The growing threat of cyber-attacks shows no sign of abating, with news that global offshore firm Appleby was the victim of a data breach last year.
In a statement on the firm’s website posted yesterday (24 October), Appleby conceded that a ‘data security incident’ took place in 2016. Continue reading “‘Sector needs to take this seriously’: cyber-attack on offshore firm Appleby sees data on brink of entering public domain”
Ropes & Gray continues to promote London partners two-by-two, adding another duo in finance this year as part of a global promotions round of 12. The number of City promotions equals those made in the previous two years, while the overall total is up by one from 11 in 2016.
Derivatives and structured finance specialist Anna Lawry and leveraged finance lawyer Alex Robb will be made up on 1 November. Lawry joined Ropes in 2014 as counsel in its hedge funds group. She advises on derivatives in financing and corporate transactions, as well as regulatory developments affecting derivatives. Before joining Ropes, Lawry was an associate at Slaughter and May for 14 years. Continue reading “Partner promotions: Ropes & Gray sticks with tradition as it makes up two in London”
Top-50 insurance specialist Kennedys has continued its rapid expansion both in London and further afield with a double hire from Mayer Brown in the City and the launch of a Bermuda office – the firm’s tenth office launch this year – with local law firm Sedgwick Chudleigh joining the firm’s global network.
In London, Kennedys has hired Mayer Brown’s London insurance and reinsurance head David Chadwick as well as partner Andrew McGahey, who will join the firm’s Dublin office. Continue reading “Kennedys ramps up expansion at home and abroad with double hire from Mayer Brown and launch of Bermuda office”
A four-partner, top-ranked sports law team from Charles Russell Speechlys has spun off to create specialist boutique firm Northridge, while media and brands specialist Wiggin has acquired intellectual property (IP) practice Redd.
Northridge founding partners Jonathan Ellis, Ian Lynam, Jon Walters and James Eighteen, who led Charles Russell’s sports law team to tier 1 in the Legal 500, launch the new firm this morning (23 October) with a starting team comprised of 16 fee earners. Continue reading “Top-tier sports law team spins off from Charles Russell Speechlys as Wiggin acquires IP boutique Redd”
Strengthening its considerable European disputes offering, Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) will open in Milan with the hire of Simmons & Simmons’ Italian disputes and IP head Laura Orlando.
The firm is seeking to take advantage of the European pharmaceutical patent litigation market, second only in the world to the US in terms of size. The office is set to officially open in early 2018. Continue reading “HSF launches in Milan with hire of Simmons Italian disputes head”
Part of an ongoing and concerted effort to manage the public purse for legal advice, the Government has announced plans to set up a £650m marketplace for the public sector to procure legal services.
Central government, devolved administrations and public bodies would procure legal advice through the marketplace, according to a pre-tender notice published by the Crown Commercial Service (CCS) this week. Continue reading “Beauty parade in the offing as Government announces launch of £650m ‘legal services marketplace’”
Following the recent decision to relocate Ince & Co senior partner Jan Heuvels to Hong Kong, the firm has appointed HR director Andrew Jameson in the new role as head of the London office.
Heuvels, one of Ince’s batch of ‘superstar’ insurance partners who became senior partner in 2014, will depart for the firm’s Hong Kong office next month. Continue reading “Ince & Co creates London head role as senior partner Heuvels makes Hong Kong move”
In an unusual City move from a US firm to the Magic Circle, Latham & Watkins co-head of investment funds Tom Alabaster is to join Linklaters three years after joining Latham from Carlyle.
The hire comes a few months after Linklaters launched a refreshed strategy to focus on financial sponsors and fund formation and Alabaster, who starts next month, is a significant coup for a firm less known for fund formation work compared to rivals Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Clifford Chance. Continue reading “Linklaters throws down gauntlet as Latham funds co-head makes rare City switch”
Three UK partners at Eversheds Sutherland, including the Manchester senior partner, will vie for the role of chair after Leeds litigator Paul Smith’s four-year term comes to an end later this year.
The partners who plan to stand for election are joint head of energy and infrastructure Robert Pitcher, joint UK financial services head Pamela Thompson and Manchester senior partner Michael Clavell-Bate.
It is understood that the election is due to kick off within the next week although there are no official candidates at this stage. Continue reading “Hats in the ring: candidates emerge for Eversheds Sutherland chair contest”
In a brisk week for lateral hires, Global 100 firms have looked in-house to boost their senior ranks while private practice partners have gone the other way.
Hogan Lovells has boosted its London construction and engineering disputes practice, bringing in Angus Rankin as a partner from Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems Europe (MHPSE). Continue reading “Revolving doors: firms make key in-house hires as partners move in opposite direction”
Nineteen months to the day since its last attempt to forge a transatlantic union with Greenberg Traurig was abandoned, Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) has today (16 October) confirmed that it is in merger talks with Global 100 firm Bryan Cave.
