Legal Business for the first time extended its GC Power List into a summer reception. A distinguished list of panellists debated what it takes to get ahead for rising stars of the in-house world
Having for two years built up our annual GC Power List report and reception, Legal Business in June extended the venture into our first summer event as a means to further support the in-house community.
Continue reading “The GC Power List summer reception – Reaching out, reaching up”
If the post-Lehman years have in general been good to the City’s insurance and shipping specialists, 2013/14 has been a year of starkly diverging fortunes amid the familiar backdrop of margin pressure on the volume end of the market.
As such, this loose grouping of law firms has seen some of the strongest performances in the LB100 in 2014, while others have weathered falling revenues and job cuts.
This is most strikingly demonstrated in the two most prominent brands in the City insurance market, Clyde & Co and Ince & Co. While the former has largely sustained its robust growth of recent years, with an 8% increase in global revenues to £365.1m and with profits increasing 10% to £92.8m, Ince has seen a 7% fall in income to £86.7m.
Continue reading “LB100: Shipping and Insurance – Peaks and Troughs”
Weil, Gotshal & Manges has paid over £3m to settle a professional negligence claim made against it in late 2013 by private equity house Bancroft.
Eduardo Leite is set to be re-appointed as chairman of Baker & McKenzie after the law firm regained its title as the world’s largest law firm. Leite, who took charge of the firm in 2010, faced no opposition for the post and partners at the firm understand his re-election will be a mere formality.
Continue reading “Eduardo Leite set to be re-elected as Baker & McKenzie chairman”
Having broken with tradition in making its first-ever lateral hire this year, Slaughter and May has seen a rare departure at partner level, with long-serving tax partner Graham Iversen leaving the firm to become head of Greenberg Traurig Maher‘s (GTM) London tax practice.
Clifford Chance (CC) has turned to BPP Law School as its new training provider in a blow to the University of Law which had worked with the Magic Circle firm for eight years.
Continue reading “Clifford Chance drops University of Law for arch-rival BPP”
Eight years after founding Sidley Austin’s office in Frankfurt, Jens Rinze, the firm’s last remaining partner in the country after a spate of exits, has departed for Squire Patton Boggs.
Squire Patton Boggs loses 23-strong team in Middle East
Squire Patton Boggs saw the departure of five partners and 18 supporting lawyers from its Middle East offices after tensions arose as the recently merged firm integrated its regional affiliates. The exits came as legacy Patton Boggs’ Khalid Al-Thebity was appointed managing partner of the Riyadh office.
Clyde & Co has settled its dispute with former partner Krista Bates van Winkelhof out of court after she alleged she was forced to leave after blowing the whistle on the managing partner of its Tanzanian associate firm and announcing her pregnancy. The case involved a landmark Supreme Court decision which held that members of an LLP could be considered workers. Continue reading “News in brief – September 2014”
The LB100’s regional players have seen starkly divided fortunes with the South West players sailing ahead while northern firms face choppy waters
Collectively, the 29 regional firms in the second half of the Legal Business 100 (LB100) trail in the wake of other peer groups. While average revenue is £38.4m, a little below the £39m of the second 50 as a whole, revenue per lawyer (RPL) is 9% lower than the average for firms ranked 51-100. In terms of profits, average profit per lawyer (PPL) is £45,000, some 10% lower than the bottom 50 average, while profit per equity partner (PEP) is £309,000. Continue reading “The Second 50 – Batten Down”
Even for the most jaded denizen of the City legal community it’s been hard to avoid noticing the greater emphasis that law firms have put on diversity in recent years. While social mobility was in the spotlight several years ago with the cross-industry launch of PRIME, 2014 has seen a rash of law firms announce concrete targets to improve female representation in their partnerships.
David Chance and Andreas Raffel have joined Olswang today (1 September) as the firm’s first non-executive directors to monitor and support the firm’s executive, develop Olswang’s international strategy and bring an outside perspective.
Continue reading “Olswang appoints first board non-executives as it continues management overhaul”
Simmons & Simmons has created a specialist trade mark practice in China, hiring George Chan as a partner from Asia Pacific IP agency Rouse to head the new agency.
Allen & Overy (A&O) is getting closer to becoming the first Magic Circle firm to launch a South Africa base following the hire of banking head Lionel Shawe from local firm Bowman Gilfillan, along with a team of partners.
Continue reading “A&O closer to launching new South Africa office with Bowman team”
High-yield expert Jonathan Bloom has quit Ropes & Gray after five years to join rival US firm Jones Day’s London office in a bid to develop the firm’s high yield practice.
While the headline Legal Business 100 (LB100) results are once again inflated by significant merger activity at every level, there is evidence that many of the top 100 grossing firms in the UK are enjoying organic growth again.
Continue reading “Reviving deal market lifts LB100 as top UK firms edge up profits and fees”
All of the Magic Circle firms have unveiled their trainee retention rates for the September 2014 intake with Allen & Overy (A&O) being the last to announce a retention rate of 82%, giving Slaughter and May the highest rate of the pack at 97% with Clifford Chance at the back with 75%.
Mishcon de Reya has appointed commercial partner Adam Rose as head of international development following Rita Jardim’s exit in July to launch Portuguese private client boutique Mayer Jardim.
Winckworth Sherwood and Richard Buxton have won roles advising on the judicial review of planned development works to Barts hospital’s Grade I-listed North Wing.
Shearman & Sterling has advised European private equity group Bridgepoint on its £212m acquisition of Moneycorp, a foreign exchange provider, owned by SOF Investments which was advised by Slaughter and May.
