Scottish firm Harper Macleod, the legal advisor to the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, has expanded by merging with private client boutique Bird Semple to create a firm with a combined turnover of more than £23m.
Continue reading “Harper Macleod merges with Bird Semple to create top 100 firm”
Eight months after applying for a Foreign Legal Practice licence to open in Singapore, US law firm Dechert has been given the nod to launch its fourth Asian office.
Continue reading “Dechert gains Singapore licence after 8 month wait”
Following a spate of healthy trainee retention rates in recent weeks, magic circle firm Clifford Chance (CC) and international firm Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) are the latest to unveil results, recording 75% and 87% respectively.
Baker & McKenzie has overtaken DLA Piper as the world’s largest law firm, with revenues for the year ending 30 June 2014 climbing by 5% to $2.54 billion after a transactions bonanza.
I made a mistake. It was in 1989. I went in-house and found I was good at my job. It was the first time in my life I truly felt I was good at something. Until then I had found everything hard. Exam results were never adorned with flying colours and my CV, such as it was, looked more apologetic than full of promise.
Continue reading “Guest post: Stop being proactive, stop being commercial, stop being nice”
Slaughter and May, which is well known for its high retention rates, has kept on 33 out of its 34 qualifying trainees, giving it a retention rate of 97%. In March, the firm retained 36 people from a cohort of 38, a rate of 95%.
Continue reading “Slaughters posts high trainee retention rate while BLP keeps on 83%”
In a move that has been welcomed by the Legal Services Board, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has granted an alternative business structure (ABS) licence to local authorities for the first time, as Buckinghamshire County Council enters into a joint venture with Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes Fire Authority.
The past year has seen a number of UK firms scale back their back-office support teams to become more efficient and save costs, with international firm Ashurst being the latest and placing half of its overnight support team in London at risk.
Continue reading “Ashurst starts out-of-hours worker redundancies”
The largest drug retailer in the US, Walgreens, has instructed Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz and Magic Circle firm Allen & Overy to handle its full combination with Nottingham-based chemist Alliance Boots.
Continue reading “Wachtell, A&O and Gibson Dunn lead on Walgreens acquisition of Boots”
Herbert Smith Freehills has landed a blow on Magic Circle firm Freshfields with the hire of the firm’s former co-head of energy and natural resources Dirk Hamann as the Anglo-Australian firm looks to build out its German offices.
Continue reading “HSF snatches Freshfields former energy co-head”
Two of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer’s lawyers have set up an IP/IT specialist boutique in Spain following the closure of the firm’s Barcelona office in April this year.
Scottish firm Burness Paull is the latest to release its 2013/14 financial results and has today (7 July) announced a hefty 20% turnover increase to £46.3m while profits have risen to £20.7m from £16.5m, constituting a 25% increase.
‘Call it the Great Recession, the Great Reset, or whatever, the world palpably shook in September 2008 and the repercussions are still very much with us.’
Bruce MacEwen wrote the above in his 2013 book Growth is Dead, and while changes have been made, much of it still rings true today – including for law firm technology.
Continue reading “Guest post: Change is neither good nor bad: It is”
A healthy uptick in transactional activity has brought a handful of players in line for a windfall, as City-firm Travers Smith and US-firm Baker Botts secured leading roles advising on the $1bn demerger of Paragon Offshore from drilling company Noble Corporation. Continue reading “Dealwatch: Travers Smith and Baker Botts lead on $1bn demerger; Mills & Reeve and Burges Salmon advise on Co-op farm sale”
Nabarro and Fieldfisher have kept on a high number of trainees this month with the latter firm retaining 100% of its intake, while Trowers & Hamlins posts a lower rate of 64%.
Chadbourne & Parke’s Adam Mycyk has moved to Dentons following Chadbourne’s decision to close its Kiev office.
Continue reading “Dentons picks up partner as Chadbourne closes Kiev office”
Ince & Co’s global revenues fell to £86.7m in the 2013/14 financial year from £93.2m in the 2012/13 LB100. Against the firm’s latest audited figures, this works out to be a drop of 5% from £91.7m.
Dentons is suing the Republic of Guinea and its Ministry of Mines and Geology for $10.2m over alleged unpaid legal fees, as well as costs that the country has ‘repeatedly acknowledged they owe’ the firm. US firm Williams & Connolly is representing Dentons in the dispute.
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has become the second Magic Circle firm to post a high retention rate keeping on 82% of junior lawyers.
Continue reading “Trainee retention: Freshfields keeps on 82% of junior lawyers”
This week’s lateral hiring has seen international firms King & Wood Mallesons SJ Berwin (KWMSJB) and US firm Kaye Scholer expand in London, while Dentons made a c-suite recruit in Europe and Eversheds hired in Hong Kong.
