Brodies’ Bill Drummond on the way ahead for the firm
At this time of year, along with most managing partners, my focus is on financial matters. Our results are pleasing of course, reflecting the hard work of my partners and other colleagues, and the support of our expanding list of clients. However, profitability only tells part of the story and, as far as Brodies is concerned, is simply surface evidence of that hard work for clients.
MasterCard has become the first big victim of new UK laws allowing US-style class actions, with litigation powerhouse Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan bringing a £19bn claim against the financial services giant on behalf of British debit and credit card users hit with ‘illegal’ charges.
Continue reading “Quinn acts on biggest UK lawsuit ever as MasterCard hit by £19bn claim”
The first of the Magic Circle to report financials this year, Allen & Overy (A&O) posted another year of growth with revenue rising by a modest 2.3% to £1.31bn. Last year turnover had risen by 4% to £1.28m.
Continue reading “‘Very well-balanced’: Allen & Overy posts modest growth with revenue up by 2.3%”
Ashurst has continued to hire into its banking practice, appointing King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) partner Robert Andrews to its London office. Continue reading “Ashurst extends banking practice with KWM funds finance hire”
KPMG’s UK general counsel (GC) Jeremy Barton is leading a transformation of its legal team, while also reviewing the broad range of relationships that KPMG has with law firm suppliers.
Following the pattern of other mid-tier firms, which have seen slower growth this year compared to the financial year 2014/15, Addleshaw Goddard has surpassed the £200m mark for 2015/16, with revenues up 5% to £201.8m.
Clyde & Co has posted an impressive 13% increase in turnover, topping last year’s 9% revenue boost amid a year of slow growth for many LB100 firms.
Continue reading “Financials 2015/16: Clyde & Co posts double-digit revenue growth and record PEP”
Mishcon de Reya is preparing to launch a legal action over the triggering of article 50 and the process of Brexit, for a group of unnamed clients.
Continue reading “Brexit challenged: Mishcon takes on article 50 action for mystery clients”
Less than two months after missing out on the coveted senior partner role at Linklaters, Aedamar Comiskey has been made global head of the Magic Circle firm’s corporate division. Continue reading “Linklaters leadership shuffle: Senior partner candidate Comiskey made corporate head”
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has secured a major win today (4 July) after three former Barclays traders were found guilty by a London jury of conspiring to fraudulently manipulate global benchmark interest rates.
Continue reading “‘Questions remain’: Three former Barclays traders convicted in London Libor trial”
Legal Business looks under the bonnet to assess how the Scottish arms of Pinsent Masons and CMS have fared post-merger.
The ‘Better Together’ campaign, in favour of preserving Scotland’s union with the UK in 2014, maintained that Scotland was stronger as part of Great Britain, winning that particular argument by a margin of around 11%. But while the battle may have been won for now, a number of Scottish law firms are still wrestling with the decision of whether to tie-up with an English suitor – a fact most recently indicated by Maclay Murray & Spens’ aborted merger talks with Addleshaw Goddard in February.
Continue reading “Better together? – Those Anglo-Scots unions in focus”
Pinsent Masons has posted more subdued figures for this financial year, with revenue up 5% from £362.4m to £382.3m and profit per equity partner (PEP) rising 2% from £538,000 to £550,000.
One of the big four remaining independent law firms in Scotland, Brodies has continued its strong form announcing revenue growth of 12% from £57.9m to £65.1m, while profits per equity partner (PEP) is up 13% from £532,000 to £602,000.
Law firms have attempted to blow away the Brexit blues with new partner hires. Willkie Farr & Gallagher and Hogan Lovells have added to their London offices, while in the Magic Circle Allen & Overy has expanded in Germany and Clifford Chance has boosted its Washington DC practice.
The latest corporate to boost its in-house legal capabilities through a high-profile recruit is Boston Consulting Group (BCG) which has appointed Ulrike Schwarz-Runer from property development company Grosvenor as global general counsel.
Latham & Watkins has boosted its real estate finance practice in the City, hiring Quentin Gwyer, who was executive counsel at GE Capital Real Estate. The appointment follows the hire of Jeremy Trinder from Dechert who started at the firm this week.
An administrators’ progress report for the now-defunct Parabis Group, published this week on Companies House, showed that unsecured creditors will receive only half of what was already a dismal return on their outstanding debts.
Continue reading “Parabis collapse update: Creditor dividend halved, latest report reveals”
Herbert Smith Freehills has significantly bumped up pay packets, awarding its associates with a base salary of £82,000, up £13,000 on last year’s £69,000.
King & Wood Mallesons, Latham & Watkins (KWM) and Cleveland firm BakerHostetler have advised on the $1bn sale of defense company Data Device Corporation (DDC) to TransDigm Group.
Continue reading “Dealwatch: KWM leads for regular client TransDigm on $1bn US defence purchase”
A high-profile barrister has launched a publicly-funded campaign with human rights firm Bindmans to consider a public law case on the result of the EU referendum.
