275,000 sqft: Clifford Chance and BLP advise on Deloitte lease with Land Securities

Clifford Chance (CC) and Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) have both landed a significant instruction on accountancy giant Deloitte’s major pre-let of the entire building of 1 New Street Square, in a deal that will see Deloitte acquire 275,000 square foot of space on a 20-year lease at the site.

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Revolving doors: Hires in London and Asia plus a significant secondee

Last week was another busy week for hires both in private practice and in-house, with Bird & Bird investing in Australian IP, Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) appointing a financial services regulatory partner in London, and King & Spalding recruiting a Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) partner in Asia. In-house, Stephenson Harwood seconded a rail partner to head the legal team carrying out the UK’s HS2 project.

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Trainee retention: CMS Cameron McKenna keeps on 62% of spring 2015 cohort while Pinsents manages 79%

CMS Cameron McKenna revealed what it described as an ‘uncharacteristically low’ trainee retention rate today (27 March), with only 61.5% of its 26-strong intake staying with the firm while Pinsent Masons secured 15 trainees but from a smaller round of 19.

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Guest post: Behaving like an ass is a short term play – the merits of being decent

‘Taking advantage’ is a phrase I hear a lot when lawyers discuss their work. I think it is linked to the idea of lawyers as business people concerned with competitiveness and commerciality, but in any event it manifests itself in the restless and energetic pursuit of getting the best possible deal/outcome for each client on each occasion.

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‘I have to refuse maybe four out of five cases’: Dechert arbitrator exits to establish boutique

Dechert partner Pierre Mayer is set to depart the firm to establish his own boutique in Paris due to reasons of client conflict, a move which will see the disputes lawyer share office premises with former Jones Day arbitration counsel Sigvard Jarvin who broke away from his firm last year to set up his own offering.

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Reassessments: Bar Standards Board asks QCA to look at re-accreditation for QCs

As the on-going dispute over its Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates (QASA) rumbles on, the Bar Standards Board (BSB) has asked that Queen’s Counsel Appointments (QCA) consider developing a system of re-accrediting criminal silks as the body seeks ways to ‘protect the public from poor standards of advocacy’.

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