Reed Smith continues to piece together its City finance offering with a series of lateral hires, as Pinsent Masons partner Matthew Heaton becomes the latest to make the switch, joining the firm’s international real estate finance practice. Continue reading “Reed Smith builds City finance practice with Pinsents REF partner Matthew Heaton”
Careers counsel for aspiring lawyers: Roche’s Funke Abimbola
Roche UK managing counsel Funke Abimbola (pictured) has embraced diversity in both her widely varied in-house activity and in her equally challenging voluntary work. Recognised as a leading healthcare and life sciences lawyer, she received the 2012 Association of Women Solicitors’ in-house award and most recently saw her team shortlisted for the 2013 in-house team of the year distinctions at the Legal Business Awards and Halsbury Legal Awards. Continue reading “Careers counsel for aspiring lawyers: Roche’s Funke Abimbola”
Financial results 2013/14: Olswang suffers further drop in PEP to £490k with turnover up 7% to £117.6m
Olswang has reported mixed 2013/14 financial results with profit per equity partner (PEP) down 4%, following a double-digit drop last year, while revenue is up 7% to £117.6m. Continue reading “Financial results 2013/14: Olswang suffers further drop in PEP to £490k with turnover up 7% to £117.6m”
Bird & Bird secures further international tie-up with Istanbul tech leader BTS
Bird & Bird has entered into a cooperation agreement with leading Istanbul IT and telecoms boutique BTS & Partners, just a week after announcing a similar arrangement with two Indonesian firms. Continue reading “Bird & Bird secures further international tie-up with Istanbul tech leader BTS”
Cleary bumps up London junior pay in end to salary freeze
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton has increased its trainee and junior-level associate pay following a salary freeze, pushing second year post qualification experience (PQE) lawyers into a six digit sum. Continue reading “Cleary bumps up London junior pay in end to salary freeze”
Davis Polk promotes first City partner in five years
Davis Polk & Wardwell has made up its first London partner in five years with the promotion of corporate lawyer Reuven Young, in a further nod towards the investment the Wall Street firm is making in its City presence. Continue reading “Davis Polk promotes first City partner in five years”
SRA votes to cut minimum PII cover from £2m to £500k despite fears over damage to legal brand
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has voted to cut the minimum compulsory cover for professional indemnity insurance (PII) from £2m to £500,000 despite strong opposition from the Law Society and the City of London Law Society (CLLS) to the speed of change and lack of consultation with insurers. Continue reading “SRA votes to cut minimum PII cover from £2m to £500k despite fears over damage to legal brand”
Further Edwards Wildman City fallout as CMS set to take on corporate partner
The fallout from the embattled City office of US firm Edwards Wildman continues as it emerges that corporate partners Eero Rautalahti and Stuart Blythe have resigned, with Blythe set to join CMS Cameron McKenna. It was not known at the time of going to press where Rautalahti is headed. Continue reading “Further Edwards Wildman City fallout as CMS set to take on corporate partner”
Guest post: public access to the Bar – more sideshow than shifting paradigms
Recent headlines seem to suggest that the Bar is gearing up to ‘bypass’ solicitors and embark upon an all-out war with for business in these increasingly competitive times.
Continue reading “Guest post: public access to the Bar – more sideshow than shifting paradigms”
Financial results 2013/14: Herbert Smith Freehills’ first full financial results post merger show revenue of £800m and £741k PEP
Herbert Smith Freehills’ (HSF’s) first full financial results post merger has seen it unveil revenues of £800m and profit per equity partner (PEP) of £741,000 for 2013/14.
The firm’s net income stood at £232m. Continue reading “Financial results 2013/14: Herbert Smith Freehills’ first full financial results post merger show revenue of £800m and £741k PEP”
In-house: Groupon’s latest offer is a new GC
Chicago-headquartered online deals company Groupon has appointed Dane Drobny as its new general counsel (GC).
Continue reading “In-house: Groupon’s latest offer is a new GC”
Double exit for Osborne Clarke as telecoms chief leaves for Reed Smith and technology head to Fieldfisher
Top 40 firm Osborne Clarke has suffered the double exit of telecoms head Angus Finnegan to Reed Smith and technology head Mark Webber to Fieldfisher.
Finnegan joins Reed Smith’s media and technology (MT) practice in London, becoming the group’s thirteenth partner in the capital. Continue reading “Double exit for Osborne Clarke as telecoms chief leaves for Reed Smith and technology head to Fieldfisher”
Financial results 2013/14: Clifford Chance unveils highest-ever results as turnover up to £1.36bn and PEP £1.14m
Clifford Chance (CC) has drawn a line under last year’s disappointing financials, unveiling its highest-ever financial results, with revenue up 7% to £1.36bn while profit per equity partner (PEP) leapt by 16% to £1.14m. Continue reading “Financial results 2013/14: Clifford Chance unveils highest-ever results as turnover up to £1.36bn and PEP £1.14m”
Brown Rudnick hires Speechly’s European IP head into equivalent City role
Brown Rudnick has hired technology and intellectual property (IP) head Alex Carter-Silk from Speechly Bircham to lead its European IP practice in London. Continue reading “Brown Rudnick hires Speechly’s European IP head into equivalent City role”
Guest post: Law schools kickstart the greed process – the damage of using money to motivate lawyers
One of the interesting sub-plots of the Big Law vs New Law debate is the way in which workers (partners and their equivalents, salaried partners, employees) are motivated.
Herbert Smith Freehills boosts US investigations with hire of former assistant attorney and SEC chief John O’Donnell
Herbert Smith Freehills’ (HSF’s) Manhattan office has capitalised on the US revolving door with the hire of John O’Donnell, a former assistant US attorney and branch chief in the Securities and Exchange Commission’s enforcement unit, who joins to boost the top 10 UK firm’s New York investigations division. Continue reading “Herbert Smith Freehills boosts US investigations with hire of former assistant attorney and SEC chief John O’Donnell”
Management overhaul at Travers Smith with appointment of four new department heads
Travers Smith has overhauled the management of its private equity, financial services & markets, real estate, and banking and corporate recovery departments as longstanding partners Phil Sanderson, Margaret Chamberlain, Julian Bass and Jeremy Walsh step down. Continue reading “Management overhaul at Travers Smith with appointment of four new department heads”
Barclays cuts legal roster by 30% in global panel review as American firms find success
Barclays has turned to a raft of US firms, including Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and Latham & Watkins, for its preferred legal advisers as its latest panel review sees the banking group cut its legal roster by around 30% and move to a streamlined two-tier system of ‘preferred’ and ‘approved’ firms. Continue reading “Barclays cuts legal roster by 30% in global panel review as American firms find success”
Financial results 2013/14: Nabarro posts static revenues while PEP jumps 10.5%
Top-30 LB100 firm Nabarro is the latest to unveil its 2013/14 financials, with annual turnover broadly flat at £116.7m, a rise of 0.3%, while profit per equity partner (PEP) is expected to rise 10.5% to £475,000, constituting a double digit increase for the second successive year.
Continue reading “Financial results 2013/14: Nabarro posts static revenues while PEP jumps 10.5%”
Olswang’s head of real estate finance quits for Dechert
Olswang’s head of real estate finance Eleni Skordaki has quit the firm after nearly ten years to join Dechert’s City finance and real estate group.
Skordaki specialises in advising banks in real estate financings and restructurings. Continue reading “Olswang’s head of real estate finance quits for Dechert”