Posted on

‘A critical first step’: WLG sets sights on global stage with Canadian tie-up

Wragge Lawrence Graham & Co (WLG) has set out its global ambitions, following the announcement in July of its union with Canadian firm Gowlings. Gowling WLG will create a 622-partner law firm across 18 cities, and is billed as a new Global 100 practice with revenues estimated at over £400m.

Although some peers have expressed surprise at WLG’s decision to go into the Canadian market, the combination is being pitched by management as a platform to reboot the combined firm as truly global.

Continue reading “‘A critical first step’: WLG sets sights on global stage with Canadian tie-up”

Posted on

Latest hires boost Fried Frank’s bold City expansion plans under Graham White

Former Kirkland & Ellis de facto London head Graham White has experience in building City practices and almost a year after being recruited by Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson to revive its London offering, the outpost has seen some credible arrivals. But as two more partners officially join in September, White is planning more recruits and a move to larger offices.

White, who joined in October 2014, was tasked to build out three main practice areas – finance, private equity and funds – and then support the expansion of M&A, followed by real estate and restructuring.

Continue reading “Latest hires boost Fried Frank’s bold City expansion plans under Graham White”

Posted on

Hard graft – The pan-Europe bribery crackdown

As European agencies turn up the heat on bribery and corruption, we team up with Simmons & Simmons to assess how clients are responding.

Until 1999 German laws allowed for some bribes to be tax deductible. Bribes or grease payments enabled German companies to get ahead overseas, or so many claimed. These payments were viewed as good for business and good for the German economy. At worst, they were a necessary evil.

Continue reading “Hard graft – The pan-Europe bribery crackdown”

Posted on

The Global London debate – Tipping points

To mark our annual Global London report, Legal Business teamed up with Venturis Consulting to assess the dramatic progress made by US law firms in the City. Can anything slow the advance?

It has been the defining force in the City legal market this decade: the emergence of US law firms as credible and increasingly potent operators in the Square Mile. With these firms representing an increasingly existential challenge to City rivals, we assembled a group of senior practitioners to mark the publication of our 2015 Global London report.

The wide-ranging debate – covering strategy, dramatically shifting transatlantic markets and the fierce battle to attract the best lawyers – proved one of the most incisive discussions Legal Business has ever held.

Continue reading “The Global London debate – Tipping points”

Posted on

The Last Word: Through the looking glass

From a successful UK focus to consolidation, LB100 management figures give their reflections on the market

So far so good

‘A number of businesses like us have adopted a strong sector proposition in the UK and that has been welcomed by the market. It reflects a general improvement in the UK economy and those businesses with a strong imprint in the UK market will benefit from that. We have grounds for confidence but the main challenges I see are around the uncertainty that remains at a macro level in a number of economies where we trade. It remains to be seen how clients respond and adapt to the EU referendum in the UK. There is continuing uncertainty in the eurozone, brought about by the position of Greece – I still see that limping along.’

John Cleland, managing partner, Pinsent Masons

Continue reading “The Last Word: Through the looking glass”

Posted on

Client Profile: Susanna Berger, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co

KKR’s European GC talks about building a local team for a diversifying finance giant.

One of the most common criticisms levied at general counsel (GCs) is their inability to share best practice, as well as their supposed lack of knowledge of the challenges facing peers. However, for Susanna Berger, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co (KKR)’s GC for Europe, networking with peers is one of the best parts of the job.

Continue reading “Client Profile: Susanna Berger, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co”

Posted on

LB100: The Top 25 – The world turned upside down

The predicted comeback year for the UK legal elite instead turned industry trends and conventional wisdom on their head. Legal Business jumps down the rabbit hole and tries to make sense of it all.

‘Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!’ The Red Queen, Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass

***

Continue reading “LB100: The Top 25 – The world turned upside down”

Posted on

LB100: The Second Quartile – The first shall be last…

The City’s mid-tiers defied the critics to achieve market-leading pace through 2015, cementing the gains of recent years. How big an upset can the tortoises deliver?

