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Comment: Miguel who? New Hogan Lovells chief is going to be a hard sell in Europe

Miguel Zaldivar

Canvassing ex-partners a few days after Hogan Lovells’ board recommended Miguel Zaldivar (pictured) as the firm’s next chief executive, Legal Business was in the awkward position of having to spell his surname. Even several current City partners admitted to having never met him.

Yet the Hong Kong-based, Venezuelan energy and infrastructure specialist who spent most of his career in the firm’s Miami arm is all but certain to succeed Steve Immelt at the helm of the firm next July, following a rubber-stamping vote by the partnership later this month. Continue reading “Comment: Miguel who? New Hogan Lovells chief is going to be a hard sell in Europe”

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Pinsents launches flexi-lawyering brand Vario in Germany following New Law acquisitions

Book on shelf: 'How it works - New Law'

Pinsent Masons has finalised two alternative legal services acquisitions, enabling the firm to launch its flexible lawyering business Vario in the German market.

The main acquisition for Pinsents is temporary resource provider Xenion Legal, which was founded in 2012 and is based in Frankfurt. The firm has also acquired Xenia, a sister company that operates an associated managed legal services business in Germany. Continue reading “Pinsents launches flexi-lawyering brand Vario in Germany following New Law acquisitions”

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‘Dynamic and excellent’: A&O chooses Johannesburg for second cost-saving hub as Steptoe launches in Hong Kong with CC pair

Allen & Overy has built on the success of its Belfast cost-saving centre with the launch of another in Johannesburg as Steptoe and Johnson has forayed into Hong Kong with the hire of a Clifford Chance (CC) team.

Set to open its doors in the first half of 2020, A&O’s Johannesburg Legal Services Centre (LSC) is hoped to emulate the success of the firm’s Belfast offering, geared towards cost-effective resourcing of transactions by legal professionals, associate solicitors and science analysts. Continue reading “‘Dynamic and excellent’: A&O chooses Johannesburg for second cost-saving hub as Steptoe launches in Hong Kong with CC pair”

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Freshfields fuels New York M&A growth with four more Cleary lawyers

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has added four more lawyers to its ten-partner Wall Street M&A team, with three counsel and one associate joining the City firm from Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton.

The move announced today (5 December) comes just over a month after the firm hired Cleary M&A veteran Ethan Klingsberg and partners Meredith Kotler, Pamela Marcogliese and Paul Tiger, in what it hopes will amount to a breakthrough for its US business after years of struggle. Continue reading “Freshfields fuels New York M&A growth with four more Cleary lawyers”

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BARBRI acquires SQE provider Kaplan Altior in preparation for education market overhaul

Sarah Hutchinson

Legal education provider BARBRI International has accelerated its plans to move into the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE) prep market by acquiring UK-based training and assessment provider Kaplan Altior.

The acquisition was completed 30 November, and the new business BARBRI Altior will offer training courses including the Professional Skills Course (PSC) for trainee solicitors and preparation for the controversial SQE, which is set to be launched in 2021. The buyout will see all Kaplan Altior employees join the new company, which will operate from the same centres throughout the UK. Continue reading “BARBRI acquires SQE provider Kaplan Altior in preparation for education market overhaul”

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Bakers former City head Senior admits to sexually harassing associate but denies abuse of position

Baker McKenzie

Baker McKenzie’s former London managing partner Gary Senior has admitted his behaviour after a firm event in 2012 amounted to sexual harassment towards a junior associate but said he did not believe at the time that his advances were unwanted.

In the third of 15 days of hearings at the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT), Senior admitted today (4 December) that he tried to kiss a female associate half his age and agreed this behaviour was ‘totally inappropriate and unacceptable for a managing partner’, but denied it was an abuse of his position. Continue reading “Bakers former City head Senior admits to sexually harassing associate but denies abuse of position”

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Six City firms appoint BPP to deliver ‘super-exam’ prep courses amid education shake-up

hogan lovells office

BPP has been chosen by a consortium of six leading firms to provide Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE) preparation, as the City gears up for an incoming education overhaul.

The consortium is comprised of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF), Hogan Lovells, Linklaters, Norton Rose Fulbright and Slaughter and May. BPP will now design an education and skills programme to train future trainees at the firms. Continue reading “Six City firms appoint BPP to deliver ‘super-exam’ prep courses amid education shake-up”

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Bakers accused of ‘failure’ over handling of allegations of sexual misconduct against former London head

Baker McKenzie

Baker McKenzie was accused of ‘collective failure’ for the way it handled allegations of sexual misconduct against its former London head Gary Senior yesterday (2 December), beginning a 15-day Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) hearing.

Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) lead counsel Andrew Tabachnik QC of 39 Essex Chambers said the firm allowed Senior to seek to influence the conduct and outcome of an investigation into a complaint made against him by a junior associate. Continue reading “Bakers accused of ‘failure’ over handling of allegations of sexual misconduct against former London head”

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The City and St Louis share the spoils of 17-strong BCLP global promotion round

St Louis

Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner (BCLP) has promoted five partners in London, the same number as in St Louis, in its second promotion round since becoming a merged entity last year.

