Palo Alto may conjure up images of unbridled wealth, hip workplaces and Tesla dealerships, but there is another side to Silicon Valley and its environs – that of East Palo Alto, with its underprivileged schools and one in four youths living in poverty.
Continue reading “Inspiring the next generation: not a moot point”
Over the past year, I’ve spent a lot of my time talking to GCs, in-house legal teams and partners in private practice, to ensure that what we are doing at The Legal 500 matches up to the needs of the market.
Succession planning in the c-suite is a high-stakes game. Even well-managed transitions in the top jobs can lead to stock price fluctuations and queries about a company’s strategic direction and goals.
Continue reading “Passing the baton: succession planning for GCs”
Mounting client demand for secondees has long been a bugbear for City law firms, a reality that one of the most feted New Law brands is now hoping to turn into a business opportunity.
Lawyers On Demand(LOD) is today (31 August) launching a service to provide lawyers specifically for secondments to law firms for their clients, a shift from LOD’s core model of providing short-term placements direct to in-house teams. Continue reading “Lawyers On Demand thinks it’s going to solve your secondee problem with its latest product launch”
Another chapter in the turbulent story of Slater and Gordon (S&G) has unfolded, with the beleaguered listed legal pioneer today (31 August) announcing the splitting off of its UK business from its Australian parent.
S&G’s UK arm will change into a new holding company, called UK HoldCo, which will be owned by the firm’s senior lenders, in a separation agreed as part of a recapitalisation programme linked to its ill-fated acquisition of the Quindell professional services business. Continue reading “Five years on from pioneering S&G acquisition of Russell Jones, Aussie pioneer splits from UK business”
Irwin Mitchell has posted a revenue increase of 6% for the last financial year from £221.3m to £235.2m, with profit before tax of £12.3m.
The results represent a solid performance in the first full year of combined financials with south-east firm Thomas Eggar, which Irwin Mitchell combined with in 2015. Last year the firm posted an 8% turnover rise to £221.3m, which included four months of trading with Thomas Eggar. Continue reading “‘Significant progress’: Irwin Mitchell posts 6% revenue increase to £235m”
Magic Circle firms constitute four of the nine advisers appointed to the government’s new finance and complex legal services panel with seven law firms left out after a reboot of its legal services framework continues.
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Linklaters, Slaughter and May and Clifford Chance are part of the new panel advising on matters including finance, refinancing, capital markets, corporate transactions, projects and regulation. Continue reading “‘Knowhow and track record’: Magic Circle dominates new panel as seven firms dropped in government legal services revamp”
Having already carefully cultivated an image as the most free-thinking City law firm in its weight class, Allen & Overy (A&O)has taken another step to recast itself for the age of disruption after choosing eight companies to join its ‘tech innovation hub’ Fuse.
The City giant is offering companies space in its London HQ which will work together with the firm’s lawyers, technologists and clients to create services and products for companies, financial institutions and law firms.
Continue reading “Bean bags primed – A&O buffs up disruptive cred as eight companies join its innovation hub Fuse”
Amid a simmering market for junior City lawyers, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has opted to hold the line on associate salaries following a round of bumper increases in 2016.
Newly-qualified (NQ) solicitors at the Magic Circle firm currently earn £85,000. This rate was established last year when the City giant substantially overhauled its comp structure to hike base salaries from £67,500 to £85,000, a 26% rise. The increase included the rolling in of bonuses, though overall compensation was also increased.
To be a leader as an in-house lawyer today is to be faced with a bewildering array of ideas, strategies and influences. Reports are written with grim regularity, it is impossible to read them all. Conferences are organised with grim regularity, it is impossible to attend them all. Consultants always have the next great idea with grim regularity, it is impossible to take a sharp stick and poke them all.
The quality of leadership in-house is nothing like as strong as the quality of the legal work our in-house lawyers do or the quality of the people who are the in-house counsel. Collectively we need to get better at leadership. Continue reading “Guest post: How should in-house counsel lead? It’s all about purpose”
Berwin Leighton Paisner‘s (BLP) freelance spin-off Lawyers on Demand(LOD) has posted 15% turnover growth in its first full-year results since it merged with Australia’s AdventBalance in March 2016, in what was the largest New Law merger to date.
