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Divided we fall – Sidley Austin announces review of Frankfurt office following partner departures

Europe’s largest and one of its most highly divided economies, Germany has put many law firms’ strategy to the test and today (25 February) Sidley Austin announced that it has placed its Frankfurt office under review following a number of partner departures.

The Global 100 top 15 firm’s announcement – which follows the decision by Shearman & Sterling last year to close its Dusseldorf and Munich offices and consolidate its efforts in Frankfurt, as Latham & Watkins also last May announced the launch of a further German office in Dusseldorf – comes after Sidley tax partner Werner Geisselmeier left for Pinsent Masons’ Munich office in December last year, leaving the office with only one partner. Continue reading “Divided we fall – Sidley Austin announces review of Frankfurt office following partner departures”

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Deals: CC, Taylor Wessing and Ashurst act on infra and real estate deals

Advisers benefit as investors target industrial assets

The shift towards global industrial real estate portfolios as an asset class last month saw Clifford Chance (CC) advise newly-formed SEGRO European Logistics Partnership (SELP) on its €472m acquisition of a portfolio of prime development land in Germany, Poland and France from funds managed by Tristan Capital Partners.

The CC team leading the deal included global head of real estate Adrian Levy, alongside London real estate partner Mark Payne and fellow City-based head of real estate tax David Saleh.

Continue reading “Deals: CC, Taylor Wessing and Ashurst act on infra and real estate deals”

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BT selects Axiom for global legal outsourcing and analytics contract

Jobling steps aside as head of volume business BT Law

An innovator long at the vanguard of transforming the traditional in-house legal function, BT in February entered into a three-year contract with Axiom to provide the telecoms giant with legal outsourcing and analytics services across the UK, US, Africa, Middle East and Asia, replacing and extending a contract formerly held by legal process outsourcing (LPO) provider UnitedLex.

All work previously undertaken by UnitedLex, which includes 30% of BT’s global services division’s legal work in the UK, transferred to Axiom on 1 February after a successful tender process that concluded towards the end of 2013.

Continue reading “BT selects Axiom for global legal outsourcing and analytics contract”

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MasterCard appoints Murphy as GC as Hanft steps down

UBS and HSBC see key in-house moves

The start of 2014 has seen almost as much in the way of global lateral movement and internal promotions in-house as out. Last month, MasterCard named Tim Murphy as its general counsel (GC) and chief franchise officer; Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher appointed UBS’s former global head of investigations and Americas GC Mark Shelton as a partner in New York; and HSBC confirmed that Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton partner Shawn Chen has joined the bank to oversee its regulatory and enforcement department.

Murphy is to take his seat on the corporation’s executive committee as MasterCard’s GC from 1 April as current incumbent Noah Hanft retires from the role.

Continue reading “MasterCard appoints Murphy as GC as Hanft steps down”

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DISSENT: The road to equity – a difficult journey, an uncertain destination

The Royal Bank of Scotland’s James Tsolakis argues the profession must accept a fundamental challenge to its traditional model

The legal profession is going through a period of dramatic and profound change, and the forces driving these changes are having far-reaching consequences on the industry. The roles and responsibilities of the equity partner are not immune from these forces, and are evolving and expanding in response. For many this is creating great ambiguity, while others are seizing the opportunity.

Continue reading “DISSENT: The road to equity – a difficult journey, an uncertain destination”

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Mergerwatch: Speechly Bircham in talks with Charles Russell

Speechly Bircham is trying its hand once more at finding a merger partner as the firm last month announced it is currently in talks with fellow Legal Business 100 firm Charles Russell, a deal that would place the combined firm in the top 30 of the LB100.

A joint statement released by both firms on 21 February said: ‘City law firms Charles Russell and Speechly Bircham have confirmed that they are in preliminary talks about a potential merger between their two firms.

Continue reading “Mergerwatch: Speechly Bircham in talks with Charles Russell”

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Where the bodies lie – the risk report 2014

 

While the regulatory upheaval of recent years has calmed down, our annual risk report finds law firms facing many threats lurking around the corner

In our seventh annual risk management and professional indemnity survey with broker Marsh, we asked law firms if they felt they had got to grips yet internally with the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA)’s outcomes-focused regulation (OFR) regime. One firm said: ‘Yes but it is continuous improvement so it can never be “completed”.’

(more…)

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Taking Manhattan – Gibson Dunn posts strong 2013 financials after another impressive year

Identified as one of a handful of firms based outside New York that have mounted a serious challenge to the Wall Street old guard, California’s Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher has followed posting double-digit revenue growth for 2012, with a slightly more modest but nonetheless impressive 7.4% increase in revenues for 2013.

Revenues for 2013 were $1.39bn, up from $1.29bn. This is particularly strong turnover growth, on the back of the 10.7% increase in 2012 on the $1.17bn revenues the firm posted in 2011. Successive increases in revenue has given the firm an impressive overall growth of 42% over a six-year period between 2007 and 2012.

Continue reading “Taking Manhattan – Gibson Dunn posts strong 2013 financials after another impressive year”

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Comment: Where do you want your firm to be in 2020? How short-termism has come to define the modern law firm

To judge from the way law firms behave – it’s helpfully instructive to ignore what they say – the answer to the rhetorical question of the above headline is: ‘Who gives a fig?’

Consider the following facts and ask yourself what philosophy of management underlies and ties all law firms together:

Continue reading “Comment: Where do you want your firm to be in 2020? How short-termism has come to define the modern law firm”

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Guest post: Cooperation. Cooperation. Cooperation. The name of the game if you want a DPA

‘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.

Continue reading “Guest post: Cooperation. Cooperation. Cooperation. The name of the game if you want a DPA”

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Countdown: HMRC’s LLP tax changes to go ahead in April

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”

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Hires in London for MoFo and O’Melveny as Paul Hastings brings in Pfizer’s assistant GC

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”

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Global growth for K&L Gates but profits edge down in 2013

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”

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US financial results 2013: Latham sees moderate growth in PEP and revenue

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”

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Revival watch – after a lost decade Shearman delivers pace-setting 9% fee hike as PEP soars to $1.8m

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”

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Axiom hires new UK MD from LexisNexis in senior leadership reshuffle and BT fills competition GC role

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”

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WhatsApp? Weil secures lead role on Facebook’s $16bn acquisition led by 2012 Dewey hire

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”

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Soft H2 debt restructuring market blamed for 12.6% drop in 2013 US revenue for Bingham McCutchen

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”

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Return to form for Queen’s Counsel as 100 barristers take silk

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”

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Guest Post: Third party funders, out of the shadows

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”