Business leaders have to be fit to survive and succeed in a rapidly evolving business climate, and a common thread across this year’s keynote presentations was that agility = achievement. C-suite executives need to be flexible and dextrous – and the GC role encapsulates this trend.
Slaughter and May has become the latest magic circle firm to reveal a difference in pay between its male and female fee-earners, placing it ahead of Linklaters but behind Allen & Overy for overall gender disparity on pay.
The firm today (14 March) published its statutory disclosures. The numbers reveal Slaughter and May pays male employees almost 55% more in bonuses compared to women. Men also earned 14% more than women on average, with the gap widening to 38.5% when the figures were considered on a median basis. Continue reading “Progress but still work to do on Bunhill Row as Slaughter and May discloses gender pay disparity”
The world’s largest law firm by fee-earners, Dentons, is continuing its relentless global expansion as it announces new combinations with seven law firms across Africa, the Caribbean and South East Asia today (14 March).
Dentons is combining with Hamilton, Harrison & Mathews in Kenya, Mardemootoo Solicitors and Balgobin Chambers in Mauritius, Dinner Martin in the Cayman Islands, Delany Law in the Eastern Caribbean, Hanafiah Ponggawa & Partners (HPRP) in Indonesia, and Zain & Co in Malaysia. The combinations mean the firms become full voting, contributing and participating members of the Dentons group, and are expected to launch later this year subject to partner approval and meeting regulatory requirements. Continue reading “Seven wonders: Globetrotting Dentons combines with firms in Africa, the Caribbean and South East Asia”
Global demographics are changing. In 2009, Europe had more middle class persons than anywhere else on earth. Contemporarily, Asia is home to more middle class persons than Europe. Over the next 15 years the global middle class is set to double, with three billion people entering its ranks. Many of these new consumers will come from emerging markets. As the balance of global trade shifts away from G8 economies, businesses and investors are increasingly looking to diversify into these emerging markets and reap the rewards apparent from growing economies.
The legal adviser overhaul of £13bn real estate business The Crown Estate by general counsel (GC) Rob Booth continues with CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang picking up a sole legal provider mandate for the estate’s £2.5bn regional retail portfolio. Meanwhile, DLA Piper has won another two years as principal legal adviser to Heineken UK.
CMS’s appointment with The Crown Estate, announced Monday (March 12), covers work including asset management, development, sales and purchases for its regional portfolio, which comprises 14 shopping and retail parks, three shopping centres and one leisure destination. It is the first time the firm has secured a role on the panel. Continue reading “In-house: CMS breaks new Crown Estate ground as Heineken UK and DLA toast another two years”
A fuller picture of the legal industry’s gender pay gap issue is emerging as Addleshaw Goddard, Mishcon de Reya and Gowling WLG become the latest firms to reveal big earnings disparities.
Gender pay brackets at Addleshaw – published Tuesday (13 March) ahead of the 4 April deadline required by legislation brought in last year – reveal the firm paid its male staff on average 43.2% more in bonuses than women for the year to 5 April 2017. The median bonus figure was 33.3%. Continue reading “Gender diversity: pay gaps revealed at Addleshaw Goddard, Mishcon de Reya and Gowling WLG”
Allen & Overy has become the latest magic circle firm to reveal the sizeable gulf between male and female employee earnings.
The firm on Monday (12 March) published its figures for gender pay brackets ahead of the 4 April deadline required by legislation brought in last year. Continue reading “Gender diversity: Allen & Overy faring better than rivals as it reveals 20% pay gap”
With the profession rocking from multiple allegations of sexual harassment against law firm partners recently, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has today (12 March) taken action to combat the misuse of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs).
In a warning notice on the regulator’s website, the SRA has stipulated that NDAs would be improperly used if they sought to prevent a person from reporting misconduct to the police or other prosecution or regulatory authority. Continue reading “#MeToo: SRA puts foot down on non-disclosure agreements”
Macfarlanes has today (9 March) announced that Eversheds Sutherland corporate crime head Neill Blundell will be joining the firm in a move that will see him spearhead the launch of corporate crime and investigations practice at his new firm.
Blundell will focus on corporate criminal investigations and compliance advice, with particular emphasis on regulatory issues. Regarding the move, senior partner Charles Martin said: ‘The introduction of criminal offences across a broad spectrum of regulation affecting our corporate clients – such as bribery, the Criminal Finances Act and environmental matters – makes this area of work a really important one.’ Continue reading “Macfarlanes launches white-collar practice with Eversheds team head hire”
A group of elite firms both sides of the Atlantic, including Macfarlanes and Slaughter and May, face off as British engineering giant GKN has agreed to a $6.1bn merger of its automotive business with US-based car parts supplier Dana.
In a deal that will create one of the world’s largest auto parts providers, Macfarlanes’ corporate partners Graham Gibb and Richard Burrows acted for Dana as it announced today (9 March) that its shareholders will get a 53% stake in GKN. Continue reading “Deal watch: Global 100 elite line-up on $6bn GKN-Dana transatlantic union”
It appears the recent wave of awareness over the treatment of women in all industries has done little to dispel ingrained beliefs in law. A survey of nearly 8,000 – mostly female – lawyers conducted by the Law Society has found that three quarters (74%) of male lawyers perceive there has been progress on gender equality within the legal profession, while less than half (48%) of their female counterparts agree.