The firm promoted 17 globally, six fewer than last year, although London saw an increased investment on the three promoted in 2018. Continue reading “The City and St Louis share the spoils of 17-strong BCLP global promotion round”

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Up in the air

The technology behind global e-rental service Airbnb is transforming the accommodation and tourism industry in Italy. As regulators struggle to keep up, Harveen uncovers what in-house teams are doing to assist, while ensuring their businesses remain running. Continue reading “Up in the air”

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Made in Italy

Running the legal department for one of the most recognisable luxury fashion brands in the world is not all glitz and glam. Harveen learns about how the industry’s leading in-house lawyers overcome challenges arising from advertising, copyright and counterfeit.

Continue reading “Made in Italy”

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Revolving doors: Latham revisits CC for finance hire as DLA recruits BCLP duo in London

City of London

Defying the pre-Christmas lull in City laterals, Latham & Watkins last week returned to Clifford Chance to bolster its finance bench as DLA Piper expanded its infrastructure disputes team with a double hire.

Latham hired CC infrastructure and real estate veteran Stephen Curtis to its London finance team. Curtis, who had been at the Magic Circle firm since 1991 and a partner since 2000, advises on structured finance transactions in the regulated utility, infrastructure and real estate sectors, as well as corporate securitisations. Continue reading “Revolving doors: Latham revisits CC for finance hire as DLA recruits BCLP duo in London”

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Ballheimer announces surprise retirement as A&O leadership race heats up

Andrew Ballheimer

As the Allen & Overy (A&O) leadership elections heat up, managing partner Andrew Ballheimer has announced his retirement from the firm at the end of his current term on 30 April 2020.

The surprise move comes in the month the City giant is to announce the list of contenders for senior partner and managing partner and follows an eventful couple of years dominated by the marathon merger bid with O’Melveny & Myers, which was abandoned in the autumn. Continue reading “Ballheimer announces surprise retirement as A&O leadership race heats up”

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Hong Kong drives H1 revenue at Ince by 125% following key partner hires amid expansive year

Adrian Biles

Following the full integration of its consolidated businesses in the UK and China, Ince today (28 November) published revenues of £45.3m for the first half of 2019/2020 financial year, a 125% hike from 2018. Profit increased by 264% from £1.1m to £4m, while the firm also reported a net debt of £10.4m, an increase of £7.3m due to the working capital invested in lateral hires and the cost of integrating the businesses.

Group chief executive Adrian Biles told Legal Business: ‘The key growth areas include Hong Kong, where we have effectively doubled the size of our business in the period where we’ve had control.’ Continue reading “Hong Kong drives H1 revenue at Ince by 125% following key partner hires amid expansive year”

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Weil completes withdrawal from CEE as Warsaw office breaks away

Weil, Gotshal & Manges is winding down its once-potent Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) operations, with its 80-strong Polish team setting up an independent firm.

Warsaw co-managing partners Pawel Rymarz and Pawel Zdort will launch Rymarz Zdort in January next year, bringing to an end Weil’s presence in the country after 29 years. Continue reading “Weil completes withdrawal from CEE as Warsaw office breaks away”

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Weil makes up four in the City as women dominate global promotions for the first time

Weil Gotshal & Manges London office

In an industry struggling to make good on long-held promises to achieve diversity at the partnership level, Weil, Gotshal & Manges has gone against the grain by making up more women than men to partner for the first time in its latest round.

The firm promoted 16 globally, of which nine new partners were women and seven men. Executive partner Barry Wolf claimed the latest round was the most diverse in the firm’s history. Continue reading “Weil makes up four in the City as women dominate global promotions for the first time”

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Foreign giants combine to enter UK training market as radical education shake-up looms

Nigel Savage

Australia’s leading legal training outfit is to team up with a major US player to enter the UK market ahead of a radical but controversial shake-up of the framework for training solicitors in England and Wales. The College of Legal Practice has today (27 November) launched as a new entrant to the vocational training sector to build courses geared to the incoming Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE), the biggest overhaul in the UK’s legal educational regime for a generation.

The College – a wholly-owned subsidiary of The College of Law Australia and New Zealand – will partner with US education provider BARBRI on the initiative, an attempt to challenge the effective duopoly of solicitor training in England and Wales. The move is touted as harnessing a more dynamic approach to training under the new regime, which abolishes the requirement for two-stage vocational training to usher in more flexible routes to qualification. Continue reading “Foreign giants combine to enter UK training market as radical education shake-up looms”

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Dealwatch: A&O and Ashurst close £1.2bn UK tunnel project as US-led buyouts take centre stage

Allen & Overy

Allen & Overy and Ashurst won leading roles on the £1.2bn Silvertown Tunnel project, the only big-ticket UK-led deal this week in a market awash with US buyouts.

A&O advised a consortium including Aberdeen Standard Investments, BAM PPP PGGM, Cintra, Macquarie and SK Group on the Silvertown Tunnel PPP with a team led by David Lee and including partners Mark Walker and Sara Pickersgill. Continue reading “Dealwatch: A&O and Ashurst close £1.2bn UK tunnel project as US-led buyouts take centre stage”