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LLP latest: DLA Piper’s net debt down 32% as RPC posts 21% increase in fee income

DLA Piper International’s net debt decreased by 32% while cash in the bank dropped almost 15% according to its most recent limited liability partnership (LLP) filed at Companies House.

Net debt was down from £47.5m at the end of 2011/12 to £32.4m at the end of last financial year, with the 4036-lawyer firm’s cash position also down from £35m to £29.9m.

Turnover at DLA Piper International – which includes all the firm’s activities outside the US including its share of joint ventures – increased from £788m in 2011/12 to £800.4m in the last financial period, while profit available for discretionary allocation among members dropped almost 3% from £269m to £261.5m during that period. Continue reading “LLP latest: DLA Piper’s net debt down 32% as RPC posts 21% increase in fee income”

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Professional negligence – Matthew Arnold & Baldwin to appeal against dismissal of £10m claim against Watson Farley

Matthew Arnold & Baldwin has said its client plans to appeal against the High Court’s decision last week to dismiss a £10m professional negligence claim against Watson, Farley & Williams.

In a case heard in London’s High Court last Friday (31 January), Mr Justice Silber dismissed a counterclaim from former Watson Farley client Itzhak Ostrovizky, who sought damages on the basis of negligence and/or breach of duty of Greek-qualified corporate partner Virginia Murray in the Athens office of the top 40 firm. Continue reading “Professional negligence – Matthew Arnold & Baldwin to appeal against dismissal of £10m claim against Watson Farley”

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Updated: Management shake up for DLA Piper as Knowles takes over as global co-chair and Levine put forward for co-CEO role

DLA Piper’s co-chief executive (CEO) Nigel Knowles is to replace Tony Angel as global co-chairman in a senior management shake-up which has also seen London IP and technology partner Simon Levine proposed as global co-CEO, partners at the firm heard this afternoon (4 February).

Current Americas co-chair and corporate and finance practice head Roger Meltzer has been put forward to sit alongside Knowles (pictured) in the global co-chair role, while, Americas co-chair Jay Rains has been proposed as joint global CEO alongside Levine.

Former Linklaters managing partner Angel will continue as senior partner until his term expires in 16 months as the international managing partner role which Knowles currently holds will be phased out.

Levine’s recommendation, which has been put forward by the executive board, needs to be approved by the international partnership and will take effect from 1 January 2015. Continue reading “Updated: Management shake up for DLA Piper as Knowles takes over as global co-chair and Levine put forward for co-CEO role”

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M&A: Davis Polk and Latham advise on Smith & Nephew’s $1.7bn acquisition of Arthrocare

In the third largest M&A deal in the UK this year after Liberty Global’s $10bn takeover of Ziggo and Amec’s $2.7bn acquisition of Foster Wheeler, Davis Polk & Wardwell is advising Smith & Nephew on its $1.7bn acquisition of Texas-based medical device company ArthroCare opposite Latham & Watkins.

The Davis Polk team includes corporate partners George Bason and Michael Davis, along with Jeffrey Crandall who is providing executive compensation advice. Partners Ronan Harty and Kathleen Ferrell are providing antitrust and tax advice respectively. Davis Polk is advising from its New York and Washington offices. Continue reading “M&A: Davis Polk and Latham advise on Smith & Nephew’s $1.7bn acquisition of Arthrocare”

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You’re hired: Irwin Mitchell’s head of regulatory investigations joins Morgan Lewis

Morgan Lewis has boosted its London white collar crime capability with the hire of Irwin Mitchell’s head of regulatory and criminal investigations practice Kevin Robinson, in a move said to be part of the ‘ongoing transformation’ of its London office.

Robinson, who has over 40 years of experience in advising clients on investigations by regulators into commercial activity and defending prosecutions which arise from those investigations, joins the global top 20 US firm’s London litigation department. Continue reading “You’re hired: Irwin Mitchell’s head of regulatory investigations joins Morgan Lewis”

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Risk and regulatory: NRF launches a 600-lawyer global regulation and investigations practice

The increasingly wide-ranging and cross-departmental regulatory needs of clients sees Norton Rose Fulbright (NRF) today (3 February) launch a 600-lawyer international global regulation and investigations practice led by former Fulbright & Jaworski disputes partner and investigations head Lista Cannon and global antitrust chief Martin Coleman.

The 130-partner team will connect global practices including antitrust and competition (led by Coleman); financial services regulation (led by Jonathan Herbst); investigations (including bribery and corruption and international trade and sanctions, led by Cannon); and tax (led by global head Andrius Kontrimas). Continue reading “Risk and regulatory: NRF launches a 600-lawyer global regulation and investigations practice”

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Growth in Germany for HSF as it launches disputes practice in Frankfurt

Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) today (3 February) took a further step towards building up its German capability following the collapse of its alliance with Gleiss Lutz and Benelux firm Stibbe with the hire of former Baker & McKenzie partner Mathias Wittinghofer to launch its disputes practice in Frankfurt.

