‘The whole property industry would have been paralysed had most landlords and tenants not been able to navigate their way through it,’ says Joanna Lampert, Mishcon de Reya’s property litigation partner, reflecting on the impact of the pandemic.
UK firms have made significant moves stateside, with Allen & Overy and Simmons & Simmons announcing the opening of new US offices.
Allen & Overy’s US expansion project appears set to continue. With a new office in Boston set to open following the arrival of a five-partner group from Goodwin. The firm, which has been recruiting across numerous US practice areas since the collapse of the planned merger with O’Melveny & Myers, welcomed the new partners into its intellectual property litigation practice, significantly bolstering its offering in the life sciences industry. Elizabeth Holland will join the New York office and is set to become the head of the US life sciences practice, with Bill James joining the firm in Washington. Continue reading “A&O opens in Boston as Simmons launches in Silicon Valley”
Osborne Clarke has expanded its European footprint through a new office in Poland, securing a team of 30 lawyers from domestic firms to staff the Warsaw hub.
The new team, which comprises six partners, 24 lawyers and four business services staff, features a strong contingent from Polish professional services firm MDDP, with former MDDP Law managing partner and M&A specialist Tomasz Olkiewicz being selected as co-managing partner for OC’s new Polish operations. He will be supported in the top job by Olgierd Świerzewski, previously chief executive and head of the technology transaction group at Kochański & Partners. Continue reading “Revolving doors: OC opens in Warsaw with local hires as US players ramp up in the City”
Gideon Moore (pictured), Linklaters’ erstwhile global managing partner, has added a further flourish to his CV to take on the role of non-executive director at new law scale-up nexa. The move follows Moore’s appointment earlier this year as chief legal officer and general counsel of NatWest, an executive role he will start on 1 April 2022.
This is the latest in a string of Magic Circle leaders taking the path less travelled post-partnership. Last Thursday (24 February) M&G plc announced that Edward Braham, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer’s former senior partner, is to join the listed UK investment manager as its chair on 14 March 2022. Continue reading “New brooms from the Magic Circle: Moore adds new law string to his bow as Braham set to chair M&G”
The British Virgin Islands (BVI) is a particularly popular jurisdiction for incorporating joint venture vehicles. The principal statute governing the formation and operation of a BVI business company is the Business Companies Act 2004 (the BC Act). The BC Act is a modern and flexible companies statute.
The principal corporate documents are the joint venture agreement (JVA) and the memorandum and articles of association of the BVI company (M&A). There are particular provisions of the JVA that must be in the M&A under BVI law. These provisions relate to: (i) the rights attaching to the authorised shares of the company; (ii) provisions in respect of company procedures such as notice and quorum requirements for shareholder meetings; (iii) the election of directors; and (iv) restrictions on the powers of the directors to carry on the business of the company (being items requiring super majority director approval or shareholder approval). Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: Key issues when structuring a BVI joint venture”
‘You can’t appeal to people’s better natures because they don’t have one. Everyone is fundamentally selfish.’ Nihilistic as this remark from a senior corporate partner may sound, on darker days, most law firm leaders would find it hard to argue the point.
While that partner can always be relied upon for a no-holds-barred, often strongly-worded take on the worries that are really keeping law firm leaders awake at night, that is not to say the more diplomatic concerns that people express on the record are any less valid. Continue reading “Lessons in management: Spoiler alert – it doesn’t get easier”
My mum got me my first job at Essex County Council in PR. The first exam I ever failed was a PR diploma! It wasn’t for me. I’m not a sales person.
I did an A-Level in law to see if I enjoyed it. I did. Keeping my options open, I applied for the CPE at the College of Law and I also applied to be a teacher. Continue reading “Life During Law: Linda Woolley”
‘I believe it is relevant for Spain and its economy to have strong law firms whose decision-centres are based in the country.’ Fernando Vives, Garrigues
As part of our annual Euro Elite report, management at independent firms in Europe give their views on market challenges, talent management and technology
While the same old story of political volatility continues to pervade in Africa, a bullish M&A market and renewed optimism driven by a pan-Africa trade agreement makes the continent hard to ignore for law firms.
For Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF), an ongoing commitment to Africa has played an important role in galvanising its place among global firms. London and Paris offices have targeted the continent for decades, while the launch of a Johannesburg office in 2015 took its ambitions a step further. Nina Bowyer, the Paris-based co-head of HSF’s Africa group is very much alive to the challenges: ‘Obviously, Covid has crippled a number of economies across the world and Africa is no exception. Finding the necessary resources to tackle some of the challenges will continue to be difficult. Continue reading “Africa focus: Rising again?”
African countries, even with their less advanced healthcare systems and low vaccination rates, have weathered the pandemic well with a low incidence and mortality rate for Covid-19. The impact, therefore, of the pandemic in Africa remains markedly lower compared to the Americas, Europe and Asia. Scientists say it is a paradox and are exploring the hypothesis that Africans have had more exposure to other coronaviruses, which may act as a defence against Covid-19. Another possibility is that regular exposure to malaria or other infectious diseases could prime the immune system to fight new pathogens, including SARS-CoV-2. If tens of millions of Africans have already been infected, scientists question whether the continent should try for ‘herd immunity’ without a vaccine, shielding only the most vulnerable, which might be preferable over control measures that cripple economies in the long run.
Further, Africa’s youthful population stands out against the global backdrop of ageing populations. Only in Africa is the size of the working-age population as a portion of the total population still increasing. In short, Africa is open for business as usual. Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: Africa: The land of milk and honey and business as usual”
Every firm thinks they deserve to move up the rankings – but which are making the strongest case? Ben Wheway crunches the numbers to find the firms who saw the biggest improvement in their rankings
Of all the questions fielded by The Legal 500 editorial team, ‘what do we have to do to move up the rankings?’ is almost certainly the most frequently asked, narrowly ahead of ‘please can we have an extension on the submission deadline?’ Continue reading “The Legal 500 View: Promotion prospects – the firms with the biggest gains in the UK Legal 500”
While some discover an aptitude for law while at university, others have it in their veins. According to Elisabeth Sullivan, recently installed as general counsel (GC) of book retailer Waterstones, she very much falls into the latter category.
‘People always told me since I was a kid I should be a lawyer because I had a “strong sense of justice”. Probably after I had some big tantrum!’ Continue reading “The Client profile: Elisabeth Sullivan, Waterstones”
When we first launched our Euro Elite report in 2016, much of the narrative was that the future of the elite European independent firms as a breed looked assured but individually they faced challenging headwinds and delicate balancing acts to modernise their businesses for a more globalised and networked world. But we were perhaps being charitable to the Anglo-Saxon firms that have striven so hard for decades to dominate Europe and have largely failed. Nobody is drinking that Kool-Aid anymore. The headwinds have come and gone, or at least remain with little of the effects that many anticipated. The 100 firms in 40 jurisdictions that make up this year’s report have taken Brexit, Covid and political turmoil in their stride and are largely going from strength to strength.
It was supposed to be so different; the mostly UK-based firms that threw their weight about in Amsterdam, Brussels, Madrid, Paris and Rome in the late 1990s and early 2000s, acting like bullies, predicted that legal services in those markets would be homogenised and those resisting would suffer. There were casualties – Loyens & Loeff was largely born of the ruins of Loeff Claeys Verbeke after Allen & Overy had picked it over. There were success stories too – Bruckhaus Westrick Heller Löber’s merger of equals with Freshfields was viewed as market defining, although there is an argument that it allowed Hengeler Mueller, Noerr and Gleiss Lutz to bolster their positions in Germany. There are many examples of Euro Elite firms rejecting formal advances from UK firms: Gleiss Lutz and Stibbe told Herbert Smith where to go, as did De Brauw (and others) to Linklaters. Few will have regretted that decision. Continue reading “Stronger together? Not really”
In what should be difficult times, our annual Euro Elite survey finds the 100 leading firms across more than 40 jurisdictions largely in great shape and looking forward to 2022 – with clearly no room for doom and gloom.
