The push among regional players to consolidate continues with news today (2 March) of one of the most notable deals seen outside the City in recent years; Midlands players Shakespeares and SGH Martineau have confirmed they are in talks to merge in a deal that would create a top 50 UK law firm with combined revenues of over £75m.
Spring hires: KWM and A&O bolster core City teams with notable recruits
International heavyweights King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) and Allen & Overy (A&O) have ushered in spring by today (2 March) unveiling notable new recruits to their London operations from Global 100 rivals.
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Hogan Lovells hires Bingham finance partner in New York and Mayer Brown trio in China
Having sought to upgrade its finance practice in New York since the 2010 union of Lovells and Hogan & Hartson, Hogan Lovells has made a senior hire to its Manhattan arm with the addition of Ronald Silverman from Bingham McCutchen.
‘Quite a year’: Shepherd and Wedderburn posts 23% quarterly revenue bump after Tods acquisition
Scottish LB100 firm Shepherd and Wedderburn has revealed a 23% increase in revenue to the third quarter (Q3) of this financial year following its acquisition of Tods Murray in October 2014.
Becoming a partner: Mishcon de Reya acquires ABS licence to include non-lawyers in partnership
Mishcon de Reya has become the latest firm to acquire an alternative business structure (ABS) licence from the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), a move that was prompted by bringing up to four key employees into the partnership.
Guest post: Can Big Firms Innovate – and if so how?
‘Innovation’ seems to be on everyone’s lips these days. Among other things, the problems are: many people, lawyers in particular, are stumped when it comes to describing what ‘innovation’ actually is and business history proves to a fare-thee-well that it’s extremely challenging for successful incumbents to actually follow through with anything innovative.
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In-house: Barclays Investment Bank hires Gibson Dunn’s financial institutions co-chair as new global GC
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher‘s co-chair of its financial institutions Mark Shelton is leaving the US firm to join Barclays Investment Bank as its global general counsel (GC) and the regional GC for the Americas.
Winston & Strawn’s Tirado: ‘Dissent, it turns out, comes at a price even in disputes’
There are many so-called ‘hot’ topics in international arbitration that could have been the subject of this article, but ultimately the topic chose itself.
US results: Shearman sees solid City growth but US stalls after rebound year; Gibson surpasses $3m PEP
Following a rollercoaster ride over the past few years, Shearman & Sterling has unveiled financial results showing moderate but steady growth in 2014 as profit per equity partner (PEP) rose 5.8% on 3% turnover growth. Meanwhile, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher had its 19th year of consecutive revenue increases with a 6% lift to $1.47bn.
A $4bn fund in Asia: Debevoise & Plimpton advises Baring Private Equity Asia on weighty fund raise
The Hong Kong office of Debevoise & Plimpton has secured a heavyweight instruction advising Baring Private Equity Asia on the formation of Fund VI, a $4bn fund believed to be the largest private equity fund ever raised by an Asia-based manager and one of the largest targeting the region. Offshore firm Maples and Calder also provided Cayman Islands counsel on the deal.
Q&A: New IBA president Rivkin talks protecting legal privilege and tackling judicial corruption
Debevoise & Plimpton co-head of arbitration David Rivkin has set himself up for a busy two years as the president of the International Bar Association (IBA), the largest legal network in the world with more than 40,000 members, as he seeks to win climate change sufferers refugee status, dent judicial corruption and protect legal independence from government hacking. Rivkin talks to Tom Moore on his plans for the body.
Listing in London: WLG and Travers advise as Gabelli Value Plus raises £100m in IPO
Wragge Lawrence Graham & Co (WLG) has advised new investment trust Gabelli Value Plus on its £100m initial public offering (IPO) on the London Stock Exchange as it targets further work from US fund manager GAMCO Investors.
Sending the ‘right message’: Arthur Cox sees donations rejected by Irish Cancer Society due to client
A leading charity has decided it will no longer accept corporate donations from Big Five Irish law firm Arthur Cox as the firm is currently acting for tobacco giant Japan Tobacco in a dispute against the Irish government.
Significant departures: Milbank hires Linklaters’ global energy co-head in double partner hire
Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy has hired two leading projects partners from Linklaters‘ London office, Matthew Hagopian and Manzer Ijaz, who count among their clients Glencore, BP and ENI.
Trainee retention: Norton Rose Fulbright publishes spring 2015 retention figures
Norton Rose Fulbright (NRF) has announced an 81% retention rate for its March 2015 qualifying intake, down on the 92% the firm posted for the spring 2014 cohort but an improvement on autumn’s numbers.
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Expanding overseas: Eversheds grows South African offering with new alliance
Eversheds has further extended its presence in South Africa, establishing a new formal alliance with Cape Town firm Walkers, which counts clients including EY, Investec, Standard Bank and Woolworths.
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The £30bn question: Report underlines UK’s status as legal superpower
Modesty should probably preclude Legal Business covering the annual report from TheCityUK on the UK legal services market since it makes heavy use of our statistics but as it takes the time to detail the unsung business success story that is law we’ll take a look.
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It’s the ‘decade of the lawyer’. Law firms beware
Our third annual GC Power List report looks more like a state-of-the profession piece than its two predecessors. While the earlier reports focused on standout individuals, in 2015 we highlight 50 exceptional in-house teams, which inevitably addresses how clients operate.
Even a cursory glance at how these teams have evolved underlines the huge shift that has been taking place in the UK legal profession over the last 15 years: the best in-house legal teams are seizing influence, technical skills and budget, largely from their service providers.
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The A-Teams – In Pursuit of Excellence
The 2015 Legal Business GC Power List puts the strength and depth of top in-house legal teams under the spotlight. With these teams largely forced to re-boot post-Lehman, what does it take to become the best in the business in a risk-driven economy?
In the last two years, Telefónica UK has reduced its reliance on external legal advice to the extent that its spend on law firms has fallen by 66%. Meanwhile, at BT, from which O2 span off in 2001 before being acquired by Telefónica in 2005, commercial external legal spend is down a startling 90% since 2010. Despite this, the volume of legal work required by both telcos hasn’t diminished: it is just being handled more efficiently in-house.
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Boardroom Horizons: The Market View
Top-level general counsel give their views on what marks out an exceptional in-house legal team in a risk-driven global economy.
Donny Ching, legal director, Royal Dutch Shell… on winning friends and influencing commercial colleagues.
‘You can tell who the really great lawyers are by the way they interact with their business colleagues. Those who are constantly being consulted, being involved as a core member of the team, sometimes leading the negotiations. You can see the dynamics in the discussions and the negotiations – which are the lawyers that are genuinely very respected. And those are the lawyers which are getting the best outcome.’
Benoit Belhomme, general counsel (GC) Western Europe, British American Tobacco… on working in contentious sectors.
‘Like a doctor, you need to understand your patients to give the right remedy. You share the pain as well. Controversial industries like ours tend to have a culture where lawyers are more part of the business. You have to frequently adapt and people know legal is a crucial element to maintain a licence to operate.’ Continue reading “Boardroom Horizons: The Market View”