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.
Continue reading “‘A personal decision’: BLP’s David Collins resigns after missing out on top job”
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.
Continue reading “Weightmans targets July for merger with Leeds-firm Ford & Warren”
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.
Continue reading “Tods acquisition helps boost revenue 26% to £48m at Shepherd and Wedderburn”
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.
Continue reading “Big in Japan: Withers pushes further down the Silk Road with MoFo tax hires”
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.
Continue reading “Comment: A vision of Big Law come 2025 – will the dust ever settle?”
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).
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.
In a sign of the travails facing law firms doing business in ‘unusual jurisdictions’, Enyo Law has established an in-house business intelligence unit to help conduct due diligence and build business while it has also bolstered its ranks after partner Annabel Thomas exited for Mishcon de Reya earlier this week, hiring Eversheds partner Jonathan Brook.
DLA Piper is to launch a flexible working unit to rival Allen & Overy’s (A&O) Peerpoint and other alumni-based ventures following criticism over the lack of flexibility within the firm’s remuneration structure.
Clifford Chance’s (CC) ambition to build its New York office have suffered a setback with the loss of M&A duo Ivan Presant and Joseph Cosentino to US firm Greenberg Traurig.
Continue reading “Clifford Chance’s New York office loses corporate duo to Greenberg Traurig”
Taylor Wessing has released its financials for 2014/15 with UK revenues increasing by 8.2% to £121m from £112m last year and stated plans to make ‘significant further investments’ particularly in its international network.
Clifford Chance has revealed its 2015 pay bands for newly-qualified (NQ) lawyers, matching the £70,000 NQ rates of Slaughter and May while also meeting Linklaters’ higher salaries for those with two and three year post-qualified experience (PQE).
Reversing the trend of partners departing Magic Circle firms for US rivals, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, subject to a partnership vote, is set to hire high-yield heavyweight Ward McKimm from Kirkland & Ellis.
Continue reading “Kirkland exits continue as high-yield heavyweight McKimm set to join Freshfields”
As it looks to return to its pre-financial crisis form Addleshaw Goddard is set to launch AG Consulting, which will provide a range of new services to general counsel and in-house legal teams, including panel and risk management.
Continue reading “Addleshaws launches AG Consulting ahead of contract lawyer offering”
Just three months after sealing its entry into Canada by combining with local firm Davis, DLA Piper has continued its march across the Americas by signing a cooperation agreement that will see it launch in Colombia.
A year since it edged past the £100m barrier, revenue at tech-heavy law firm Fieldfisher rose by 9% to reach £113m in the last financial year and put its spate of flat results following the financial crisis behind it.
CLYDES AND SIMPSON & MARWICK IN ANGLO/SCOTS MERGER BID
Clyde & Co is in merger talks with former Kennedys target, Scottish firm Simpson & Marwick. Simpson’s five Scottish offices plus outposts in Newcastle, Leeds and London could be added on to Clydes’ office network, although its 15-strong family law team exited the firm last month for Brodies.
EY LAW HIRES FINREG LAUNCH TEAM AND SENIOR ADDLESHAWS DUO
Accountancy giant EY made a further push into legal services in May, hiring Baker & McKenzie financial services partner Steven Francis, plus a 12-strong team of lawyers to launch a financial regulatory business. It also announced the hire of former Addleshaw Goddard managing partner Paul Devitt and corporate partner Richard Thomas to its Manchester office with plans to grow a team servicing the North West.
DAC Beachcroft is gearing up for a management election this summer between both insurance and non-insurance partners as the firm looks to select its first new executive team since the merger of Davies Arnold Cooper and Beachcroft in October 2011.
Continue reading “DAC Beachcroft set for defining post-merger management election”
While Morocco stands apart as a portal into Africa for foreign investors, neighbour Algeria starts to open up. We ask international law firms to share their experiences of working in the region.
In the globalisation race, Casablanca has established an early lead as one of the primary entry points into Africa, along with Johannesburg. It is akin to the emergence in the last decade of Hong Kong and Singapore as the key finance centres for Asia. But can Morocco and neighbouring Algeria achieve a position of genuine global influence, when Paris, London and also Dubai remain places where many African transactions are executed?
Continue reading “Gateways – the lawyer’s view on gaining access to North Africa”
Conservatism and intransigence are qualities often bemoaned in the legal industry, in many cases beyond their manifestation. But there is one aspect in which the upper reaches of City law have shown a resistance to change verging on the surreal: the desperate embrace of a highly restrictive model of lockstep.
As we argue in our Future of Law special this month, the Magic Circle model is under intense pressure after seven years in which big changes in the industry and global economy have shifted against the group. Under the bonnet, these firms – which are well-run institutions that have been a British success story for very good reasons – have been through substantial restructuring in response. With a better global economy, strong international networks and transactional and contentious activity currently robust – a leaner and more productive big four are positioned for dramatic increases in profitability as their core markets pick up. And 2014/15 should be a very respectable year for the group.
Continue reading “Lockstep has to go for Magic Circle to enter new global elite”
