With law firm mergers and collapses, new office launches, a proliferation of strategic hiring and big-name changes in management, 2023 was a rocking year. Here are the headline stories of the last 12 months Continue reading “Global 100 – Stories of the year”
‘Our ability to pitch top-ranked teams under both New York and English law, and where needed under the local laws to back that up, remains our USP,’ asserts Oliver Brettle, White & Case’s vice chair, underscoring what sets the firm apart.
Unveiling subdued financials this cycle, the firm’s London arm experienced a modest 1% revenue growth to $451m, contrasting sharply with the 18% and 12% revenue upticks witnessed in 2020 and 2021. Global turnover was also muted, declining by 1% to $2.83bn. However, it still signifies a substantial 57% increase over five years and outperforms the figures observed among Magic Circle peers.
Continue reading “Global 100: White & Case: Global elite leader or missed opportunity?”
In the words of Patrik Peyer, managing partner of Niederer Kraft Frey (NKF): ‘As the Swiss legal market confronts these multifaceted challenges, the resilience and adaptability of legal practitioners become crucial in shaping a forward-looking legal landscape.’
‘The legal market is always developing in parallel to the general economic situation,’ says Bär & Karrer’s Susanne Schreiber, who co-heads the firm’s tax team. In Q1, Switzerland’s annual inflation rate rose to a high of 3.4% in February, 0.6% up on December 2022. In Q2, things started to look up with rates decreasing to 2.6% in April. Since then, rates have been on a steady decline, remaining at 1.7% for both September and October 2023. Interest rates, too have stabilised. Since July 2023, the Swiss National Bank has kept its policy rate at 1.8%, providing a sense of stability to the Swiss economy. Following these economic trends, there are several trends practitioners have seen regarding the work that’s been done. For example, practice areas such as litigation and tax were extremely busy this year while areas like M&A and capital markets saw a decrease in deal volume compared to previous years. Banking and finance and real estate and construction remained stable throughout 2023. Continue reading “Switzerland focus: Testing the mettle”
‘We are in growth mode,’ announces Joshua Lipshutz, chief operating officer of Gibson Dunn, as he beams into the boardroom of the firm’s London office via Zoom. An apt statement for a firm that has stormed into the Global 100’s top ten in a year where many firms’ revenues have faltered.
Up four places from its position in 2022, the firm has achieved revenue of $2.74bn, marking a 10% increase from last year and a 67% increase over the past five years. This places the firm in its 27th year of consecutive revenue growth. PEP looks equally buoyant, with the firm seeing a respectable 11% increase to $4.92m.
Continue reading “Global 100: Gibson Dunn – A global outlook for an LA stalwart”
Fresh off a train from Blackburn, suitcase in tow, Lida Khanverdi arrives at the interview shortly after closing a new deal for EG Group. Having moved in-house just three years ago, the former Shoosmiths real estate associate is quickly making a name for herself, winning Rising Star In-House Counsel of the Year at the 2023 Legal Business Awards, and helping EG Group through a period of transformative growth.
Despite her rapid ascent, her route in-house has had its fair share of challenges and uncertainties. Khanverdi is not the type to claim she possessed a burning desire to enter the legal profession from an early age. Instead, her decision to study law came about after her family’s plans to emigrate to Canada fell through at the last moment, leaving her with only three weeks to make her university applications in the UK. Flummoxed on what subject to pick, her dad delivered the classic line: ‘Well, why don’t you do law? You can do anything with law.’ Continue reading “The Client Profile: Lida Khanverdi, EG Group”
The firms that appear in the 2023 Global 100 are the largest 100 law firms in the world ranked by revenue. Continue reading “Global 100: Methodology and end notes”
Bird & Bird is an international law firm with over 30 offices in Europe, North America, the Middle East, Asia-Pacific, and Africa working across multiple sectors and supporting organisations being changed by the digital world or those leading that change.
Lorraine Bellinger joined the firm in 2020 to build Bird & Bird’s legal project delivery function, drawing on her private practice and in-house experience. She started her law firm journey as a PA and made a career move into legal project management 15 years ago when her then employer identified a need for a different kind of business support. Continue reading “Sponsored Q&A: Incorporating social value into projects – Lorraine Bellinger, head of legal project delivery at international law firm, Bird & Bird”
The core stats from the 2023 Global 100.
Continue reading “Global 100: Core stats”
A criminal investigation has been launched into Axiom Ince, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) announced last month. Seven individuals have been arrested in connection with the investigation and searches have been carried out across nine sites.
More than 80 SFO investigators, alongside Metropolitan Police officers, went to locations across the South-East of England on the morning of 14 November to search for potential evidence and bring in individuals for questioning. Continue reading “‘It sits squarely in the SFO’s wheelhouse’: criminal investigation launched into Axiom Ince as regulators and ex-employees grapple with aftermath”
‘The US firms don’t have any magic formula – it’s just that they have a very large economic driver behind them, which is the US economy.’ Simon Levine, DLA Piper
Global 100 leaders review the past 12 months and give their prognosis on how the market will shape up in 2024
As the deadline for Allen & Overy (A&O) to pay a multimillion dollar ransom on its data passed by without incident on 28 November, the firm declined to comment on whether it had paid the cyber criminals off.
