Making partner is a huge step up for any lawyer and it is one that can have a major impact on their earning profile. We spoke to Emily Bernstein and Chris Duck, two of Investec’s private bankers working in this space, about the unique challenges they help clients overcome.
What are the biggest concerns lawyers have once they make partner? Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: Mortgages for law firm partners – A Q&A with Emily Bernstein and Chris Duck”
If much of the commentary in this issue focuses on what has gone awry for major UK law firms in the previous decade, this column will tackle one big opportunity ahead and there is no bigger opportunity for City firms than the US.
Now for many, the received wisdom is that the London elite have wasted their chance, leaving the vast US legal market effectively closed to them. There is much to that argument. Had the group built on their initial beachheads in the early 2000s, the picture would be very different now. Clifford Chance (CC) partners still lament the Rogers & Wells tie-up, a mis-sold marriage that nonetheless offered a basis for growth that CC instead spent the next 15 years squandering. Had it achieved a conservative 3-5% annual growth at this practice after the deal, it would be generating over $600m stateside now. Continue reading “Cracking Wall St is the prize of the decade for City leaders”
Barely into 2020 and news came that probably the most influential business thinker of the last 20 years had passed away. Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen, who died on 23 January at the age of 67, entered the business world and then popular culture with his concept of ‘disruptive innovation’, which was first outlined in 1995. The model came to wider prominence in the 1997 book The Innovator’s Dilemma and was to grow in stature along with the rise of the US buccaneering technology giants through the 2000s.
As a study of how small upstarts can upend and ultimately crush huge, well-run industry leaders, the book’s ideas spoke to a globalising world economy in which technology and new operating models made it easier for apparently-unrelated industries to collide. Continue reading “Remembering Mr Disruption – The innovator’s legacy for the profession”
Astute readers will note that our cover feature on 2020 forecasts spends as much time casting its eye back on the 2010s as looking ahead. Assessments based on observable trends support conclusions that better stand the test of time, but such introspection has lent a jaded tone to the resulting piece. How could it not? The 2010s was a decade that began with bold claims and expectations for the legal industry, yet from the perspective of the elite UK firms, it consistently disappointed. And it is one aspect that perhaps explains much of the wider malaise: the increasingly stark problems with leadership and governance at large London-born law firms.
Back when I first started covering the legal industry, the authority of senior management at top London firms was absolute, or at least appeared so from the outside. Occasionally an imperious managing partner overreached, but in the main London firms, which had until recently been much smaller firms built with close social bonds, allowed small groups of individuals to push through rapid shifts in strategy in the 1990s and 2000s. Continue reading “The 2010s marked an unsung crisis in law firm leadership”
The last decade emerged with the shockwaves of the banking crisis still making themselves felt on the profession. Having just made a series of job cuts in major markets the like of which had never been seen in the legal industry, the mood was infused by uncertainty, the brutal realities of austerity and the sudden emergence of more demanding clients.
There was little time for a serious debate about how the profession would evolve through the 2010s, a decade that went on to rob London’s legal elite of its reputation for causal dominance. It was also a period that attracted forecasts of dramatic change and modernisation in law that continually fell short of reality, despite the introduction of the Legal Services Act. Continue reading “The vision thing – Sizing up the big issues set to shape law through the 2020s”
Marco Cillario and Nathalie Tidman report on Freshfields’ role in the tax scandal rocking Germany
It is not often that a law firm makes headlines outside the legal media, yet the name Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer is rapidly becoming a regular feature of German newspapers. That is bad news for the City giant. How bad, many are currently trying to assess. Continue reading “Freshfields under financial and reputational fire in Germany as cum-ex tax scandal rolls on”
Visiting Milan at the end of 2019, it was striking that a map of law firms’ office addresses drawn up just the year before was no longer reliable: too many had moved, taken up larger premises… or no longer existed.
Finding our way to meetings with 20 partners at domestic and international firms, an unusual buzzword was emerging: consolidation. ‘There are too many Italian firms and there is not space for everyone, so they need to consolidate,’ argues one Milan-based partner of a foreign firm. Continue reading “The Italian report – Midway upon the journey of our life”
Neglected by foreign advisers for years, the Central and Eastern European (CEE) legal markets enjoyed a few moments of popularity in the press as the decade turned. Most notably, the once-formidable force in the region’s transactional space, Weil, Gotshal & Manges closed its three local branches in Budapest (January 2018), Prague (November 2018) and Warsaw (November 2019).
As the only major Wall Street firm with sizeable CEE coverage (excepting obviously White & Case’s very different model), there were specific reasons behind Weil’s withdrawal. These included a strategic move to focus on the key money centres (the firm also left the Middle East in 2017), a huge amount of local government-related work exposing it to the political turmoil and a large domestic client base not inclined to pay the fee levels demanded by the US elite. Continue reading “Letter from… Warsaw: Weil’s withdrawal from CEE marks a new phase, not the end, of international firms’ regional domination”
Evidence of a thriving real estate sector in the UK can be seen through hires by the established real estate practices at Addleshaw Goddard and Ashurst, which bolstered their benches in property litigation and planning with notable appointments before Christmas and the new year.
