The January shopping spree is well underway with firms making moves at home and abroad last week, most significantly in City dispute specialists Signature Litigation crossing the channel to open shop in Paris.
Kirkland & Ellis, meanwhile, continued its expansion in the City with a tax hire and Mishcon de Reya filled the gap left by Alison Levitt QC in London. Continue reading “Revolving Doors: Signature Litigation launches in Paris while Kirkland and Mishcon make City moves”
Expansive global giant Dentons is positioned for another regional merger, with Norton Rose Fulbright’s (NRF) 26-lawyer strong Venezuelan practice the new addition, as Dentons moves to bolster its offering in the Caribbean and Latin America.
The Caracas-based practice is spearheaded by labour partner Juan Carlos Pró-Rísquez, who became managing partner for NRF in Venezuela in 2018. Pró-Rísquez will now lead the office under the name of Despacho de Abogados miembros de Dentons. Currently, the office is in a transitional structure, which sees it associated with Dentons’ Colombian business in Bogotá. However, it will be fully integrated into the firm’s verein-backed structure in the coming weeks subject to a vote from the Dentons partnership. Continue reading “Globe-trotting Dentons primed to secure Norton Rose’s Venezuela business”
CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang has extended its chain of northern offices with a Liverpool office opening following a hire from DWF, its first launch since its tripartite merger with Nabarro and Olswang in 2017.
The new office – located in Exchange Flags amidst Liverpool’s commercial district – will complement legacy Nabarro’s Manchester and Sheffield offices. DWF real estate partner Abigail Dry has been hired for the Liverpool launch, but the firm would not comment as to how many employees will be driving the opening. Liverpool is the firm’s tenth UK office. Continue reading “CMS adds to Northern line up with Liverpool launch”
The chief legal officer of high-profile travel metasearch engine Skyscanner, Carolyn Jameson, is stepping down after nearly six years in the top job, while UK infrastructure group Balfour Beatty has turned to Tesco for a new general counsel (GC) ahead of the upcoming retirement of incumbent David Mercer.
National Grid, meanwhile, has hired former Gowling WLG head of energy Derek Goodban as UK GC, replacing Rachael Davidson. Continue reading “In-house: Skyscanner GC takes flight as Balfour Beatty and National Grid make senior hires”
Never a firm to rest on its laurels, fast-paced Fieldfisher has taken the unusual step of launching a separate law firm focused on hedge funds, derivatives and alternative investments.
The new entity – called Cummings Fisher – sees Fieldfisher hire three partners from other law firms to run it. Financial services partner Claire Cummings, who founded alternative investments boutique Cummings Law in 2003, has been appointed managing partner. She will be joined by James Tinworth, formerly head of Stephenson Harwood’s hedge funds practice, who will lead the funds practice. Ron Feldman, previously a partner at asset management consultancy MJ Hudson, will spearhead the derivatives practice. Continue reading “Fieldfisher swims against the current with launch of stand-alone alternative investments law firm”
The chief executive of Knights says its listing last June has instilled market confidence in its ability to deliver an ambitious acquisition pipeline. This comes as the law company announced a third law firm acquisition today (15 January) and reported a 37% increase in revenue to £23.9m for the six months to 31 October.
Knights, the largest law firm initial public offering (IPO) to date after raising £50m last year, has acquired Leicester-based employment specialist Cummins Solicitors, which has five fee-earners and £784,000 in revenue, in a £1.5m deal. It takes Knights’ total fee-earner numbers to 485 across eight offices. Continue reading “Knights talks up selective acquisition policy amid strong first-half financials”
Deloitte has made a clear statement of intent in legal services by announcing today (14 January) that it has lured Allen & Overy (A&O) banking partner Michael Castle across to lead its UK legal arm, as the Big Four outfit looks for greater traction in the legal sector.
Based in Deloitte’s London office, Castle will now lead a technology-orientated legal offering for Deloitte, having spent more than two decades at A&O. Becoming an partner in 2007, Castle was not a standout name in a finance department replete with leading individuals but did gain profile in recent years after unsuccessfully running for the managing partner role at A&O, before eventually being beaten by current leader Andrew Ballheimer. Continue reading “Accountants keep coming as Deloitte hires A&O banking partner as UK legal head”
HFW has continued its Middle East expansion after striking an alliance with Saudi Arabian firm Mohammed Al Khiliwi.
Named partner and leader of the Riyadh outfit, Al Khiliwi, will join HFW’s partnership as part of the agreement, subject to authorisation by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. HFW insurance partner John Barlow, who splits his time between Riyadh and Dubai, is set to relocate full-time to the new office Continue reading “HFW continues Middle East growth drive with Saudi Arabia association”
Revenue and profit at Gowling WLG’s UK LLP have fallen despite the overall firm, including its Canadian arm, increasing revenue by nearly 17% last year.
Gowling’s UK LLP accounts for the year to 30 April 2018 say revenue fell 5% to £179.9m. Profit, meanwhile, fell to £51.9m from £60m, a 14% drop. Continue reading “LLP accounts: Gowling’s UK revenue and profit fall while top-earner’s pay drops 6%”
White & Case arbitration partners Dipen Sabharwal (pictured) and Aloke Ray make up half of the solicitor-advocates taking silk in this year’s Queen’s Counsel (QC) appointments, with 108 making the cut overall.
