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Rebels with a clause – a new kind of group for a new kind of client

Tech-savvy, dynamic and fast-growing – the Disruptive GC group is on every law firm’s radar. Legal Business meets the hustling new kids on the block

For classists, the word ‘disruptive’ still carries negative connotations of damage, chaos and disarray. But these days in corporate circles it has become the phrase of the day – a complimentary shorthand to describe tech-driven innovators remaking all manner of industries. But the cult of disruption – birthed in Clayton Christensen’s hugely influential 1997 book The Innovator’s Dilemma – has truly come of age when it has reached not only the legal profession, but its in-house branch.

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Market comment: A year of living dangerously

‘There isn’t much to differentiate between law firms. It is predominantly relationship-based, not on massive differentials in service.’

Chris Newby, AIG

Global law firm leaders look back over a turbulent 12 months to cite the big trends shaping the legal industry

SOFT TARGETS

‘The impact of changes in sterling FX rates has made a number of UK targets more attractive to overseas buyers. It’s no coincidence there has been an increase in M&A with UK targets. Interestingly, UK outbound investment has also been strong in recent months and M&A activity in Western Europe is set to continue at a high level for the second half of this year.’

Andrew Ballheimer, global managing partner, Allen & Overy Continue reading “Market comment: A year of living dangerously”

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Reversal of fortunes – A decade-spanning view of the Global 100

Back in 2007 UK-based firms were living large on a boom in the City and sterling. A global financial crisis and currency turmoil then changed the narrative fundamentally

In the summer of 2007, the proverbial had not quite hit the fan yet. The global economy was still riding high on the back of the boom years of 2005 and 2006, and it was not until July 2007 that Bear Stearns reported that two of its hedge funds had imploded. Lehman Brothers was still very much in business. The first iPhones went on sale at the end of June. And, in stark contrast to today, City-backed law firms were dominating the Global 50.

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The Global 100 overview: Atlas shrugged

Political shocks, gyrating currencies and choppy markets – it has been yet another testing year for the Global 100. Legal Business looks at those shouldering the burden and those buckling under

Twelve months ago, the global legal community was reeling from the shock UK referendum result to leave the EU. Senior industry leaders shook their heads and predicted even more turbulent markets in what was already an uncertain global economy.

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The Global 100: The Zone – The US elite turns up the pressure

The gap between top US firms and the middle-tier masses continues to widen as pressure to secure top-decile talent intensifies. Can the chasing pack keep up with America’s elite?

‘The competition is frenetic in terms of attracting talent as is the competition in being retained on the most complex and sophisticated client mandates,’ notes Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison chair Brad Karp. ‘When you think of the continuum with commoditised work on one end and hyper-complex big-ticket work on the other, firms like ours try very hard to ensure that 90% of work is in that tiny zone at the end of the spectrum.’

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The Global 100: The European question – Have years of cuts left the Magic Circle exposed as Brexit looms?

 

London’s top firms have been quietly retrenching for years in mainland Europe. As Brexit looms, where has that left the Magic Circle?

‘Welcome to Europe, the haven of legal certainty,’ quips Burkhart Goebel, Hogan Lovells’ managing partner for continental Europe. Continue reading “The Global 100: The European question – Have years of cuts left the Magic Circle exposed as Brexit looms?”

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City’s big four rides churning forex markets as A&O leads the Magic Circle on results

Double-digit fee growth for A&O, Links and CC but Freshfields stalls

Dramatic swings in foreign currencies against Brexit-battered sterling have lifted reported results from London’s big four, with double-digit growth rates for Allen & Overy (A&O), Clifford Chance (CC) and Linklaters. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer’s growth, however, has stalled in what has been a record year for the Magic Circle.

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Ince & Co brings in alternative career to partnership as it shakes up associate pay

Ince & Co is offering its lawyers the option to choose a different career path from the traditional partner track, as it revamps its associate pay structure.

Lawyers at Ince will now progress up a four-step career programme applicable to trainees, associates, senior associates and managing associates.

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Mishcon boosts fledgling cyber security consultancy service

Mishcon de Reya has brought in Mike Owen from PwC as the fourth member of its expanding cyber security consultancy service, advising clients on cyber intelligence, risk consultancy and reputation management.

In a month of global cyber attacks, the new cyber security adviser, who previously worked at BAE Systems and Sage Pay, joined Mishcon’s non-lawyer analysts Emeric Bernard-Jones and Laura Hawkins, and head Joe Hancock.

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Ashurst loses second Paris team this year as four partners quit for Gibson Dunn

In a second blow to Ashurst’s Paris office this year, the firm last month lost a four-partner team to Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, led by litigation and restructuring partner Jean-Pierre Farges.

Tasked with launching a new French litigation and finance practice at the US firm in Paris, Farges is joined by fellow disputes partners Pierre-Emmanuel Fender and Eric Bouffard, corporate partner Bertrand Delaunay and finance counsel Amanda Bevan, who will be made up to partner in the move.

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Addleshaws, Ashurst, DLA and Eversheds Sutherland chosen for DfT’s first rail panel

Addleshaw Goddard, Ashurst, DLA Piper and Eversheds Sutherland were selected last month to tier one of the Department for Transport (DfT)’s first £50m rail panel.

As part of the panel appointment, which lasts until 2020, the four firms will act on rail franchise competitions, major rolling stock procurements and infrastructure projects.

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High-stakes: White-collar crime teams ready as SFO hits Barclays with landmark prosecution

White collar specialists scramble in landmark prosecution

White-collar crime specialists have scrambled across the City as the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) last month charged Barclays and four former executives with conspiracy to commit fraud, false representation and unlawful financial assistance in arranging a £7.3bn Qatar funding deal at the height of the 2008 financial crisis.

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‘Should be the end of the proposal’: Queen’s Speech reprieve for SFO as abolition move recedes

Theresa May’s Conservative manifesto pledge to subsume the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) into the National Crime Agency (NCA) was absent from June’s Queen’s Speech, with lawyers welcoming the prospect of the merger being shelved.

The speech, outlining the next two years’ statutory agenda, instead introduced a UK repeal and a customs bill and related European legislation to replace the EU’s customs regime, the world’s largest by economic output.

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‘Cavalier’: former Clyde & Co litigator struck off roll after string of misleading failures

The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) has struck off former Clyde & Co senior associate Rajpal Ahluwalia from the roll and ordered him to pay over £41,000 in costs after a series of failures starting in 2013, when he omitted to file a client’s defence.

The June judgment followed a 9-11 May hearing, at which Ahluwalia admitted failing to ensure that a client’s defence in 2013 was filed in good time, resulting in default judgment and £500,000 damages and costs.

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‘Hugely complicated’: Watson Farley, White & Case, A&O line up on $14bn shipping deal

Watson Farley & Williams has advised a group of 27 international and local banks acting as financiers on a $14bn merger between shipping giants Hapag-Lloyd and United Arab Shipping Company (UASC).

The tie-up will create one of the five largest container shipping lines in the world, with 230 vessels and a combined turnover of around $12bn.

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