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Global Outlook sponsored briefing: The International Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal – France has risen to the challenge

Stewarts

The Paris courts aim to strengthen France’s appeal as a centre for litigation post-Brexit

Paris has long been positioned as one of the leading centres for international commercial arbitration disputes, so the French government’s latest legal initiative should come as no surprise to its European counterparts. Indeed, Paris is no stranger to international dispute resolution as there has existed for more than ten years within its Tribunal of Commerce an International Chamber, formed of ten English-speaking judges, hearing commercial disputes with an international dimension. Continue reading “Global Outlook sponsored briefing: The International Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal – France has risen to the challenge”

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16 easy steps to making you a great managing partner

Recently a surprisingly popular column in Legal Business took a jaded view of the state of leadership in major law firms. The nub of our argument was that the law firm c-suite had descended into technocratic managerialism over genuine leadership, leaving once bold institutions to put off crucial decisions.

That piece drew on years of hanging around with managing and senior partners, which at times means feeling more like a leadership therapist/their mother than a reporter. But in the spirit of lighting a candle rather than cursing the darkness, here are my tips to successful law firm leadership. And ignore the flip tone because I mean it all. Continue reading “16 easy steps to making you a great managing partner”

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SFO makes interim director appointment as Linklaters hires DPP Alison Saunders

Linklaters

The white-collar crime arena has seen significant upheaval in recent weeks, with the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) making an uninspiring interim appointment to replace director David Green QC, while Linklaters has hired the divisive Alison Saunders, the current director of public prosecutions (DPP).

Mark Thompson, formerly the SFO’s chief operating officer (COO), took over from the previous incumbent on a temporary basis on 21 April. In an SFO press release, Thompson had said: ‘The search for a new director has been successful, although the individual cannot take up the post immediately.’ Continue reading “SFO makes interim director appointment as Linklaters hires DPP Alison Saunders”

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Disputes Eye: Witness statements – going loco with Acratopulo

Clifford Chance

With the war to overhaul disclosure raging on, a new battleground already seems to be emerging. Leading the charge is the newly-appointed president of the London Solicitors Litigation Association (LSLA), Julian Acratopulo.

Clifford Chance (CC) partner Acratopulo, elected LSLA president in April, was quoted as saying witness statements needed reform. Continue reading “Disputes Eye: Witness statements – going loco with Acratopulo”

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Reports of the death of CC’s sponsor practice prove exaggerated but surviving isn’t thriving

Clifford Chance

Marco Cillario finds much more substance to CC’s PE business than the usual critique but stopping managed relative decline will only get harder

‘Look at the team they had in the mid-2000s: strong personalities, industry leaders, primary advisers to any significant private equity house. There has never been a team that strong in Europe. They failed to bring through any meaningful succession.’ Continue reading “Reports of the death of CC’s sponsor practice prove exaggerated but surviving isn’t thriving”

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Covington continues European expansion with Frankfurt private equity launch

Frankfurt

Global 100 player Covington & Burling is taking a shot at the German private equity market, launching an office in Frankfurt after taking a six-partner team from Heymann & Partner, which has shut down after 12 years.

Focusing on private equity, tech and healthcare, the firm’s third European base opened on 3 April and counts eight partners and ten other lawyers, led by former Heymann corporate partner Henning Bloss, among its ranks. Continue reading “Covington continues European expansion with Frankfurt private equity launch”

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Dentons gets even more polycentric with seven-way tie-up and Australia hires

Sydney, Australia

Dentons, the world’s largest globetrotting firm, has added 17 partners from an ailing Australian shop and announced a combination with seven firms across three continents over the past few weeks.

As 25-partner Australian firm DibbsBarker shut down, Dentons in May acquired ten of its partners in Sydney and two in Melbourne, while another five launched Dentons’ new office in Brisbane. They strengthened the firm’s financial services, real estate and corporate practices. Continue reading “Dentons gets even more polycentric with seven-way tie-up and Australia hires”

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Addleshaw Goddard recruits legacy BLP Asia head

As the inevitable fallout from the $900m Bryan Cave/Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) tie-up continues, Addleshaw Goddard is following up on its Asia ambitions by announcing the hire of legacy BLP regional head Bob Charlton.

Based in Hong Kong, Charlton will lead Addleshaws’ Asia-Pacific operations, with firm-wide managing partner John Joyce telling Legal Business the firm is looking to triple the size of its regional capability. He added the firm would look to grow from four to at least 12 partners, spread across its Hong Kong and Singapore branches, and did not rule out adding further bases in the region. Continue reading “Addleshaw Goddard recruits legacy BLP Asia head”

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Magic Circle duo secure key mandates as Novartis sells its €13bn stake to GSK

Slaughter and May and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer have landed pivotal roles on a $13bn deal which sees GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) acquire the remaining 36.5% stake in its consumer healthcare joint venture with fellow pharma giant Novartis.

