The start of September has seen international firms reinvigorate their expansion plans, with Clyde & Co revealing an Indonesian alliance after joining forces with Indonesian law firm, while Charles Russell has extended its global footprint with the opening of an office in Qatar. Elsewhere, central and eastern European focused firm Kinstellar launched its seventh office located in Kazakhstan, hiring a team from Dentons, which has just opened a second office in the CIS state.
Clifford Chance snares BLP’s contentious tax head
Senior exits from Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) continue apace as Clifford Chance has confirmed the hire of Liesl Fichardt, the head of BLP’s contentious tax practice.
Announced today (4 September), the loss is a blow to the tax team at the 782-lawyer BLP as heavyweight Fichardt, who joined the firm in 2008, is a veteran of the legal market. Acknowledged in the Legal 500 as a ‘masterful team head,’ she also practised as a tax barrister for 13 years before joining Dorsey & Whitney in 2006.
Continue reading “Clifford Chance snares BLP’s contentious tax head”
European expansion: Speechlys opens second Swiss base as Pinsents and OC bolster Euro offices through lateral hires
It’s been a year of highs and lows for private client firm Speechly Bircham which, after enduring flat revenues for 2012/13 and unsuccessful merger talks with rival private client firm Withers earlier in the year, has opened an office in Geneva this week. Meanwhile, both Pinsent Masons and Osborne Clarke have made key strategic hires to European offices.
US lateral spree: Jones Day closes in on 50 hires for 2013 as King & Spalding continues to crank up City offering
In its 49th lateral hire of 2013, Jones Day has hired Latham & Watkins finance partner Brian Conway to its London banking and finance practice. His hire comes amid a spate of lateral hires to take place between US-based international firms recently.
Conway is the tenth partner to join one of the firm’s global banking and finance practices this year, following the hire of former co-chair of Miami-based firm Akerman Senterfitt’s Rafael Aguilar who joined Jones Day’s recently launched Miami banking and finance practice in July.
Analysis: upheaval in Scots legal market continues as Kennedys takes over Simpson & Marwick
Insurance specialist Kennedys is the latest in line of large English firms conducting raids north of the border over the last year-and-half, sealing a merger with Scotland’s Simpson & Marwick after over a year of negotiations.
The 220-partner firm will be initially be known as Kennedys worldwide and Kennedys Simpson & Marwick in Scotland and is the most significant Anglo-Scottish tie-up since McGrigors was acquired by Pinsent Masons in May 2012.
If the mid-tier’s days are numbered why do they keep doing so well?
We’ve had five years of unforgiving conditions for law firms, everyone agrees. And in many respects that squeeze has had predictable results on the upper echelons and lower half of the LB100. But this year it’s the mid-tier which has had the most interesting 12 months. This group should by rights and conventional wisdom be on its knees, yet judged on 2012/13 results they aren’t. Looking at organic growth, plenty of firms in the 26-50 range out-shone larger rivals and many of the stand-out performances this year – among them Mishcon de Reya, Holman Fenwick Willan, Macfarlanes and RPC – hail from this segment. Neither is this a one-year deal – there are plenty of firms in this weight class that have maintained a robust five-year growth track, powered by strong niches in areas like private client, TMT and insurance and a general affinity for contentious work.
It is a reminder that there is nothing inherently wrong with a domestic or mid-market focus. It is just one model with its own strengths and weaknesses. Executed with a genuine feel for those strengths it delivers not just well but sometimes spectacularly.
Continue reading “If the mid-tier’s days are numbered why do they keep doing so well?”
Accept no substitute: Legal Business hits the iPad with the law app you’ve been waiting for
We take a sizeable step in the evolution of Legal Business today with the launch of a new iPad edition, which we will be rolling out to our subscribers.
The app launches after months of development to coincide with our September edition, traditionally the largest of the year in which we publish our annual LB 100 coverage of the financial results of the UK’s largest law firms.
Real estate round up: Macfarlanes, HSF, Slaughter and May and Hengeler Mueller each win key commercial property mandates
It’s been a week for the traditional corporate bluebloods to shine in real estate-related work, with Macfarlanes, Slaughter and May and German royalty Hengeler Mueller individually winning significant transactions.
Macfarlanes secured a key role advising CBRE Britannica on the sale of its shopping centre portfolio for £250m to US investor Kennedy Wilson, advised by Herbert Smith Freehills.
