With partners from Clyde & Co and BLM recently voting through their £700m merger, observers have offered conflicting views on what the tie-up means for the market.
Legal Business broke the news on 18 March that a partnership vote was imminent, and Clyde confirmed on 28 March that the vote had passed, with the combination to go live in July 2022.
In what the firm is hailing as ‘its best financial year ever’, Paul Hastings has posted an eye-catching 41% growth in City turnover from $108.6m to $157.2m.
Globally, Paul Hastings did not fare much worse, with worldwide turnover jumping 20% from $1.31bn to $1.57bn. This was accompanied by a 21% hike in profit per partner (PPP), which grew from $3.9m to $4.7m.
Continue reading “Paul Hastings toasts quarter century in London with 41% City revenue surge”
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer is the first of the Magic Circle to share its pay gap statistics for 2021. Despite steady improvements, the firm acknowledges there is still much more to be done.
The report revealed that on average men are paid 52% more hourly than women, on a median basis the difference is 13%. This is a modest improvement from a 55% mean and 17% median gap in 2020.
EQT’s €6.8bn acquisition of Baring Private Equity Asia (BPEA), Cinven’s $2.6bn buyout of BESP and Pan-European Infrastructure III’s (PEIF III) £595m cash offer for Stagecoach Group Plc have kept advisers busy in recent days, as private equity deals continue to drive the M&A market.
Stockholm-headquartered EQT reached an agreement to buy Baring Private Equity Asia (BPEA) for €6.8bn. The consideration includes 191.2 million new ordinary EQT shares, valued at €5.3bn, and €1.5bn in cash.
Addleshaw Goddard has announced the launch of three new European offices this week, opening a new Luxemburg base and adding two new German offices.
The Luxemburg office will be led by Fieldfisher’s former head of corporate and banking, Richard Ledain Santiago. Santiago, who joined Fieldfisher in 2018 from Allen & Overy, will focus on funds and funds finance work. Continue reading “Revolving doors: Addleshaw launches three new offices while Freshfields competition partner departs for MoFo”
Latham & Watkins has become the first law firm to break the $5bn revenue barrier as turnover spiked 26.7% to $5.489bn in the 2021/22 financial year.
Profit per partner also saw a comparable 26% surge to $5.71m from $4.52 last year. Continue reading “Latham becomes the first $5bn law firm club member as revenue soars 27%”
Clyde & Co and BLM are at an advanced stage of merger discussions, with both sets of partnerships due to vote on a tie-up before the end of March.
Legal Business understands that there is significant confidence that the deal will be green-lit. Continue reading “Clyde & Co and BLM to merge with partner vote imminent”
Baker McKenzie, DLA Piper and Dentons have taken a different course to most international law firms, separating from their Russia practices and leaving independent firms behind, rather than closing the offices entirely as a response to Russia’s continued invasion of Ukraine.
All three firms operate under a Swiss verein structure, which enables the different offices to maintain financial and regulatory independence from one another and allows for quick mergers and demergers. Continue reading “Dentons, DLA and Bakers to sever ties with Russia offices as A&O and CC wind down”
Linklaters has lured three lawyers from US firm Vinson & Elkins to its leveraged finance practice in its home market, London. V&E’s former City head of finance and M&A Noel Hughes has joined, alongside fellow partner Giacomo Reali and Christianne Williams, who was counsel at V&E.
Hughes focuses on advising on high-yield bonds and leveraged buyouts across a broad range of industries, both in the European and US markets while Reali, who speaks six languages, advises on high-yield debt transactions, bridge financings and preferred equity investments with a particular focus on the Italian market. Continue reading “Revolving doors: three in two out for Linklaters as Cooley bolsters transatlantic competition practice”
Garrigues has seen a 7% rise in revenue for the 2021/22 financial year, enabling it to become the first Iberian law firm to post revenues in excess of €400m.
The Madrid-headquartered firm, which in total billed €414.2m throughout the year, has largely the success of its domestic offering to thank for this uptick. The Spanish practice, which spans 18 offices, generated €361.4m – an increase of 7.4% compared with the previous year.
Continue reading “‘Record revenues’ for Garrigues as turnover breaks €400m barrier”
Akin Gump, Latham & Watkins and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer are among the latest international firms to shut down or suspend operations in Moscow, as pressure to take action has mounted in light of Russia’s sustained invasion of Ukraine.
The news came after Linklaters and Norton Rose Fulbright announced their intentions to withdraw from Moscow in recent days. Continue reading “Akin Gump, Freshfields and Latham latest to withdraw in Moscow as mass exodus ensues”
The London office of Goodwin has seen revenue soar 63% in 2021/22 amid a surge in lateral hires over the year, the firm’s latest financial results reveal.
