A few years ago the general counsel of one of the big banks told me that they only went to outside law firms for three reasons. First to get advice on what to do. That could be on a deal, a dispute or some other objective of the bank. It requires senior time and is not particularly price sensitive. Let’s call that ‘advisory work’.
Linklaters makes key real estate finance hire with former Allen & Overy team leader
In a move to boost its real estate finance practice, Linklaters has hired former Allen & Overy (A&O) real estate finance head Mark O’Neill.
Freshfields European exits continue as four partner Paris team gears up to join Orrick
Partners from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer continue to exit the firm’s European offices as a four partner team is about to leave the Paris outpost to join Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe.
Snooper’s charter: Lawyers team up to launch new campaign as bill reaches committee stages
Lawyers have teamed up with journalists to condemn the so-called snooper’s charter as MPs began discussing the Investigatory Powers bill in parliament this week.
Partner promotions: Nabarro makes up four in the City as Olswang makes up one in reduced round
Olswang has made just two partner promotions firmwide including one in the City, while Nabarro has promoted five in a City-heavy round. Continue reading “Partner promotions: Nabarro makes up four in the City as Olswang makes up one in reduced round”
SRA to probe City firm connections to Panama Papers
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has asked several law firms to clarify whether they are linked to the law firm at the heart of the Panama Papers leak, Mossack Fonseca.
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Gateley acquires tax adviser Capitus in first deal since AIM listing
AIM listed law firm Gateley has bought tax adviser Capitus in a deal worth £2.72m, the firm’s first acquisition since its listing in June 2015.
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Comment: KWM – ultimately it comes down to a question of confidence
These are tough times for the house that Stanley Berwin built, with exhibit A being recent news that King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) is undergoing a sweeping partnership restructuring set to trim its European business by nearly two dozen partners, or 15% of its ranks.
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Winston & Strawn makes double partner hire from Simmons in aviation finance boost
US firm Winston & Strawn has swooped on City rival Simmons & Simmons to take aviation finance duo Mark Moody and Christopher Boresjo.
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Steel deal: Forsters and Slaughters lead as Tata sells first chunk of UK business
Forsters lined up against Magic Circle firm Slaughter and May on Tata Steel’s deal to sell its European long products business to UK investment house Greybull Capital.
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Guest post: On David Cameron and inheritance tax
To avoid tax you have to do a thing which cuts your tax bill. Fail to do that thing and your tax bill is higher. But do it and you’ve avoided tax compared with an alternative world – economists call it a counterfactual but you and I would call it an overdraft – in which your tax bill is higher.
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Skadden names NY-partner as enforcement head in London in global investigations push
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom has boosted its City-based investigations practice having relocated white collar partner Keith Krakaur (pictured) from New York to London to head the firm’s European government enforcement and white collar crime practice.
HSF and Jones Day lead on £1.4bn deal between Qatari Diar and Delancey
Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) and Jones Day are leading a raft of firms advising on a £1.4bn property deal between Qatari Diar Real Estate Investment Company and Delancey. Olswang, Mishcon de Reya and Simmons & Simmons are also acting on the joint venture.
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A hollow victory: Former KWM client wins negligence case but takes home only 5% of damages claimed
King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) has been ordered to pay its former client Commodities Research Unit International (CRUI) damages of £118,125 after facing a professional negligence claim at London’s High Court.
Adaptation continues as Ince & Co launches non-legal consultant service
Maritime and insurance firm Ince & Co has continued to break away from long-standing tradition with the launch of a new consultancy firm.
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Revolving Doors: Squire and Watson Farley make Paris hires in big week for international appointments
Paris has been a hot spot for lateral hires this week, as firms including Squire Patton Boggs, Watson Farley & Williams (WFW) and Mayer Brown make international appointments across the board.
One-stop shopping is here but it’s not doing what it was supposed to
Sometimes in business what you correctly forecast can prove as problematic as what you get wrong. Because even when you manage the considerable feat of identifying what will happen in the world you are left with problems of unintended consequences.
Take the one-stop shop, a dominating idea during the legal industry’s defining 1990s-era globalisation as firms fought to become larger players that could serve clients across borders and product lines. The idea was that plc clients would narrow their adviser lists to smaller numbers of larger law firms. And this has largely come to pass – the trend of smaller panels has been well documented for years and the shift shows no sign of changing. There is also ample evidence that being a one-stop shop for high-end work across borders is highly profitable for law firms.
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Global London 2016 – The Main Table
KWM – ultimately a question of confidence
These are tough times for the house that Stanley Berwin built, with exhibit A being recent news that King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) is undergoing a sweeping partnership restructuring set to trim its European business by nearly two dozen partners, or 15% of its ranks. While global managing partner Stuart Fuller (pictured) attempts to frame the move as repositioning KWM for the future, the storm clouds are ominous. The firm has suffered a string of significant exits in the last 18 months in its funds, litigation and corporate practices, losing several notable clients along the way. The firm was already going through a performance-driven partnership review set to manage out at least 10% of its ranks by this April (the firm’s German practice has struggled particularly). While the firm managed to achieve respectable growth in 2014/15 and increases in profitability in Europe, having to go through more major cuts is hardly an advertisement for its partnership.
Continue reading “KWM – ultimately a question of confidence”
The tiger that came to eat BLP’s culture for breakfast and other sorry tales
These are tough times for another house that Stanley Berwin built, with exhibit B being the acrimonious end of merger talks between Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) and Greenberg Traurig. While the practice fit between the two looked both convincing and distinctive, these were two firms with plenty of strong characters. Summing up the prospect of the proposed deal recently, Legal Business noted that proceeding with a union would be holding ‘the proverbial tiger by the tail’. So it quickly proved, as on 16 March the pair officially called time on the discussions amid some discontent from the US firm, which was unhappy at the messages being put out by BLP at the end of the talks.
Continue reading “The tiger that came to eat BLP’s culture for breakfast and other sorry tales”