‘Cooperation, cooperation, cooperation’ is the Serious Fraud Office (SFO)’s message to corporates looking to enter into new US-style plea bargains available [this week].
From [today, 24 February] the Americanisation of corporate crime in England continues.
Businesses (but not individuals) will be able to enter into Deferred Prosecution Agreements (DPAs) with the UK taking a leaf out of the US book as it moves to plea bargains for corporates.
The controversial debate over taxation of limited liability partnerships (LLPs) has reached a decisive stage as changes are scheduled to press ahead on 6 April, while individuals have been allocated more time to contribute capital, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) announced late last Friday (21 February).
Having long been accused of unfairly treating all partnerships as tax avoidance vehicles, the Government has been taking meaningful steps to reset the relationship as it has ‘become evident that many LLPs have members who are engaged on terms similar to those of employees rather than traditional partners’, according to guidance notes published by HMRC last week.
Continue reading “Countdown: HMRC’s LLP tax changes to go ahead in April”
US firms have announced a number of senior hires in the last few days as Morrison & Foerster (MoFo) and O’Melveny & Myers turn to their rivals for partner appointments in London, while Paul Hastings’ New York office brings in Pfizer’s head of government investigations as partner.
At MoFo, former head of Reed Smith’s acquisition and leveraged finance practice in London, Philip Slater, is to join the top 30 Global100 firm’s financial transactions group as partner. Continue reading “Hires in London for MoFo and O’Melveny as Paul Hastings brings in Pfizer’s assistant GC”
Even for rapidly globalising law firms, the market remains challenging, it seems. Financial results for K&L Gates show the US law firm continuing to expand its global footprint in 2013, unveiling a 9.3% hike in revenues to hit $1.16bn, but also struggling to improve profitability for the second year in a row.
The growth is largely due to the Pittsburgh-bred firm’s takeover at the beginning of 2013 of Australian mid-tier Middletons and the launch of offices in Houston, Seoul and Wilmington.
Continue reading “Global growth for K&L Gates but profits edge down in 2013”
Still basking in London in the news that it has hired leading Clifford Chance (CC) private equity partner Kem Ihenacho, Latham & Watkins yesterday (19 February) released moderate US growth figures for 2013, with revenue up by 2.7% to $2.29bn.
Profit per partner has increased by almost 2% to $2,490,000, up from $2,443,000 the previous financial year. Revenue per lawyer has also increased by a modest 1.4% to $1,110,000 from a 2012 figure of $1,095,000. Continue reading “US financial results 2013: Latham sees moderate growth in PEP and revenue”
It was a performance that the Wall Street thoroughbred badly needed and at last Shearman & Sterling has proved its many doubters wrong to unveil a 9.1% hike in revenues and a double-digit percentage increase in partner profits for its 2013 year.
Under the first full year of the leadership of senior partner Creighton Condon, the top 50 global law firm has posted a 9.1% rise in revenue to $820.5m, from $752m the previous year. Profit per equity partner (PEP) jumped 18.4% to $1.8m from $1,521,000 in 2012 while revenue per lawyer hit $1m, a 13.4% annual rise. Continue reading “Revival watch – after a lost decade Shearman delivers pace-setting 9% fee hike as PEP soars to $1.8m”
In the wake of its latest high profile outsourcing deal with BT, Axiom, arguably the most touted alternative legal services provider, is to boost its senior management team with the hire of LexisNexis’ director of legal markets, Nick West, as incumbent Al Giles moves into a more senior role as executive vice president, head of regional markets.
West is to take the role of managing director of the UK business at Axiom, which Giles, who will continue to be UK-based, has held since he was brought in from Linklaters to launch the US group’s London office in 2007. Continue reading “Axiom hires new UK MD from LexisNexis in senior leadership reshuffle and BT fills competition GC role”
The first global law firm to open an office in US technology heartland Silicon Valley, Weil Gotshal & Manges has secured the lead role on Facebook’s $16bn acquisition of mobile messaging service WhatsApp, led by high profile 2012 Dewey & LeBoeuf lateral hire Keith Flaum.
Flaum, an M&A partner who joined Weil’s Silicon Valley office as part of a highly-rated five-partner technology team in the same month as Dewey’s spectacular collapse in May 2012, led a team opposite Fenwick & West for WhatsApp. Continue reading “WhatsApp? Weil secures lead role on Facebook’s $16bn acquisition led by 2012 Dewey hire”
When many firms were busy cutting costs and dicing teams in 2008, Bingham McCutchen weathered the economic downturn pretty well thanks to the solid inflow of work in its debt restructuring practice.
Five years later, with corporates finding cash far easier to come by, and Bingham is feeling the pinch after its H2 2013 restructuring work slowed and its revenues for the financial year dropped by 12.6% to $762m from $871.8m in 2012. Continue reading “Soft H2 debt restructuring market blamed for 12.6% drop in 2013 US revenue for Bingham McCutchen”
In stark contrast with the recent decline in the number of Queen’s Counsel (QC) appointments, the latest round announced today (19 February) has seen 100 barristers awarded the elite advocacy kitemark, up by 19% on last year’s all-time-low figure of just 84.
