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Revolving doors: A&O launches Silicon Valley tech team as Linklaters hires litigation star

Silicon Valley

In a major expansion of its US operations, Allen & Overy (A&O) has made an eye-catching move for seven White & Case technology partners to establish a new Silicon Valley presence.

Making the switch are partners Shamita Etienne-Cummings, Bijal Vakil, David Tennant, Eric Lancaster, Adam Chernichaw, Daren Orzechowski and Alex Touma. The new multidisciplinary team will be headed by Orzechowski and Vakil, with all of the arriving partners operating from the current locations in Silicon Valley, San Francisco, New York and Washington DC. Continue reading “Revolving doors: A&O launches Silicon Valley tech team as Linklaters hires litigation star”

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Financials 2020/21: Linklaters maintains Magic Circle resilience with double-digit profit hike

Linklaters London new office

Despite the pandemic, the 2020/21 financial year proved to be an improved outing for Linklaters as revenues inched up and profits saw a robust increase.

Turnover nudged upwards by 2% to reach £1.67bn – a modest increase, but an improvement on the marginal 0.7% growth seen last year. More notable was the firm’s rebounding profits: pre-tax profit stands at £815.3m, a 12% jump from last year, while profit per equity partner (PEP) grew by 10% to hit £1.773m. Continue reading “Financials 2020/21: Linklaters maintains Magic Circle resilience with double-digit profit hike”

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Financials 2020/21: HFW breaks £200m revenue barrier as profits soar by 30%

Richard Crump

HFW has continued to perform resiliently in the face of the pandemic, today (9 August) posting a 3% rise in revenue to £200m and a striking 30% increase in profit per equity partner to £683,000.

There were healthy increases across the board: net profit shot up more than 26% to £59.7m, profit per lawyer was up by 30% to £123,000 and revenue per lawyer grew 6% to £413,000. Continue reading “Financials 2020/21: HFW breaks £200m revenue barrier as profits soar by 30%”

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Financial results 2020/21: Travers overcomes Covid blip as revenue spikes 15% and PEP surges 22%

The financial performance of Travers Smith has seen a dramatic double-digit bounce-back as turnover increased 15% to £185.7m and profit per equity partner soared 22% to £1.22m. The eye-catching PEP result came even as the number of full equity partners remained broadly flat at 57 compared with 56 last year.

The provisional results for the year ended 30 June 2021 announced today (9 August) will be a welcome return to form after last year’s disappointing showing when the firm suffered a 1% revenue drop to £160.9m, stymying a decade-long run of uninterrupted turnover growth. PEP also fell 20% to £1m, with the results being adversely affected by a reporting period that ran to the end of June, rather than April, giving the firm greater exposure to the pandemic downturn. Continue reading “Financial results 2020/21: Travers overcomes Covid blip as revenue spikes 15% and PEP surges 22%”

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Revolving doors: White & Case enters recruitment overdrive as Lewis Silkin establishes Belfast employment hub

After a quieter July, the pace of partner recruitment has picked up significantly this week, with notable activity at White & Case, Lewis Silkin, Squire Patton Boggs and others.

In London, White & Case has made a shrewd addition from in-house, hiring George Kazakov as a partner from Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners. Previously global investment counsel, Kazakov has extensive experience advising on a wide range of international private equity, M&A and finance transactions, with a particular focus on the infrastructure sector. Continue reading “Revolving doors: White & Case enters recruitment overdrive as Lewis Silkin establishes Belfast employment hub”

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Revolving doors: Addleshaws and White & Case push on during summer slowdown with two hires each

Amid the typical summer lull in lateral partner appointments, Addleshaw Goddard and White & Case have bucked the trend with two key hires apiece.

Addleshaws has bolstered its leveraged finance team with the hire of experienced partner Ewen Scott from Jones Day. The firm described the hire as ‘a clear statement of intent’, asserting that the appointment boosts both its leveraged finance team and its private equity practice. Continue reading “Revolving doors: Addleshaws and White & Case push on during summer slowdown with two hires each”

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Financials 2020/21: Addleshaws to triple bonus provision following standout year

John Joyce

Addleshaw Goddard has kept pace with an emerging trend over the past month, posting robust financial results for 2020/21 following a pandemic-hit year previously.