A specialist in banking and finance disputes, as well as post-merger and acquisition disputes, Wittinghofer will become part of HSF’s global banking litigation and investigations practice. The dual German and English-qualified attorney’s client base includes banks, private equity firms and major corporations. Continue reading “Growth in Germany for HSF as it launches disputes practice in Frankfurt”

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Homegrown BPO – Hogan Lovells puts South Africa at centre of new business support initiative

Transatlantic firm Hogan Lovells has put South Africa at the centre of its cost savings plans for clients, setting up a business support services function that will see new vacancies from Europe and Asia evaluated in terms of whether they could as easily be done from the lower cost site.

Announced today (3 February), the centre, which has been set up in the same building as recent South African merger partner Routledge Modise, follows a strategic view of how the firm provides business services support, and will initially provide a reasonably low-level range of services including conflict checking, client due diligence and research. Continue reading “Homegrown BPO – Hogan Lovells puts South Africa at centre of new business support initiative”

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Structural or cyclical change in the law? 2014 should answer the big question

It’s been obvious that something fundamental happened to the world economy during 2008, ushering in the worst relative trading conditions since the 1930s. It is, likewise, demonstrable that this shift has had a material impact on the legal profession in terms of reduced growth prospects, changing corporate buying habits and pressure on the conventional model of law.

The point that has yet to be resolved – and which has huge significance to the western legal industry – is whether that change represents a permanent structural shift underwritten by technology and the rise of non-law firm providers, or a severe cyclical depression from which the profession will in time recover. Continue reading “Structural or cyclical change in the law? 2014 should answer the big question”

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So what’s wrong with BigLaw anyway?

The term BigLaw has been around in the US for a while but in recent years this catch-all tag for corporate lawyering in the world’s biggest law market has taken on a decidedly pejorative tone. From the pages of The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal to prominent blogs and comments by industry observers, a popular view has taken hold to the effect that the US legal industry – in particular in New York – is a fundamentally broken model in a profession facing terminal decline.

Ultimately, this prognosis of doom remains unsatisfying for two reasons. Firstly, some of this analysis is based on attempts to bolt on the narrative of the supposedly humbled Wall Street banks on to Wall Street law firms. For all the parallels between banks and law firms, as much divides as unites them. Law still doesn’t attract risk-takers; law firms don’t need anything like the capital of modern investment banks and they have little ability to create the short-term illusion of profitability that played havoc in the securities industry post-2007. Continue reading “So what’s wrong with BigLaw anyway?”

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The rising stars in-house – bluechip legal teams are bursting with talent

The first Legal Business edition of the year coincides with a major project for us: the second edition of our popular GC Power List, which launched last year. The idea is straightforward: we research in-house and private practice to identify a list of outstanding individuals who demonstrate the influence and rising clout that has come to define the modern in-house profession.

While the first report focused on senior GCs, for the second edition we have taken on the challenge of addressing the best performers coming into their own during their 30s and early 40s – the GCs of tomorrow.

Continue reading “The rising stars in-house – bluechip legal teams are bursting with talent”

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Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank blame litigation for drop in Q4 profits

Financial institutions report multibillion-dollar effects of post-crisis costs

Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank have become the latest major financial institutions to declare that their earnings have been hit hard by litigation costs with Morgan Stanley in January reporting a fourth quarter 78% drop in net income to $192m, compared to $890m in its third quarter, due to legal costs and weak fixed income trading.

Revenue for the period rose from $7bn to $7.8bn since last year but pre-tax legal costs of $1.2bn meant that earnings for the quarter were almost wiped out, the FT reported in January.

Continue reading “Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank blame litigation for drop in Q4 profits”

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National Grid conducts wholesale review of internal and external legal function

Energy giant to analyse in-house team and links with UK and US counsel National Grid’s group general counsel (GC) Alison Kay has launched a wholesale review of the FTSE 100 energy giant’s in-house and external legal function, which will look at whether the internal legal team is delivering the right services and adding value to the business, as well as a potential shake-up of both its UK and US external law firm panel.

The current UK panel, which was put together in 2011 when National Grid cut its roster of firms by 25% to 16, includes Allen & Overy, Linklaters, DLA Piper, Eversheds, CMS Cameron McKenna, Berwin Leighton Paisner and Field Fisher Waterhouse.

Kay, who has been with National Grid since 1996 and was promoted to her current role in January 2013 when Helen Mahy left to pursue outside interests, said she is responding to rate pressures across the business and the energy sector as a whole.