On 9 November A&O said it had suffered a ‘data incident’. Posts from X user and self-described ‘threat intelligence platform for cybersecurity’ @FalconFeedsio on Wednesday 8 November suggested that notorious cyber criminal group LockBit had targeted the firm, with a threat to release ‘all available data’ by 28 November. Continue reading “Allen & Overy dodges data leak bullet as firm tight-lipped on ransom outcome”
When I was 12, I was a competitive swimmer, and I used to swim every morning before school. If you’re swimming that much, your swimsuits get see-through, so for training, sometimes you’d have to wear double swimsuits, and that’s a bit of a drag when you’re in a competition. I’d asked my mum for a new swimsuit, but she said I would have to wait till the end of the month. I asked her how I could become rich to be able to afford a new one. She said: ‘You can become a solicitor, or you can marry someone rich.’ So, from then on, my decision was made to become a lawyer.
I got work experience in a small solicitors’ firm on our high street in Bangor, North Wales, and was focused on doing a law degree. I knew it was very competitive to get a training contract, so I did law and French. Then I got a training contract with Garretts, part of Andersen Legal. Six months into my training contract, DLA took the Leeds office, I transferred, and 23 years later I’m still here! Continue reading “Life During Law: Natasha Luther-Jones”
Nathalie Tidman, Legal Business: How have your businesses been performing over the last year? What have been the highlights?
Deborah Finkler, Slaughter and May: Remarkably well. I certainly think that we have all been holding our breath for the last two years for the downturn, which still has not entirely happened. The biggest issue we are facing is that we have a higher headcount than we had 18 months ago. You normally wait until things get difficult and then you think about how you are going to cope, but things are not difficult enough. One of the issues I have as a managing partner is persuading people that we need to be out pounding the pavements and getting more work, given that we never make people redundant. Continue reading “The Global 100 debate: Going hard and betting long”
David Halliwell, Pinsent Masons Vario: The world is now seen through a ‘VUCA’ lens – it’s Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous. Are the risks that businesses are facing much more uncertain? What does that mean for how you are working in your roles?
John Ventress, Lombard Odier Investment Managers: As in-house lawyers, we need to be aware of the risks faced by our business, but our role is to support the business in navigating the future and helping it to develop, rather than being risk managers. Continue reading “The in-house debate: Look to the future now”
Almost 1,200 firms have secured spots in the most recent UK Legal 500 Solicitors research, which provides law firms, in-house counsel and individuals with accurate and in-depth analysis of the best firms and lawyers working across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Between them the firms, roughly half of which are in London, share almost 10,000 practice rankings, around 4,500 of which are in the capital. In addition to the practice area rankings, there are also more than 12,300 individual lawyer rankings – almost half of which have been awarded to London-based lawyers. Continue reading “Table toppers – the law firms leading the pack in the latest Legal 500 research”
In the City, Kiran Arora has left BCLP to join Eversheds Sutherland as a new partner in its corporate and energy practice.
Ranked in The Legal 500 as a Leading Individual, Arora specialises in sustainable energy and infrastructure projects, bringing with him more than 20 years’ experience advising on project development, project financing, and M&A transactions. Continue reading “Revolving Doors: Global 100 firms expand in the City as Australian market sees lateral hiring spike”
What amendments or additions to Swiss ESG laws have been introduced in the past year, and how are these expected to influence businesses in the coming year?
In January 2022, the Swiss rules on due diligence and reporting regarding non-financial matters in the Swiss Code of Obligations (Swiss CO), which were adopted as a counterproposal to the ‘Responsible Business Initiative’ that was rejected by Swiss voters in November 2020, came into force (art. 964a ff. Swiss CO). These rules have started to apply as of the current financial year 2023 and the first reports according to the rules will have to be published next year (covering the financial year 2023). In a nutshell, large, listed companies and large companies supervised by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) will be required to publish a report on non-financial matters covering environmental matters, in particular CO2 goals, social issues, employee-related issues, respect for human rights and combating corruption. The companies in scope will have to let their shareholders vote on the report on non-financial matters at the general meeting. Additionally, certain Swiss companies will have to publish a report on due diligence regarding child labour and/or conflict minerals and metals. Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: Overview of ESG law in Switzerland”
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Dutch listed companies may buyback their own shares free from Dutch dividend withholding tax (DWT), subject to certain conditions being met. Based on an adopted amendment to the Dutch Tax Plan 2024, the House of Representatives decided to abolish this exemption as of 1 January 2025. This would mean that share buybacks will be subject to 15% dividend withholding tax. However, a new government, to be formed after the 22 November 2023 elections, could still decide in 2024 not to abolish this exemption. In addition, various alternatives remain available to distribute cash to shareholders free from DWT.
For the avoidance of doubt, companies that have a listing in the Netherlands, but are not tax resident of the Netherlands are and remain outside the scope of Dutch DWT. Such companies are in any event not affected by the proposal. Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: Dutch dividend withholding tax exemption for share buybacks by listed companies may be abolished by 2025”
