London-listed investment group Old Mutual’s longstanding legal chief and company secretary, Martin Murray (pictured), is to retire in June, and is expected to be replaced by his deputy Colin Campbell.
Continue reading “Old Mutual legal chief and company secretary to step down”
Allen & Overy, Macfarlanes and Travers Smith are among the firms competing to be named Law Firm of the Year at this year’s Legal Business Awards.
The Co-operative Bank’s legal risk expenditure almost doubled in 2015 mostly to address issues caused by the mis-selling of payment protection insurance.
Continue reading “PPI costs drive Co-op Bank’s legal risk expense up 91%”
Heavyweight financial services silk Andrew Green QC (pictured) of Blackstone Chambers has been appointed as a specialist adviser to the Treasury Select Committee and commissioned to review ‘Maxwellisation’ after it took regulators seven years to publish a report on the failure of HBOS.
Sidley Austin is upping its game in the City by announcing it will increase the salary of all its London associates to at least £100,000.
Mired in controversy over the restructuring of its internal legal team, Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) has lost another senior figure as it has emerged its head of legal for wealth management and international retail, John Pitt, is set to join HSBC where he will work alongside UK general counsel Hugh Pugsley, also formerly of LBG.
Continue reading “In-house: Lloyds loses wealth management chief to HSBC”
Having long voiced its intention to boost revenues in the Asia-Pacific region Hogan Lovells has recruited four new partners to expand its operations in Australia, hiring Scott Harris from DLA Piper, Richard Hayes from King & Wood Mallesons (KWM), and Gilbert & Tobin duo Andrew Crook and Ros O’Malley. Continue reading “Hogan Lovells triples Australian partner headcount with new hires”
The Bar Standards Board (BSB) has gained approval from the Legal Services Board (LSB) to become a licensing authority for alternative business structures (ABS) almost two years after it announced its intention to obtain a licence.
Continue reading “Bar regulator gets green light to approve alternative business structures”
Despite a poor global performance last year, London revenue at Baker & McKenzie rose 9% in the same period to £145m, as the firm’s City headcount remains flat.
DLA Piper has ended its formal relationship with Venezuelan firm InterJuris, reducing its presence in Latin America to Mexico, Brazil and Colombia.
Doughty Street Chambers barrister and human rights campaigner Martha Spurrier has been appointed as the new director of Liberty, where she will succeed incumbent Shami Chakrabarti.
Continue reading “Doughty Street Chambers barrister to take over civil rights group Liberty”
English law took ‘a wrong turning’ in favouring the use of international arbitration to resolve commercial disputes, the lord chief justice of England and Wales said in a lecture earlier this month.
While a handful of high-profile departures has meant Kirkland & Ellis has been the subject of much speculation in the City lately, the firm’s non-US revenue is up around 10%, growing faster than the firm’s overall revenue, driven by London growth.
Continue reading “City office grows faster than US as Kirkland posts 7% global revenue hike”
Confirmed just days ago, 3 Verulam Buildings‘ (3VB) heavyweight silk Adrian Beltrami QC has pulled out of moving to One Essex Court, deciding to remain at his current set.
Continue reading “A change of mind: 3VB’s Beltrami QC pulls out of move to One Essex Court”
Australian-listed Slater and Gordon‘s general counsel (GC) and company secretary Moana Weir has resigned after spending less than two months at the troubled firm.
Continue reading “Slater and Gordon general counsel jumps ship after less than two months”
In a bid to improve its City TMT offering, Ashurst has hired TMT duo Nick Elverston and Amanda Hale from Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) in London.
Despite axing 24 partners from its legacy SJ Berwin practice, King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) has hired one in London, while Hogan Lovells has made a key appointment in the US.
With the litigation market soft and the deal market at least momentarily out of breath, there may be more lawyers finding themselves leaving their firms sooner than they had planned. Law firm managers have started using the dreaded O word again – O for overcapacity – and such talk is often a prelude to firings and other forced departures.
Continue reading “Guest post: How to reduce head count without making new enemies”
In a run of new leadership announcements, Allen & Overy (A&O) has elected Philip Bowden and Andrew Thomas as the firm’s new global co-heads of banking.
Continue reading “Allen & Overy leadership latest: banking co-heads step down”
The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has hired Michael Shaw (pictured) as its next general counsel with the former Barclays and Herbert Smith veteran taking on one of the most prominent GC roles in the UK.