Coinciding with International Women’s Day the survey, released today (8 March), sheds light on the perceived progress of gender equality in the legal profession, with unconscious bias cited as the most prevalent obstacle to women reaching senior positions. Continue reading “Gender disparity underlined as Law Society reveals stark gap in perceptions over equality”
Baker McKenzie has opened its ninth US office in Los Angeles after recruiting a five-partner employment and litigation team from rival global firm Hogan Lovells.
As the firm looks to beef up its numbers in the region as part of its 2020 strategy, two of Hogan Lovells’ former partners will launch the new office today (08 March). Continue reading “City of angels: Baker McKenzie launches in LA with Hogan Lovells team hire”
Newcomers to London quickly learn the rules of the escalator: stand still on the right or keep moving on the left. The risk with changing your mind is you can land flat on your face.
For Eversheds Sutherland, the consensus view is that its corporate team has stood on the right for years, moving along but hardly dashing. And why not? You still get where you are going. Continue reading “Deal view: Eversheds deal team – so much promise but so much steady”
Disputes funder Burford Capital is launching a separate insurance company to cover clients’ adverse costs risk, while Fieldfisher’s consumer-led litigation spinoff Roscoe Reid is beginning a potential £100m equal pay claim against retail giant Morrisons.
In other market news, the Law Society has voiced concerns over reforms proposed by the Disclosure Working Group (DWG) to combat voluminous disclosure. Continue reading “Disputes round-up: Burford launches insurance business while Fieldfisher spin-off begins £100m unequal pay claim”
Sidley Austin has today (6 March) announced the recruitment of Marie Manley, formerly of Bristows’ life sciences team, as it launches its own practice in the City.
Manley will now lead Sidley’s life sciences team in London, which will focus on areas such as medical device and drug regulation, intellectual property and private equity and will play a pivotal role in providing services to Sidley’s global life sciences clients. Continue reading “Global London: Sidley Austin launches London life sciences practice with senior hire from Bristows”
In one of the most significant senior moves in the Italian market in recent years, Linklaters has hired Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton veteran rainmaker Roberto Casati.
In a bid by the City giant to expand beyond its finance and capital markets focus in the country into mainstream corporate, Linklaters has drafted a waiver to its partnership terms to allow the 69-year-old to join the firm at the top of its equity ladder, a deal worth around £2m annually. Casati is expected to stay on for at least five years. Continue reading “Linklaters offers top-of-equity deal to recruit Cleary rainmaker Casati ahead of his 70th birthday”
Lateral recruitment was largely left in the cold last week after a flurry of activity in late February, as London partner moves were nearly frozen out altogether.
In the City, Bristol-based LB100 firm TLT brought in Nick Pincott as a partner in its UK construction, infrastructure and projects team from Norton Rose Fulbright, where he was a partner in the firm’s energy projects group for more than a decade. Continue reading “Revolving doors: City lateral market’s big freeze means hires further afield”
Is big business turning its back on the conventional legal panel? This month at least sees two prominent examples, with listed infrastructure group Balfour Beatty extending and revamping its sole supplier partnership with Pinsent Masons as banking giant Barclays unveils its final global panel review.
Pinsents today (5 March) announced its sole supplier mandate with the FTSE 250 company had been re-signed until 2020, the second extension to a deal which kicked off in April 2013. The latest partnership, however, has introduced new pricing structures for greater flexibility. Continue reading “Panel beaters – Balfour revamps Pinsents partnership as Barclays’ buying shake-up signals its last panel contest”
Howard Kennedy and one of its former partners have been sanctioned for providing a client with a prohibited banking facility, with the top 100 UK law firm facing a £35,000 fine after a Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) investigation.
The ruling from the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT), which was published on Thursday (1 March), saw Howard Kennedy ordered to pay £46,950 in costs. Christopher Langford, a former partner and then consultant at Howard Kennedy, also admitted to facilitating payments in and out of the firm’s client account that were not related to any underlying legal transaction. Continue reading “Howard Kennedy faces £35,000 fine for lax client account handling but watchdog U-turn draws flak”
Given that it has been so well telegraphed that the $10m lateral was coming to the Square Mile, the shock among City peers at the hire of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer private equity veteran David Higgins (pictured) has been, well, shocking. ‘Outrageous’, ‘obscene’ and ‘mildly appalling’ are among the reactions from peers. One hopeful partner at a US firm notes: ‘The clients won’t be impressed with that number splashed all over the news.’
But such sentiments are a naive reading of how the industry is evolving. Yes, if you think of a lateral as wrangling an immediate book of business, such a package suggests needing to preside over $30m within three years to be called a success on a conventional yardstick. That would certainly be a stretch – though not impossible given what some of the strongest City laterals have managed – but that is not the benchmark. Kirkland & Ellis has been stuffed with leveraged finance talent for years while lacking an unquestioned corporate A-lister. The hyper-productive Matthew Elliott delivered that when he joined from Linklaters in 2016, but his practice has a very precise real estate slant. Continue reading “Comment: A shock to the system as Freshfields heavyweight departs”
