Ten years after acquiring Pret A Manger in a deal worth £350m, private equity house Bridgepoint is selling it for more than four times its original investment and providing City firms with big mandates.
Luxembourg-headquartered JAB Holding Company, an investment firm owned by Germany’s Reimann family, is to buy the food chain for £1.5bn. Continue reading “Rich pickings for Travers Smith and Freshfields as Bridgepoint cashes in on Pret”
Shifting to an agile-working office is a peculiar experience. Two camps quickly emerge: those excited by change and colleagues happy with decades-old paper in a pile on their desk. It is unsettling, yet can galvanise a workforce.
DLA Piper is similarly moving into a bespoke, semi-open-plan office this year – its single-largest capital investment ever. The flagship London HQ unites 360 lawyers from two separate offices, a grand total of 633 steps down the road. A new environment will be embraced by many, but for some the gloss quickly wears off. Continue reading “Deal View: DLA moves house in London but can it break free?”
This may be an issue dominated by all things Millennial, but I am past that, so the column that follows is likely the result of age-induced cynicism. But even by the standards of the legal industry, I find myself increasingly weary of what passes for industry commentary these days.
If an alien beamed down to earth and judged the profession through the lens of what the consultancy and the ‘thought leadership’ industries said about it, what would be the lessons they would take? The law is staffed by incompetent managers. Lawyers are uninterested in technology. General counsel (GCs) are the sole drivers of innovation and progress in the profession. The Big Four accountants are tearing through law. The legal industry faces an imminent structural collapse. I could go on and the purveyors of this certainly do. Continue reading “Growing weary of snake oil dressed as commentary”
As part of our partnership special, we asked young partners and managers alike for their take on the latest wave of partners coming through
‘The biggest change for me when becoming partner was this immediate sense of responsibility – a responsibility to retain and attract talent, and to bring in interesting work. Suddenly you are supervising work and the buck stops with you. I miss the gossip! You got all the gossip when you were an associate, but when you become a partner people don’t want to gossip with you that much.’
Nicole Jadeja, partner, Fieldfisher Continue reading “The Last Word: Generation Next”
‘It was so long ago,’ reflects Malcolm Sweeting, Clifford Chance’s (CC) senior partner, of his promotion to partner in 1990. ‘My only involvement in the process was playing football in Hackney one winter when a junior partner sidled up. “It’s all looking good,” he cryptically confided, before sidling away. Later, the senior partner rang me to say congratulations.’
Nearly 30 years from that night, the once obtuse path to partnership has been replaced with an excess of procedure, meaning the latest generation of partners has gone through a very different tournament to their colleagues currently nearing retirement. Continue reading “All restless souls – City firms braced as partnership goes Millennial”
As part of our analysis of the modern realities of partnership, Legal Business collected data on partnership rounds for the last three years across three groups: the top ten UK law firms by revenue, the ten US-based law firms with the largest organically-built London branches and a select group of mid-tier City players.
The most obvious observation is that there has been – barring a few exceptions – little easing up of the post-banking crisis clampdown on making up partners. One City head of a major US firm notes: ‘It’s harder to become a partner. All the firms are focused on profitability, the motivations are a lot more financial. Firms will always question the business case.’ Continue reading “Crunching the data – Trends and tribulations”
‘The Dickensian management role of closed doors is a thing of the past.’
I’m working in tech, a space that didn’t exist 30 years ago. There are challenges facing clients that didn’t exist five years ago. The tech environment fits with the character traits of partnership. You have to be entrepreneurial, and it’s more exciting to be that way. It maintains interest. Continue reading “Partnership Perspectives”
The European region of the Client Intelligence Report received feedback from just over 2,500 in-house lawyers and legal spend decision makers.
The following section offers a short overview of how clients ranked law firms in their region. Respondents were asked to score a list of key performance indicators (KPIs) on a scale of one to ten according to their perception of the law firm’s service in the last 12 months. Each client scored their chosen firms on 13 core KPIs covering client relationship skills, technical legal ability and efficiency in project management. The ranking of firms was vetted for seniority of respondent so that we are able to provide true representation of the firm’s performance in the region. Continue reading “Client Intelligence Report: Data View – Euro Elite Focus”
We take a further delve into some of the best performers in Legal Business’ Euro Elite table, looking at the FTSE100 clients of four firms from Benelux, France, Italy, and Central and Eastern Europe. Continue reading “Who Represents Who: Snapshot of best performers’ clients in The Euro Elite”
Hogan Lovells is to cut 54 business support jobs from its City arm as the firm moves to expand its low-cost hubs around the world.