The number of applicants rose this year to 225, in what may be interpreted as the latest litmus test of confidence in the wider economy, after queries were raised from within the profession over whether previous drops were a reflection of not just the circa £2,000 cost of applying to become a QC, but also fears that the associated higher rates would not be supported by cash-strapped clients. Continue reading “Return to form for Queen’s Counsel as 100 barristers take silk”
Third-party funding (TPF) has suddenly become the black sheep of the litigation finance industry. In the wake of the spectacularly unsuccessful TPF-backed Excalibur Ventures case – a huge piece of litigation that Lord Justice Christopher Clarke described in December as “speculative and opportunistic” – questions are now being asked about what the problems that are emerging with some of the funding in that litigation mean for the rest of the industry. Continue reading “Guest Post: Third party funders, out of the shadows”
In a move emphasising the increasing efforts of the Serious Fraud Office to overhaul its image, the body announced on Monday (18 February) that it had launched proceedings against three former Barclays employees over allegations they ‘conspired to defraud’ over the benchmark interest rate, Libor.
Charges against Peter Johnson, Jonathan Mathew and Stylianos Contogoulas relate to the manipulation of Libor between 1 June 2005 and 31 August 2007. The criminal proceedings began yesterday and all three will be expected to attend at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 26 February.
Norton Rose Fulbright (NRF) is to expand its Latin American footprint as it today (19 February) announces the launch of an office in Rio de Janeiro and the hire of BP’s global corporate assistant general counsel Andrew Haynes as office co-head.
The new office in Brazil, which will be also be run by current head of Colombia, Glenn Faas, will be the LB100 top ten firm’s third in the region after Venezuela (Caracas) and Colombia (Bogotá), and its 55th office worldwide. Continue reading “Brazilian hat trick – NRF launches third Latin America office with hire of BP’s Andrew Haynes”
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 merely a severe cyclical depression from which the profession will in time recover. Continue reading “Comment: paradigm shift or just the mother of recessions? 2014 should answer the profession’s big question”
As international law firms continue their strategic push into south east Asia, Baker & McKenzie has become the latest global player to launch an office in Myanmar.
Bakers today (18 February) confirmed the launch of a branch in the city of Yangon to be led by infrastructure and corporate partner Chris Hughes, who is currently based in Sydney. The decision was made at the firm’s Asia Pacific partners meeting held in Tokyo this year, handing Bakers its 16th office in the wider Asia region.
Continue reading “South eastern promise: Baker & McKenzie unveils launch in touted Myanmar market”
Recognised as a heavyweight among in-house advisory and lobbying groups, BG Group’s general counsel (GC) Graham Vinter has taken over as chair of the GC100 group, which brings together the most senior legal representatives from over 80 of the UK’s FTSE 100.
Vinter, who succeeds fellow energy giant Centrica’s GC and company secretary Grant Dawson, was voted in on 14 January and will now head a high-level executive committee responsible for the overall strategic direction of the GC100. Continue reading “FTSE 100 leadership: BG Group’s Vinter takes over as head of GC100 as Centrica’s Dawson steps down”
Following a year of rapid international expansion that saw highly profitable litigation outfit Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan dominate the global litigation agenda with launches in jurisdictions such as Sydney and Hong Kong, the top 35 Global100 firm today (18 February) confirmed to Legal Business that it is to broaden out its capability with a launch in the heart of the European Union (EU), in Brussels.
The new office, its seventh in Europe, will focus on EU and member state competition litigation and investigations and will be managed by Nadine Herrmann, head of the firm’s European competition practice. Continue reading “New frontiers for Quinn Emanuel as US litigation leader sets up in Brussels”
As our Taking Manhattan cover feature underlines, the Los Angeles-bred Latham & Watkins continues to make major inroads in the key global hubs of New York and increasingly London. Making the point again, the global giant has today (18 February), announced the recruitment of high-profile Clifford Chance (CC) partner Kem Ihenacho, the third private equity partner to join Latham’s City arm from CC in the last 12 months.
The move follows the departure of former CC global head of private equity David Walker in April last year and another CC partner Tom Evans in October.
Winning a new client for the firm—there’s little that can match that for excitement, sense of accomplishment and visible contribution to the firm. More so if the client is big or prestigious. A pitch is often a hard-fought battle against many worthy foes. There are numerable, maddening unknowns in pitching a new client: which lawyers at which levels should be presented? What’s the optimal pricing? What services will distinguish your firm from the others? etc., etc. Continue reading “Guest post – Client retention: give credit where credit’s due”
The fast-paced Premier League last week handed two lucrative deals to LB100 firms Gateley, Howard KennedyFsi, Hill Dickinson and DWF, as West Ham sold its iconic Upton Park ground and Everton Football Club (FC) entered a five-year partnership with Umbro.
Birmingham-based firm Gateley and West End firm Howard KennedyFsi advised on West Ham’s sale of Upton Park to Galliard Group after the team won the rights to use the Olympic Stadium for its new ground from 2016. Continue reading “Premier League: Gateley advises West Ham on sale of Upton Park as DWF gets behind Everton on Umbro signing”
