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Firms including Bond Dickinson, TLT and DAC Beachcroft appointed to local authority framework

A host of UK firms including Bond Dickinson, TLT and DAC Beachcroft have been appointed to West Yorkshire authorities’ legal framework (WYLAW) for three years.

A total of nineteen law firms have been appointed across ten lots which include childcare law, general litigation, routine property and contracts, commercial and IT. National firms Browne Jacobson, Ward Hadaway and Weightmans also feature on the roster. The last WYLAW review was carried out in June 2013 resulting in a panel which included Eversheds Sutherland and Pinsent Masons. Continue reading “Firms including Bond Dickinson, TLT and DAC Beachcroft appointed to local authority framework”

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Comment: A grinding year for the Global 100 as US leaders assert dominance

Casting an eye over the results for the world’s 100 largest law firms, 2016/17 has been the definition of grinding out a result. Not a pretty result at that.

The group as a whole hiked revenues 3% to $98.82bn, pretty much tracking the increase in lawyer numbers. In part due to the strength of the dollar, there are some surprising results. The number of $2bn-plus law firms has fallen from ten to eight (thanks to Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Linklaters). The number of $1bn-plus firms falls from 35 to 34. Consolidation continues to be a force in the industry but almost exclusively in the global mid-tier, not its upper echelons. Continue reading “Comment: A grinding year for the Global 100 as US leaders assert dominance”

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‘Particularly pleasing’: DAC posts 20% rise in PEP despite subdued revenue

DAC Beachcroft‘s profit per equity partner has increased 20% from £358,000 to £432,000, despite subdued revenue growth which the firm attributed to global investments and challenging market conditions over the year.

The firm recorded a 3% revenue rise from £201.6m last financial year to £207m this year.

DAC Beachcroft notably further reduced its debt by £1m to £19m over the period. Continue reading “‘Particularly pleasing’: DAC posts 20% rise in PEP despite subdued revenue”

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Trowers and Withers post fall in autumn trainee retention rates

Trowers & Hamlins will retain 70% of its second-year trainees in newly-qualified (NQ) roles this autumn, while Withers has decided to keep 73% of its final-year group this year, both a fall from last year’s retention rates.

Seven Trowers’ trainees from ten-strong cohort will be retained to qualify into the firm’s commercial property, corporate, construction and real estate departments. Continue reading “Trowers and Withers post fall in autumn trainee retention rates”

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‘Major consolidator’: Work Group raises £20m as it gears up to list Gordon Dadds in August

Following Work Group’s conditional £18.8m reverse takeover bid for West-End firm Gordon Dadds, Work Group confirmed it has successfully raised £20m, as the firm gears up to publicly list in August.

Work Group said in a statement that it had raised £20m through the conditional placing of new ordinary shares in Work Group, at a post-consolidation price of 140 pence per share, which would give the enlarged group a market capitalisation of £40m, based on the placing price on admission to AIM. Continue reading “‘Major consolidator’: Work Group raises £20m as it gears up to list Gordon Dadds in August”

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Freshfields, Slaughters and Morgan Lewis act as Bertelsmann buys further stake in $3.55bn Penguin Random House

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Slaughter and May, Morgan Lewis & Bockius and Davis Polk & Wardwell all returned to act as co-owner Pearson agreed to sell a further 22% stake in Penguin Random House (PRH) to Germany’s Bertelsmann, with the UK education company aiming to recapitalise the business to generate net proceeds of around $1bn.

Continue reading “Freshfields, Slaughters and Morgan Lewis act as Bertelsmann buys further stake in $3.55bn Penguin Random House”

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Life during law: Juan Picón, DLA Piper

I come from a big family. The only male. I have four sisters and was exposed to the talent and influence of women very early on.

My father’s influence led me into law. He had a very small law firm, just himself and another partner. And he was obsessed with me as his successor to get into law but in a different way from him. He was visionary enough to see that the law was going to change and it was better for me to do something different.

Continue reading “Life during law: Juan Picón, DLA Piper”

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The Scottish play – amid uncertain times English law firms keep crossing the border

Neither political nor economic uncertainty in Scotland is dampening enthusiasm for law firm tie-ups across the border

With a listless economy, an oil and gas industry decimated by low commodity prices, and uncertainty over its future relationship with the EU and the rest of the UK, Scotland is lacking both clarity and optimism over its future.

Continue reading “The Scottish play – amid uncertain times English law firms keep crossing the border”

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Magic Circle playbooks in Europe are full of contradictions

To recap as the UK tiptoes towards banana republic territory in the wake of last month’s inconclusive, prediction-defying general election: City professionals face the prospect of an unsteady government negotiating a logistically-epic exit from the EU with an uncertain agenda against a much larger and better prepared counter-party. That is until the next general election in perhaps the autumn.

But let us put politics to one side and assume that a form of substantive Brexit is happening. Where does that leave top London law firms with such ominous clouds hanging over London as a finance and legal services hub?

Continue reading “Magic Circle playbooks in Europe are full of contradictions”

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Answer to law firms’ social ills is not another league table

Have we reached peak aspirational employer league table yet? From the perspective of the legal industry we certainly should have, given the trend in recent years for the profession to turn up with improbably high rankings in a proliferating range of ‘best employers for…’ tables.

Were an alien to descend to earth and judge the industry on the basis of these rankings they would conclude that the profession had cracked social mobility, gender diversity, gay-empowerment and quality of life… all the while generating a tonne of money.

Continue reading “Answer to law firms’ social ills is not another league table”

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The Global 100 2017

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Continue reading “The Global 100 2017”

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A grinding year for the Global 100 as US leaders assert dominance

Casting an eye over the results for the world’s 100 largest law firms, 2016/17 has been the definition of grinding out a result. Not a pretty result at that.

The group as a whole hiked revenues 3% to $98.82bn, pretty much tracking the increase in lawyer numbers. In part due to the strength of the dollar, there are some surprising results. The number of $2bn-plus law firms has fallen from ten to eight (thanks to Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Linklaters). The number of $1bn-plus firms falls from 35 to 34. Consolidation continues to be a force in the industry but almost exclusively in the global mid-tier, not its upper echelons.

Continue reading “A grinding year for the Global 100 as US leaders assert dominance”