One standout hire was made by Addleshaws, which has recruited Linklaters real estate disputes head Frances Richardson. Although holding the role of counsel at the Magic Circle firm, Richardson joins Addleshaws as a partner. Having spent 17 years at Linklaters after arriving as a trainee in 2002 and working her way up to managing associate, she became head of real estate disputes in 2017. Continue reading “Trio of senior hires as property teams bank on market revival as investors hunt for key assets”
A dearth of megadeals in 2019 did little to dampen the spirits of dealmakers with buyout teams capitalising on the ongoing private equity boom while wider pharma and tech deals drove bid activity.
On the face of it, headline figures from Mergermarket speak of a subdued year, with global M&A activity declining 6.9% from 2018 to $3.33trn. The picture in Europe was considerably more gloomy, with the continent seeing a 21.9% dive in total deal value to $770.5bn. Continue reading “Sponsors, pharma and tech fire up deal activity despite a subdued year for marquee M&A in Europe”
Georgina Stanley assesses a City restructuring scene offering rewards for some but a lack of clear direction
‘You can only grow this business when people aren’t busy – when everyone’s flat-out, you can’t hire for love nor money,’ reflects Paul Hastings restructuring veteran David Ereira of his chosen trade. Continue reading “The 500 View: Restructuring hires are in vogue but is there enough work for everyone?”
Allen & Overy (A&O) has become the latest City firm to update its policies for working families, ushering in extensions to parental leave allowances.
The move will be a fillip for an industry still beset by out-dated policies and the ongoing battle to retain women into senior partnership. Continue reading “Keeping pace with change: A&O becomes latest City firm to usher in parental leave reforms”
City hires picked up pace again last week after a fallow patch as leading firms made prominent additions to a number of key practice areas. Squire Patton Boggs hired to its private equity practice while Bird & Bird and Addleshaw Goddard strengthened their real estate benches.
Squires added to its global corporate practice in London with the hire of Stephen Ball. He joined the firm’s international private equity team as a partner from KPMG where he served as chief executive and vice chairman. Ball advises on financial services, risk, strategy and corporate governance for global banks, companies, private equity firms, hedge funds and governments. Continue reading “Revolving doors: Swings and roundabouts for Squires and Addleshaws as 2Birds fills real estate gap”
Disputes heavyweight Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan has continued its impressive growth in the City, with revenue at the firm’s London office increasing 20% to £100.6m.
The US-bred firm also saw profits rise 11% to £67.2m, putting the office’s profit margin at 66.7%. The results cement Quinn’s place as ‘unquestionably the market leader in litigation-only practices in London,’ according to senior partner of the London office Richard East. Continue reading “Quinn breaks £100m City revenue barrier as King & Spalding hikes London revenue 15%”
Taylor Wessing has made 10% of its 270-strong City business services staff redundant, the latest in a string of firms moving support roles to lower-cost locations.
The UK top 20 firm announced the move today (7 February) following a consultation launched a year ago which affected up to 34 roles. Continue reading “City biz support jobs axed again as Taylor Wessing makes 28 redundant”
Eversheds Sutherland has lost its sole-adviser mandate to Severn Trent after the FTSE 100 water company appointed five firms to its new panel, with listed firm DWF the big winner.
Severn Trent, which had run a sole-adviser mandate with Eversheds for more than a decade, has appointed DWF as its retained provider of legal services to its operational businesses, including areas such as construction, commercial, employment, regulatory, disputes and litigation, intellectual property, and planning and real estate. Continue reading “In-house: DWF leads as Eversheds loses sole adviser role on Severn Trent’s expanded panel”
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom continues to turn heads with its uncharacteristic hiring spree in London, this time in the form of Milbank restructuring partner Peter Newman.
A firm not famed for aggressive recruitment drives, the move is notable for being Skadden’s third London lateral recruit within the last six months, after it benefited from Allen & Overy’s failed US merger to add corporate partners Simon Toms and George Knighton last September. Continue reading “Hello Newman: Milbank loses restructuring partner to Skadden’s relative City hiring spree”
Cooley has kicked off the February lateral market in London by returning to US rival Latham & Watkins for a capital markets hire as Harbottle & Lewis and Dechert also made plays.
Cooley hired from Latham’s capital markets practice for the second time in under a year, recruiting partner David Boles. He advises on international capital markets and securities regulation and represents investment banks, issuers and investors. Continue reading “Revolving doors: Cooley recruits another Latham partner as Harbottle makes private capital play”
The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal’s (SDT) controversial decision to fine instead of ban Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer partner Ryan Beckwith was because his misconduct was ‘a lapse in his judgement’ and ‘unlikely to be repeated’.
The SDT published today (4 Feburary) its judgment detailing its full reasons after the tribunal last October fined Beckwith £35,000 and ordered him to pay costs of £200,000 for engaging in sexual activity with a junior female colleague in circumstances in which she was ‘intoxicated to the extent that her judgement was impaired’. Continue reading “‘Unlikely to be repeated’: SDT justifies sanctions in Freshfields’ Beckwith misconduct case”
