Former education secretary Michael Gove has replaced Chris Grayling (pictured) as Secretary of State for Justice as part of Prime Minister David Cameron’s post-election reshuffle while Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher partner, Lord Falconer, has been named as the Labour Party’s opposition spokesperson for the ministry.
Hiring the team: 15-strong group exits Simpson & Marwick to join Brodies
Scottish firm Simpson & Marwick’s well-regarded, 15-strong, family law team, including its current head Shaun George, has quit the firm to join Brodies.
Continue reading “Hiring the team: 15-strong group exits Simpson & Marwick to join Brodies”
Can Clydes seal the deal? Firm in advanced merger talks with Simpson & Marwick
Following the failed merger attempt between Scottish firm Simpson & Marwick and Kennedys in 2013, UK top-20 firm Clyde & Co is hoping to seal the deal this time having confirmed it is in advanced merger talks with the Scots outfit.
Continue reading “Can Clydes seal the deal? Firm in advanced merger talks with Simpson & Marwick”
Coming off the naughty step: Bakers’ Jonathan Walsh charts the quiet rehabilitation of asset-backed lending
Securitisation has taken a battering in recent years. A complex financing technique, little understood by the public, it was an easy scapegoat as a principal cause of the global financial crisis. For a while after the crisis it seemed as if various supervisory authorities would regulate it to the point of extinction.
Poll-axed: The City gets shock election result it wanted but EU vote looms after Conservative sweep
It has turned out to be the biggest election upset since 1992 and months of polling have been proved wrong but as the final results from the 2015 UK general election come in, the Conservative Party looks highly likely to win enough support to secure a working majority.
A Noble pursuit – DLA Piper launches corp fin boutique to build TMT profile
DLA Piper has made its first foray into the consultancy business, launching corporate finance advisory arm Noble Street to focus on media and sports ventures that have been neglected by traditional banks.
Continue reading “A Noble pursuit – DLA Piper launches corp fin boutique to build TMT profile”
‘A curious atmosphere of consensus’ – HSF fraud veteran Robert Hunter on how smart teams can make bad decisions
Many admire John Kennedy and his advisers’ deft handling of the Cuban missile crisis. It is generally thought to result from some of the best-judged decisions of the era. Yet a year earlier, much the same group of people decided to support the Bay of Pigs invasion (a crackpot scheme for the invasion of Cuba in which the US pitted 1,600 men against 200,000), conversely thought of as one of the most idiotic.
Simmons & Simmons votes through new business plan targeting stronger US links and looking after the ‘crown jewels’
In a unanimous vote, Simmons & Simmons has voted through a new three-year business plan with a focus on strengthening referral relationships in the US, transforming its partner-client relationships and committing to a set of firm-wide values.
Legal Business Awards – GC Power List 2015 Reception
On 24 March 2015 Legal Business held the GC Power List 2015 reception, sponsored by RPC, Barclay Simpson and Thomson Reuters at the Grosvenor Hotel, London.
Photos from the event can be viewed here.
Continue reading “Legal Business Awards – GC Power List 2015 Reception”
‘They embody what we stand for’: OC takes partnership to over 200 with five UK promotions
Osborne Clarke (OC) has promoted five associate directors to its UK partnership, taking its total number of partners past the 200 mark for the first time.
Electoral maths: Partners at top firms to pay £42k more under Labour tax plans while associates are set to gain whoever wins
Law firm partners at major City firms are facing the prospect of a substantive hike in tax if the Labour Party forms a government in this month’s general election with current manifesto pledges expected to see many partners at LB100 firms with a five-figure increase in their annual tax bill.
Keeping the talent: Clifford Chance votes through changes to lockstep in bid to stem flow of star partners
The partnership at Clifford Chance (CC) has voted through proposed changes to its remuneration system which will see the firm deploy a more flexible lockstep by stretching the top of the ladder in a bid to retain star partners.
Targeting Russia: Kennedys launches in Moscow with former Clyde & Co Russian insurance head
Following troubled markets in Russia across 2014, a handful of firms have signalled a renewed interest in the region, with Kennedys being the most recent to set up a Russian base.
