A growing band of in-house counsel are taking on major projects with little or no support from outside advisers. How far can ambitious GCs push the envelope?
When asked why an in-house legal team would choose to handle the majority of its major projects in-house, head of legal at Marks & Spencer, Robert Ivens, turns the question on its head.
Continue reading “Taking the lead – the GCs striving for life without a law firm”
After years in the post-Lehman doldrums, the finance markets are springing back to life. Legal Business assesses the forces powering the upgraded ‘Doomsday machine’
‘Having gathered 100 different [sub-prime-backed bonds], they persuaded the ratings agencies that these weren’t, as they might appear, all exactly the same things. They were another diversified portfolio of assets! This was absurd. The 100 different buildings occupied the same flood plain; in the event of a flood, the ground floors of all of them were equally exposed… The CDO was, in effect, a credit laundering service for the residents of Lower Middle Class America. For Wall Street, it was a machine that turned lead into gold.’
Michael Lewis, The Big Short
Continue reading “Back in the machine – opportunity and threats amid much-changed debt markets”
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has appointed Simon Marchant as its new City corporate head in the wake of Julian Long’s election to London managing partner, as the Magic Circle firm also announces that Simon Priddis will take over as competition head. Continue reading “Freshfields unveils new City competition head as Marchant takes over as London corporate chief”
DLA Piper has promoted 45 lawyers to its partnership, a 33% increase on last year.
The lion’s share of promotions fell to the US, effective from 1 January this year, where 21 associates were made up to partner. Continue reading “DLA’s partner promotions up by a third with latest round of 45”
In an embarrassing setback for the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) in its long running dispute over legal aid with the Bar, a Crown court judge today (1 January) halted a costly publicly funded serious fraud trial after the defendants failed to find representation. Continue reading “The Bar 1-0 MoJ: Crown court halts serious fraud trial over lack of representation”
Fixed-share partners to make capital contributions of 25% of profit share
Eversheds started talks in April over the voting rights of its fixed-share partners (FSPs) after they were asked to contribute 25% of their annual earnings in response to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) tax changes for limited liability partnerships (LLPs).
The firm called on its 164 junior partners to make the contributions to avoid being deemed employees, which would require Eversheds to pay national insurance contributions for them.
Continue reading “Eversheds in talks to extend voting rights as 164 junior partners inject cash”
Higson elected ahead of move to single global CEO
Hogan Lovells has taken a step towards giving its younger partners a high level representative voice with the announcement in April that it has created a position on its 12-strong board for an equity partner aged 45 and under.
London corporate partner Ben Higson has been elected to the role and the firm has also chosen German IP and technology partner Leopold von Gerlach to take over from José María Balañá as the representative for Continental Europe on the board, which has supervisory responsibility in overseeing the affairs of the firm but without executive responsibility for strategy, management, and operational decisions.
Continue reading “Hogan Lovells gives voice to partners under 45 with new board level role”
We’ve made it no secret that a major aim for Legal Business and its Legalease stablemates is to better engage with the general counsel (GC) community. As such, we’re taking another step in that direction with the launch of an exclusive debate and networking event in June, building on the success of our acclaimed Power List report.
The GC Power List Summer Reception will be held on the evening of 11 June, with RPC as lead sponsor. The event will comprise a relaxed debate chaired by veteran City columnist Anthony Hilton, followed by an evening of food and drink at the renowned private members’ club at The Ivy. The debate will include senior lawyers sharing their experiences from companies including Land Securities, ITV, The Royal Bank of Scotland, Shire and Vodafone.
Reshuffles see trio promoted to fill senior roles
Three high-profile in-house counsel appointments in the UK and US last month saw accountancy giant EY, publishing house HarperCollins and global investment bank BNY Mellon fill their senior general counsel (GC) roles.
EY promoted its Americas legal chief Michael Solender to global vice chair and GC, which will see him carry out a global reorganisation of the EY legal function and integrate EY’s internal legal operations worldwide.
Continue reading “GC appointments for EY, HarperCollins and BNY Mellon”
As Latin America increasingly becomes a global economic force, the role of the in-house lawyer in the region has evolved to produce some of the most impressive names in the legal industry.
Below are selected highlights taken from the debut edition of The Legal 500’s Corporate Counsel 100: Latin America, which identifies an array of the region’s most influential in-house counsel.
The latest instalment of the smartphone wars has seen Slaughter and May and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton face Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer as the European Union takes steps to reduce the seemingly never-ending and costly trail of patent disputes, saying that Motorola Mobility broke EU law by trying to use its patents to block sales of Apple products in Germany. Continue reading “Smartphone wars: Slaughters, Cleary and Freshfields lead for Motorola and Apple in EU’s verdict to level playing field”
Eversheds’ UK associates are the beneficiary of over half of the top 15 firm’s latest partner promotions as 21 lawyers join its partnership ranks. Continue reading “Eversheds UK associates largest beneficiary of partner promotions in 21-strong round”
CMS and Dundas & Wilson confirmed today (30 April) that they have made 60 staff redundant ahead of their £300m merger, set to go live tomorrow. Continue reading “Redundancy watch: CMS and Dundas cut 60 support staff roles”
In a welcome respite from a run of bad news recently, Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) has been confirmed as Tesco‘s lead counsel for real estate following a review of the supermarket’s property advisers.
Continue reading “Tesco names BLP as ‘go-to’ real estate adviser following review”
Slaughter and May has again become the first major City player to announce changes to its junior fee-earners’ pay levels, with a marginal rise in salary for first year trainees and increases for newly-qualified lawyers (NQs) of up to 3%. Continue reading “Slaughters first to up pay for trainees and NQs”
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has received approval to push ahead with far-reaching proposals to overhaul legal training, with the results of a 12-week consultation set to be voted on by the board, which is also expected to vote to end to the current system of continuing professional development (CPD) points. Continue reading “SRA gets green light for radical training overhaul as board set to vote”
The latest round of partner promotions among the top 20 UK firms has this week seen CMS Cameron McKenna announce the appointment of 30 associates to partner across Europe, including five in the UK, while Clyde & Co has promoted nine and, outside the top 20, Lawrence Graham has made up five new partners.
Continue reading “Partner promotions: CMS promotes 30; Clyde & Co nine; Lawrence Graham five”
Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) has almost finalised its inaugural customer-pay panel with key spots allocated so far to firms including Hogan Lovells, CMS Cameron McKenna, Addleshaw Goddard and Osborne Clarke. Continue reading “Lloyds inaugural customer-pay panel sees places for Hogan Lovells; CMS; Addleshaws and Osborne Clarke”
EY today (29 April) took further steps to build its UK legal capability with the hire of Berwin Leighton Paisner’s (BLP’s) former head of finance Matthew Kellett, with Kellett set to spearhead the accounting giant’s financial services legal work. Continue reading “EY grows UK legal capability with hire of BLP’s former finance head Matthew Kellett”
Irwin Mitchell has promoted ten associates to its partnership, down on a record level of 13 last year but standing out among its peers for including an equal number of male and female lawyers. Continue reading “Partner promotions: Irwin Mitchell makes up 10 with 50% female ratio”
