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The last word: 2017 – the year ahead

‘There is a pause in the activities firms like ours service. The question is, for what? Business may get used to a continuum of uncertainty.’

Steve Cooke, Slaughter and May

After a year of mergers, Brexit, and Trump, law firm leaders reflect on the 12 months gone by and size up the year ahead

 

A COMPLETE WORLD

‘The world has become more complex, and clients are looking for advisers who can cut through the red tape and help them navigate the choppy waters. That’s our sweet spot – the harder a deal becomes the more we feel at home.’

Charlie Jacobs, senior partner, Linklaters (more…)

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Client profile: David Symonds, Johnson Controls International

The conglomerate’s EMEA GC on forging a groundbreaking sole-adviser mandate and its recent $16.5bn merger

In an area of the profession obsessed with talking up innovation and downplaying costs, David Symonds, EMEA general counsel (GC) for recently merged entity Johnson Controls International (JCI), is a name synonymous with both.

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A buyers’ market – The trends and traumas in adviser reviews

The trend for reduced panels has seen law firms put through their paces by clients eager to drive innovation and control spend. Legal Business reviews the reviews

In-house teams may have grown in size and stature over recent years, but their external adviser panels are definitely shrinking. As a result, law firms find themselves increasingly at the sharp end during adviser reviews (see box ‘Cutting back’, below), with clients pushing for better rates, greater efficiencies and added extras.

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Sideways – A lateral move in leadership and big US ambitions for Clyde & Co

Clyde & Co has been on a terrific run of growth in the last five years. With a new senior partner installed and his predecessor in the US, will the firm be able to maintain momentum?

When Legal Business sat down with Clyde & Co’s new senior partner Simon Konsta in November, the firm’s notoriously hands-on chief executive Peter Hasson was on holiday in Miami. While discussing Hasson’s intense focus on the day job, Konsta is asked if Hasson will be able to resist checking in. Minutes into the interview, Konsta’s phone starts ringing. It’s Hasson.

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Watching the watchmen – at the sharp end with the lawyers on public inquiries

Public inquiries have the power to seek truth in tragedy and scandal, but could a rigid process and weak leadership be undermining their authority? We talk to the professionals at the sharp end

It was supposed to find the facts amid decades of cover-ups and abuse of the most vulnerable in society, but in recent months the former chair of one of the most complicated inquiries in British history was branded a disgrace and its lead counsel departed trailing controversy and legal threats.

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The USP – What is Mishcon’s secret formula?

‘The emphasis around our culture is no billy bollocks…’

Elliot Moss, director of business development

 

‘Mishcon is like being at uni but you get paid for it.’

Kevin Gold, managing partner

 

‘What does anyone want? Make decent money and hang around with their mates.’

Kasra Nouroozi, head of dispute resolution

In 1994, a young South African lawyer named Kevin Gold was sitting in his office at central London practice Bayer Rosin flipping a coin to decide the future of the firm he ran. ‘Heads or tails… Olswang or SJ Berwin…’

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Another blow for KWM as Addleshaws hires former European head Boss along with two other partners

Addleshaw Goddard has made a play for King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) partners, taking on the firm’s former managing partner William Boss, as well as property partner Simon Tager and commercial real estate partner Michael Scott. Addleshaws has also hired commercial real estate managing associate Luke Harvey who joins as a partner. Continue reading “Another blow for KWM as Addleshaws hires former European head Boss along with two other partners”

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Freshfields, Eversheds and Slaughters lead the pack as Brexit vote sparks record-breaking admissions to Irish roll

The number of solicitors added to Ireland’s law society roll has increased by 275% to 1,347 solicitors over the past year in the wake of the Brexit vote, with Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Eversheds and Slaughter and May making the most applications. Continue reading “Freshfields, Eversheds and Slaughters lead the pack as Brexit vote sparks record-breaking admissions to Irish roll”

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News in brief – December 2016

PARTNERSHIPS AT RISK IN AUTUMN STATEMENT

Chancellor Philip Hammond signalled a change to partnership taxation in November’s Autumn Statement, which is expected to impact law firm pay. Hammond said he will shake up profit-sharing arrangements, and according to UHY Hacker Young tax partner Roy Maugham, the government will propose that partnerships must decide their profit-sharing arrangements at the beginning of the tax year rather than at the end, regardless of how individuals perform.

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Revolving doors: Akin Gump strengthens trade practice in London, while Mayer Brown expands pensions

In a busier week for laterals, US firms Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld and Mayer Brown strengthened their London benches, while several UK firms including Shepherd and Wedderburn, Clyde & Co and Ince & Co target growth in Scotland, China and Singapore, respectively.

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