Prompted by the ongoing increase in class action claims, Hogan Lovells has strengthened its highly regarded competition litigation team with the addition of Andrew Leitch and Ed Coulson, a Legal 500-leading partner in competition litigation, both joining from BCLP.
Back in the summer of 2024, a history-making election victory handed the new Labour government a strong mandate for change.
However, delivering on popular yet expensive new policies – such as an above-inflation pay rise for public sector workers and an ambitious capital investment agenda – was subsequently complicated by the discovery of a £22bn ‘black hole’ in public finances.
As such, the Autumn Budget came with changes which have left many individuals and businesses feeling worse off – though others are spying new opportunities.
Continue reading “From farms to the FIG regime: top tax lawyers size up Labour’s first half-year”
Linklaters, Macfarlanes, Loyens & Loeff, Cravath, and IPG Law firm have advised on Ferrari Group’s €785m IPO – the first listing on Euronext Amsterdam in 2025.
Continue reading “Dealwatch: Linklaters, Macfarlanes, Cravath belt up for €785m Ferrari Group IPO”
Pinsent Masons has announced plans to open a new office in Shenzhen, marking another step in the firm’s ongoing expansion across the Asia Pacific region.
Addleshaw Goddard has today (18 February) confirmed plans to acquire Linklaters’ Warsaw office, marking the firm’s entry into the Polish market and its 20th office opening globally.
Continue reading “Addleshaws set to open in Poland with transfer deal for Linklaters’ Warsaw office”
‘It keeps me fully occupied, 24 hours a day. I do sleep, obviously, but I’m dreaming about stuff that I might want to do the next day.’
Edmund Reed, Travers Smith’s recently reappointed managing partner, describes the all-encompassing nature of his role with a smile. He is on a mission to demonstrate that his zest for the job remains undiminished after three and a half years navigating a challenging period for Travers, punctuated by some indifferent financial results and large swathes of partner departures.
Continue reading “From bellwether to perfect storm: can Travers pull through choppy waters?”
Memery Crystal’s parent company RBG Holdings is set to proceed with an ‘orderly winding down’, it announced today (17 February), after failing to appoint administrators within ten days of filing notice of intention to do so.
Continue reading “‘Orderly winding down’ for RBG as collapsed firm fails to appoint administrators”
As statements of intent go, Clifford Chance has kicked off 2025 with a strong message about its private capital ambitions. Continue reading “Chance moment: CC doubles down on private capital, but will flurry of hires pay off?”
Leading the leading lateral moves this week, Cadwalader has hired a trio of fund finance partners to its London office. Bronwen Jones arrives from Reed Smith, where she spent six years following two decades at Macfarlanes. She is joined by Douglas Murning and Matthew Worth, both joining from Ashurst.
White & Case has ramped up its intellectual property capabilities in London with a triple hire from A&O Shearman.
Continue reading “White & Case snaps up A&O Shearman IP trio as post-merger exits continue”
After stepping down as London managing partner following more than 12 years in the role, Alison Eddy – who won the Women in Law Lifetime Achievement Award at last year’s Legal 500 UK ESG Awards 2025 – has taken up a new role as the firm’s partner ambassador for inclusion.
She sat down with Legal Business to talk about her career, D&I, how much progress has been made, and how much still needs to be done.
In 1995 I was approached by Irwin Mitchell to help set up their London office. I was already doing medical negligence work. I got into it because trade unions offered their members free legal advice, and increasingly enquiries were coming in about medical negligence. I handled that, one of the other partners that I joined with did all the employment work, and the third did personal injury work. It wasn’t easy. I had five children aged between three and eleven, and there was no flexible working. Nobody talked about wellbeing, work life balance or diversity and inclusion. We went from the three of us in that office to now 450 people, with 60 partners.
Twelve years ago I was appointed London managing partner. I was the first female managing partner at the firm. We’ve got 23 offices nationally now, with ten regional lead partners looking after all those offices, and over 50% of those partners are women.
‘I had five children aged between three and eleven, and there was no flexible working’
In 2008, I helped set up the diversity and inclusion board. Of course, everyone’s got a D&I board now, but not many firms did back then. Some of us started saying we needed to be doing better at getting women into senior roles and attracting lawyers with diverse characteristics. Senior leaders bought into that. It’s impossible to make change unless senior leaders are committed to it. And the firm remains committed today – all seven of the networking groups we set up are still going.
We started out looking at the barriers for women. We looked at unconscious bias, lack of role models, all of that. One issue is in recruitment, obviously, and another is retention and promotion. What is it that prevents women from staying with the business as they move through their careers? One big issue is support for families, and we’ve been very good on family friendly policies. We’ve seen some really impressive results. 54% of our partners are women, 67% of our recent full equity promotions went to women, and we have one of the lowest gender pay gaps.
