McDermott Will & Emery has followed Davis Polk’s lead, raising its London trainee pay to match the highest market rates.
Continue reading “‘Setting ourselves up for the future’ – McDermott ups London trainee pay to £70k”
Mishcon de Reya‘s hard-fought victory for Nigeria in Nigeria v P&ID saw the firm take home Commercial Team of the Year at the Legal Business Awards in September. The team assisted Nigeria in challenging a $6.6bn arbitral award made in favour of BVI-incorporated shell company Process & Industrial Developments Limited (P&ID) in 2017. With interest accruing at $1m a day, the team sought to overturn the award on the basis of fraud.
But, when the firm was instructed in 2019, Nigeria was almost three years past the deadline to bring the set-aside challenge. Before the team could even begin to present its fraud case (the result of a massive global investigation effort), it had to fight to extend the deadline – and achieved an unprecedented extension, granted in July 2020.
The team’s hard work paid off. On 23 October 2023, judgment was handed down in Nigeria’s favour by Mr Justice Knowles. It was found that P&ID had obtained the award, now worth over $11bn, by fraud.
Shaistah Akhtar, partner in Mishcons’ dispute resolution group, spoke to LB about getting the call from Nigeria, the biggest hurdles the team overcame, and the pressures of a case with national and international repercussions.
I didn’t grow up with law in my life. I come from a non-professional background and my parents didn’t go to university. When it came to choosing what to study at university, I was passionate about history, but my dad told me a history degree would limit me to teaching. Young and naïve, I took his word and explored other options. Continue reading “Life During Law – Simon Levine”
Ronan McLoughlin and Lisa Broderick report on DACB Dublin’s recent growth, with a busy last year and new hires, as well as the opportunities and issues expected for Irish law firms in the future
US firms are once again on the march in London, with Kirkland and Cravath leading the moves of the last few weeks with hires from legal tech Harvey and Linklaters respectively.
Lawyers and
Team Quality
Quality of partners 84.52
Quality of associates 74.14
Partner availability and engagement 83.99
What do clients really think about the service they receive from law firms? At Legal 500, we hear from hundreds of thousands of clients every year, rating firms on key metrics such as lawyer quality and availability, billing, and levels of communication and expertise.
The answers we receive allow us to evaluate firms using a set of client service data scores, covering Lawyers and Team Quality, Value: Billing and Efficiency, and Sector and Industry Knowledge – all of which combine to produce an overall Client Service Score.
This article focuses on Lawyers and Team Quality, for which Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner scores 81.93. (The rest of this article is available to logged-in users only. If you are unable to log in above right, please click ‘Forgot your password?’ below to gain access to the full article). Continue reading “Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner: The Client’s View”
Lawyers and
Team Quality
Quality of partners 88.73
Quality of associates 81.14
Partner availability and engagement 86.01
What do clients really think about the service they receive from law firms? At Legal 500, we hear from hundreds of thousands of clients every year, rating firms on key metrics such as lawyer quality and availability, billing, and levels of communication and expertise.
The answers we receive allow us to evaluate firms using a set of client service data scores, covering Lawyers and Team Quality, Value: Billing and Efficiency, and Sector and Industry Knowledge – all of which combine to produce an overall Client Service Score.
This article focuses on Lawyers and Team Quality, for which Latham & Watkins scores 85.21. (The rest of this article is available to logged-in users only. If you are unable to log in above right, please click ‘Forgot your password?’ below to gain access to the full article). Continue reading “Latham & Watkins: The Client’s View”
Lawyers and
Team Quality
Quality of partners 84.08
Quality of associates 76.19
Partner availability and engagement 83.46
What do clients really think about the service they receive from law firms? At Legal 500, we hear from hundreds of thousands of clients every year, rating firms on key metrics such as lawyer quality and availability, billing, and levels of communication and expertise.
The answers we receive allow us to evaluate firms using a set of client service data scores, covering Lawyers and Team Quality, Value: Billing and Efficiency, and Sector and Industry Knowledge – all of which combine to produce an overall Client Service Score.
This article focuses on Lawyers and Team Quality, for which Hogan Lovells scores 81.20. (The rest of this article is available to logged-in users only. If you are unable to log in above right, please click ‘Forgot your password?’ below to gain access to the full article). Continue reading “Hogan Lovells: The Client’s View”
Lawyers and
Team Quality
Quality of partners 83.47
Quality of associates 75.76
Partner availability and engagement 83.18
What do clients really think about the service they receive from law firms? At Legal 500, we hear from hundreds of thousands of clients every year, rating firms on key metrics such as lawyer quality and availability, billing, and levels of communication and expertise.
The answers we receive allow us to evaluate firms using a set of client service data scores, covering Lawyers and Team Quality, Value: Billing and Efficiency, and Sector and Industry Knowledge – all of which combine to produce an overall Client Service Score.
