Page 247 – Legal Business

8 March 2018

Gender disparity underlined as Law Society reveals stark gap in perceptions over equality

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”

8 March 2018

City of angels: Baker McKenzie launches in LA with Hogan Lovells team hire

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”

7 March 2018

Deal view: Eversheds deal team – so much promise but so much steady

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”

7 March 2018

Disputes round-up: Burford launches insurance business while Fieldfisher spin-off begins £100m unequal pay claim

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”

6 March 2018

Global London: Sidley Austin launches London life sciences practice with senior hire from Bristows

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”

6 March 2018

Linklaters offers top-of-equity deal to recruit Cleary rainmaker Casati ahead of his 70th birthday

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”

5 March 2018

Revolving doors: City lateral market’s big freeze means hires further afield

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”

5 March 2018

Panel beaters – Balfour revamps Pinsents partnership as Barclays’ buying shake-up signals its last panel contest

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”

2 March 2018

Howard Kennedy faces £35,000 fine for lax client account handling but watchdog U-turn draws flak

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”

1 March 2018

Comment: A shock to the system as Freshfields heavyweight departs

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”

1 March 2018

Another legal IPO? Simpson Millar’s new owner advances £50m to law firms in two years

As expansive West End firm Gordon Dadds talks up its ambition to become a £100m business after going public last year, the new owner of Simpson Millar – which recently axed 91 jobs and had £17.7m in debt written off after its publicly-listed owner went bust – is not ruling out an initial public offering (IPO) after putting more than £50m into law firms over the last two years.

Following the administration of listed finance company Fairpoint Group last year, its former legal subsidiary, Leeds-based Simpson Millar, this week made 91 roles redundant following a consultation launched in December. Managing partner Greg Cox said Monday (26 February): ‘This was necessary to stabilise the firm after significant under-investment by Fairpoint Group during the period it owned the firm, which had resulted in a fall in revenue in 2017.’ Continue reading “Another legal IPO? Simpson Millar’s new owner advances £50m to law firms in two years”

28 February 2018

Deal Watch: Kirkland and Eversheds lead as Toys R Us and Maplin collapse following bleak Xmas for retailers

Insolvency professionals have long been predicting a wave of trouble would hit the beleaguered UK high street and it has come to pass with Kirkland & Ellis and Eversheds Sutherland securing lead roles on the collapses this week of Toys R Us and Maplin.

Toys R Us announced today (28 February) that its domestic business was going into administration following a failed attempts to secure a new buyer for the UK’s largest toy retailer after sluggish trading hit the industry over the 2017 festive season. Continue reading “Deal Watch: Kirkland and Eversheds lead as Toys R Us and Maplin collapse following bleak Xmas for retailers”

28 February 2018

Weil Gotshal and Debevoise see double-digit PEP hikes as Reed Smith’s top line makes a comeback

Weil, Gotshal & Manges has scored an 18% global rise in profits per equity partner (PEP) as London turnover soared 33%, while Debevoise & Plimpton recorded a 17% PEP increase against a 12% revenue uptick.

Fellow US firm Reed Smith has finally returned to growth after two consecutive years of decline, increasing its top line 4% to $1.12bn in 2017. The firm’s London outpost had a particularly strong comeback, growing revenues 14% in sterling terms to £147m. Continue reading “Weil Gotshal and Debevoise see double-digit PEP hikes as Reed Smith’s top line makes a comeback”

27 February 2018

Freshfields and Davis Polk win roles as Comcast eyes Sky with ‘superior’ £22bn bid

Broadcasting giant Comcast has instructed Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Davis Polk & Wardwell as it looks to trounce an existing offer for Sky from Rupert Murdoch-owned 21^st Century Fox.

Philadelphia-headquartered Comcast said in a statement today (27 February) that its ‘superior cash proposal of £12.50 per share represents a 16% increase in value over the existing 21st Century Fox offer for Sky’. Continue reading “Freshfields and Davis Polk win roles as Comcast eyes Sky with ‘superior’ £22bn bid”

27 February 2018

Bakers agrees landmark deal to unite bulk of Euro business in one profit pool but Franco/German axis holds out

Baker McKenzie is to bring London and seven of its offices in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) into one profit pool as the firm moves towards full financial integration in the region.

Global antitrust chief Fiona Carlin has been elected to lead the integrated business, uniting 1,000 lawyers in the City, Brussels, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Madrid, Johannesburg, Bahrain and Qatar. Continue reading “Bakers agrees landmark deal to unite bulk of Euro business in one profit pool but Franco/German axis holds out”

26 February 2018

Revolving doors: new teams for DLA Piper and Dentons while IP specialists find new homes

Firms have launched new teams in Paris and Milan on the back of a strong week for European lateral recruitment, while both Ashurst and Eversheds Sutherland have bolstered their IP practices with hires in the UK.

In the City, Ashurst hired former Clyde & Co intellectual property (IP) head David Wilkinson for its London disputes team. Wilkinson has more than 20 years’ experience in disputes and transactions involving patents, copyright, designs and confidential information. Continue reading “Revolving doors: new teams for DLA Piper and Dentons while IP specialists find new homes”

26 February 2018

Comment: Slashing to victory – the most dangerous law firm myth

‘Turnover for vanity, profit for sanity.’ How many times have you heard that phrase or variations of the theme espoused in the legal industry? A lot since the banking crisis recast the profession.

Commercial firms are forever chasing the grail of higher profitability to the extent of fashioning strategy around the notion of slashing the business to achieve it. People used to forecast consolidation and the dawn of the $10bn law firm – now it is as common for law firm leaders to talk of City-bred institutions getting smaller. Continue reading “Comment: Slashing to victory – the most dangerous law firm myth”

26 February 2018

Reed Smith taps Macfarlanes for fund finance head in rare departure from City blueblood

Macfarlanes has seen a rare partner exit as investment fund finance group leader Bronwen Jones quit the City stalwart after 14 years for Reed Smith.

The first lateral hire from the firm since head of competition Marc Israel left for White & Case in November 2016 , Jones left last Friday (23 February) and is expected to start at Reed Smith’s London fund finance group in early April. Continue reading “Reed Smith taps Macfarlanes for fund finance head in rare departure from City blueblood”

26 February 2018

BLP and Bryan Cave back deal to forge top 50 global player but will combined firm have potency?

Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP)’s quest for a US merger is over after its proposed transatlantic tie-up with Bryan Cave was given the green light by partners.

The new firm will be called Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner (BCLP) and will officially launch in April this year after the partnerships of each firm announced the result of their merger vote today (26 February), a few weeks after the proposal was formally announced. This after BLP less than two years ago failed to strike a deal with Greenberg Traurig. Continue reading “BLP and Bryan Cave back deal to forge top 50 global player but will combined firm have potency?”

23 February 2018

Momentum at last for Hogan Lovells as global turnover passes $2bn mark

Eight years into its transatlantic union Hogan Lovells is finally gaining some momentum, posting another solid financial performance and passing the $2bn revenue mark in 2017.

Global turnover rose 6% to $2.036bn while profit per equity partner (PEP) returned to growth, rising 2% to $1.28m. The weak pound meant the firm experienced an 11% top line uptick to £1.58bn in sterling terms. Continue reading “Momentum at last for Hogan Lovells as global turnover passes $2bn mark”