Magic Circle takes a leaf from US playbook after a parsimonious 2018
This time last year, Legal Business was still lamenting that the post-banking crisis clampdown on promoting partners at City firms had showed little sign of lifting, with the Magic Circle in particular promoting at levels insufficient to sustain partnership sizes. Continue reading “City elite sees sharp increase in partner promotions and improved female promotion prospects”
Nick Skerrett examines the trend of tax dispute management falling to GCs and tax litigators, as HMRC takes a tougher enforcement stance
Tax used to be an area where lawyers feared to tread. That has changed dramatically as the environment for resolution of tax disputes has evolved over recent years. We are seeing a growing trend of the management of tax disputes shifting out of the tax department and onto the desks of general or litigation counsel. In parallel, board-level scrutiny and engagement, and responsibility, have increased. This change to managing tax disputes as an area of legal risk, set against a backdrop of increasing complexity and scrutiny, raises new challenges. Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: The taxman cometh – What GCs need to know”
Engaging Simmons & Simmons tax is different. We have deep strategic expertise and the experience to create a bespoke solution that works for all stages of tax disputes, from the first call from the tax authority through to litigation in the most senior courts.
Simmons & Simmons has one of the strongest contentious tax practices in the market, specialising in complex, high-value tax disputes. We are one of very few law firms to have a truly dedicated contentious tax practice, with partners and associates entirely focused on tax litigation and disputes and the only large law firm genuinely able to blend accountancy, economics and legal expertise on tax disputes. We are proud of our reputation for excellence and are committed to getting results for our clients in their most complex matters. Continue reading “Sponsored firm profile: Simmons & Simmons”
Corporate partner Peter Baldwin joins the City outfit from Ropes & Gray
Traditionally reticent to engage in the lateral recruitment market, Macfarlanes has continued its recent flurry of hires, this time recruiting special situations and corporate partner Peter Baldwin from Ropes & Gray. Continue reading “A special situation – Macfarlanes overcomes lateral reluctance with rare spate of hires”
With the trickle of follow-on damages claims after high-profile competition investigations threatening to become a flood, Dominic Carman examines how firms are preparing their clients for battle
‘We have talked about competition litigation emerging as a work stream in civil litigation for a long period of time, but we have seen a real boom in activity over the last few years,’ says Francesca Richmond, partner at Baker McKenzie. ‘Defendants to regulatory investigations should now expect civil claims to be filed against them and account for that in their overall strategy.’ Continue reading “Market Report: Competition Litigation – Healthy competition”
Francesca Richmond discusses recent developments in EU competition litigation
Litigation of claims to recover cartel damage is now a standard consideration when assessing risk across jurisdictions and setting corporate strategy. It is questionable whether the increase in claim activity reflects a trend to recovery for consumers and business, or simply demonstrates exploitation of opportunity by claimant law firms and funders. However, the fact remains that the volume and scale of litigation on competition issues demands strategic weight and attention. Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: The future of competition and consumer litigation – a brave new world?”
Despite Brexit uncertainty with the launch of Europe’s central patent court, Dominic Carman finds plenty for IP litigators to get their teeth into
Case volumes in intellectual property (IP) remain, to borrow a phrase, strong and stable. ‘We’ve not seen much variation in terms of the number of cases in front of the UK Patents Court,’ says Gareth Morgan, IP partner at CMS UK. ‘We monitor claim forms on a monthly basis: typically, there are between 100 and 125 cases issued every year in the Patents Court, of which somewhere between ten and 20 go to trial.’ Continue reading “Market Report: IP Disputes – Strong and stable”
For years Slaughters epitomised City conservativism but, reports Thomas Alan, marquee clients and a clear structure mean its new law tech incubator is being closely watched
The value of legal tech incubators is much debated in the industry. The jaded in the tech community often decry such initiatives as marketing opportunities and even many start-ups themselves are sceptical, comparing some law firm incubators to ‘fish bowls’. Continue reading “Prestige meets hustle – Slaughters sends jolt through start-up community with launch of tech incubator”
Caitlin Heard and Gareth Morgan highlight recent cases involving patent disputes to put the case forward for the UK as a key centre for patent litigation
Reflecting on the past 12 months of patent litigation, it is apparent that the tools available to litigants are changing. There is an increasing shift away from the traditional war of attrition that has come to be the norm in multijurisdictional patent disputes, towards more focused and targeted claims, as courts in Europe are increasingly willing to consider international issues and give judgments that have extra-territorial effect. Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: UK courts – Open for business”
Fieldfisher continues to build on what managing partner Michael Chissick describes as a strategy to be ‘in every commercial capital in Europe’, having opened in Dublin – its seventh new office since the beginning of 2018.