Subject to a partnership vote later this year, the tie-up would create a firm comprising 1,500 lawyers spread across 32 offices in 12 countries, including St Louis-headquartered Bryan Cave’s 19 US outposts and with a combined revenue of around $975m. Continue reading “Back in the USA: BLP looks stateside again as merger talks with Bryan Cave confirmed”
Linklaters is following up on its recent investment in Germany by strengthening its finance practice with a lateral from Magic Circle rival Allen & Overy (A&O).
Neil George Weiand will join Linklaters’ Frankfurt arm, leaving A&O after 19 years, including 17 of them as a partner. Weiand, who has previously served as German senior partner for A&O, has worked on a series of major deals, including last year acting for Bayer on its $62bn bid to acquire agricultural group Monsanto. Weiand, whose practice covers restructuring, leveraged finance and general loans, worked at Deutsche Bank for seven years before joining A&O. Continue reading “As rivals retrench Linklaters retains expansive German form as A&O veteran becomes third lateral of 2017”
White & Case has promoted 31 lawyers to partner, three quarters of them in London and the US, as the firm continues its investment in the City and New York.
Evenly spread between US and EMEA, the promotions – effective on 1 January 2018 – represent a 29% drop on last year’s round, when the firm made up 40 . Continue reading “Partner promotions: White & Case latest round down almost a third as it continues NYLon focus”
Throwing a lifeline to the increasingly eroded principle of legal professional privilege (LPP), Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation (ENRC) has this week been granted the right to appeal against a controversial order to disclose documents in a Serious Fraud Office (SFO) investigation. Hogan Lovells is the latest in a series of firms to be instructed by ENRC over the SFO investigation.
In May, the High Court had ruled that documents prepared by the mining giant ENRC relating to an SFO probe into alleged fraud, bribery and corruption were not covered by LPP and therefore had to be disclosed. Continue reading “Quest to guard privilege begins as ENRC wins right to appeal SFO order”
If the accountants’ forays into the legal market have yet to challenge law firms in key markets, a concern in the profession is that the Big Four would make a major play with alternative service models. As such there will be some nervous glances cast as PwC this week confirmed that the accountancy giant is to launch a contract lawyering service, entering a fast-growing market so far dominated by firms like Axiom and Lawyers On Demand.
The service, called Flexible Legal Resources, will initially focus on the financial services sector but PwC’s pool of contract lawyers will eventually cover clients from all sectors providing support work for corporate, commercial and data protection. Continue reading “PwC aims to take bite out of contract lawyering market with new flexible resourcing arm”
Despite launching in 2013 after a six-year campaign effort to support working parents, the Bar Council has this week discontinued its Bar nursery service.
The facility was launched in April 2013 in conjunction with Smithfield House Children’s Nursery, and was open 7am to 7pm five days a week, available to children aged between eight weeks and five years. It offered special rates to members of the Bar, chambers staff and Bar Council employees. Continue reading “A retrograde step as Bar Council ends nursery scheme after four years”
Two Global 100 firms have made opposing international moves this week, with Linklaters signing a partnership with a local firm in Saudi Arabia while Hogan Lovells announced the closure of its Mongolia base.
Linklaters announced today (11 October) it has entered a formal agreement with 20-lawyer Zamakhchary & Co (Z & Co), meaning two lawyers from the Magic Circle firm will be based in the kingdom. Continue reading “Looking east: Linklaters cements Saudi partnership as Hogan Lovells shuts Mongolia base”
Having already been one of the longest-serving leaders at a major City law firm, Peter Martyr looks to be taking a crack at the industry’s record books after having been re-appointed for a sixth term as chief executive of Norton Rose Fulbright (NRF).
A spokesperson confirmed that Martyr will begin his new three-year term in January 2018, taking him until the end of 2020, by which point he will have had approaching 20 years at the head of the firm. Continue reading “Martyr closes in on 20 years at helm as Norton Rose Fulbright chief gets a sixth term”
Fieldfisher’s unrelenting international growth this year shows no sign of slowing, as the firm takes its alternative legal services platform Condor to South Africa through a partnership with Cognia Law.
Condor, headed by former Ashurst securities and derivatives chief Christopher Georgiou alongside derivatives partners Guy Usher and Luke Whitmore, is the firm’s platform combining document data management and technology solutions with low-cost legal expertise. The partnership with legal service outsourcing provider Cognia Law will see the launch of Condor South Africa, which will integrate into the wider Condor platform. Continue reading “Fieldfisher extends global reach as it launches alternative service Condor in South Africa”
It has been another busy seven days for senior recruitment, with a host of top 50 UK law firms making senior appointments in the Square Mile and beyond.
In London, Hogan Lovells has bolstered its finance practice with the recruitment of Norton Rose Fulbright (NRF) partner Arun Velusami, who leaves the City firm after 11 years, seven of them as a partner. Velusami joins Hogan Lovells’ Africa practice in London and will also be a member of the Anglo-American firm’s energy, infrastructure and projects team. Adrian Walker, global co-head of Hogan Lovells’ energy and projects team, described Velusami as a ‘class act’. Continue reading “Revolving Doors: Hogan Lovells and OC bolster City ranks while Kennedys ramps up US practice with three-partner hire”