‘I see a danger in having too many silos – it risks being more exclusive than inclusive’
This is really about gender balance though – it’s no good having whole areas of the business that are all one gender. We have one of the lowest gender pay gaps in the legal sector, but the problem we have is that our admin roles, paralegals, apprentices, and PAs are predominantly women, and those are the lower-paid roles. We need to look at these roles and say, “Why aren’t we attracting more men?
People talk about intersectionality a lot more, and it’s obviously a good thing. I see a danger in having too many silos. I know of some businesses that have a group for everything – where we have IM Respect, our group for race and faith, other firms might have separate groups for Muslims, Hindus or Jews. I understand why, but it risks being more exclusive than inclusive.
People ask: “Why is diversity important?” There’s a social and business impact. It’s clearly the right thing to do, but there are also lots of business reasons – you get more perspectives on what you’re doing, you can better connect to a broad range of clients, and you’re more open to ideas and innovation.
If you have self-belief and work hard, you can succeed – you just need a bit of luck. Social mobility is one of the biggest issues for the legal sector. Schools and families need to enable children to have big dreams. Obviously not all kids are going to be suited to all careers, but an awful lot can happen with hard work, if you really want to do it. To that end, we do a lot of work with children and in schools, including with an organisation called Prime, to provide opportunities to those who may not otherwise have them. We also partner with the National Literacy Trust. Literacy is everything. Your life chances are incredibly enhanced if you have good literacy at a very early age.
‘Why is diversity important? It’s clearly the right thing to do but there are lots of business reasons too’
We as a profession have made an enormous amount of progress. Coming back to gender, for example: we celebrated the first 100 years of women in law in 2019. But actually, this progress didn’t happen over 100 years – most of it was in the last 30 years, and an awful lot of it has been in the last ten years.
I don’t sense any anti-D&I backlash at all. Nobody at UK law firms is questioning whether we should still have D&I boards or networking groups. Of course, there is this anti-woke thing going on in the wider culture. I really hate to see that. It’s all become weaponized, when it should just be about increasing social justice, about more equality and more humanity.
Although I have a new title, a lot of what I do hasn’t changed. I’ve always been out there talking about diversity, working within the firm and with other organisations to promote the cause. A senior person in the business having this role shows Irwin Mitchell’s commitment to fostering an inclusive culture and sharing ideas on how to have a more equitable legal profession.
The shortlist for the Legal 500 ESG Awards 2025 is out now – all the details of this year’s nominees, as well as how to attend, are available on the event website.
US firm Haynes Boone has recruited a four-partner team from Memery Crystal, including senior partner Nick Davis (pictured), as the firm’s listed parent company RBG Holding Group readies for administration.
Continue reading “Haynes Boone ramps up London presence with seven-strong Memery Crystal team”
New research drawing on the views of almost 80,000 law firm clients has revealed the LB100 firms that are most highly recommended by those using them, with Travers Smith, Lewis Silkin and Sacker & Partners among the top performers.
The findings are based on answers to a single question posed to Legal 500 referees as part of the research process for the annual L500 rankings – “on a scale of 0–10, how likely are you to recommend this firm?”
Of the hundreds of thousands of responses to this question, the firms ranked in the LB100 generated more than 77,000 responses, enabling the Legal 500 to re-rank them by a new Net Promoter Score (NPS) benchmark, a market research metric used to quantify client satisfaction.
NPS is calculated by taking the percentage of ‘promoters’ (respondents that score firms nine or 10) and subtracting the percentage of ‘detractors’ (those scoring firms six or less).
Looking at these NPS scores, the highest scoring firm in the LB100 is specialist pensions boutique Sacker & Partners with 82.9%, just ahead of Leigh Day (81.8%) and Scots firm Shepherd and Wedderburn (81.3%).
The top five is rounded out by Wiggin (80.5%) and Lewis Silkin (80.2%), just ahead of the highest scoring top 50 firm – Travers Smith, on 80%. At the opposite end of the scale, the lowest scoring firm received an NPS score of just 46.9%.
Sackers senior partner David Saunders told Legal Business: ‘We are proud to top these rankings and immensely grateful to our clients for putting their trust in us. This demonstrates the continuing appeal of our specialist model and the strength of our deep bench of talented lawyers who combine technical expertise with a real understanding of wider market developments.’
Lewis Silkin joint managing partner Jo Farmer struck a similar note. ‘We think of our clients as part of our team – and think of ourselves as being part of theirs. We’re delighted to see that this approach is working well.’