This article focuses on Lawyers and Team Quality, for which Ashurst scores 79.59. (The rest of this article is available to logged-in users only. If you are unable to log in above right, please click ‘Forgot your password?’ below to gain access to the full article). Continue reading “Ashurst: The Client’s View”
Lawyers and
Team Quality
Quality of partners 85.21
Quality of associates 78.16
Partner availability and engagement 83.46
What do clients really think about the service they receive from law firms? At Legal 500, we hear from hundreds of thousands of clients every year, rating firms on key metrics such as lawyer quality and availability, billing, and levels of communication and expertise.
The answers we receive allow us to evaluate firms using a set of client service data scores, covering Lawyers and Team Quality, Value: Billing and Efficiency, and Sector and Industry Knowledge – all of which combine to produce an overall Client Service Score.
This article focuses on Lawyers and Team Quality, for which Herbert Smith Freehills scores 82.30. (The rest of this article is available to logged-in users only. If you are unable to log in above right, please click ‘Forgot your password?’ below to gain access to the full article). Continue reading “Herbert Smith Freehills: The Client’s View”
In my second year studying law at university, I fell in love twice. Not only did I meet my future husband, but I also did a vacation scheme at pre-merger Lovells and realised I had also found my career soulmate. Last year was quite special, as I celebrated my 30th anniversary at Hogan Lovells and my 25th wedding anniversary. Continue reading “Life During Law – Penny Angell”
Geoff Moore, managing partner of Ireland’s Arthur Cox, is looking at life with his glass very much half full, and he is not alone. ‘Notwithstanding the awfulness going on around the world – two full-blown wars, geopolitical tensions, election uncertainty, and more – the underlying domestic economy in Ireland is actually performing very strongly,’ says Moore. ‘Things have remained robust.’
With work including the proposed merger of Vodafone and Three’s UK businesses – a deal that would create the largest mobile operator in the UK; the successful defence of the £1bn Phones 4u litigation – the culmination of a decade’s worth of work for Vodafone’s legal team; and the launch of a major in-house transformation project, it’s fair to say that Vodafone’s lawyers have been keeping themselves busy.
Legal Business caught up with Vodafone UK’s head of legal, Karen Thorpe (pictured, sixth from left), to discuss an award-winning year.
Baker McKenzie won Finance Team of the Year at the Legal Business Awards for representing project manager Oceans Finance Company in structuring and implementing the government of Ecuador’s $1.6bn debt-for-nature swap and providing $300m for the Galápagos Islands – the largest marine conservation debt conversion to date.
LB spoke with partners Matthew Cox and James Tanner (pictured, middle) to learn more about their experience working on this landmark deal, the challenges they encountered, and what it meant to win Finance Team of the Year.
Gowling WLG won this year’s LB Award for Life Sciences Team of the Year for its role in advising AstraZeneca on a collaboration and license agreement with biopharmaceutical company Quell Therapeutics worth more than £2bn. LB spoke with two of the partners who worked on the deal to discuss why it’s important and what it means for the team.
McDermott Will & Emery has announced today (28 October) that Jason Zemmel (pictured) has joined the firm’s transactions group as a partner.
Continue reading “McDermott snaps up CMS international private equity co-head in London”
‘There’s lawyers all over the world. The question isn’t whether or not Black people can be lawyers. The question is, what is it about England and Wales that means that Black lawyers don’t get the same opportunities as their white counterparts? And there’s no way to explain that other than racism.’
This comment from one City associate frankly states the issue. ‘When we talk about DEI’, they continue, ‘it’s often a very polite, corporate way of saying “Don’t be racist.”’ Law firms are, perhaps understandably, reluctant to use words like racism in their communications. But failure to acknowledge the problem makes it all the harder to resolve.
Nominations are now open for the Legal 500 UK ESG Awards 2025, following a highly successful debut last year. The event will celebrate exceptional contributions to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) initiatives within the legal sector. Continue reading “Legal 500 UK ESG Awards 2025 – nominations now open”
Browne Jacobson has topped the 2024 Social Mobility Employer Index with Slaughter and May, Linklaters, Lewis Silkin, Norton Rose Fulbright and Freshfields all ranking within the top 10. Continue reading “‘Why not me?’ – the law firms leading the way in the Social Mobility Employer Index”
Mountford Chambers’ Edward Henry KC won the title of Barrister of the Year at the Legal Business Awards this past September. LB‘s disputes correspondent Isabel Caine spoke with him to hear about his process, the art of cross examining, and his work on the two major cases that won him his trophy.
Continue reading “‘Leave no stone unturned’: LB speaks to Barrister of the Year Edward Henry KC”