As the global flexible lawyering business saw its turnover grow to £35m for 2016/17, LOD co-founder and managing director Simon Harper (pictured) said the satisfying results – which came ahead of LOD’s tenth anniversary last month – were down to ‘new service lines’.
Continue reading “Clients back New Law model as LOD posts post-merger revenue surge”
Scottish independent Burness Paull has posted flat financials for 2016/17 with turnover up 1% from £53.3m to £53.8m, while profit per equity partner stands at £453,000 compared to £451,000 last year.
Additionally, overall profit was down 2% from £22.5m to £22m in what the firm’s chairman Philip Rodney described a ‘bumpy year for the Scottish economy’. In 2015/16, the firm saw stronger revenue growth of 4% but PEP was down by 6%.
Linklaters is the latest Magic Circle firm to post its trainee retention numbers, retaining 84% of its 56-strong cohort.
This proportion was slightly down on its 91% autumn retention rate last year. 53 offers were made to this year’s group, with 47 accepting positions. Last week Allen & Overy posted a retention rate of 85% while Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer retained 66% of its cohort. Continue reading “Trainee retention: Linklaters, Gowling, Macfarlanes and Ince keep rates high for the autumn”
Think, just for a moment, exactly like a client.
You asked me to provide you with a quote for a particular legal service – one that you are relatively unfamiliar with. You have just received a copy of the firm’s terms of engagement and a fee quote that tells you that the work will cost £10,000 and is payable within 28 days of the final bill being issued, which is estimated to be in two months’ time.
Do you have any questions for me?
‘A horse, a horse! My kingdom for a horse!’ Continue reading “Guest Post: My kingdom for a horse – your literary introduction to the psychology of pricing”
There are some interesting comments highlighted in a story on Legal Futures this month by the president of the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) regarding a BSB consultation.
‘The SDT will remain the master of its own destiny in this debate. Its membership will do what it believes to be right in a rational, informed, evidence-based manner. Continue reading “Guest post: You’re masterful, Mr President: Standards of proof debate takes odd turn”
Ince & Co has made use of its new bonus pool for the first time, with the firm allocating around one third of its profits to reward high-performing partners for the 2016/17 financial year.
Legal Businessunderstands the use of the bonus pool has shifted the firm’s equity spread from £140,000 – £430,000 in the financial year 2015/16 to £140,000 – £550,000. Continue reading “Ince’s new partner bonus pool sees top of equity jump 28%”
Latham & Watkins has managed to retain 95% of its City trainees in its latest round, contrasting with Kirkland & Ellis, which has kept on just over half of its cohort.
Meanwhile Allen & Overy (A&O) and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer posted their autumn trainee retention rates this week. Continue reading “Trainee retention: Latham and Kirkland report contrasting City rates as Magic Circle firms start to post 2017 figures”
Travers Smith, Slaughter and May and Hogan Lovells have all advised as Tata Steel today signed a long-awaited agreement to separate its business from the £15bn British Steel Pension Scheme (BSPS), in what is the largest pensions scheme restructuring ever in the UK.
As a result of the separation, achieved through a regulated apportionment arrangement (RAA), Tata Steel will pay £550m to BSPS, which will also be given a 33% equity stake in the steel company. With the support of the Pensions Regulator and the Pension Protection Fund (PPF), a new BSPS will be created after an assessment period. Continue reading “‘Unprecedented in scale’: Travers, Slaughters and Hogan Lovells advise as Tata Steel separates UK pension scheme”
Pinsent Masons has picked up the key advisory mandate as embattled British construction company Carillion was handed a lifeline last month thanks to the award of two contracts worth £1.3bn on the HighSpeed 2 (HS2) project.
Carillion is to build two sections of the UK’s second high-speed rail project from London to Birmingham along with its joint venture partners Kier Construction and France’s Eiffage Genie Civil, which will take at least five years to complete. Continue reading “Pinsents picks up key mandate on Carillion’s £1.3bn HS2 contracts”
Insurance and shipping specialist Hill Dickinson is in talks with fellow LB100 firm Keoghs to sell off part of its insurance business group.
Both firms – each based in the North West – confirmed they had held ‘high-level, preliminary discussions’ on the potential transfer of £23m worth of business, including 16 partners and more than 400 other staff but excluding Hill Dickinson’s marine and clinical negligence work. Continue reading “Troubled water: Hill Dickinson in talks to sell insurance business to Keoghs as revenue and profit dip again”
