Magic Circle duo Slaughter and May and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer have won roles as Switzerland’s Zurich Insurance Group bids to buyout its FTSE-100 listed rival RSA for £5.6bn.
Continue reading “Dealwatch: Slaughters and Freshfields lead as Zurich bids £5.6bn for UK’s RSA”
After having seen several clients turn to other legal practice course providers, Kaplan Law School has announced that it is set to close at the end of 2016.
Continue reading “We don’t need no education: Kaplan Law School to close in 2016”
Less than six months after returning to Barclays‘ HQ in Canary Wharf, Simon Croxford has been selected to replace the banking giant’s outgoing deputy general counsel (GC) Michael Shaw.
Continue reading “In-house: Barclays picks Simon Croxford to fill expanded deputy GC post”
Baker & McKenzie has fallen behind rival firm DLA Piper in the stakes to be the biggest global law firm after its worldwide revenues dropped 4% to $2.43bn in the fiscal year ending 30 June 2015.
Energy giant National Grid has revealed a new legal panel, further slimming down its roster to just 12 firms – a reduction of nearly 50% over its last two reviews.
Clifford Chance (CC) has revealed a trainee retention rate which outpaces its Magic Circle rivals to have announced so far with the firm keeping on 96% of its cohort. Meanwhile Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) managed a rate of 71%.
Despite the summer break being upon us, law firms have continued to invest in their recruitment strategies. Norton Rose Fulbright (NRF) continued to build its Hong Kong offering by hiring a partner from Hogan Lovells, while Squire Patton Boggs turned in-house and BLM scored a ‘major coup’.
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius has recruited two further partners from K&L Gates, adding to the three already to have made the move in July, as the US firm builds its City securitisation offering.
Solicitors and barristers have called off their legal aid strike after 52 days as a ‘gesture of goodwill’ to the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) following discussions over further cuts to fees.
Continue reading “Strike no more: Solicitors call off legal aid protest after 52 days”
Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) has boosted its insurance practice and expanded its regulatory offering by recruiting Clyde & Co’s leading insurance partner Geradline Quirk.
Continue reading “City moves: BLP looks to broaden insurance offering with Clyde & Co’s Quirk”
One of Scotland’s oldest commercial legal practices, the Glasgow-based McClure Naismith, is looking for a white knight merger as it reviews its options after finding the firm ‘lacks the scale needed to compete’.
As McClure Naismith reveals its difficulties in the Scottish market today (20 August), Burness Paull has shown it is not all doom and gloom for independent Scottish firms by posting double-digit growth in both turnover and profits, with revenues increasing by 11% to £51.3m and profits up 12% to £23.2m.
Ashurst is set to move its entire London operation to a new location at 1-10 Brushfield Street in Spitalfields in 2019 after having shifted its Sydney-based operations last month.
Continue reading “After 30 years of Appold Street, Ashurst set for new City location in 2019”
The recruiters are scouring the market for project managers (PM) to work in law firms. But whilst firms can agree on the title, they don’t agree on the role specification and often the real job is different yet again. So what exactly are they looking for, and why are many firms failing to find them?
Continue reading “Guest post: Legal project managers – pioneers or homesteaders?”
A client of City-based law firm Royds has been granted a landmark ruling over an insurance-related dispute against insurer AIG with the High Court clarifying the Solicitors’ Minimum Terms of Cover rules.
Tech-focused firm Fieldfisher bagged an advisory role opposite a five-partner team from Slaughter and May as private equity duo Palamon Capital Partners and Corsair Capital purchased online foreign exchange provider Currencies Direct for £200m.
Ropes & Gray is pushing on with its City build-out with McDermott Will & Emery data privacy co-chairs joining the firm’s privacy and data security practice in London and Boston.
Irwin Mitchell has outperformed the relatively flat growth of its insurance-focused peers with modest turnover growth of 4% from £202.7m to £210.6m, along with a 6% rise in profits before tax from £17.1m to £18.1m.
The first of the Magic Circle’s big four to announce its trainee retention rate, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer is set to see 40 newly-qualified lawyers walk through its door this autumn, from a trainee intake of 48.
Continue reading “40 out of 48: Freshfields keeps on 83% of autumn 2015 trainees”
Latham & Watkins has returned to Clifford Chance (CC) for another star hire, with German banking chief Alexandra Hagelüken becoming the latest senior partner to switch allegiances.
Continue reading “Senior CC German exits mount as Latham recruits head of banking Hagelüken”
