Legal Futures has gained exclusive access to what is believed to be the transcript of a secret meeting held recently between Lord Chancellor Michael Gove (pictured) and a delegation from the Bar Council.
Continue reading “Guest Post: Michael Gove – the barrister’s best friend?”
City firm RPC has hired former Worldpay corporate general counsel Matthew Griffith as a partner in its corporate insurance and financial services team, in a bid to ‘sharpen client focus’ in the sector.
Continue reading “RPC makes key finance hire with former Worldpay corporate GC”
West End firm Gordon Dadds has rescued another ailing firm by acquiring Jeffrey Russell Green (JGR) following a pre-pack administration, creating a full service firm.
A number of firms including Osborne Clarke, Baker & McKenzie, CMS and Simmons & Simmons made key hires last week.
Watson Farley & Williams continues to build its City offering through lateral hires, by hiring Clyde & Co corporate partner Nigel Taylor to join the firm.
Continue reading “Watson Farley hires Clyde & Co corporate partner Nigel Taylor”
Two pieces this month touch on a common theme: the profession’s failure to influence government. The first touches on the policy issues that have most commonly put the profession into conflict with government: the provision of legal aid, in our coverage of the unprecedented strike by publicly-funded lawyers. In the second, in our Global 100 debate, Slaughter and May’s Nigel Boardman rightly highlights the profession’s glaring lack of influence in shaping business law, while senior figures cite mounting concerns over the future of the judiciary and courts.
The UK profession’s lack of clout has long been bizarre. English law has huge influence globally both in terms of foreign businesses deploying it and choosing English lawyers and courts but also in terms of soft power. The UK is a global leader in legal services, home to the world’s second-largest legal market and a substantial contributor to exports and tax revenues.
Continue reading “Fragmented and naïve: the profession’s failure to penetrate Whitehall”
At the time that SJ Berwin combined with King & Wood Mallesons there were plenty of reasons to be optimistic. The firm had eyed a global merger for years, KWM was a much-fêted Asia-Pacific giant with a commanding position in China’s fast-growing legal market and the deal was in general welcomed by its partnership (in contrast to the smoke and mirrors surrounding the abortive discussions with Proskauer Rose). And yet, as we report this month, the firm has suffered a challenging few years since the deal went live, marked by significant departures.
Part of the problem is the inevitable consequence of the legacy UK firm’s reputation in private equity and funds, areas under siege from US law firms. That is a known quantity and the firm has been proactive in addressing that challenge.
Continue reading “The fundamental things – SJ Berwin and the problem with legal conglomerates”
Our recent International Arbitration Summit in London provoked lively discussion and, ahead of a full report on the debate next month, here is a taster of some of the key points
‘The once preoccupying debate about what issues you can arbitrate has become of ever-diminishing relevance in the modern world. Almost all commercial disputes today are now arbitral, with fewer and fewer exceptions.
We need to ask ourselves again and again why users are complaining that modern arbitration is, all too often, failing to fulfil the promise of international arbitration as a flexible and streamlined form of dispute resolution, in which the particular process is tailored to the particular issues in play, in a particular case. We need to ask ourselves why mainstream public opinion is often expressing a very open level of criticism about the legitimacy of investment arbitration, which is inevitably spilling over into the commercial arbitration mainstream.’
Constantine Partasides QC, founder, Three Crowns
After a promising first year for King & Wood Mallesons/SJ Berwin, its UK practice saw a bruising 12 months. Tom Moore reports on its efforts to regain the initiative.
The first 12 months of SJ Berwin’s merger with King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) seemed plain sailing. The expected fallout that often occurs after such a transformative merger hadn’t materialised, with just a handful of partner exits amounting to no more than the average churn at a big law firm. The partnership was supportive of the merger, which went live in November 2013. There were few abstentions and disputes partner Tim Taylor QC even starred in a high-energy dance routine in a Dubai swimming pool to celebrate the merger, becoming a minor viral hit in the process.
Continue reading “Sum of its parts: can King & Wood Mallesons match the hype?”
My career has been one of misfortune for others and fortune for me. I had two senior partners that died – one was very young, Alan Rosin at Bayer Rosin – he was in his 40s, I was about 30. As a result of his death, which was a huge tragedy, I inherited a practice.
Bayer Rosin was a unique firm. The partners were either South African or East African. South Africa was just coming through apartheid and so on his death the opportunities presented themselves. Many firms wanted to merge with us as we had a strong practice in the region. One was Mishcon… I brought about half the firm with me, others went their own way. The second person was the then-senior partner Martin Bayer. He came to Mishcon but died a few years after we joined.
Continue reading “Life During Law: Kevin Gold, Mishcon de Reya”
Amid a changing global legal market, three storied Wall Street firms retain commanding reputations. Legal Business assesses New York law’s enduring inner circle.