There are a few simple ideas that define the pecking order in the UK legal industry. The big boys are international, materially larger than the tiers below and two to three times as profitable as their mid-pack cousins.

Continue reading “LB100: The Second Quartile – The first shall be last…”

Posted on

LB100: The Second 50 – The Lion & the Unicorn

Regional firms are experiencing mixed fortunes. Can they take advantage of a less London-focused client base?

Regional and national firms dominate the second half of the Legal Business 100 (LB100), but typically they do not enjoy the same success as the London-based firms that also occupy the lower end of the table. This year, 32 firms ranked 51-100 are regional or national law firms based outside London, totalling £1.2bn in revenue from 6,308 fee-earners.

Continue reading “LB100: The Second 50 – The Lion & the Unicorn”

Posted on

LB100 2015: Methodology and notes

LB100 LAW FIRMS

The firms that appear in the Legal Business 100 (LB100) are the top 100 firms in the UK, ranked by gross fee income generated over the financial year 2014/15 – usually 1 May 2014 to 30 April 2015. We call these the 2015 results. Where firms have identical fee incomes, the firms are ranked alphabetically.

SOURCES

An overwhelming majority of firms that appear in the LB100 co-operate fully with its compilation (see ‘Transparency’, right) by providing our reporters with the required information. A limited number of firms choose not to co-operate officially with our data collection process and in these circumstances we rely on figures given to us by trusted but anonymous sources. Continue reading “LB100 2015: Methodology and notes”

Posted on

The LB 100 2015 – Through the looking glass

Menu

Continue reading “The LB 100 2015 – Through the looking glass”

Posted on

Life during law: Peter Crossley, Squire Patton Boggs

I started life in South Africa mainly doing crime and divorce. Knowing something about criminal law, and the cut and thrust of the courtroom, is a good base for anybody who wants to do litigation.

I wanted to go to the Bar but my father was a bank manager in South Africa with a lot of barrister customers who weren’t doing very well so he basically said: ‘You’ll never make it so become a solicitor.’ Both my parents were English, my father was at Dunkirk and was badly wounded and captured so he emigrated to South Africa for health reasons. He was always a pretty strong character and was the sort of man who you couldn’t ignore!

Continue reading “Life during law: Peter Crossley, Squire Patton Boggs”

Posted on

Keeping up with the Joneses – will A&O’s pay overhaul keep top talent?

Sarah Downey looks at the £20k pay boost and whether the market will follow suit

Allen & Overy (A&O)’s decision to award lucrative associate salaries similar to some US firms in July, as part of a wider overhaul of how it rewards junior lawyers, has sparked renewed debate in the City about how best to retain top talent.

Continue reading “Keeping up with the Joneses – will A&O’s pay overhaul keep top talent?”

Posted on

The Finance View: Bigger, simpler, cheaper? How to position the modern securitisation counsel

Michael West assesses the impact of the ongoing rehabilitation of structured finance

Securitisation lawyers have been hard pressed since the financial crisis, diversifying their practices and often even ditching the S word. However, relief has been increasingly at hand in the last two years as the thinking of regulators and policy-makers has swung from seeing the financing tool as a cause of the banking crisis to key for getting more investment into the economy. Highlighting this shift at a speech to the Global ABS 2015 conference in Barcelona in June, the Bank of England’s executive director of prudential policy David Rule gave public backing to proposals to create EU-wide criteria for simple, standard and transparent (SST) products, a move he said would ‘play an essential role in de-stigmatising European securitisation, helping the market to develop on a sustainable track and attracting a broader investor base’.

Continue reading “The Finance View: Bigger, simpler, cheaper? How to position the modern securitisation counsel”

Posted on

A&O and Freshfields win work on Bwin’s bidding battle

888 looks set to strike £900m deal

Deal lawyers took little respite over the summer as the traditional lull failed to materialise. One deal that kept teams at Magic Circle duo Allen & Overy (A&O) and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer busy was the bidding battle between 888 and GVC Holdings for online gambling company Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment.

Continue reading “A&O and Freshfields win work on Bwin’s bidding battle”