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Comment: Hope floats for City listing overhaul but American audacity is vital

City of London

City business has had cause to take heart in recent days with a clear display of political will behind an overhaul of UK listing rules that could see London shake off its Brexit and pandemic woes and reassert itself as global financial hub.

Proposals set out in the UK Listing Review, led by Lord Hill, will particularly pique the interest of anyone tracking the special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) market. Indeed, the ubiquity of those deals has made them difficult to miss. There has been much talk of London jumping on the bandwagon in a fit of FOMO as other listing destinations, especially the US and Amsterdam, pile into that frothy market with gusto. However, to say that London has been lagging competitors in the US, Europe and Asia for too long is an understatement, and any shake-up to expedite parity with peers hasn’t come a moment too soon. Continue reading “Comment: Hope floats for City listing overhaul but American audacity is vital”

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Revolving doors: K&L Gates and Squire Patton Boggs make multiple global hires as Ashurst chair departs for competition court

In the latest round of lateral partner moves, two prominent transatlantic firms in the Global 100, K&L Gates and Squire Patton Boggs, have bolstered their international offices with multiple hires.

K&L Gates has made two senior hires in the City, boosting its asset management and white-collar crime teams. Firstly, Daniel Greenaway joins as a partner from Mishcon de Reya with expertise in advising fund managers on private equity, venture capital, credit, infrastructure and real estate investments. Continue reading “Revolving doors: K&L Gates and Squire Patton Boggs make multiple global hires as Ashurst chair departs for competition court”

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HSF shrugs off Covid concerns to reward staff with bonus as new senior partner is unveiled

Herbert Smith Freehills

After posting resilient financial results  in the wake of the pandemic, Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) has recognised the efforts of staff worldwide by gifting everyone a 5% bonus at the same time as announcing its new senior partner, Rebecca Maslen-Stannage.

In a statement, HSF chief executive Justin D’Agostino said: ‘The firm is performing well so far this year. In recognition of that, we will be paying all staff globally a one-off financial payment of 5 per cent of salary, payable in March. I am delighted that all our people will be sharing in our good performance. This is an acknowledgement of their dedication and hard work, in the face of the tremendous disruption and challenges experienced in the last year. This special payment is made in addition to our usual 2021 bonus round.’ Continue reading “HSF shrugs off Covid concerns to reward staff with bonus as new senior partner is unveiled”

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Game of two halves

‘This is my third lockdown at Latham,’ laughs Sam Newhouse, the M&A partner who left Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer a year ago for Latham & Watkins just as the coronavirus pandemic started to tighten its grip. The observation is poignant. In the Covid-19 world, we have all become used to delineating the passage of time in unusual ways as this alternate reality smudges the lines between working and home life. Continue reading “Game of two halves”

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A call to arms for the Bionic Lawyer

‘I am you. I am your colleagues. I am what your customers have always dreamed of. I am The Bionic Lawyer…’ And so began an open letter to the legal industry from the Bionic Lawyer Project. That letter, published on 24 September last year, marked the end of the beginning of our project, as a year of energised collaboration paved the way for releasing 16 ‘levers’. Those 16 levers set, we believe, the design principles for the future legal industry. Continue reading “A call to arms for the Bionic Lawyer”

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The shape of things to come

While we all willed Covid-19 to merrily disappear at the stroke of midnight on 1 January, in 2021 we are still very much living in volatile and unpredictable times. Though tempered by vaccine rollout efforts, the convergence of Brexit and the pandemic has created the perfect storm for white-collar crime to rise in the UK, compelling businesses to revisit their corporate governance and compliance models to assess if they can keep pace with the new order. Continue reading “The shape of things to come”

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The gender agenda: the firms making progress on diversity

‘Institutional male dominance is hard to shift – it isn’t enough to want to change; sometimes these things are structural,’ says Travers Smith disputes partner Caroline Edwards of the difficulties women lawyers can face trying to build their profile in the legal market and the directories that reflect it, including The Legal 500. Continue reading “The gender agenda: the firms making progress on diversity”

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The gender agenda: the firms making progress on diversity

‘Institutional male dominance is hard to shift – it isn’t enough to want to change; sometimes these things are structural,’ says Travers Smith disputes partner Caroline Edwards of the difficulties women lawyers can face trying to build their profile in the legal market and the directories that reflect it, including The Legal 500. Continue reading “The gender agenda: the firms making progress on diversity”

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Guest comment: the global/local leadership conundrum

Leading a professional firm with offices spread across multiple countries always creates a tension between global and local priorities. Professor Laura Empson and David Morley argue that what feels like a leadership challenge, is actually a deeper and very human struggle.

In our podcast –Leading Professional People – and in these blogs, we find ourselves frequently grappling with a timeless and very human paradox that sits right at the centre of what it means to lead a professional firm. Continue reading “Guest comment: the global/local leadership conundrum”

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Revolving doors: A&O enters La La Land with group hire as DLA Piper lures former Freshfields finance chief

Allen & Overy  has launched a West Coast US practice, acquiring Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld’s project finance and renewables team in the US.

As a result, the team co-led by partners Dan Sinaiko and John Marciano will establish a new presence in Los Angeles for A&O. The team also comprises partners Greg Lavigne, Matthew Nesburn, Andrea Wang Lucan and Sam Kamyans, as well as ‘a large group of associates and counsel.’ Continue reading “Revolving doors: A&O enters La La Land with group hire as DLA Piper lures former Freshfields finance chief”

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Sponsored briefing: Flexible and stable: The growing appeal of offshore SPACs

Conyers’ Neil Henderson, Anton Goldstein and Matthew Stocker on the resurgence

Special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) enjoyed a resurgence in 2020 as an alternative to traditional IPOs. Now, as 2021 begins, investors continue their search for efficient ways to deploy capital and generate attractive returns in the Covid-19 era of low interest rates and market volatility. Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: Flexible and stable: The growing appeal of offshore SPACs”