Legal boutiques: unheralded, thriving and coming after your lunch
The rise of boutiques has been yet another development shaping the legal industry that no-one predicted. Conventional wisdom for years held that law firms should go global or specialise but that was largely in the context of mid-tier players becoming more tightly defined around a handful of profitable practice areas (which pretty much hasn’t happened either).
What we have seen instead – as we address this month – is a flourishing of highly specialised and lean law firms launched or expanded since the financial crisis reshaped the market. Obviously, much of this is due to the post-
Continue reading “Legal boutiques: unheralded, thriving and coming after your lunch”
Going native – ethics and the modern GC
The in-house profession has doubled in size in the UK over the last 15 years and gained once unthinkable levels of influence in delivering legal services to corporate Britain. And what have the profession and its watchdogs done to recognise that seismic shift in the legal industry, with all its far-reaching ethical implications? Pretty much nothing.
As Legal Business reported last month, a band of academics and in-house veterans are trying to fill this void with the report, ‘Legal Risk: Definition, Management and Ethics’, billed as the start of a wider conversation around the ethical standards and framework that in-house counsel employ.
Politics has changed – a high-stakes election for the nation and the City
On 7 May the nation faces one of the most unpredictable elections in recent history and one with high stakes given the issues on the table, including a potential EU exit, the break-up of the UK, big decisions on austerity and public finances and fundamental electoral reform.
The profession – like the City, like the electorate – largely doesn’t know what to make of it. But that doesn’t mean we won’t be wrestling with the implications of the 30-year journey of the UK from dual-party elective dictatorship to multi-party horse-trading and a series of disruptions to the UK’s constitutional arrangements since the early 1990s – disruptions that have often had unintended consequences.
Continue reading “Politics has changed – a high-stakes election for the nation and the City”
ITV launches panel review with plans to extend roster by 50%
New panel to broaden international reach
The legal team at ITV, led by general counsel (GC) and company secretary Andrew Garard, has launched a panel review with plans to extend its current roster of eight law firms by up to four more.
For the first time the panel will be expanded to include more of an international element, with local firms in countries such as the Netherlands – where the British company recently acquired Talpa Media – expected to be among the new additions.
Continue reading “ITV launches panel review with plans to extend roster by 50%”
Partners at top firms to pay £42k more under Labour tax plans
Associates are set to gain whoever wins
Law firm partners at major City firms are facing the prospect of a substantive hike in tax if the Labour Party forms a government in this month’s general election with current manifesto pledges expected to see many partners at Legal Business 100 firms with a five-figure increase in their annual tax bill.
Under Labour’s policy, the 45p rate of income tax will be raised to 50p for people earning over £150,000. According to numbers produced by Baker Tilly, this means that a partner earning £1m will pay £500,590 in income tax and national insurance – £42,060 more than the 2015/16 tax rate that currently stands at £458,530.
Continue reading “Partners at top firms to pay £42k more under Labour tax plans”
‘Phase two’: AIG reviews UK panel and establishes 64-strong European roster
American insurance giant AIG has carried out a review of its UK-based legal panel and established a new 64-member roster to cover the company’s European operations across 12 countries.
Both reviews were carried out at the same time by the company’s Legal Operations Center. The UK panel review, which was primarily a housekeeping exercise around the 25-firm panel established in 2013, took three months, while the Continental roster took a year due to the size and volume of firms and the administration involved.
Continue reading “‘Phase two’: AIG reviews UK panel and establishes 64-strong European roster”
US firms step up in the City with new practices
Goodwin Procter and Ropes & Gray launch in PE and ComLit
International firms in the City maintained their expansive form in April with three US-bred advisers unveiling UK law practice launches. The moves saw Boston’s Goodwin Procter launch a UK practice in private equity, New York’s Cahill Gordon & Reindel hire its first English-qualified partner and Ropes & Gray move into UK disputes work.
Goodwin Procter set up shop in London seven years ago looking to emulate the success of the firm’s property team in the States. But the firm recently announced its intention to compete in London’s private equity space, with the hire of King & Wood Mallesons co-head of corporate Richard Lever.
Continue reading “US firms step up in the City with new practices”