Revenue this time around is up 12% to £321m from £288m in 2019/2020. The firm said this constitutes an eighth year of successive income growth, ‘delivered notwithstanding the challenges of the year’. Following further planned investments in new offices, infrastructure and people, the closing cash position of £108m is ‘a record for AG, underpinning the firm’s balance sheet strength’. Continue reading “Financials 2020/21: Addleshaws to triple bonus provision following standout year”

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Financials 2020/21: ‘Tremendous resilience’ from Freshfields yields 5% turnover and profit growth

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has weathered the coronavirus crisis to report a 5% addition to its top line and profit per equity partner (PEP) respectively, a slight return to form after last year’s more subdued showing.

The firm said today (30 July) that revenue increased to £1.59bn from last year’s £1.52bn as PEP hit £1.91m – a notable increase on last year’s slight drop to £1.82m. Continue reading “Financials 2020/21: ‘Tremendous resilience’ from Freshfields yields 5% turnover and profit growth”

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Financials 2020/21: Osborne Clarke shows spirit with 7% revenue growth and double-digit profit surge

Ray Berg

Osborne Clarke has rallied in the face of last year’s Covid-hindered financials to record a 7% international revenue increase to €341m as UK profit and profit per equity partner (PEP) saw double-digit elevations for 2020/21.

The global revenue increase from last year’s €318m means turnover has grown a respectable 55% over five years. OC’s UK showing has also received a shot in the arm from last year when the firm posted a subdued 3% revenue increase to £155m from £150m, while UK net profit diminished by 5% to £59.8m from £63m. Continue reading “Financials 2020/21: Osborne Clarke shows spirit with 7% revenue growth and double-digit profit surge”

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Financials 2020/21: ‘Fortunate’ Macfarlanes adds 10% to top line as 26-50 LB100 firms post mixed results

Sebastian Prichard Jones

Firms ranked 26-50 in the Legal Business 100 – Macfarlanes, TLT and Watson Farley & Williams – have posted a mixed bag of financials for 2020/21.

Macfarlanes has enjoyed its eleventh consecutive year of revenue growth amid a double-digit profit uptick and profit per equity partner figures that again bely fears of pandemic reversals. The robust 10% turnover increase to £260.96m builds on last year’s 9.5% rise to £237.65m, while PEP increased 9% to £2.09m, continuing last year’s solid 10% boost to £1.91m. Continue reading “Financials 2020/21: ‘Fortunate’ Macfarlanes adds 10% to top line as 26-50 LB100 firms post mixed results”

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Revolving Doors: HSF and RPC reunite with former London insurance specialists

City of London

Amid an uncharacteristically sluggish week for lateral hires, two top-50 Legal Business 100 firms have welcomed former colleagues back to their London insurance practices.

Herbert Smith Freehills has hired Will Glassey to further bolster its solicitors’ professional indemnity and regulatory practice, as well as its professional negligence offering more broadly. He joins from Mayer Brown, where he was head of insurance disputes in London and global co-head of insurance. Before moving to Mayer Brown in 2000, he was an associate in legacy Herbert Smith’s disputes team in London. Continue reading “Revolving Doors: HSF and RPC reunite with former London insurance specialists”

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Financials 2020/21: ‘Strongest-ever quarter’ rescues revenue growth at Clifford Chance

Matthew Layton

Clifford Chance had a late flurry of transactional activity to thank for a respectable set of Covid financials, as profit per equity partner climbed 9% and revenue inched up by 1%.

The firm’s PEP reached £1.85m, up on last year’s £1.69m, while revenue hit £1.828bn from £1.803bn. There was also an 8% uptick in partnership profit, growing to £716m from £666m. Continue reading “Financials 2020/21: ‘Strongest-ever quarter’ rescues revenue growth at Clifford Chance”

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Financials 2020/21: Ashurst breaks the £1m PEP barrier again as turnover climbs 10%

Paul Jenkins

In another set of buoyant pandemic financial results, Ashurst has breached the £1m-profit-per-equity-partner barrier for the first time since the global financial crisis, while revenues received a double-digit boost.