Breaking down the LB100 into sub-groups of their closest peers offers insight into how similar firms stack up against each other.
Slaughter and May has emerged the highest scoring firm among the magic circle, with 79%, reflecting its position as the highest scoring UK firm for NPS in the Global 100, ahead of Linklaters and Clifford Chance.
Looking across all of the international firms within the LB100, the top-scoring firm is Bird & Bird on 79.1%, just ahead of HFW (78.2%) and Simmons & Simmons on 76.9%.
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Bird & Bird London head Phil Sherrell told Legal Business that the results offer independent verification of the firm’s own client satisfaction research.
‘The feedback chimes with the results of our own recent client listening programme, in which our clients emphasised the quality and consistency of our advice and service, as well as the business relationships that we form with them, as particular strengths.’
‘We’re really delighted that our clients have had such positive experiences working with Bird & Bird and are particularly proud to be ranked as the best performing international law firm. In the end though, it all comes back to people; our lawyers are curious, collegiate and commercial in the advice they give, and we think that’s why our clients love working with them.’
Breaking down the scores by firm type, London-only firms have the highest average score, with 75%.
This puts the group ahead of international firms (with an average of 72.3%) and national and regional firms, which average 71.3%. According to Saunders, this result reflects the more joined-up service on offer at firms operating from just one office.
‘One of the key advantages of all being together under one roof is our strong and inclusive culture which allows us to share knowledge effectively and really tailor our service to meet our clients’ needs.’
The benefits of a closely-knit, single-office team are also cited by Travers managing partner Edmund Reed. ‘Our people enjoy working together across specialisms, with clients whose business they know very well,’ he says. ‘That gives our clients one extra important ingredient – our teams tend to know one another personally, and so we genuinely care about getting to the best solution for them.’
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‘It’s exciting for people joining the firm because there is plenty of growth potential,’ says Rob Carr, one of the newly appointed co-partners in charge at Gibson Dunn in London, as he sits down with fellow office head Osma Hudda for their first interview since taking on their new roles. Continue reading “‘Fresh perspectives’ – Gibson Dunn’s new London co-heads set out City plans”
Reed Smith has opened a new office in Atlanta with a 15-partner team from Morris, Manning & Martin (MMM) and Greenberg Traurig. The new office will open with 37 lawyers in total, with the partners comprising 13 from Atlanta firm MMM and two Greenberg shareholders.
Fladgate has hired 25 lawyers and staff from Memery Crystal, as lawyers from the firm continue to find new homes following the announcement that parent company RBG Holding Group would enter administration.
Slaughter and May has elected M&A partner David Johnson as its second-ever managing partner effective from 1 August. He will succeed current managing partner Deborah Finkler who is due to retire from the partnership at the end of July. Continue reading “Slaughters names M&A veteran Johnson as new managing partner”
Latham & Watkins and Clifford Chance lead this week’s partner moves roundup, hiring John Sobolewski in New York and Annie Lewis in London, respectively.
‘You’re never done. I’ve been at this for 14 years and I’ve still got a long list of things to do. It makes you wonder what you’ve been doing this whole time,’ muses Simmons & Simmons managing partner Jeremy Hoyland as he prepares to step down from his leadership role.
The City HQ of the firm he’s led since 2011 is quiet the Friday afternoon that Legal Business comes to visit; fitting for the softly spoken, but reflective, Hoyland. A stand at reception with copies of The Big Issue serves as a gentle signpost that there is life beyond the bottom line at Simmons.
When LB sat down with Hoyland for his first leadership interview back in 2011, aged 43, he was chomping at the bit to start ticking off a lengthy to-do list he had drawn up. Three terms later, while the list remains unchecked, Hoyland is clear on what he feels he has achieved.
‘One of the first things I said to the partnership was that we were going to face up to uncomfortable truths. We had huge strengths and what I wanted to do was focus on those strengths.’
‘You’re never done. I’ve been at this for 14 years and I’ve still got a long list of things to do. It makes you wonder what you’ve been doing this whole time.’
For Hoyland that’s meant routing the firm to a clear sector focus rather than trying to be all things to all people.
Carrying on the work his predecessor Mark Dawkins started, under Hoyland the firm has focused on asset management and investment funds; financial institutions; healthcare and life sciences; and technology, media and telecoms (TMT).
Pointing to the strategy’s success, Hoyland says: ‘A huge portion of what we do in corporate is for the sector clients. Transactional work for funds is a huge part of our practice, and many of our best deals fall within the sectors. But that’s not how a traditional City corporate practice is aligned, and it certainly isn’t where Simmons was in 2010.’