The mid-market pacesetter merged on 1 May with Irish firm McDowell Purcell to add the 25th office to its global verein. Led by managing partner JP McDowell, the 120-year-old firm counts 16 partners and 50 lawyers. Its regulatory practice is its core strength, while also operating in disputes, employment, planning, restructuring and insolvency. Continue reading “Global expansion: Fieldfisher picks Dublin for seventh office launch in a year”
As #MeToo continues to shine an uncomfortable light on many industries, Anna Cole-Bailey looks at how its influence on employment litigation in firms is likely to come into full swing in 2019
For Sarah Henchoz, a partner in Allen and Overy’s employment team who has hailed 2019 ‘the year of culture’ for big employers, her department has seen a spike in advisory work following the emergence of the #MeToo scandal in late 2017: ‘The first week back in January 2018 we received six separate new matters all relating to sexual harassment or misconduct,’ she says. Continue reading “Market Report: Employment – The toughest gig in town”
Described in some quarters as an overlawyered market for a country with a population of 25 million, Australia continues to attract investment from the international legal industry in all its shapes and forms. Global giant Dentons, recently-listed DWF and New Law outfit Lawyers On Demand (LOD) have all expanded their presence in the country.
Just over two years after entering Australia through a merger with national firm Gadens, Dentons has hit the 280-lawyer mark in the country after absorbing Adelaide-based Fisher Jeffries. ‘This completes our footprint across the major cities in Australia,’ regional chair and chief executive Doug Stipanicev told Legal Business. Continue reading “Australia pull continues as Dentons, DWF and LOD announce expansion”
Royal Mail has filled the void left following former general counsel (GC) Maaike de Bie’s departure to easyJet, hiring in-house veteran Mark Amsden as its group GC and chief risk and governance officer.
Amsden was group GC and company secretary for Morrisons between 2013 and 2017, before a brief stint last year as interim company secretary at Yorkshire Water. Prior to going in-house, Amsden spent 14 years as a partner at Addleshaw Goddard, after starting out at Manchester firm Slater Heelis. Royal Mail has historically counted Addleshaws among its preferred external counsel. Continue reading “In-house round-up: New GCs for Royal Mail, Sky and Deliveroo”
A Q&A with Sarah Henchoz, head of employment at Allen & Overy
Sarah Henchoz is a partner and head of Allen & Overy’s London employment team. In this interview, she draws on her experience to explain how the massive shift in workplace culture will define the future world of work. Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: Allen & Overy horizon scans to the workplace of the future”
Twenty years on since the Woolf Reforms, Dominic Carman assesses mediation’s slow but steady march to the disputes mainstream
Mediation is big business. That much is evident from the 2018 Mediation Audit published biennially by the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR). It confirms that there were 12,000 mediations – up by 20% in two years and double the number in 2010 – involving £11.5bn in aggregate dispute value. Of these, 7,500 were ad hoc referrals while 4,500 originated from organised mediation schemes, such as NHS Resolution and the Court of Appeal scheme. Continue reading “Market Report: Mediation – Coming of age”
The mediators of Independent Mediators discuss the changes they have witnessed in mediation in their time in practise in the field and future trends
Launched in 2007, Independent Mediators (IM) manage the practices of nine of Europe’s leading full-time civil and commercial mediators. Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: Mediation goes mainstream”
Independent Mediators (IM) manage the practices of nine of Europe’s leading full-time civil and commercial mediators. The mediators joined forces to form a dedicated mediation ‘chambers’ which offered a new model for independent mediation practice.
Continue reading “Sponsored firm profile: Independent Mediators”
The second season of gender pay gap reporting has again laid bare the stark disparities between men and women throughout the legal sector. However, with only two rounds of reporting to look at so far, the trajectory of pay equality in legal is still difficult to ascertain. Instead, conversations have turned to the value of reporting gender pay in of itself, particularly given the lack of common methodology in gauging the numbers.
These concerns are not new to the latest reporting round. In March 2018 Pinsent Masons senior partner Richard Foley (pictured) criticised the current regime’s lack of consistency in reporting benchmarks. The Law Society later in November 2018 called for uniformity in gender reporting, publishing guidelines on how firms could provide more clarity on the issue. Recommendations included firms distinguishing between equity and non-equity partners, publishing a full-time equivalent (FTE) compensation gap based on the full financial year and reporting on partner bonus schemes. Continue reading “Mind the gap(s) – more of the same old inequality and fudged statistics prevalent in Big Law”
