For busy individuals, tax year end can be a good time to bring your personal finances to the top of the pile, at least momentarily taking stock and ensuring not only that you are prepared for the short term, but that longer-term financial goals are also being addressed.
Continue reading “Sponsor message – Saunderson House: Tax year end opportunities”
If a business is to capitalise on the potential asset they hold in the shape of a good legal claim, at a time when boards are increasingly focused on managing legal spend, it is vital that a general counsel can identify the most cost-effective way to engage their external lawyers and protect the business against heavy costs in the event of a loss.
There is a certain irony to be had in the fact that the best general counsel (GCs) these days are so highly regarded because they are not lawyers in the traditional sense. Increasingly, the conversations the Legal Business team had while researching the 2019 GC Powerlist were about branching out into other areas, with risk management oft-cited. ‘Be a lawyer, but don’t act like a lawyer,’ was uttered more than once.
And this approach is not just reserved for the FTSE 100 companies. This holistic focus has touched both the smallest and largest legal teams. On the start-up side, banking app Monzo combined its GC and chief risk officer role for Dean Nash, who is filling the dual position on an interim basis. Donny Ching, the long-established GC of Shell with a more than 1,000-strong in-house legal team, has also had to embrace risk to a greater degree. Continue reading “Introduction: Risky business”
The research process for the GC Powerlist has grown substantially since the first report was published in 2013, and now encompasses online nominations as well as substantial interviews with senior general counsel (GCs) and private practitioners.
The first stage for the 2019 report began in early December with the launch of an online survey to canvass recommendations for outstanding GCs. Continue reading “Methodology and criteria”
Linklaters managing partner Gideon Moore will stay in his role until April 2022 after the partnership re-elected him for a second term.
Partners confirmed the former banking head in the role during a two-day annual partnership meeting in Cannes after he stood unopposed. However, his second term will be shorter to bring the managing partner and senior partner terms in sync. Senior partner Charlie Jacobs’ first term finishes at the end of 2021. Continue reading “‘Immensely rewarding’: Moore gets second term as Linklaters managing partner”
Pinsent Masons, Bird & Bird, Network Rail and Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner (BCLP) were among the major winners at the 2019 Legal Business Awards in front of more than 1,000 guests last night (28 March).
Hosted by comedian, writer and actress Meera Syal, the evening saw Pinsent Masons crowned Law Firm of the Year for a second time, with judges impressed by the firm’s performance in areas such as client satisfaction, CSR and innovation in addition to financial results. Continue reading “Pinsents, Bird & Bird, BCLP and Network Rail the big winners at the 2019 Legal Business Awards”
Leading AI platform Kira Systems will not feature in the latest cohort of tech companies in Allen & Overy (A&O)’s Fuse incubator, making room for more nascent start-ups to enter the Magic Circle firm’s tech space.
In September of last year Kira secured $50m in private equity backing in what was a benchmark for the legal tech sector, while Kira enjoyed year-on-year revenue growth of more than 100% for 2017. Meanwhile Bloomsbury AI, which was purchased for $23m by Facebook in July of last year, has also left Fuse. Continue reading “No Kira in latest Fuse cohort as A&O announces new start-ups set to join incubator”
Slaughter and May has published its first partner-level pay gap report, revealing that male partners earn on average 8.9% more than their female counterparts.
Including all employees, the figures remained flat from 2017, with the mean pay gap between men and women standing at 14.4% and the median gap steady at 38.7%. Continue reading “Slaughters becomes latest to reveal underwhelming gender and ethnicity pay gap”
Morrison & Foerster (MoFo) has added its name to the growing list of US firms with London offices outperforming the entire business in 2018 as City revenue grew by 25% against global dip in turnover by 2% to $1.04bn.
The firm announced today (26 March) its London revenue hit £30.93m in 2018, growing by more than 20% for the second year in a row after the 29% rise to £24.72m in 2017 . The 25% rise in its London turnover came amid a muted global performance at the West Coast-based firm, with turnover dropping 2% from $1.06bn. Revenue per lawyer was down 1% to $1.097m from $1.107m. Continue reading “‘Executing our strategy’: MoFo London revenue surges 25% but global turnover drops”
A group of 65 general counsel (GCs) spanning major companies from the UK and Europe has collectively signed a letter urging law firms to improve their diversity efforts.
Among those to have lent their support to the statement are Shell GC Donny Ching, Vodafone group GC Rosemary Martin (pictured), Unilever’s chief legal officer Ritva Sotamaa, Anglo American group GC Richard Price and BHP Billiton group GC Caroline Cox. Continue reading “In-house leaders sign letter urging law firms to ramp up diversity efforts”
Kirkland & Ellis has hiked revenues by more than $500m to remain the world’s highest-earning law firm, as global turnover surged to $3.76bn.
The Chicago-bred giant today (21 March) revealed results for the 2018 financial year, confirmed a 19% hike in revenues against $3.165bn the previous year. Profit per equity partner (PEP) topped $5m for the first time, up 7% to $5,037,000 on the $4.7m for 2017. Revenue per lawyer was up nearly 3% to $1.63m. Continue reading “Kirkland breaks $5m PEP and outguns Latham again to stay world’s highest-grossing firm”
Traditionally phobic to partner hires, Slaughter and May has recruited in Hong Kong again almost a year after its previous move in the jurisdiction, this time recruiting Jing Chen as partner from the Listing Division of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX).
Chen re-joins the firm having been a trainee solicitor at Slaughters in 2006, before spending eight years as an associate advising on M&A and capital markets following qualification. Continue reading “Slaughter and May chooses Hong Kong once more for rare partner hire”
