Slaughter and May and Linklaters gained advisory roles as energy services group Amec Foster Wheeler agreed to a £2.2bn takeover by Wood Group in an all-share offer that brings together two of the UK’s largest energy services companies. Continue reading “Repeat business: Slaughters and Linklaters act as Wood Group to take over Amec in £5bn deal”
DLA Piper has seen global turnover drop to $2.47bn for 2016 as overall profits improved by 6%. Revenue fell 3% from last year’s $2.54bn, while net profit was up to $643.4m from $605.4m the previous year. Continue reading “DLA Piper revenue drops below $2.5bn as global firm trims lawyer numbers”
Kirk Murdoch, chairman of Pinsent Masons in Scotland and Northern Ireland, has passed away after a battle with illness.
The Crown Commercial Service (CCS) has unveiled its panel for general legal advice services, with 18 firms making it onto a two tier panel. Continue reading “Twelve firms make it onto top tier of reduced Crown Commercial Services panel”
An initial report into King & Wood Mallesons‘ now defunct European arm states unsecured creditors are expected to lose £33.5m as administrators Quantuma continue to sift through the affairs of legacy SJ Berwin. Continue reading “Barclays among unsecured creditors set to lose £33.5m in KWM Europe administration”
In an unusual break from its mantra of transparency, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has decided it will no longer hold public board meetings or give members of the legal press permission to attend.
Continue reading “SRA gets secretive, blocking public and press access to board meetings”
Two years after Cooley‘s launch in the City with a dramatic flurry of hires, the office has hit turnover of $47m and grown rapidly. Matthew Field talks to Cooley London managing partner Justin Stock about the firm’s next move. Continue reading “Q&A: Cooley’s Justin Stock talks launching in London and his ambition to match US success”
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Allen & Overy (A&O) have both kept on 31 members of their spring trainee intake, with retention rates of 84% and 82% respectively. Continue reading “Freshfields and A&O latest in the Magic Circle to post spring trainee retention rates, keeping on 84% and 82% respectively”
US litigation specialist Boies, Schiller & Flexner has hired Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) head of public international law Dominic Roughton. Continue reading “HSF public international law head to boost Boies Schiller City practice following Miles exit”
Eversheds Sutherland has appointed corporate partner Keri Rees to head up the firm’s global company commercial practice group following Keith Froud’s appointment as managing partner, Legal Business has learned. Continue reading “Legacy Eversheds partner Keri Rees takes top corporate role at newly-merged firm”
Slaughter and May is changing heads in three practice areas: dispute resolution, outsourcing, technology, intellectual property (IP) and sport, and pensions and employment, as Linklaters has also promoted a new real estate leader. Continue reading “Refreshing the ranks: Magic Circle firms freshen up practice area leadership”
Hearing that Legal Business was gearing up for an in-depth look at the collapse of the European arm of King & Wood Mallesons (KWM), a well-informed contact told me that this story could not be told without going back to the Stanley Berwin days. Continue reading “Comment: Myths and monsters – how KWM got swallowed by its own culture”
Latham & Watkins announced today (9 March) that it has continued bolstering its financial services offering in the City with the hire of Linklaters financial regulation partner Daniel Csefalvay.
Ahead of the tripartite merger between CMS, Nabarro and Olswang, Facebook has announced that it has taken on commercial disputes partner Anna Caddick from its external adviser Olswang as its EMEA head of regulatory and litigation.
Gowling WLG has lost its legacy Lawrence Graham private client team, including four partners, to Mayfair firm Forsters.
Private client head Anthony Thompson is to depart, along with partners Catharine Bell, Nicholas Jacob and Daniel Ugur. The partners will be joined by 10 lawyers and five staff members. Continue reading “‘The right move’: Four-partner private client team leaves Gowling WLG for Forsters”
Outside the limelight of London’s legal community, Scotland’s GCs toil in low profile. Legal Business assesses the talent north of the border
The professional life of a public company general counsel (GC) in Scotland can feel isolated at times. As a member of a small club, opportunities to plug into the professional networks that their peers in the South East of England take for granted can be limited. ‘We do get a sense sometimes that we are a decreasing community!’ confesses Christopher Morgan, GC and company secretary at Glasgow-based engineering plc Weir Group. ‘Certainly the number of Scottish-based plc GCs is thin on the ground and it’s dwindling.’
Continue reading “Northern lights – The trials and treasures of Scotland’s leading GCs”
James Wood talks to lawyers in an industry that attracts advisers for the long haul
Transport and infrastructure has long been viewed as one of the less glamorous legal practice areas, best suited to lawyers with the patience for ploughing through the minutiae of statutes. But with increasing public and political scrutiny and a rush of private investors looking to park their money in safe assets, it has become one of the most high-profile – and demanding – areas of legal work.
‘Everyone is on their own voyage of discovery. But is any law firm leveraging AI in a material way? I don’t think they are – yet.’
Derek Southall, Gowling WLG
Can legal AI match the hype? Legal Business asks key figures about the future for law technology
PUBLICITY KING
‘Of course they’ll have prices, but then you’ll try to work your way around those prices. The reason you’re seeing lots of press releases that say “law firm signs up to use [tech provider] Kira” is because Kira will give you a discount if you do that. Honestly, “law firm uses Kira” isn’t really news, let’s be brutally honest. But Kira will say: “I’ll give you a 10% publicity discount if you do it.” Why not? Why wouldn’t I do that? That then helps Kira to tell a story that says Kira is already being used by Clifford Chance, Linklaters, Freshfields… Suddenly if I’m law firm number 72 and I see all these big law firms, I’m thinking, shit, I’d better use that too.’
Nick West, chief strategy officer, Mishcon de Reya
I’ve enjoyed every minute as a barrister and a judge. Two careers. I’ve been privileged.
I didn’t want to be a lawyer. Even when I went to Oxford I didn’t know. I thrashed around, then stumbled into the Bar. I wanted to do something in the real world. My father was always starry-eyed about the Bar. I suspect that came into it too.
Continue reading “Life during law: Lord Dyson, 39 Essex Chambers”
After a 2016 inflection point for automation, which City players are going beyond the hype and pushing ahead in the use of AI?
It is like 1999 all over again. That year, the legal tech bubble reached bursting point as law firms fell over themselves to demonstrate their commitment to cutting-edge tech. And things started to feel familiar in 2016 as the Magic Circle took its first substantive steps into the sphere of artificial intelligence (AI). But while the investment and hype has expanded, so has the scepticism. Will this be the start of the long-anticipated automation revolution or another false dawn?
Continue reading “The arms race – City rivals ramp up AI tech for the battles ahead”