The European Commission’s Winter 2022 Economic Forecast projects that, following a notable expansion by 5.3% in 2021, the EU economy will grow by 4% in 2022 and 2.8% in 2023. Growth in the euro area is also expected at 4% in 2022, moderating to 2.7% in 2023. The EU as a whole reached its pre-pandemic level of GDP in the third quarter of 2021 and all member states are projected to have passed this milestone by the end of 2022. The comments coming back from the leading independent law firms across the region reflect this macroeconomic picture – they are generally in rude health. Continue reading “Euro Elite Overview: Sterner stuff”
The relatively small markets of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia enjoy a strong reputation for legal know-how on behalf of international investors, which has ensured that the bigger Baltic firms were able to weather the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic unscathed, easily changing emphasis to respond to quickly shifting and time-sensitive legal mandates.
Consequently, there is a general pattern that has developed since 2020: many reported a momentary freeze in work in the early months of the pandemic. This led to an increase in contentious corporate disputes, restructuring, and refinancing, all expected consequences of an economic downturn. Continue reading “Euro Elite Baltics: Closer together”
Independent law firms across the Benelux region have gone into 2022 with a renewed sense of optimism, with them successfully withstanding the challenges of Covid-19 to continue winning exciting new mandates. Reflective of the buoyant mood of the market, at Stibbe, Brussels managing partner Wouter Ghijsels says: ‘Last year was our best year in terms of turnover. Our office is growing, and things are actually going extremely well in Brussels.’
Deal activity in Belgium has remained high since summer 2020, with firms reporting unprecedented demand from clients, as pre-pandemic trends in debt markets reassert themselves. 2021 saw an increase in activity from private equity funds, with the TMT, logistics and industrial sectors doing particularly well. Real estate, after a period of uncertainty, has once again become a sought-after asset, with centrally-located office space, logistics property and data centres in particular proving attractive targets for international investors, REITs and portfolio holders. Continue reading “Euro Elite Benelux: Full steam ahead”
Compared to previous uncertainty faced across the CEE region at the start of the pandemic, countries have started to recover well with transactions regaining speed. For independent and regional law firms, market conditions are favourable, and firms with office networks that span the region are well placed to handle increasingly cross-border transactional work. As US firms continue to gradually scale down their operations in jurisdictions across the region, many lawyers have become wary of working for the big international players, which is a boon for more localised firms.
In Poland, where the legal market has remained strong and withstood the effects of the pandemic considerably well, law firms are benefiting from continued growth in the economy. Poland also continues to see international inward investment and its geographical position places it at the crossroads of numerous transport routes across Europe, both of which are factors enabling its continued economic success. Continue reading “Euro Elite CEE: The middle ground”
The second year of the Covid-19 crisis has seen French firms busier than ever. Following an initial slowdown between March and May at the beginning of the pandemic, the Paris market has more than picked itself up since early summer 2020. As corporates and investors adapted to life under Covid rules and French courts opened up again, firms across all areas of the legal market report extremely high levels of activity.
As interest rates remain low, firms are struggling to keep pace with the big appetite for mergers and acquisitions. LBO specialists in particular shouldered more transactions in 2021 than in the year before the pandemic hit. The Paris fund formation teams also report a buzzing market, partly caused by a necessity to fund restructurings, but mainly driven by the economy’s staggering comeback. In the venture and growth capital scene, the extremely busy market, and in particular the heavy investments made by US and UK investors, has caused a rise in the number of new firms specialising in venture and growth capital transactions. Continue reading “Euro Elite France: Vive l’autonomie”
At the beginning of the Covid pandemic, German law firms found themselves wary of what the future might hold and prepared for the worst. Two years on, most say their fears were unwarranted – several firms have reported the last financial year to be their strongest to date. ‘The pandemic has shown the enormous resilience of the independent law firm model,’ says Alexander Ritvay, co-managing partner at Noerr. ‘The legal market in Germany recorded a 6% revenue increase in 2020 [to €253m]. We outperformed the market, as we increased our top line by 10%. The ongoing year is also looking quite strong.’
This optimism can, in part, be attributed to the fact that the predicted big slump in commercial and corporate mandates never arrived. M&A, private equity and restructuring are identified as current key drivers of activity in the legal market. ‘With the low interest rates and the liquidity that’s in the market, we believe that transactional activity – both domestic and foreign – will continue and probably increase in the forthcoming 12 months,’ says Ritvay. ‘This is likely because there is also significant reorganisation as well as restructuring going on in many industries.’ Continue reading “Euro Elite Germany: Bouncing back”
