Firm leaders discuss selling points as deal goes to a vote
As Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) closes in on its merger with Miami-based Greenberg Traurig, both firms have targeted full financial integration as their leaders sell the deal to their partnerships.
After a four-month election, Allen & Overy (A&O)’s C-suite for the next four years was revealed last month with corporate lawyers Wim Dejonghe and Andrew Ballheimer chosen as the new leaders.
Arguably the only Magic Circle firm to keep pace with US rivals over the last five years, A&O’s partnership opted for continuity as Dejonghe, who has been managing partner for the past eight years, was named senior partner. Co-head of corporate Ballheimer joined him as global managing partner, giving the management duo at A&O – which has traditionally included a partner from the firm’s signature banking group – a distinctly corporate look.
In the largest New Law merger to date, the UK’s biggest freelance lawyer service Lawyers On Demand (LOD) has sealed a deal with Australia’s AdventBalance to create a £25m business.
Revenue at LOD rose by 42% in the 2014/15 financial year to hit £12.3m and, with the merger doubling turnover, the deal is set to catapult LOD into the UK’s 100 largest legal services businesses, pulling in more than established law firms such as Harbottle & Lewis and Boodle Hatfield, less than a decade since its launch.
Lobby groups set up on both sides as questions loom large for the country’s legal framework
Debate among lawyers over Brexit stepped up last month as lawyers from chambers 8 New Square and Legal Business 100 firms Slaughter and May, CMS Cameron McKenna and Wedlake Bell formed a new pro-Brexit lobby.
Continue reading “City lawyers form pro-Brexit coalition led by 8 New Square QC”
A&O, Freshfields and Hogan Lovells advise on €2.55bn sell-off
In preparation for one of the largest corporate deals of the year, Allen & Overy (A&O), Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Hogan Lovells won roles on the proposed divestment of SABMiller’s European beer brands to Japanese brewer Asahi, the latest sale aimed at facilitating the $275bn merger between SABMiller and Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev). Continue reading “City firms line up on Asahi deal as SABMiller’s merger with AB InBev draws nearer”
Continued interest in European assets by Chinese investors peaked last month, as Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and Davis Polk & Wardwell landed key roles on China National Chemical Corporation (ChemChina)’s $43bn bid for Swiss seeds and pesticides group Syngenta – in what will be the largest-ever acquisition by a Chinese firm.
Simpson Thacher advised state-owned ChemChina on M&A, acquisition finance and regulation with a team led by partners Alan Klein, Shaolin Luo, Chris May and Sinead O’Shea, alongside Swiss corporate leader Homburger. Davis Polk and another top-tier Swiss player, Bär & Karrer, acted for Syngenta. Davis Polk’s team included partners Louis Goldberg and Oliver Smith, with John Reynolds providing regulatory advice; Ronan Harty and Jon Leibowitz advising on competition law; and Avishai Shachar advising on tax.
Continue reading “Wall Street elite go head to head in largest ever Chinese acquisition”
Clifford Chance sees senior exits as Clydes makes more hires in region
The Australian market saw some of the world’s largest firms make changes last month, including Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, which shut its small Sydney practice after nearly three decades of operation.
Continue reading “All change Down Under as Skadden closes Sydney office after 27 years”
With many major law firms losing money in the Middle East after overinvesting during the oil boom in the 2000s, Simmons & Simmons has followed Latham & Watkins and Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) in shutting down its Abu Dhabi operations.
Simmons carried out ‘a detailed review’ after its losses in the Middle East, which also includes offices in Dubai and Doha, rose from £243,000 in 2014 to just under £2m in the 12 months to 30 April 2015. The closure of the Abu Dhabi office affects five lawyers, including three partners. The firm’s accounts show in total Simmons has 56 staff, including 29 fee-earners and three partners in the Middle East.
Continue reading “Abu Dhabi exodus continues as Simmons becomes the latest major firm to pull out”
Victoria Young speaks to the management duo about the transformed mid-market player
‘We’ll be the first to admit the firm of five years ago wasn’t delivering what the partners wanted,’ says Fieldfisher managing partner Michael Chissick. In 2012, Legal Business took a close look at Field Fisher Waterhouse and at the time the mid-market law firm was desperate for a suitor. Three years, two failed merger talks and several high-profile partner exits later, and Fieldfisher has undergone a reboot far beyond its change of name.
Continue reading “‘We needed to move on’: Why Fieldfisher has turned its back on the dating game”
The energy group’s upstream legal chief discusses general counsel’s role as a risk partner and that £47bn deal
As BG Group general counsel (GC), and now executive vice president and GC for Royal Dutch Shell’s upstream business, Tom Melbye Eide has an enviable addition to his CV, considering his lead role in BG’s £47bn acquisition by Shell, the world’s second-biggest energy deal on record, which completed last month. Continue reading “Client profile: Tom Melbye Eide, Royal Dutch Shell”
I had no intention of doing law. My father was a detective in the Scottish flying squad. I wanted to join the police.
I got a traineeship at Dundas & Wilson where I was the only female trainee. I was also one of the very few that hadn’t been to public school. People were nice but it did feel very odd.
