After launching in Milan late last year, Dentons has continued its recent European expansion by announcing a second office in Italy with a new branch in Rome.
Continue reading “When in Rome – Dentons follows Italy launch by opening in capital”
Clifford Chance recruits new CFO as Purse retires after 11 years
Clifford Chance has hired Patrick Glydon, the global director of commercial initiatives from advertising agency Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN), to succeed its current chief financial officer Stephen Purse, who is set to retire.
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‘Simpler and better’: CMA calls for more competition but stops short of recommending full legal services review
An interim report into the legal services market released by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has found that competition in legal services for individual and small business consumers is not working as well as it should, while upfront information on price and quality is often not available to consumers. However the investigation has stopped short of recommending a full review.
Revolving doors: K&L Gates and CC make key appointments as Pinsent Masons makes Magic Circle hire for new Düsseldorf office
In this week’s appointment round-up, Clifford Chance (CC) has added muscle to its New York office and K&L Gates has recruited in London, while Pinsent Masons has hired in Germany from CC.
Global 100: It’s hard going all over
The headline numbers from this year’s Global 100 report do not make upbeat reading, even before the Brexit effect and resulting vote began to chill the market in Europe. While total revenue moved forward 3% to $95.99bn and lawyer headcount grew 6% to 122,945, the per lawyer and per equity partner metrics are flat: average revenue and profit per lawyer (RPL and PPL) are down 2% to $781,000 and $308,000 respectively, while average profit per equity partner (PEP) stood still at $1.6m.
With income growth flattered by consolidation – primarily Dentons’ merger-mania and the digestion of Bingham McCutchen – the world’s 100 largest firms are not, as a breed, growing at all.
KWM becomes Rogers & Wells II but with less staying power
A fêted global giant acquires a punchy mid-tier player to provide coverage in a key global region. Hopes are high. Yet just a few years later the combined firm is plagued by culture clashes, an identity crisis and damaging departures. Buyer’s remorse sets in and the ‘acquired’ firm longs for freedom or even just the good old days.
As we report this month in our cover feature on King & Wood Mallesons (KWM), the painful reality is that SJ Berwin has become, for the global legal market, the modern equivalent of Rogers & Wells, the troubled US acquisition that halted Clifford Chance (CC)’s once unstoppable momentum.
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Freshfields leads the pack as London’s big four continue flat financial trajectory
Firm posts impressive 8% PEP hike and 7% revenue increase despite headcount drop
With the unaudited results of firms in, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has produced the standout 2015/16 financial performance in what was another muted year for the City’s most powerful law firms.
The profession takes stock as Brexit vote sends UK crashing out of EU… and into years of uncertainty
Tom Moore and Matthew Field size up the immediate impact of the vote on City lawyers
It was the result the profession and the City feared but did not expect as the referendum on European Union (EU) membership on 23 June ended in a shock vote to exit the grouping, triggering political and market shocks set to reverberate for years to come.
Barclays slashes number of firms by over 60% in global review
DLA Piper misses out as bank sets out new categories
Barclays picked a raft of firms, including Clifford Chance, Ashurst, Simmons & Simmons, Hogan Lovells and Reed Smith, as the banking giant overhauled its global roster last month and slashed its number of go-to advisers by over 60%.
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Under fire: Linklaters and Olswang in the spotlight as dealmakers face parliament over BHS collapse
City lawyers faced the wrath of MPs during May and June in an inquiry over the sale of BHS. The April collapse of the retailer, following its sale by Sir Philip Green’s Arcadia Group for £1 to Dominic Chappell’s Retail Acquisitions, caused political fallout for advisers on the deal, including law firms.
Partners from Olswang, Linklaters, Eversheds and Nabarro all appeared before a joint committee of MPs from the Work and Pensions and the Business, Innovation and Skills departments.
Allen & Overy beats UK rivals to top 2015 deal table for European private equity
Allen & Overy (A&O)’s growing private equity (PE) team has had a strong year, topping Dealogic’s European PE table after advising on 31 deals across the 2015 calendar year for clients including Apollo Global Management, The Blackstone Group and Carlyle Investment Management. The firm advised on deals equal to 21% of the European buyout market last year, acting on $23.95bn worth of deals.
The A&O team, led by co-heads Stephen Lloyd (pictured), Karine Kodde and Robin Harvey, edged out Magic Circle counterparts as well as US firms in the City.
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A&O teams up with Deloitte for pioneering joint venture targeted at banking giants
Axiom and Ashurst follow with similar service to meet regulations
In the first marquee joint venture between a Magic Circle firm and a Big Four accountant, Allen & Overy (A&O) and Deloitte have teamed up to create a tech-driven service to help banks handle post-Lehman regulation.