The Anglo-American law firm announced today (20 June) that most of the roles have been moved to its low cost centres in Johannesburg and Louisville, and a new business support team established in Birmingham. Continue reading “Hogan Lovells cuts 54 City jobs as law firms keep slashing London biz service roles”
In a surprise move, Allen & Overy (A&O) has taken back its erstwhile financial services regulation head Bob Penn from Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton after only two years away, while White & Case eyes the lucrative funds market with the addition of a new partner to its global banking practice in London.
Penn’s departure in April 2016 from A&O after 17 years to Cleary was a rare high-profile exit for the Magic Circle firm and a rarer-still acquisition for Wall Street-bred Cleary. Continue reading “A&O lures FinReg head Penn back from Cleary as White & Case makes City funds play with partner hire”
Magic Circle heavyweights Slaughter and May, Allen & Overy (A&O) and Clifford Chance (CC) have scored key roles on the £1.7bn sale of Virgin Money while the €7.1bn Adyen initial public offering (IPO) and £1.8bn Equitable Life disposal drummed up business for numerous City and US advisers.
CYBG, the owner of Clydesdale Bank and Yorkshire Bank, said yesterday (18 June) it had struck a deal to buy London Stock Exchange-listed Virgin Money in a £1.7bn acquisition that will create the UK’s sixth-largest bank. Continue reading “Deal watch: Magic Circle trio banks on Virgin Money sale as €7.1bn Adyen IPO and £1.8bn Equitable Life disposal keep raft of advisers busy”
The burgeoning legal technology scene has seen Slaughter and May confirm it will launch a legal technology incubator in the next year, while highly-rated start-up Tessian raises £9m.
In a highly symbolic move for the industry, Magic Circle firm Slaughters has confirmed the launch of a law tech programme it flagged earlier this year, to sit alongside its existing Fast Forward fintech incubator. Continue reading “Slaughters confirms highly-symbolic legal tech incubator launch as another start-up secures $13m investment”
White & Case is continuing its dynamic growth drive apace as the US vanguard opens an office in Chicago to be spearheaded by Jason Zakia, the head of its disputes practice in the Americas.
The firm has nailed its colours to the mast with a pair of laterals in corporate and white collar, in the form of Gary Silverman and Carolyn Gurland, but plans to expand to more than 100 lawyers in short time. Continue reading “White & Case sets ambitious Chicago growth plans after opening office with corporate and white collar hires”
Regional and international hires dominated lateral recruitment in the last week as City hiring stalled, with DLA Piper bringing on a corporate partner in Manchester and national firm Shoosmiths adding to its Birmingham bench.
Meanwhile, CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang and Clifford Chance (CC) both made international hires. Continue reading “Revolving Doors: City laterals flat as DLA and Shoosmiths hire in the regions while CMS and CC go global”
In another early sign of a good 2017/18 for UK firms, Taylor Wessing has followed up on a disappointing performance last year with a solid 12% revenue growth to £144.6m for its UK business.
In what UK managing partner Tim Eyles (pictured) described as the firm’s ‘best year yet’, UK profits per equity partner (PEP) rebounded to grow 20% and hit £579,000 after last year’s 6% drop to £481,000. Continue reading “Taylor Wessing’s UK PEP shoots up 20% as global revenue exceeds the £300m mark”
More details are emerging on associate pay at Magic Circle firms as Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has joined the list of firms to announce increased salaries for US associates, as competition to recruit top lawyers intensifies.
The move by Freshfields will see the firm match the rates set by Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy, which set the standard for raising the starting salary for new lawyers two weeks ago, with Freshfield’s US associates now starting on $190,000 and rising to $330,000 in their eighth year. Continue reading “Associate pay: Freshfields joins salary race as global firms jostle for talent in US”
Thrusting national operator DWF is gearing up to be the largest UK firm float yet with a London Stock Exchange listing later this year. The top 25 UK law firm initially went into standard non-denial mode today (15 June) over reports it is aiming to float later this year with a supposed price tag of £1bn.
The presence of City PR shop Finsbury, which was today distributing ‘background briefing points’, signalled that DWF was being positioned for an offering. Within an hour the firm anyway changed its public position to issue a statement (see below).
CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang has released a selection of financial highlights for the year following its three-way merger but disappointingly kept some key metrics under wrap.
The firm revealed today (14 June) that the 25 offices in its UK LLP turned over £518m in the year to April 2018, £29m up on the consolidated results of the three legacy firms Cameron McKenna, Nabarro and Olswang, which merged in May last year. Continue reading “CMS cites ‘19%’ UK profitability hike as turnover tops £500m in first post-merger results”
