As Clyde & Co’s Manchester office revenues look to hit £26m for 2014/15, the firm is expanding the presence it gained in the city through its 2011 tie-up with Barlow Lyde & Gilbert with a move into new premises and the hire of two partners from Squire Patton Boggs.
University of Law loses another client as Bakers opts for arch-rival BPP
The University of Law (ULaw) has lost another law firm’s business to rival BPP with Baker & McKenzie becoming the latest to switch its training provider.
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Ropes’ European push sees three practice heads named in the City while Goetz steps down from finance role
Having re-shuffled its City management almost a year ago, Ropes & Gray has added three more practice heads in London while Mike Goetz (pictured) steps down as co-finance chief.
Watson Farley hires Fried Frank London duo to launch structured finance practice
In a ‘strategic play’ to build its debt capital markets offering, Watson Farley & Williams (WFW) has hired a pair of finance partners from Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson’s City office.
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Financials 2014/15: DAC Beachcroft sees total billings reach £200m as profits rise 10%
As the firm ramps up for a defining election, DAC Beachcroft has announced its financial figures for 2014/15 saying it had seen a 3% rise in its total billings to £200m up from £194.4m last year.
Bar avoids advocacy fee cut as MoJ pushes on with further legal aid reductions against Law Society warning
The Bar is set to avoid further reductions in advocacy fees as the Ministry of Justice confirmed that it would make further cuts to criminal legal aid but for solicitors only – a move condemned by The Law Society which said it was ‘deeply concerned not only for the immediate future of the justice system but for its continued survival.’
Forward planning: Dentons management Portnoy and Andrew to stand in 2017 election
In a conspicuously early move by Dentons‘ chief executive Elliott Portnoy and global chairman Joe Andrew, both have revealed they will stand as candidates for the firm’s scheduled management elections in 2017.
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Comment: Be wary of vaulting ambition as competition ramps up in Scotland
An interesting battle is raging in Scotland on levels large and small. In early May, the Scottish National Party (SNP) swept to victory in 56 of the 59 seats available to it in the General Election and party leader Nicola Sturgeon pressed prime minister David Cameron to revisit the draft legislation on devolving more powers to Holyrood.
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Dealwatch: Pinsents, Travers, CC join Debevoise on £500m Motor Fuel Group disposal
A trio of LB100 firms –Travers Smith, Clifford Chance, Pinsent Masons – have lined up alongside Debevoise & Plimpton in landing key roles on Patron Capital’s recent £500m sale of one of the UK’s biggest independent petrol station operators, Motor Fuel Group, to US private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R).
‘Not a naïve or vulnerable consumer’: Barclays wins capital loan claim against former Dewey partner
The High Court has today (9 June) handed down its judgment in favour of Barclays Bank in a long running battle to secure repayment of a $540,000 loan together with interest from former Dewey & LeBoeuf partner Londell McMillan. Continue reading “‘Not a naïve or vulnerable consumer’: Barclays wins capital loan claim against former Dewey partner”
Freshfields freezes associate pay bands – move puts firm behind Magic Circle peers’ NQ wages
Within days of Clifford Chance (CC) announcing its pay bands in the associate salary race to match Magic Circle peers, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has decided to freeze salaries for junior lawyers at 2014’s levels.
Dealwatch: US trio’s City teams take lead roles on GHG’s £1.5bn three-year debt restructuring alongside Simmons and CC
Teams at the London offices of Paul Hastings; Weil, Gotshal & Manges, and Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy all took on key roles in the three-year negotiations over Simmons & Simmons-client General Healthcare Group’s (GHG) £1.5bn debt restructuring.
Gateley’s partners take home over 80% of £30m raised in landmark law firm listing
Gateley’s partners are set to receive £25m, more than 80% of the £30m total raised, as the West Midlands firm started its first day of dealings on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM).
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‘A personal decision’: BLP’s David Collins resigns after missing out on top job
Just five months after making the final two to succeed Neville Eisenberg as managing partner at Berwin Leighton Paisner, corporate chief David Collins has resigned from the firm.
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Weightmans targets July for merger with Leeds-firm Ford & Warren
National firm Weightmans is looking to establish an offering in Yorkshire, announcing it is in final merger negotiations with single office, Leeds-based Ford & Warren.
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Tods acquisition helps boost revenue 26% to £48m at Shepherd and Wedderburn
Shepherd and Wedderburn’s chief executive Stephen Gibb (pictured) has hailed 2014/15 a ‘cracking year’ as the firm posted a revenue increase of 26%, from £38m last financial year to £48m in the year to 30 April.
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Big in Japan: Withers pushes further down the Silk Road with MoFo tax hires
Continuing its recent significant push into Asia, private client specialist Withers has launched a Tokyo tax practice- Withers Japan, Zeirishi Houjin (Withers Japan) – and hired Morrison & Foerster’s (MoFo) Singapore-based Eric Roose to head up its regional corporate tax practice.
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Comment: A vision of Big Law come 2025 – will the dust ever settle?
It is 2025 and the view from the nominal head office of the leading City law firm remains as uncertain as it has for the last 15 years. Not that there hasn’t been progress at what would once have been called a Magic Circle firm.
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Solicitors set to own non-regulated businesses after watchdog levels ‘the playing field’ with ABSs
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has decided to relax the Separate Business Rule, allowing law firms to own outside businesses which are not regulated by the SRA and provide accounting services, and making it easier for them to compete with alternative business structures (ABSs).
Freshfields’ Pugh and Braham form unity ticket as teams assemble in leadership election
After Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer veterans Edward Braham and Christopher Pugh (pictured) canvassed separately and were set to go head-to-head for the firm’s senior partner elections, the duo have united on a single platform and are campaigning to lead the firm together.