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Regional Insight – Leader

If you were to venture outside London to the major regional legal markets ten or 15 years ago, you would probably have been surprised. The energy, ambition and cohesive professional communities in these markets went well beyond expectations.

In the bars of Birmingham, Bristol and Manchester you would often meet individuals with that mix of personality, judgement and charisma that marks out the best commercial lawyers. No wonder so many of London’s sharpest legal operators used to be bred in the sticks.

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Guest post: The PM’s ‘foreign fighters’ plan – probably lawful

In Australia, the Prime Minister announced new counter-terrorism powers which he intends to introduce in a bill in the next few weeks. He said there’d be ‘new powers for police at ports to seize passports, to stop suspects travelling and to stop British nationals returning to the UK unless they do so on our terms.’

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The Student View: Norton Rose Fulbright’s Jonathan Ball on forensics, IP and his route to law

Jonathan Ball of Norton Rose Fulbright initially worked as a scientist before becoming a lawyer, and is now an Intellectual Property and Technology disputes partner. Here, Jonathan discusses his career and the nature of his work and offers some helpful tips for students and professionals from other careers who are interested in a career in law.

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H1 2014/15: ‘The way we’d planned it’ – RPC half year revenue rises by 16%

City law firm RPC has recorded a 16% rise in its first half-year revenue from £38.7m in the same period last year to £46m. The firm said the rise, covering the period May to October, was a ‘direct result’ of its investment strategy and was spread across most of its practice areas and offices.

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‘A testament to our strategic direction’: Naunton and Jones ditch real estate boutique dream to join King & Wood Mallesons

Senior Eversheds partners William Naunton and Clive Jones, who handed in their resignations at the start of this year with plans of launching a City boutique for high-end real estate work, will join King & Wood Mallesons in the New Year.

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The Friday Edit: Property is hot once more and the dangers of upsetting Susan

We’re halfway through November and it’s Friday, so here’s our regular look back at some of the stories that have drawn everyone’s attention over the last five days. For access to subscriber content, click here for full access to Legal Business or contact [email protected].

Also, a friendly reminder that the deadline for submissions for the 2015 Legal Business Awards is this Monday (17 November).

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Comment: Magic Circle real estate withdrawal isn’t a myth, but it’s not that simple

In a 2011 piece on the decimated real estate market in the City, we noted that few senior property partners were in their mid-40s, due to the fact that law firms largely ceased hiring junior real estate lawyers following the early ’90s crash. It looks like history will repeat itself in roughly 15 years’ time: post-credit crunch, the most established real estate practices went into hibernation. Some started to disintegrate. Either way, if you were a trainee interested in real estate around 2010, pickings were slim.

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Partner exits pile up: Edwards Wildman loses leading Hong Kong insurance partner to Simmons & Simmons

Having been plagued with a series of partner departures from London, Edwards Wildman Palmer has now taken a hit to its Hong Kong offering with the departure of insurance partner Martin Lister, who established the office in 2006, to Simmons & Simmons. Simmons, meanwhile, has also expanded its Africa group with the appointment of Paul Bugingo from Dentons, where he served as co-chairman of the firm’s Africa committee.

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