Is a sales person closing deals worth ‘ten million’ doing a good job? At first glance, it’s impossible to tell. The first thing you need to find out is: what currency? A ten million deal in pounds sterling is better than a ten million deal in US dollars, but the latter is still a decent size. Continue reading “Best practice or not best practice? That is the question”
Recently floated Birmingham-based firm Gateley has turned to recently merged Midlands rival Shakespeare Martineau for its latest lateral hire, taking partner Catriona Attride to head its national private client team. Attride had led Shakespeare Martineau’s national private client team for four years.
Continue reading “Revolving doors: National, boutique and US firms all make key hires”
Regulatory partners expect a busy 2016 as EY figures show UK regulators have ramped up the number of fines and sentencing for corporate wrongdoing.
Barclays turned to Simmons & Simmons for advice during a recent Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) inquiry into deals for wealthy clients, which resulted in a £72m fine for the bank last week.
Taylor Wessing has enhanced its City private client credentials with the appointment of contentious trusts and litigation partner Emma Jordan, who joins from Wragge Lawrence Graham & Co (WLG) where she will lead the firm’s practice and ‘add a new dimension to [its] contentious capability.’
West End firm Hamlins has enhanced its media offering with the recruitment of BBC lawyer Julian Ward, who after a decade in-house, will join the firm’s media and entertainment practice as a partner.
Continue reading “Hamlins boosts media offering with senior BBC lawyer hire”
Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) has established a formal alliance with Singapore firm Prolegis, almost two years after it chose not to renew its licence to practise locally.
Continue reading “Herbert Smith Freehills renews commitment to Singapore with local firm alliance”
Corporate crime specialists are divided over the likely impact of Lord Justice Leveson’s approval of the UK’s Serious Fraud Office’s deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) with ICBC Standard Bank (formerly Standard Bank).
Continue reading “Mixed reviews over impact of first SFO deferred prosecution agreement”
Days after announcing its fifth merger of 2015 with Luxembourg outfit OPF Partners, Dentons has today (30 November) announced it will launch a presence in Latin America and the Caribbean, and is considering combining with Colombia’s Cárdenas & Cárdenas, and Mexico’s López Velarde, Heftye y Soria (LVHS).
Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) is advising ICBC Standard Bank on its deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) with the UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO) – the first deal to be struck since DPAs came into force in February 2014.
Continue reading “Plea pioneers: HSF advises bank on first deferred prosecution agreement with SFO”
Those of you who follow my work closely (*hello mum and dad*) will observe that I am a cautious proponent of innovation but – because the day job demands it and because it is interesting – I also spend some time talking and writing about the ethics of innovation.
Continue reading “Guest post: Innovation makes you dodgy. Discuss”
As part of yet another review of how it manages the profession, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) is mulling a ‘fundamental shift away from prescriptive rules’ with a proposal to allow practising solicitors to give advice from unregulated firms.
Continue reading “Free agents: SRA could allow solicitors to practise outside regulated firms”
After six months of talks national firm Irwin Mitchell and LB100 firm Thomas Eggar have voted to approve their union, creating an £250m firm with plans to establish a leading private wealth business.
Addleshaw Goddard‘s leadership has floated a major shake-up of its partnership terms and governance structure in what promises to be a sensitive process as the firm holds merger talks with Maclay Murray & Spens.
Many of us watched the Chancellor’s Spending Review speech because of controversial proposals such as cuts in tax credits for the low paid. He gave us a pleasing U-turn on that. Then he surprised us all with an attack on lawyers and victims of accidents. Don’t ask me what this had to do with a review of public spending.
Continue reading “Guest post: Osborne’s bizarre personal injury proposals”
Australian-listed Slater & Gordon (S&G), which makes 80% of its UK revenue from personal injury claims, lost half its stock market value yesterday (25 November) after the UK government announced plans to limit the number of personal injury claims.
Allen & Overy (A&O) has posted a 4% revenue increase for the first six months of the 2015/16 financial year. Turnover rose to £642m rising 3.6% from the same period last year.
Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) and its client the Royal Bank of Scotland have been criticised for their role in a ‘less than compelling’ and ‘unfocused’ disclosure process in the long running £4bn shareholder dispute against the bank.
It is two years and one month since the coalition government decided not to raise the small claims limit for personal injury (PI) from £1,000 to £5,000.
Continue reading “Guest post: Where now for personal injury lawyers?”
Profit at top-25 firm DWF fell 7% for the year ending 30 April 2015 from £50.4m to £46.7m, which the firm has attributed to a ‘focus on the integration of our people as well as consolidation following our mergers and acquisitions’.