Continue reading “National Grid conducts wholesale review of internal and external legal function”

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Clyde & Co loses 15-strong US litigation team to LeClairRyan

Latest exits add to departures of two partners from City headquarters

The expiry of Clyde & Co’s three-year post-merger partner lock-in appeared to pass almost unnoticed last April, but the UK top-20 firm has lost two London partners in recent months as its established US practice was hit in January with a 15-strong team walk out, which included three litigation partners.

London commercial partner Alan Meneghetti, who joined the firm five years ago as a legal director and became an aviation partner in 2010, left the firm on 31 December 2013 for Locke Lord’s corporate practice in London. Meneghetti’s experience within the aviation and aerospace sector includes handling regulatory issues surrounding procurement, data protection and privacy, intellectual property, information technology and the drafting and negotiating of commercial agreements.

Continue reading “Clyde & Co loses 15-strong US litigation team to LeClairRyan”

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DLA Piper expands Africa group across the continent

DLA Piper’s Africa group last month announced it had expanded in north, southern and eastern Africa with the addition of three new member firms.

Algerian firm B L & Associés, Rubeya & Co Advocates of Burundi and Namibian firm Ellis Shilengudwa joined the 4,200-lawyer firm’s Africa group as of 1 October 2013. The firm now has members in 14 countries in Africa and is located in 30 countries around the world.

B L & Associés is run by Algerian-based partner Fatima Zohar Bouchemla and Paris-based partner Mohamed Lanouar. The firm also comprises eight associates, all of whom are admitted to practise in either Algeria or France.

Continue reading “DLA Piper expands Africa group across the continent”

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Latest LLP filings show increased borrowing

BLP bank debt up sharply as 2012/13 annual reports filter through

Growing debt was a recurring theme in the limited liability partnership (LLP) accounts filed in January, led by Legal Business 100 top-20 UK firm Berwin Leighton Paisner, which, after a year of partner departures and a significant drop in profit per equity partner, revealed a 223.7% increase in bank borrowing in the 2012/13 financial year.

The 790-lawyer firm’s borrowing ballooned to £45m from £13.9m in the previous year, on the back of new bank loans totalling £31.1m.

Continue reading “Latest LLP filings show increased borrowing”

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Hogan Lovells expands Latin America footprint with hire of Clifford Chance partner for São Paulo launch

Hogan Lovells has expanded its Latin America offering by launching a second office in Brazil, hiring former Clifford Chance (CC) partner Isabel Costa Carvalho.

Its new São Paulo office will operate as a foreign legal consultancy, offering services to local and international companies and banks after the Brazilian Bar Association awarded the global law firm a licence to practise in the region in July 2013.

Continue reading “Hogan Lovells expands Latin America footprint with hire of Clifford Chance partner for São Paulo launch”

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More in-fighting as Law Society contests SRA attempts to gain greater fining powers

SRA aims to bring maximum fines for law firms closer to the much higher figures for ABSs

Further tensions in the Law Society’s already strained relationship with the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) emerged in January as the representative body prepares to contest its regulatory arm’s attempt to increase its fining powers over law firms.

In a consultation that ends this month, the SRA has invited views on its proposal to increase the current level of fining powers over City and regional firms to as much as £100,000. However, the Law Society said it has ‘concerns over the functioning of the enforcement team within the SRA’.

Continue reading “More in-fighting as Law Society contests SRA attempts to gain greater fining powers”

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UK elite firms defy the transactional gloom of 2013

New Year surge in high-value deals after subdued year

While deal activity was down again in 2013, last year’s growth in confidence in the corporate sector, together with fundraising activity among a number of large private equity houses, has seen some of the UK’s elite firms advise on high-value deals announced in January, including Amec’s $3.2bn acquisition of Swiss rival Foster Wheeler.

The Linklaters team advising Amec was led by corporate finance partner Shane Griffin, alongside fellow corporate partner Aedamar Comiskey. Scott Sonnenblick and Tom Shropshire are advising on US law aspects of the deal from New York and London respectively, while John Tucker and Simon Pritchard are leading on finance and antitrust issues.

Continue reading “UK elite firms defy the transactional gloom of 2013”

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Big data and AI will come to the fore as law firms expect tech to drive their businesses

Year-long study by legal technology body identifies future challenges

Artificial intelligence (AI) and big data analytics will play a game-changing role within the legal sector as law firms emerge from a decade where they began to understand the power of technology, and to recognise they now have to put it at the heart of their business.

These are key findings of the Legal Technology Future Horizons study, a report into how global advances in technology could impact the legal industry over the next decade. Commissioned by the International Legal Technology Association (ILTA), the report is based on research conducted between January and November 2013 and was released last month.

Continue reading “Big data and AI will come to the fore as law firms expect tech to drive their businesses”