Comment: Doing something radical – how Dentons sort of won me over

Everywhere I go in legal circles these days, people ask about Dentons. How incredible it would have been even 18 months ago that this child of a second-line Illinois player and the most battered City law brand of the 2000s would attract such interest. Much of that attention is aghast that this dismissed institution has emerged somehow after a remarkable 2015 as the world’s most lawyered firm.

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Comment: Singapore swing – HSF’s Leydecker on the island state’s threat to the dominance of English law

English lawyers have long had an edge over their US and continental colleagues. English law was established early as the law of trade, business and increasingly projects – a throwback to the days of the Empire. This was a major driver of growth for UK-based firms in recent decades, but it is well known that New York law has become a rival to English law, especially in banking and finance, as corporates tap into the deep US debt markets.

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US financials 2015: Paul Weiss, Dechert, Goodwin and K&S all post strong results

US firm revenue-season has begun with leading firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison posting year-on-year growth. Revenues were up 7% in 2015 to $1.1bn from $1bn the previous year in what is the firm’s 16th year of record-breaking growth having broken the billion dollar barrier last year.

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Linklaters’ new global banking chief reshuffles deck in shadow finance push

Bugg targets renewed growth for Linklaters’ finance team in shake-up at Silk Street

Just weeks into his new role as Linklaters global head of banking, Tony Bugg told the firm’s 200 banking lawyers in London that a reorganisation will take place with four group leaders introduced with greater power to set individual and group targets.

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DLA Piper partnership votes to overhaul remuneration system

Firm increases bonus pool and launches three-year lockstep for new partners

DLA Piper International partners have approved an overhaul of its pay structure, introducing a points-based remuneration system and a larger bonus pot as it targets greater profitability, while bringing in a separate lockstep for new partners while they grow their practices.

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Cooke: ‘Conveyor belt is not a phrase you will ever hear uttered at Slaughter and May’

Corporate veteran vows to maintain City focus when he succeeds Saul in May

The new senior partner at Slaughter and May, Stephen Cooke, has pledged to retain the firm’s City focus when he takes up his five-year term at the helm of the UK’s most profitable law firm in May.

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Osborne Clarke still going strong as LB100 firms report first-half results

2015 Legal Business Law Firm of the Year Osborne Clarke has continued its sound financial performance of the last few years, reporting impressive first-half results for 2015/16. The firm has outpaced its peers by a stretch, reporting a 25% rise in first-half turnover.

While not all firms disclose their revenues at the halfway point, Deloitte has found UK law firm revenues were up by an average of 4.5% for the first half of the financial year 2015/16.

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1COR tops QC appointments table as female applicants remain ‘stubbornly low’

One Crown Office Row (1COR) saw six of its barristers take silk in this year’s round of Queen’s Counsel (QC) appointments, as those selecting new QCs remain concerned at the low level of female applicants.

With this year’s 107 appointments marking a rise on last year’s round of 93, notable appointees included 1COR junior Marina Wheeler, the wife of Boris Johnson; Wilberforce Chambers barrister Tim Penny, a former member of the dissolved set 11 Stone Buildings; and 39 Essex Chambers’ Justine Thornton, the wife of former Labour leader Ed Miliband.

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Linklaters picks merger targets in Shanghai as Asia exits stack up

Linklaters has selected Shanghai Capital Law & Partners and Shanghai Kai-Rong Law Firm as targets as management works to establish a Chinese law offering. The plans come as the firm’s Asia practice has been rocked by a series of senior exits.

Linklaters wants to become the first Magic Circle firm to practise Chinese law through new Shanghai free-trade zone rules after decades of protectionism in the communist country.

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