Completing the all-male group of solicitor-advocates taking silk were Allen & Overy partner Mark Levy and Stephen Fietta, founder of disputes boutique Fietta. Continue reading “White & Case duo among four solicitors made up in reduced 2018 silk round”
Heathrow Airport has completed an overhaul of its legal panel, with Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Allen & Overy among those re-appointed to a reduced roster.
Heathrow has slimmed down its legal panel from nine to seven firms and restructured it from 11 sub-panels to a main general approved list. Pinsent Masons, Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner and Eversheds Sutherland were also awarded spots, alongside City outfit Towerhouse and Thames Valley firm Owen White. Continue reading “Seven firms land spots on Heathrow’s reduced legal roster”
One of the most touted private equity names in the City, Adrian Maguire, has quit Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer to join Kirkland & Ellis just over a year after his former colleague David Higgins made the same move.
Freshfields-bred and regarded as a loyalist to the firm, Maguire is leaving the Magic Circle outfit after more than two decades in what will be seen as a notable setback for its attempts to limit the damage of Higgins’ $10m move in December 2017. Continue reading “Buyout star Adrian Maguire to join Kirkland in body blow to Freshfields”
Pinsent Masons has hired six partners from a range of firms for a new Frankfurt office, the firm’s third opening in Germany since 2012.
Frankfurt follows moves into Munich and Düsseldorf for Pinsents in 2012 and 2016 respectively. The new office will focus on the technology, energy and real estate sectors initially with an eye to developing in financial services. Continue reading “‘A global solution’: Pinsents hires six partners for Frankfurt launch as DLA expands in Dublin”
US-based New Law darling Elevate has continued its acquisitive form with the purchase of UK-based flexible lawyer firm Halebury, creating a combined business of over 1,000 members of staff and $70m in annual revenue.
The acquisition will see Halebury become part of Elevate, although as an ABS the firm will still operate under its own name in the UK. However, profit pools will be integrated as Halebury is fully acquired by Elevate, while John Croft, president of Elevate, and founder and executive chairman Liam Brown will both sit upon Halebury’s board. Denise Nurse and Janvi Patel, co-founders of Halebury, will take up roles on Elevate’s managing committee. Continue reading “New year brings major New Law consolidation as Elevate acquires Halebury”
On occasion, we are asked to give our house view at partner conferences and the like. Undertaking one such gig last month for a top-50 UK law firm while the government unhelpfully melted down in the background, I put down some notes on the outline questions the law firm asked me to address before the conference. Obviously, I was not reading my notes in front of the audience in a two-way Q&A and did not stick to the script, but with a little scrubbing up and the identifying information removed, the notes seemed a decent compilation on the kind of topics that Team LB is frequently asked to opine on.
*** Continue reading “Comment: The Legal Business view on the profession for you to cut out and keep”
Dechert has ramped up investment in its European funds business with a pair of hires, including Marianna Tothova in London from Ashurst.
The hire of Tothova, which comes amid a pacey recruitment drive for the US firm in London in recent months, coincides with that of Carol Widger from Maples and Calder as the managing partner of its Dublin office. Continue reading “Dechert bolsters European funds team with key City and Dublin hires”
DAC Beachcroft has extended its European footprint with the opening of a new two-partner Paris office, while Watson Farley & Williams, Holman Fenwick Willan and Cooley also kicked off 2019 with key lateral hires.
The new Paris office is DAC’s first in France and its 12th worldwide. Two partners have been hired from local firm HMN to staff the new branch: Vladimir Rostan d’Ancezune, who will head the office, while Christophe Wucher North also joins. Continue reading “Revolving doors: DAC Beachcroft christens new year with Paris opening as WFW, Cooley and HFW make European hires”
Baker McKenzie has kicked off 2019 with another step towards its long-stated aim of beefing up its London transactional capabilities, hiring capital markets partners Rob Mathews and David Becker from White & Case.
Veteran Mathews played a key role in White & Case’s high-yield practice and led on a number of large mandates including the $10bn refinancing of Wind Tre in 2017. Continue reading “White & Case loses two capital markets veterans as Bakers ramps up City transactional investment”
Clifford Chance’s (CC) 13-strong executive leadership team took home £22m in the 2017/18 financial year, according to the firm’s filings with Companies House.
It means the firm’s leaders have seen remuneration swell by 38% since last year, when the group of 13 pocketed £16m. Continue reading “LLP accounts: Strong returns for CC leadership with bumper 38% pay rise as Eversheds executives see take home remain static”
As 2018 draws to a close, an editor’s thoughts naturally turn to digging out stuff we’ve already done when they should be focusing on stuff we haven’t yet done for 2019. So with that proud tradition in mind, dear reader, below are ten defining pieces from the last 12 months that shone some light on this funny old game we call law.
We’ll now be taking a break from live blogging over the Christmas period but we’ll be returning early in 2019 for what promises to be another… eventful year in the legal profession. Nearly mentioned Brexit just then but I got away with it… Continue reading “Looking back on 2018 – The year in law through ten on-point pieces”