Macfarlanes’ Charles Martin reflects on the paradoxes facing the modern partner
I confess the analogy is not perfect, but reflecting on the bizarre and often contradictory pressures on partners in law firms today brings to mind the world of Alice in Wonderland. Today, many question the appropriateness of the partnership model itself. They certainly question the strange, often opaque feudal master/servant process by which the aspiring lawyer serves their apprenticeship. They then work (following the white rabbit down the hole past many locked doors) until they leave all caution behind and take the option of partnership – a bit like Alice eating the cake with ‘EAT ME’ written on it. Readers of the story will know that the result is Alice growing to such a tremendous size that her head hits the ceiling! The analogy is maybe not so imperfect after all.
Nigel Savage argues that legal education is falling further behind the realities of the industry
Let’s get this in context right off the bat. The Training for Tomorrow proposals by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) represent the most radical change in legal education for over 20 years. When one considers the massive structural changes in the legal services market in recent years, which have been covered extensively in these pages before, we are faced with a unique situation. The legal services sector has moved on and is tackling fundamental issues provoked by a combination of market forces, regulatory changes and the impact of technology. The SRA needs to reflect that environment within the new test of knowledge and competence (the mooted Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE), which is billed as a means of raising professional standards and allowing more flexible routes to qualification). It is, however, constrained by the contradiction of a regulatory framework based as much on historic and largely outdated concepts of ‘reserved’ activity and the reality that a huge proportion of the work that takes place in the market (particularly the City) is not reserved and therefore doesn’t require solicitor status. Even where it is reserved, others can often deliver it at a much lower cost.
Continue reading “It’s high time we moved on – why legal education fails the key test”
We canvassed City partners and in-house counsel for their views on the Law Society and the state of representation in the profession
LATE TO THE PARTY
‘I endorse what the Law Society is doing, particularly chief executive Catherine Dixon. What she’s doing to try to boost representation for the in-house community is laudable and to be encouraged. The difficulty it’s got is that it came to the game slightly later than others and it would admit that. If you look at the number of bodies and institutions that are there to assist in-house, they’re competing and therefore it makes life more difficult. My limited experience is the Law Society is doing the right thing. We would support them but there’s a long way to go.’
Robert Ivens, head of legal, Marks and Spencer
As the golden generation of banking rainmakers retire, Legal Business takes a look at the core teams of the City elite and assesses the talent in the Square Mile’s top finance practices.
‘The days of lawyers being experts only in the investment grade market are a thing of the past,’ reflects Clifford Chance (CC)’s Michael Bates, and, if anyone should know, the Magic Circle firm’s veteran head of finance should. ‘Corporate treasurers are diversifying funding sources, so while you have to be steeped in investment grade knowledge you also need to have a good level of understanding in areas such as the US private placement market, European private placement and institutional lending markets, the investment grade bond world and M&A/stock market-related requirements to ensure different strands of the capital structure work in harmony.’
Continue reading “Golden goodbyes – changing faces and fortunes at the City’s top banking teams”
With cyber risk exploding and storm clouds over the economy, it’s harder than ever to balance risk with commercial realities. Legal Business’ annual risk survey asks how law firms are coping.
While no major law firm has yet fallen prey to the sort of high-profile data breach that the mobile operator Talk Talk suffered in 2015, the threat is front and centre of every risk manager’s mind. For those polled in Legal Business’ ninth annual risk management survey with broker Marsh, ‘IT security breach/data management accident or breach’ was again regarded as the most significant risk to law firms in terms of the damage it could cause and the likelihood of it occurring (see table).
Continue reading “The battle within: Risk management and professional indemnity survey 2016”
In-house teams instructing the Bar has gone mainstream over the last ten years. LB assesses how far direct access can go.
Twenty years ago the idea of any person instructing the Bar other than a private practice solicitor was frowned upon. Although as qualified solicitors in-house counsel always had the right to instruct barristers, convention dictated private practice lawyers acted as gatekeepers of the Bar for companies seeking advice on litigation. But, as the rules have changed and in-house lawyers have expanded their remits, corporate legal teams have come to appreciate the benefits of direct interaction with barristers.
Continue reading “Straight to the source – the pros and occasional cons of direct access”
A strong reputation for derivatives work has seen Ashurst selected to join the Magic Circle’s big four international firms on Credit Suisse’s recently finalised UK panel.
Mishcon de Reya has launched a new venture with e-discovery provider Unified and software developer kCura, agreeing a fixed-price three-year contract that it claims will save clients between 10% and 30% on large disclosure exercises.
Continue reading “Mishcon signs deal with software provider to launch separate e-discovery business”
With the growth of enforcement activity worldwide, companies are being forced to create or adapt their internal structures and incorporate stricter, more sophisticated risk and compliance management systems, to detect and prevent legal risks and address any wrongdoing that could result in the infringement of domestic or international regulations.
The team at LALIVE, an international law firm renowned for its expertise and experience in international legal matters, in particular dispute resolution, investigations and regulatory advisory services, has been helping clients to successfully navigate and adapt to international regulations for the past 15 years. LALIVE has built a robust business crime defence and investigations practice, led by four partners based in Geneva and Zürich, all established practitioners with strong track records in domestic and cross-border litigation, international investigations, business crime defence as well as best-practice risk and compliance management, who combine an excellent understanding of the legal environment and enforcement agency processes, and practice in Switzerland and abroad.
Continue reading “INVESTIGATIONS: Successfully navigating challenging international regulations”