‘Natural choice’: long relationships see Freshfields and Linklaters bag roles on Poundland bid
Both Linklaters and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer scored lead roles on an attempt by South Africa’s Steinhoff International Holdings to take over British retailer Poundland. Steinhoff, a $22bn homeware and clothing conglomerate, made a bid to take over Poundland, which it already had a 23.26% stake in. At press time, Poundland had rejected Steinhoff’s initial bid, but Steinhoff upped its holding in the UK discount retailer to 23.52%.
Steinhoff already owns PEP, which sells discount clothing, footwear and homeware across 1,800 stores in Africa, as well as UK chain Harveys Furniture.
Magic Circle firms lead on £615m Swiss takeover of British electronics company
Allen & Overy (A&O) and Slaughter and May have advised on the acquisition of British electronics company Premier Farnell by Swiss manufacturer Dätwyler for £615m.
A&O advised Leeds-based Premier Farnell, while Slaughters acted for Dätwyler on the transaction.
Announced in June, the deal sees London-listed Premier Farnell, which produces the Raspberry Pi single-board minicomputer, join the Swiss multinational. The deal is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2016.
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Trusts and estates disputes – Back on board
With high-profile trust and estates disputes providing a rich diet to private client specialists for some time, City firms have recently made the push to get in on the act.
If the mass retreat of City firms from private client work in the 1980s and 1990s looked like folly when Mishcon de Reya, Forsters and others began to leverage their practices with commercial success during the recession, it looks like even more of a mistake today. With trusts and estates at the heart of some of the biggest global disputes currently, firms with significant commercial litigation practices have taken note.
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American dream: Bond Dickinson seals exclusive tie-up with Womble Carlyle
The alliance will see all UK work referred to Bond Dickinson
With US merger plays by Addleshaw Goddard and Berwin Leighton Paisner dominating headlines so far this year, last month mid-market UK national firm Bond Dickinson signed an exclusive strategic alliance with full-service US firm Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice.
The deal means that Womble Carlyle, which has operated on a non-exclusive referral basis with Bond Dickinson for approximately six years, will refer all UK work to the firm and vice versa.
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Ashurst retreats in Europe, closing Stockholm and Rome
Ashurst closed the doors to two of its European offices in June, confirming it will dissolve its Swedish offering with the entire team of 30 staff in its Stockholm office moving to Hamilton.
The firm will also close its base in Rome with its remaining lawyers relocating to Milan following a review of its Italian offering after a string of exits. The fate of the office was sealed following the resignation of the Rome office’s sole partner Aian Abbas.
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The finance view: Bespoke and busy – no return to the cookie cutter but plenty of creative lawyering for City’s property finance teams
Victoria Young reviews the changing property finance landscape
Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) head of real estate finance Naveen Vijh surveys a much changed landscape: ‘We have a much more diverse client market now. It is important to know the whole of the market, its whole breadth.’
Welcome to the John Joyce show: Addleshaws’ head aims to push national firm centre stage
Victoria Young and Kathryn McCann talk mergers, leaks and pay with Addleshaws’ no-nonsense head
For a firm until recently associated with dithering, drift and under-performance, Addleshaw Goddard has been in decisive mode of late. Over the last two years the national player has assumed a more assertive style under the leadership of managing partner John Joyce (pictured). Joyce, who took over after an unhappy period under predecessor Paul Devitt, quickly overhauled the firm’s strategy. But in truth, strategy changed little from that of Devitt and then senior partner Monica Burch. Transformed instead was the leadership style and managerial mood music from Joyce, a man who at times appears to be doing a parody of the bluff northerner but who pulls it off thanks to results and a good dose of humour and charisma. Not since Mark Jones at the height of his powers a decade ago has Addleshaws had such an unyielding operational grip on the tiller.
Client profile: Anna Tolley, Anheuser-Busch InBev
The brewing giant’s legal and corporate affairs director discusses mergers and learning on the job
Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev) legal director Anna Tolley describes the constant change at the drinks company as a rollercoaster she is still yet to get off. After joining (then) InBev as senior legal counsel in 2009, the young lawyer quickly moved up the ranks post-merger with AB InBev appointing her head of legal for UK and Ireland in 2011, two years after she joined. A year later Tolley was bumped up to UK and Ireland legal director and, following another promotion, is now the company’s legal and corporate affairs director for Northern Europe and sits on AB InBev’s UK operating board of directors.
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