Income from the four sectors now makes up more than 80% of firm-wide revenues, with financial institutions the biggest contributor (at around 32%), followed by asset management (28%), with healthcare and TMT each bringing in around 10% based on LB estimates.
This focus has had a clear impact on results. Under Hoyland’s leadership, Simmons’ revenue increased from £251.7m in 2011-12 to £574m in 2023-24—a 128% rise. Meanwhile, PEP has also more than doubled, climbing by 102% from £529,000 to £1.07m over the same period. The increase from the point at which Hoyland officially assumed the managing partner position is even steeper, rising 140% from May 2011, when PEP was £445,000.
According to both Hoyland and former partners, just as important as the firm’s sector realignment has been Hoyland’s ability to help Simmons – and its partners – feel comfortable in their own skin.
‘Before, we weren’t clear about the advantages [our sector focus] gave us and what it meant for people to fit within those sectors. If you’re a finance lawyer, it was always pretty obvious how you fit. If you’re a litigator or a corporate partner – maybe not so much,’ says Hoyland.
As one former partner comments: ‘Before Jeremy, the strategy was “How can we be more like this group of firms?” or “How can we overtake that group of firms?”’
Hoyland took up the mantle in the wake of failed merger talks with Mayer Brown in 2010 and, while it has long been assumed that a Simmons merger with a US firm was inevitable at some point, it hasn’t happened.
Hoyland maintains that no substantial talks have taken place during his tenure. That’s not to say there haven’t been opportunities though.
‘One of Jeremy’s great strengths is saying no,’ says a former partner, who suggests that Hoyland has turned down multiple approaches during his time in charge.
So how does Hoyland think his firm is positioned now? During his time at the helm, the battle for talent has grown ever more competitive, particularly over the last five years. And it’s clear that while Simmons’ 50% pep growth over this period is impressive, it lags behind those at the top of the market.
Hoyland acknowledges that others can outgun Simmons looking at financial metrics alone but maintains that success is about more than just money. ‘If you only compete on money there’s always some firm that is more profitable than us; we have to hire people for whom money is not the only thing they are looking for.’
‘I’m not sure the partners have always enjoyed all of my emails, but taken in the round, I think it’s been a good ride.’
He points to 32 lateral partner hires globally in 2024 as evidence of Simmons’ success. Fourteen of these hires were in London, with recent recruits including Clifford Chance’s former head of UK real estate construction, Marianne Toghill, and DLA Piper’s head of UK competition, Sarah Smith.
‘If your client base is in one of our sectors, then this is a better platform for you than most other firms. And it’s also an extremely good place to work,’ he enthuses.
Hoyland argues that the ‘super profitability’ at the top of the market has left a gap for firms like Simmons, with competitors pricing themselves out of certain markets and clients. However, he worries about the sustainability of this dynamic and the impact it may have on both lawyers’ wellbeing and how the industry is perceived externally.
He laments the fact that none of his three children so far want to follow him into the career he loves, put off by what they see as the industry’s ‘crazy expectations’.
Not that Hoyland is going to have too much time for regrets. While his time as managing partner is coming to a close in April, Hoyland’s journey with Simmons is not. He is set to remain a partner but will relocate to the firm’s Milan office after the summer to take up a new role that will see him travelling around the firm’s European offices and helping partners to pitch together for more cross-border business as well as working with clients to identify services they would like to see as Simmons expands in Europe.
Describing himself as a ‘details person’, he admits that his desire to be managing partner was partially driven by being ‘sufficiently arrogant to want to be in control, to make decisions, and to manage the purse strings,’ meaning that letting go may be hard.
With his successor yet to be decided, Hoyland acknowledges that he is ‘absolutely’ going to find it difficult watching someone else do his old job. He mentions a recent conversation with a former magic circle managing partner:
‘He said that when he finished it felt physically like someone had lifted the weight of his shoulders. I wonder whether I’m going to feel like that. I don’t feel like that now but maybe I will. I sort of hope so.’
And, as to how his time as managing partner will be remembered at Simmons?
‘I hope I’ll be perceived to have been successful and to have made a contribution to the firm. I’m not sure the partners have always enjoyed all of my emails, but taken in the round, I think it’s been a good ride.’
Jeremy Hoyland Bio:
Sep 1991 – Joins Simmons
April 1997 – Makes partner
April 2005 – Takes up leadership of financial markets team,
May 2011 – Begins first term as managing partner
April 2025 – Due to step down as managing partner and transition to a new EU role.
White & Case has kicked off the US financial reporting season with a 12.5% increase in global revenue to $3.32bn for 2024 and a 27% increase in profit per equity partner (PEP), surpassing $4m for the first time. Continue reading “White & Case breaks $3bn revenue barrier while PEP jumps 27%”
