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Taking Manhattan – can the Wall Street elite hold out in the age of the $5bn law firm?

As the banking crisis and collapse of Dewey fade from memory, a band of emerging giants continue their long-term push into the once impenetrable New York market. Legal Business asks if the Wall Street elite can hold out

January 2014 marked the 100th ‘birthday’ of ‘Mother Merrill’, the affectionate nickname given to New York finance house Merrill Lynch thanks to its reputation for training and taking care of its staff. That name had particular significance for Wall Street lawyers, in view of the avalanche of work the institution bestowed on its favoured local law firms.

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Here be monsters – will LPOs help clients find the threats in the data jungle?

From disclosure to global investigations, companies are being forced to search an expanding jungle of data for threats. Legal Business teamed up with Clutch Group to find out if clients believe LPOs will aid the hunt

Disaggregation. If someone wanted to identify a keyword to describe what legal process outsourcers (LPOs) do (and identifying keywords and clauses is part of what they do), this word would have to be top of the list. It’s a buzzword that forms a big part of the dialogue used by proponents of legal process outsourcing, be they industry insiders or the clients themselves, and its meaning applies not only to the work they do, but to the effect that LPOs, and other alternative sources of legal work, could have on the legal sector as a whole.

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‘Like a comfortable old shoe’ – HMRC review attempts to push reset button on its relationship with partnerships

City tax partners have long accused HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) of unfairly treating all partnerships as tax avoidance vehicles but in a new report published last week, the government body appears to be taking steps to reset the relationship, albeit only shortly after announcing that salaried partners will be treated as having a ‘disguised salary’ and must be taxed as employees. Continue reading “‘Like a comfortable old shoe’ – HMRC review attempts to push reset button on its relationship with partnerships”

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Blue sky thinking – A&O initiative to adopt and roll out new business ideas from clients

Following on from its roll out of high-end contract lawyer service Peerpoint last November, Allen & Overy is continuing to challenge and develop its model with the introduction of an initiative to adopt new business practices from its clients.

The Magic Circle giant, led by senior partner David Morley, has pulled together five panels of between five and eight partners covering Asia Pacific; Middle East and Africa; Continental Europe; the US and the UK, to target its clients for ideas not usually seen in the legal sector across the entire business function including finance, human resources, strategy and IT. Continue reading “Blue sky thinking – A&O initiative to adopt and roll out new business ideas from clients”

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Profile: Maurice Woolf

The telecoms company’s GC discusses the challenges his company faces

Maurice Woolf’s candid recollection of shifting client-side into the telecoms world will resonate with anyone familiar with those heady dot.com-influenced boom days of the 1990s – including being caught up in some of the bust.

Much like many private practice lawyers, the former Denton Hall lawyer had his first taste of in-house life while on secondment at telecoms company Hermes Europe Railtel, which was eventually acquired by GTS, Woolf’s first in-house employer.

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Taylor Wessing loses former insurance head to Edwards Wildman in second US raid

In the second US foray into Taylor Wessing’s partner pool this month, the top 20 firm has lost its former head of international insurance & reinsurance James Crabtree, who joins Amlaw 100 firm Edwards Wildman’s London office as a partner.

The insurance disputes lawyer joins Wildman’s 15-strong insurance team in the City. Prior to joining Taylor Wessing almost eight years ago, Crabtree served as head of insurance and reinsurance disputes at Pinsent Masons, and was also previously a partner at Stephenson Harwood. Continue reading “Taylor Wessing loses former insurance head to Edwards Wildman in second US raid”

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LLP latest – Bird & Bird and Eversheds pay cost of expansion and restructuring

The cost of Bird & Bird’s strategic investment in 2012/13 became apparent today (27 January) with the filing of its limited liability partnership (LLP) accounts, which show that its overdraft facility rose 55% to €21m from €13.6m in 2011/12, while net debt was up 20% from €22.6m to €27.1m during that period.

Turnover at the 966-lawyer firm was up 8% to €293,248 from €270,745 the previous year, while profit was down 7% from nearly €65m in 2012 to €60.2m this year. Continue reading “LLP latest – Bird & Bird and Eversheds pay cost of expansion and restructuring”

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Texas launch – Arnold & Porter opens Houston presence with four-partner Hogan Lovells litigation team

Washington-headquartered Global 100 law firm Arnold & Porter has become the latest to launch in Houston with the hire of a four-strong litigation team from Hogan Lovells.

Thad Dameris, the former managing partner of Hogan Lovells’ Houston office, has left the transatlantic firm alongside litigation partners Trevor Jefferies, Christopher Odell and David Weiner, leaving a remaining partnership of six. Continue reading “Texas launch – Arnold & Porter opens Houston presence with four-partner Hogan Lovells litigation team”

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Asia Pacific: Slaughters makes first foray into lateral market to launch US securities practice in Hong Kong

Magic Circle firm Slaughter and May has taken the unprecedented step of making a lateral hire, recruiting US securities partner John Moore from US firm Morrison & Foerster into its Hong Kong office.

Moore has been brought in to provide US securities law coverage to the Hong Kong practice and comes after much speculation that the firm was looking to add US capability to the region. Previously, the firm had partnered with a number of US outfits to provide US counsel and this move brings the firm into line with the rest of its Magic Circle rivals, who already have US-qualified lawyers in Hong Kong. Continue reading “Asia Pacific: Slaughters makes first foray into lateral market to launch US securities practice in Hong Kong”

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LLP latest – Herbert Smith Freehills sees its overdraft rise by 140% as borrowing totals £111m

Significantly increased debt has been a recurring theme for many of the latest limited liability partnership (LLP) accounts filed at Companies House and Herbert Smith Freehills is no exception, with its overdraft up over 140% from £26m to £62.7m and total bank borrowing up by 28% to £110.7m.

In the first accounts filed since Herbert Smith’s June 2012 merger with Australia’s Freehills, the global LLP accounts reveal that revenue is slightly down on last summer’s unaudited figure of £471.2m, standing at £469m. The accounts, which do not include the Australian side of the business, further show a LLP cash position of £29m. Continue reading “LLP latest – Herbert Smith Freehills sees its overdraft rise by 140% as borrowing totals £111m”