‘Almost all absurdity of conduct arises from the imitation of those whom we cannot resemble.’
Samuel Johnson
Continue reading “The conservation game – up close with New York’s original inner circle”
It’s over two years since the government announced its controversial next wave of cuts to legal aid. As resentment this year exploded into an unprecedented strike, Legal Business assesses the anger and professional horse-trading.
‘A revolution requires willing fighters with nothing to lose. There may be plenty of legal aid practitioners who fit this description. Revolution also requires a reasonable level of popular support. It is unclear whether the unity of the profession remains sufficiently robust or whether the movement as a whole has the energy it did two years ago. At this early stage, next steps are uncertain. The profession may choose conciliation, combat or a mixture of both – but, with little leverage left, whichever option it selects it must be totally committed to it.’
Tom Smith, The Justice Gap, 2015
Continue reading “Striking out – a desperate profession and the politics of legal aid”
To mark our Regional Insight report, we teamed up with Weightmans to assemble a group of senior in-house counsel in the north west.
A discussion over added value in legal services typically begins with a discussion of what the term actually means. Right off the bat, Celia Tierney of Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council points out that the phrase ‘best value’ was coined by the public sector, as local government bodies have been required to provide this in their services for a considerable amount of time. On the other hand, Tyco’s regional general counsel (GC) EMEA, David Symonds, sums it up for most when he says: ‘The primary driver that we are judged by is how much we spend externally.’
Continue reading “North west clients – The delivery business”
As part of our Regional Insight series, we met with senior in-house lawyers and partners from Brodies in Edinburgh to discuss the key issues facing GCs working in Scotland.
The most heavily-used phrase among in-house counsel and private practice lawyers alike is ‘trusted adviser’, so it is therefore unsurprising that this became the first major topic of discussion on an agenda looking at the key pressure points facing in-house counsel. Stuart Clarke, head of legal at Scottish Enterprise, says it is fundamental to be seen as being at the heart of your organisation’s thoughts on how it is going to deliver its business plan.
The UK legal market now offers more choice than ever, and this is reflected in the 2015 edition of The Legal 500, which has never seen more movement.
Specialist outfits with non-traditional business models are a credible alternative to classic full-service rivals. In dispute resolution, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, Stewarts Law and Enyo Law have all moved up the rankings. Employment boutique Brahams Dutt Badrick French moves into tier one for senior executive work; tech and media-focused Cooley enters the rankings after its dramatic launch this year – while arbitration boutique Three Crowns ranks strongly again.
Continue reading “The Legal 500 view: more choice and competition defines market”
Morley and Dejonghe near end of terms as Magic Circle management shuffle continues
It will be the end of an era at Allen & Overy (A&O) come May 2016 when senior partner David Morley and global managing partner Wim Dejonghe step down from their current leadership roles, with Morley retiring from the firm after 36 years.
Continue reading “Allen & Overy gears up to replace its C-suite as Morley to retire in 2016”
Litigators at the London arms of Debevoise & Plimpton and Reed Smith have been drafted in on a €578m (£418m) professional negligence claim brought by British American Tobacco (BAT) against Big Four accountancy firm PwC.
BAT has instructed Kevin Lloyd, a partner at Debevoise & Plimpton, to bring the claim against PwC in the Chancery Division of the English High Court. The legal action stems from PwC’s audit of paper maker Windward Prospects, a company with which BAT has a long-running dispute over the cost of cleaning up a polluted river in Wisconsin. BAT alleges PwC failed to fully account for clean-up costs of the polluted river in its audit of Windward.
Continue reading “Debevoise and Reed Smith face off as BAT launches €578m claim against PwC”
The demise of 11 Stone Buildings (11SB) has led to a feeding frenzy as rival chambers begin to swoop on barristers from the commercial and chancery set.
Since 11SB announced it would close at the end of this month, it has emerged that Wilberforce Chambers and Radcliffe Chambers are to take on teams comprising 11SB’s most senior silks.
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher’s appointment of Herbert Smith Freehills’ (HSF’s) capital markets duo Steve Thierbach and Chris Haynes is an important step in building the firm’s English law transactional capability.
Thierbach, who was HSF’s global markets chief, is one of the City’s most established capital markets lawyers. His hire, along with corporate partner Haynes, comes as part of Gibson Dunn’s wider corporate play in London.
Continue reading “Gibson Dunn swoop for HSF capital markets duo boosts English law capability”
Simpson & Marwick merger signed as firm eyes 2016 Miami launch
After months of negotiations, Clyde & Co successfully secured a merger with Scottish firm Simpson & Marwick last month, following other London-based insurance players in establishing a presence in Scotland and adding £30m to the Global 100 firm’s top line.
Continue reading “Vaulting ambition: Clydes expands with Scottish tie-up”