PEP stood at £1.038m, a striking 15% increase on last year’s £903,000 figure. In doing so, Ashurst has fulfilled managing partner Paul Jenkins’ ambition to top £1m in PEP , albeit a year later than hoped.  Continue reading “Financials 2020/21: Ashurst breaks the £1m PEP barrier again as turnover climbs 10%”

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‘An element of the exceptional’: Simmons latest to post striking pandemic financials with double-digit revenue growth and soaring profits

Jeremy Hoyland

Simmons & Simmons managing partner Jeremy Hoyland said there was ‘an element of the exceptional’ in the firm’s financial results announced today (16 July), with revenue growing 12% to £437m and profits shooting up 35% to £171m.

There was also a steep increase in profit per equity partner, growing 30% to reach £980k. Overall, this year’s results far outstrip the unremarkable 4% revenue growth and 6% profit increase from last year , as Hoyland explained that the firm benefited from a significant boom in instructions due to the pandemic. Continue reading “‘An element of the exceptional’: Simmons latest to post striking pandemic financials with double-digit revenue growth and soaring profits”

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Comment: Value is critical but ESG intentions must check out in Morrisons take-private

Morrisons supermarket

‘This level of scrutiny of governance is quite unusual. Historically in deals of this kind, no-one ever used to ask: “What’s going to happen to the workers?” It is becoming more and more of an issue as companies seek to avoid reputational damage.’

The words of Paul Watchman, ESG luminary, senior UN legal adviser and former Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer partner on the proposed £6.3bn takeover of UK supermarket giant Morrisons resonate as the deal looks set not only to become one of the biggest public to private transactions of the decade, but also to enshrine a playbook for ESG in years to come. Continue reading “Comment: Value is critical but ESG intentions must check out in Morrisons take-private”

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Sponsored briefing: Transaction management: Is technology taking over the deal?

If you want the short answer to this question, it’s not yet.

Download Shieldpay’s transaction management eBook.

The adoption of technology by the legal industry has been slow-moving. We first saw new technologies emerge to digitise document storage, data rooms and case management systems. As they have become more or less commonplace, the innovations have provided incremental improvements to the way lawyers work – streamlining, optimising and providing new insight. While the industry is moving in the right direction, we are yet to see technology bring something new to the table; the tools haven’t changed the process entirely nor enabled lawyers to deliver legal services in a totally different manner. Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: Transaction management: Is technology taking over the deal?”

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‘Laser-sharp focus’: Linklaters elects finance head Lewis as managing partner

Linklaters

Linklaters partners have elected global finance head Paul Lewis as the successor to managing partner Gideon Moore, the firm announced today (15 July).

The move sees Lewis, a Linklaters lifer and a partner since 2006, take the helm alongside Aedamar Comiskey, the M&A heavy-hitter who succeeded Charlie Jacobs as senior partner on 1 July. Continue reading “‘Laser-sharp focus’: Linklaters elects finance head Lewis as managing partner”

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Revolving doors: White & Case lures A&O disputes veteran as McDermott expands energy group

City of London

Veteran litigation partner Lawson Caisley has joined White & Case after nearly nine years at Allen & Overy. Caisley typically advises large corporations, financial institutions and funds on all aspects of commercial litigation and investigations, such as post-acquisition disputes as well as fraud and white-collar crime.

Markus Langen, head of disputes for White & Case in EMEA, described Caisley as a ‘highly ranked lawyer with a strong international practice’ with ‘a track record for advising a number of the world’s largest global companies on their most significant disputes’. He added: ‘The depth of his experience and expertise across sectors and industries will add further prestige and bench strength to our team in London and EMEA.’ Continue reading “Revolving doors: White & Case lures A&O disputes veteran as McDermott expands energy group”