitioners, collectively this group of new partners underscores the ongoing strength of the firm as a whole, and the confidence we have in our respective practices.’

Meanwhile, RPC promoted three new partners across its insurance and reinsurance disputes, insurance disputes (professional indemnity) and competition practices. Last year, the 311-lawyer firm made up just one lawyer.

‘When we appoint new partners at RPC we’re welcoming them as genuine owners of the business, with a real stake in our future success. That’s the reality of an all equity partnership. So, naturally, the bar is set that much higher,’ said RPC’s managing partner Jonathan Watmough.

Maintaining a steady hand is TLT, which promoted four of its associates to partnership – the same number as last year – across the 250-lawyer firm’s corporate, disputes and banking teams, within its Bristol and London offices.

The promotions take the firm’s total partner headcount to 96. In addition, TLT promoted 20 solicitors to associate, up from 2013 when that figure was just nine.

TLT’s senior partner Robert Bourns said: ‘These promotions, both at partner and associate level, recognise the drive by individuals to identify client need and deliver in a way that clients find supportive and valuable – getting the job done. Their commitment to understanding and matching the clients’ business needs and the whole firm’s legal expertise, together with their flexibility and responsiveness make the difference.’

All partner promotions went into effect on 1 May 2014.

Outside of the UK, leading Irish law firm McCann FitzGerald today announced the appointment of four new partners, with one in banking and financial services; two in dispute resolution and litigation; and one in real estate, bringing the total number of partners at the all-equity firm to 70.

jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

TLT reappoints David Pester as managing partner for fifth term

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TLT’s managing partner David Pester has been reappointed for a fifth three-year term following an uncontested election process, the firm announced today (28 April).

Pester (pictured) first took over the lead role in 2002, having qualified in 1987 at legacy Lawrence Tucketts – where he also headed the corporate team – which later merged with fellow Bristol firm Trumps in 2000 to form TLT.

Since 2002 the top 60 firm has more than tripled in size with revenues predicted internally to exceed £55m in 2014/15 and staff numbers likely to touch 1000 in the next 12-18 months. Over a five-year period from 2008-13 its revenues grew by 21%, while in 2012/13 revenue rose by 10% from £44.5m to £50m, with financial services counting for 40% of its turnover, leisure for just short of 20% and retail for just shy of 15%.

Commenting on his re-appointment and objectives for the next three years, Pester said: ‘TLT continues to grow by focusing on building scale and deepening areas of legal expertise around the specific needs of clients.

‘In the current market, this means responding to client cost pressures by constantly looking at how we build expertise and deliver it more efficiently. It means having the flexibility to respond to clients when and where they need you and, it means being open and proactive in the way you collaborate with others to deliver.’

Robert Bourns, who has held the role of senior partner since 2002, said: ‘Consistent strong leadership has been integral to TLT’s success. David’s reappointment will help cement this success and ensure the business continues to grow and transform in response to client need.’

This comes after the Law Society announced last week (24 April) that Bourns has been elected as the body’s deputy vice president, with the expectation that he will become president in 2016. The employment specialist was one of seven candidates to put themselves forward for the role.

Six-office TLT has been in expansion mode in the last couple of years, most recently taking on a 30-strong Irwin Mitchell team, including former commercial litigation head John Lord to bolster its fledgling Manchester office, which launched last July with the appointment of former Pinsent Masons legal director and commercial litigator Emma Flower and former DLA Piper Manchester head of commercial law Stuart Campbell.

In 2012 it opened an office in Belfast and separately in Glasgow and Edinburgh following the firm’s merger with Scottish firm Anderson Fyfe.

francesca.fanshawe@legalease.co.uk