The long-serving EMEA general counsel (GC) at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAML) has stepped down after 14 years to join Big Four accounting firm EY.
Sajid Hussein, a GC Powerlist regular, will join EY as a partner and GC for Europe, the Middle East, India, Africa (EMEIA) from 1 July. Continue reading “Time for a change: well-regarded BAML European legal chief departs for EY”
LB editor-in-chief Alex Novarese recently posted a piece entitled ‘Innovation needs law firm champions’, which hooked on to the story of Axiom’s much-awaited flotation and made some excellent points on the limitations (versus the hype) of New Law. However, in discussing Axiom’s decision to split up its business pre-float, the claim was made that it is easier to see progress in the industry coming from conventional law firms, than New Law equivalents.
This argument just doesn’t hold water. Yes, conventional law firms might have the heft behind them to implement progress, but the hard truth is that they are hampered by their traditional structure. This is what has made the pace of change within the sector slow – the structure lacks transparency and responsiveness, promotes inefficiency and simply costs too much. Continue reading “Guest comment: LB’s New Law critique flawed as alt players build a ‘new order of client value’”
The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) has thrown out an application by Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer partner Ryan Beckwith to dismiss its prosecution following misconduct allegations made against him by a junior member of staff.
The move came to light today (19 June) on the second day of a case management hearing before the SDT. The case against the restructuring partner will now start on 30 September and run for two weeks, the SDT confirmed. Continue reading “Freshfields partner fails to block SDT sexual misconduct tribunal”
Latham & Watkins’ Spain managing partner and former DLA Piper senior partner Juan Picón, one of his home country’s top commercial lawyers, has died of lymphoma cancer.
A post on Picón’s LinkedIn profile about a week ago mentioned a ‘new challenge’, referencing an article on Spanish business media El Confidencial talking about an ‘unforeseen health issue’ affecting Picón. Continue reading “Latham confirms death of Spain managing partner Juan Picón”
The good news is that up close the reality turns out to be not as awful as the cynics have feared. After all, for years the profession has avoided a frontal discussion of its record on ethnic diversity, choosing to submerge the topic within the umbrella of diversity and inclusion even as law firms became more intent on selling their progressive credentials.
And in fairness, avoiding that debate has been as much about a general British reticence to tackle issues of race head on with commentators and the media often treading with excessive delicacy in such matters. Still, the end result has been little frank discussion, certainly compared to the increasingly forthright debate on the profession’s record on female representation and retention or tackling social mobility. Continue reading “Comment: Less dire than expected but profession may yet squander influx of BAME lawyers”
Revenue at CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang hit £545.8m in 2018/19, 5% up on the previous year in what managing partner Stephen Millar (pictured) described as ‘pleasing results in a market which is experiencing a degree of uncertainty’.
The results today (18 June) cover the second financial year since the three-way UK merger between Camerons, Nabarro and Olswang went live in May 2017 and are the first allowing for a full like-for-like comparison with the previous year. The firm said in a statement that the results exceeded budget. Continue reading “CMS grows UK revenue 5% in second year post-merger but keeps profits under wraps”
Goodwin Procter has made good on its promise to build out its City technology and life sciences bench having again targeted Taylor Wessing, this time for a four-partner team.
On the back of a pacey 58% revenue growth for the 2018 financial year in London, Goodwin has hired Malcolm Bates, David Mardle, Tim Worden and Adrian Rainey to its life sciences and technology companies practices. Continue reading “Taylor Wessing beset by Goodwin’s City expansion as four more partners defect”
Stephenson Harwood’s profit per equity partner (PEP) bounced back from two consecutive years of decline, rising 9% to reach £727,000 as the firm’s top line grew 12% to hit the £213m mark.
The results will come as a welcome improvement on last year’s performance, which saw steady revenue growth of 6% to £189m offset by a disappointing 6% drop in PEP to £664,000. Continue reading “Return to growth for Stephenson Harwood as PEP rises 9% and revenue tops £213m”
The London woes of Allen & Overy’s prospective merger partner O’Melveny & Myers have continued with the loss of private equity funds lawyers John Daghlian and Mary Lavelle to Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld.
The path from O’Melveny to Akin Gump has become a well-trodden one of late after private equity funds partners Daniel Quinn and Aleksander Bakic decamped in April for the Texas-bred firm’s investment management practice and transactional platform in London. Continue reading “City O’Melveny exodus continues as Akin Gump hires private equity funds duo”
Investment continues to flow into New Law and legal tech with US-based law company Elevate securing $25m in private equity backing while legal tech start-up Orbital Witness raises £1.2m.
Elevate today (17 June) announced that private equity house Kayne Partners had injected $25m into the New Law pioneer in what is the first significant private equity investment into the company since its inception. Continue reading “Serious money: Elevate bolsters acquisition chest with $25m backing while Orbital Witness raises £1.2m”
This title is on the record as having doubts regarding the Big Four’s legal ambitions, at least judged against claims typically made by some outside observers. Readers will all know such assertions: that the group are more sophisticated, slicker and tech-savvy than law firms and set to disrupt law on a global scale.