Slaughters is advising GSK with a team comprising corporate partners Simon Nicholls and David Johnson, alongside tax specialist Dominic Robertson, competition partner Bertrand Louveaux, and finance partners Guy O’Keefe and Oliver Storey. Meanwhile Freshfields is advising Novartis, fielding a team led by corporate partners Julian Long and Jennifer Bethlehem, accompanied by tax partner Paul Davison and antitrust partner Rod Carlton. The in-house legal team at GSK was led by senior vice president and head of legal corporate functions Chip Cale, and associate general counsel Antony Braithwaite. Continue reading “Magic Circle duo secure key mandates as Novartis sells its €13bn stake to GSK”

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Dealwatch: Transactional teams move into gear in strong spring showing

Herbert Smith Freehills
  • Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) (pictured) has secured a key corporate role for engineering company and long-term client The Weir Group on the $1.3bn acquisition of US mining equipment manufacturer ESCO Corporation. London corporate partner Mike Flockhart is heading the HSF team, alongside City competition partner Kim Dietzel. Sullivan & Cromwell is advising Weir on US law, led by corporate partners Matt Hurd and Scott Crofton. Meanwhile Oregon-based law firm Stoel Rives is advising ESCO on the deal.
  • Ropes & Gray has advised Nordic Capital on the transfer of its 2008 vintage fund’s remaining nine unlisted portfolio companies to a continuation vehicle in a €2.5bn transaction. The team was led by investment funds partner Matthew Judd in London. Meanwhile Kirkland & Ellis also advised the private equity investor with a team led by Theodore Cardos and Anand Damodaran. The team also included investment funds partners Michael Belsley, Richard Watkins and Christopher Braunack, regulatory partners Lisa Cawley and Adam Skinner, antitrust partners Ellen Jakovic, Mike Robert-Smith and Michael Thorpe, and employee benefits partner Elizabeth Dyer. Offshore law firm Carey Olsen’s funds partner Daniel O’Connor and corporate partner Guy Coltman also acted on the deal.

Continue reading “Dealwatch: Transactional teams move into gear in strong spring showing”

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The future of disputes debate: The justice brand

Alex Novarese, Legal Business: Will the UK legal system be more or less trusted post Brexit?

Abhijit Mukhopadhyay, Hinduja Group: As a business, we trust English law and the English courts. Whenever we do business in any part of the world, unless it is in the US, we always go for English law. So long as the courts remain a brand – and they will, irrespective of whether Brexit happens – London will be attractive. Continue reading “The future of disputes debate: The justice brand”

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Legal tech sponsored briefing: How to prepare for a dirty cyber war

PalisadeSECURE’s Luke Drewer discusses the increased threat of cyber attacks and how law firms should be protecting themselves

There is a new weapon of war being deployed around the world. You cannot see it, but the evidence is all around us. In response to the recent US, UK and French strikes targeting President Bashar Assad’s chemical weapons in Syria, it is thought that Russia will launch a ‘dirty cyber war’ and Britain is getting prepared. Continue reading “Legal tech sponsored briefing: How to prepare for a dirty cyber war”

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Legal tech sponsored briefing: Law firms targeted by cyber criminals – six fundamental steps to being secure

In the wake of several high-profile attacks on law firms, Kaspersky Lab’s principle security researcher David Emm describes key ways firms can combat cyber crime

Cyber attacks are consistently making the news, with high-profile stories like NotPetya, WannaCry and Shadow Brokers seemingly taking place on a monthly basis. Businesses of all shapes and sizes are increasingly concerned about the impact that cyber crime may have on them. For law firms, the threat is particularly apparent and they are targeted for two key reasons. Continue reading “Legal tech sponsored briefing: Law firms targeted by cyber criminals – six fundamental steps to being secure”

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Legal tech sponsored briefing: Voice your way ahead of competitors

Florian Schwiecker

Speech is more than just another channel of communication. It is also the driving force to improve your firm’s productivity

From the technology perspective, speech recognition has a long history with several waves of major innovations. Most recently, the field has benefited from advances in deep learning and big data. The advances are evidenced not only by the surge of academic papers published in the field but more importantly by the worldwide industry adoption of a variety of deep learning methods in designing and deploying speech-recognition systems. Continue reading “Legal tech sponsored briefing: Voice your way ahead of competitors”

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Legal tech sponsored briefing: GDPR – achieving business transparency in a changing world

With GDPR now the new reality, Andrew Elcock from Xynomix explores how to encrypt and secure your data

In 2017, we saw vulnerabilities such as WannaCry exploit millions of devices worldwide, gaining access to valuable personal information. With many organisations now holding several hundreds of terabytes of customer data, the digital world has never been so heavily scrutinised. Continue reading “Legal tech sponsored briefing: GDPR – achieving business transparency in a changing world”

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Client Intelligence Report: Data View – Middle East Focus

Demonstrating value is paramount for all in-house legal teams, concerned as it is with how legal work intersects with business objectives and strategy. When measured against the global data, firms in the Middle East reported that they demonstrated value mainly via the same two criteria as the rest of the world; through the commercial aspect of their advice and their risk mitigation abilities. However, the Middle East reported that commercial and business advice was the most important characteristic by a far larger margin than the average. In the Middle East, this was the most prized metric for measuring value added for 46% of respondents, as opposed to 38% in the global average. This implies that legal teams in the Middle East are more likely than average to be relied upon to contribute to the strategic direction of the company. This links in with Middle Eastern general counsel’s greater likelihood of being part of the management structure of their businesses, and shows that in-house legal professionals here are often more integrated with the business than the global norm. Continue reading “Client Intelligence Report: Data View – Middle East Focus”