The City arm reported turnover of $161.8m, up from $99.1m last year. This striking gain follows the firm’s bullish revenue growth of 72% between 2015 and 2021. Continue reading “‘Dramatic expansion’: Goodwin’s London turnover spikes 63% amid lateral bonanza”
The private equity boom has shown no signs of slowing down in recent weeks, with the London offices of US firms taking the lead on noteworthy acquisitions in the logistics, food & drink, and infrastructure sectors.
Skadden, Simpson Thacher and Latham & Watkins advised on the acquisition by KKR of a majority stake in independent beverage contract manufacturer Refresco. The deal will see existing investors PAI Partners and British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI) retaining a minority stake in the company. Continue reading “Deal watch: Global London elite turns out for KKR’s Refresco buyout and Macquarie’s Roadchef acquisition”
US firms have dominated another week of lateral recruitment with notable hires in the City and overseas.
Greenberg Traurig has added real estate finance partner Daniyal Ansari from Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner. Ansari, who is described as ‘technically excellent’ in The Legal 500’s 2022 guide, advises on investment, development, and complex structured debt matters globally. Real estate is a key focus of Greenberg’s London office, which has seen major expansion over the past 12 months with 10 partner hires. Continue reading “Revolving doors: Greenberg continues City hiring spree as Jones Day snaps up Hogan Lovells antitrust partner”
As the world watches the battle rage in Ukraine, talking about gender inequality risks coming across as somewhat trite. But with women and children making up the overwhelming majority of the more than one million people displaced by the invasion so far, this year’s International Women’s Day has a pointed resonance. Everyone suffers during war, but women and girls are notoriously vulnerable to its impact, both physically and economically. The images of those flooding out of Ukraine to seek sanctuary elsewhere only serves to highlight this.
We’ve therefore taken the decision to still mark International Women’s Day and its #BreakTheBias message, as gender equality still needs to be fought for across all industries, including law and politics, and progress made still needs to be celebrated. Continue reading “‘Get the credit you deserve’ – top female partners on breaking biases and inspiring role models”
Linklaters’ abandonment of its Moscow office in response to Russia’s sustained invasion of Ukraine has prompted peers to react, with many more likely set to follow suit.
Linklaters announced the move to shutter the Moscow office, which houses more than 70 lawyers, including 10 partners, on Friday (4 March). The firm said in a statement: ‘We will wind down our operations in Russia and close our Moscow office. We will continue supporting our people there in the process, doing all we can to help them transfer to new roles within Linklaters or otherwise.’ Continue reading “Linklaters renounces Moscow office as Russia attacks Ukraine and peers react to invasion”
Which woman most inspired you in your legal career and why?
I don’t think I could put it down to one single woman! There have been many. In more recent years, as I have been navigating my way as a more senior woman in the industry, I have been very inspired and supported by Karen Seward – the Global Head of Litigation at A&O. She faces the industry (and the world) with an authenticity that smacks you in the face. She has done much to raise the profiles and improve the experiences of those that come behind her and to call out anything and anyone that compromises the values that we aspire to as a firm. Continue reading “International Women’s Day 2022: Denise Gibson, Allen & Overy, Leading Individual – Acquisition Finance”
Which woman most inspired you in your career and why?
I haven’t had one role model instrumental to my career but there have been lots of different people I’ve looked up to. In particular, some of the women who were partners before me at Latham – Lene Malthasen , Jocelyn Seitzman, Gail Crawford and Catherine Drinnan who was deputy office managing partner and had a clear leadership position. Continue reading “International Women’s Day 2022: Farah O’Brien – Corporate co-chair, Latham & Watkins London; leading individual, premium M&A”
Which woman most inspired you in your legal career and why?
When I was growing up in the Caribbean, I was inspired to become a lawyer watching a woman called Celia Clyne Edwards QC in court. She is extremely clever and is still one of the more formidable advocates I have ever seen. Continue reading “International Women’s Day 2022: Akima Paul Lambert, dispute resolution partner, Hogan Lovells – next generation partner, commercial litigation – premium”
Which woman most inspired you in your career and why?
That is a hard question! I think I take inspiration from lots of different women. I admire the intensity of all-star athletes like Venus Williams and Naomi Osaka, who are so dedicated to their craft from an early age. I look up to ceiling-crackers like Ruth Bader Ginsberg, with her incrementalism approach, and Indra Nooyi, who grew up in India and led an iconic American company. And I’m inspired by my mother, who majored in Math at Barnard and worked as a Computer Science professor throughout my childhood—a time when I didn’t know any other working mothers. Continue reading “International Women’s Day 2022: Barbara L. Becker, chair & managing partner, Gibson Dunn, New York”
