This second quarter has seen Allen & Overy (A&O) launch a comprehensive review with external consultants drafted in to look at both its pay structure for junior lawyers and to compare the firm’s levels of pay against market rates.
Simmons breaks into growing legal product market with start-up tool targeting hedge funds
Seeking to turn the City’s next big hedge funds into clients, Simmons & Simmons has entered the growing legal product market with a package to guide hedge fund managers through the increasing regulatory burden attached to creating and launching a financial firm.
CC loses City finance partner to Milbank as Pinsents benefits from German exits with IP hire
Pinsent Masons has become the latest firm to benefit from the on-going travails of Clifford Chance’s (CC) German offering with intellectual property (IP) partner Marc Holtorf leaving the Magic Circle firm’s Munich offices while in London, Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy hired asset finance partner Nick Swinburne.
Herbert Smith Freehills shuts Abu Dhabi office as firm consolidates Middle East presence
Reduced to just one partner in Abu Dhabi, Herbert Smith Freehills is shutting the office and shifting its five-lawyer team to Dubai just six years after opening.
PwC Legal hires Mayer Brown’s former German chief in financial services drive
PwC Legal has expanded its German legal team with the hire of Mayer Brown banking and finance partner Jorg Wulfken in Frankfurt as the firm looks to build a ‘sizeable’ financial services offering outside of the US.
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Freshfields looks to ruffle New York disputes market with hire of Simpson Thacher’s Martin
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has made a significant move to enhance its US practice with the hire of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett’s experienced corporate disputes specialist Linda Martin.
Press watchdog looks at new arbitration body to handle media claims
The Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) has launched a three month consultation on creating a new arbitration scheme to settle defamation, privacy and other civil legal disputes with the press.
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Dealwatch: Dickson Minto lands role alongside A&O and Ashurst on $1.7bn ERM sale to Canadian pension funds
Allen & Overy (A&O), Ashurst and Dickson Minto have won key roles on the off-market acquisition of Environmental Resources Management (ERM) by Canadian pension funds OMERS Private Equity and co-investor Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo).
Reckitt Benckiser’s group GC Bill Mordan exits after 12 years for pharma giant’s ‘wonderful opportunity’
Reckitt Benckiser’s group general counsel (GC) Bill Mordan (pictured) is set to leave the consumer goods company to take up the role of GC and company secretary at pharmaceutical giant Shire.
HFW and Gibson Dunn lead as Rothschild exits troubled Asia Resource Minerals
A four-partner team from Holman Fenwick Willan (HFW) has spearheaded ACE’s high-profile purchase of Nat Rothschild’s stake in troubled Indonesian coal miner Asia Resource Minerals with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher acting for the British financier and Ashurst for Indonesia’s Widjaja family.
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Boies Schiller boosts London presence as it takes on third City partner with WilmerHale hire
Eighteen months on from its City launch, Boies, Schiller & Flexner has hired its third partner with Kenneth Beale joining the disputes shop from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr’s arbitration group.
Brown Rudnick hires Clydes’ corporate head as it targets Francophone work
Clyde & Co head of corporate Philip Rogers is leaving the firm after eleven years to head up Brown Rudnick’s emerging markets corporate practice in London after the US firm also made two laterals in its Paris office last week.
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Freshfields brings in McKimm as LevFin co-head while Ashurst rejigs Asia management
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has changed its finance team’s management as it brings in Kirkland & Ellis high-yield heavyweight Ward McKimm as co-head of its European leveraged finance group, while Ashurst has made changes to its Asia leadership team.
Law’s ‘class ceiling’ – Government report finds one law firm hires 60% of trainees from Oxbridge
A government report into barriers of entry in the professions has criticised the ‘class ceiling’ at law firms and other professional service outfits which it says are blocking working-class people from elite firms.
Freshfields targets US and Asia for two more business service hubs amid plans for 24/7 legal support
After taking the decision to move back-office staff out of its London headquarters to Manchester in a nearshoring exercise, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer is taking the low-cost support model to new heights as it looks at potentially opening two further support outposts in Asia and the US to provide 24/7 legal support.
Ashurst blow as King & Spalding secures four-partner team for Tokyo launch
King & Spalding has chosen Tokyo as its second base in Asia, hiring a team of Ashurst partners led by Tokyo managing partner John McClenahan to spearhead its launch.
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We need to talk… about technology: Shepherds’ CEO Gibb on keeping pace with technology
Innovation lies at the core of technology. Evolution and improvement in the ways we design and use basic utilities and infrastructure such as telecoms, water and energy are key to ensuring perennial and adaptable services for an ever-growing global population.
Guest post: Law firm mergers – be clear if it’s for your balance sheet or your clients or it won’t go well
The industry standard in tracking US law firm mergers, Altman Weil’s Mergerline, has had this to say about activity in the wake of the Global Financial Reset:
Mergers helps drive 11% revenue growth at CMS with profits up 3%
With two mergers under its belt in 2014, CMS has unveiled double digit growth in revenue for the financial year ending 31 December 2014 with turnover up by 11% to €934.5m (£753.3m).
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BLP launches US securities team with BAML director and former Proskauer partner
Berwin Leighton Paisner has made a double hire to start a US securities group in the City, hiring former Proskauer Rose partner Katherine Mulhern and Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAML) director Bobby Schrader.
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