But while the last 25 years has not yet seen them live up to such claims, the Big Four clearly have formidable assets, contacts and brands and have collectively stepped up their investment in the last three years. Continue reading “Comment: A Big Four breakthrough will need a far better GC offensive”
Bank of England (BoE) general counsel (GC) Sonya Branch puffs her cheeks as she ponders how much work Brexit has created for her team. ‘It has been absolutely vast,’ she says.
About 65% of the UK central bank’s legal team, which has grown from 90 to more than 150 since she joined four years ago, has been involved since the mid-2016 referendum in reviewing about 10,000 pages of legislation and tracking 39 statutory instruments, to which it has contributed drafting. ‘The total count was 6,000 pages of binding technical standards, 6,000 rules that had to be changed, as well as 4,000 pages of secondary legislation,’ she comments. ‘That’s just having a regulatory framework for the UK financial services sector that’s fit for purpose on the point of exit.’ Continue reading “The Client Profile: Sonya Branch, Bank of England”
When our group general counsel (GC), Óscar García Maceiras, joined two years ago, he came with the idea of transforming the legal department. But Santander as a business is also in a huge process of transformation. Maceiras had a concern that we in our legal department in the market – and in many other legal departments – were working the same way as 100 years ago. We have legal databases, word processing, some digital resources – but we were not doing anything special. So the project he envisioned was not only to implement a range of technologies, but to foster a savvier legal department, with fewer pain points and better co-ordination and efficiency. Continue reading “Three GC perspectives on change”
I didn’t plan a career in law. At school I did those career survey things twice and on both occasions it said I should become a fashion designer.
I have been a bar manager in a country house hotel and then a golf club bar. Great fun. Taught me the concept of keeping people in the line happy. I always say to junior lawyers: ‘Make sure you respond quickly to clients.’ It doesn’t mean you produce all the work in half an hour, as long as they know someone is looking after them. Continue reading “Life during law: Dominic Griffiths”
Legal Business (LB): You have both been in charge for nearly four years. What are some of the highlights?
David Pollitt (DP), managing partner, DAC Beachcroft: One of the first things we decided was to streamline our governance, which Virginia led on. We wanted to become more corporate, leaner and more efficient in decision-making. But we also wanted to be clear about our purpose, our vision, our principles and our business strategy. It took us some time, probably 12 months. Continue reading “The DAC Interview – Close to the rocks”
Mark McAteer, Legal Business: Is there much appetite within family offices to forum shop? And whose responsibility is it to make them aware of the options available?
Jonathan Conder, Macfarlanes: If it is brand new, for sure. It is one of the first bits that we end up covering. Continue reading “The private client debate: A family affair”
Statistics show that in the UK alone, an estimated 7% of annual turnover is lost to fraud schemes, involving issues such as kickbacks, insider trading, financial statement and invoice fraud, bribery, and even the simple skimming and misappropriation of assets. It is estimated that fraud costs business in the UK over £110bn per year.
Fraud, like any serious disease, spreads if not treated early. It saps corporate reputations and finances, and in the worst cases can prove fatal to an organisation. Reputational damage, in particular, can be devastating. A loss of confidence by shareholders, customers, suppliers and regulators, as well as the potential of litigation in the wake of a fraud, can lead to a drop in share price from which a company may never recover. In addition, if it can be shown that a company’s directors and management have neglected their fiduciary responsibilities, they can be held personally liable for the loss incurred by the company. Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: A risk checkup can help companies fight back against fraud”
DAC Beachcroft’s leaders are interviewed here. We look at the firms’ UK tier 1-3 rankings in The Legal 500.
View the editorial commentary of the rankings Continue reading “Legal 500 Data: Behind the story”
The news last month that Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer was to push through the highest real-terms pay rises by a major City firm for a decade is a significant moment for the London legal market.
The decision to hike its associate pay scale, raising its benchmark rate for newly-qualified solicitors from £85,000 to £100,000 is a bold and expensive step for the City giant. Back-of-the-envelope calculations suggest such a move, which will put Freshfields well ahead of its Magic Circle peers, comes at an annual cost in the region of £10m. Continue reading “Paywars III – City elite caught between rock and hard place”
The good news is that up close the reality turns out to be not as awful as the cynics have feared. After all, for years the profession has avoided a frontal discussion of its record on ethnic diversity, choosing to submerge the topic within the umbrella of diversity and inclusion even as law firms became more intent on selling their progressive credentials.
And in fairness, avoiding that debate has been as much about a general British reticence to tackle issues of race head on with commentators and the media often treading with excessive delicacy in such matters. Still, the end result has been little frank discussion, certainly compared to the increasingly forthright debate on the profession’s record on female representation and retention or tackling social mobility. Continue reading “The influx of BAME lawyers may yet be squandered”