Deal watch: telecoms stays on front pages as Skadden and Simpson Thacher lead on Microsoft’s acquisition of Nokia’s mobile business
Following Monday’s $130bn deal between Vodafone and Verizon, yet another blockbuster telecoms transaction has emerged to keep M&A lawyers enthralled, with US firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett taking the lead in Microsoft’s $7bn acquisition of Nokia’s Devices & Services business along with a ten-year patent licensing agreement. Continue reading “Deal watch: telecoms stays on front pages as Skadden and Simpson Thacher lead on Microsoft’s acquisition of Nokia’s mobile business”
ABS growing pains: Co-op Legal Service’s losses simply teething troubles, says GC
With news that Co-operative Legal Services (CLS) has posted a £3.4m loss in the for first half of 2013, the group’s recently installed general counsel Alistair Asher says the business is still in its infancy and will flourish, provided it has the appropriate levels of investment. The loss comes despite turnover in the Co-op’s legal arm growing by 5.8% on last year to £18.1m.
GC to the board of The Co-operative Group, Asher said: ‘The top line is growing so the bottom line will improve. CLS is still a start-up business so it is not a case of turning anything around, it’s actually about developing the business and moving forward. CLS is one of the biggest business opportunities for The Co-operative Group right now. We have got the business model we need, we just need to give it support and investment so it can grow.’ Continue reading “ABS growing pains: Co-op Legal Service’s losses simply teething troubles, says GC”
Healthy competition: Capsticks takes five partners from DAC Beachcroft
It may be one of its signature practice areas but progressive insurance giant DAC Beachcroft last week (30 August) confirmed five Leeds-based partners will be leaving its market-leading health team for rival specialist Capsticks.
Although departure dates are yet to be finalised, Ian Cooper, Rachael Heenan, Robert McGough, Ron Simms and Claire Reynolds will all make the move to Capsticks next year.
DAC Beachcroft, which has advised the NHS since its inception 65 years ago, has the largest health practice of any UK law firm with 487-strong firmwide team comprising 50 partners and 200 fee earners operating across the independent and public sector, according to the firm. Continue reading “Healthy competition: Capsticks takes five partners from DAC Beachcroft”
Back of the net: BLP and Fladgate advise on Gareth Bale’s £85m transfer to Real Madrid
It was a busy football transfer window for some of the UK’s leading law firms, with Berwin Leighton Paisner’s Graham Shear and a host of Fladgate partners advising Premier League footballer Gareth Bale on his record-breaking transfer to Real Madrid from Tottenham Hotspur for (€100m) £85m. Slaughter and May and Charles Russell were also both very active on deadline day yesterday (2 September). Continue reading “Back of the net: BLP and Fladgate advise on Gareth Bale’s £85m transfer to Real Madrid”
Merger frenzy hikes Legal Business 100 income but growth masks another tough year
The latest Legal Business 100 results show the total revenue of the UK’s top 100 law firms has topped £19bn for the first time, while the number of lawyers across those firms has passed the 60,000 mark, also a first. However, this top-line growth is largely the result of another year of fervent merger activity, masking the fact that on a granular level many firms are struggling to achieve revenue and profit growth. Total revenue for the LB100 for 2012/13 is £19.1bn, an increase of 8%, while total lawyer headcount swelled 10% to 61,299. Continue reading “Merger frenzy hikes Legal Business 100 income but growth masks another tough year”
The guessing game is over as Vodafone’s $130bn Verizon sell off sees Slaughters acting opposite Macfarlanes and Wachtell
Intense speculation over Vodafone’s $130bn disposal of its US group, whose principal asset is its 45% interest in Verizon Wireless, to Verizon Communications this evening (2 September) came to an end after the deal announced, with Macfarlanes revealed as acting for Verizon and Slaughter and May for Vodafone. Slaughter and May corporate partner Roland Turnill led for the telecoms giant on one of the largest corporate deals in history, along with Simpson Thacher in the US. Continue reading “The guessing game is over as Vodafone’s $130bn Verizon sell off sees Slaughters acting opposite Macfarlanes and Wachtell”
That bright shiny idea – the in-house teams trying to move from costs to business driver
With mounting pressure on legal teams to up productivity, a handful of pioneering GCs have attempted the fundamental shift towards becoming a commercial centre
‘A lot of people like to be seen to be innovative,’ says Richard Susskind, author of Tomorrow’s Lawyers, ‘but one shouldn’t pursue innovation in and of itself, it’s got to be relevant.’
While this means different things to different industries at different times, within the context of the in-house legal community in the grip of an enduring economic malaise, there can be little more relevant than the innovations of departments that have turned themselves from traditional cost centres into profit-generating or business development limbs of the overall enterprise.
Renaissance style – the battle to modernise Italy’s legal elite
In 2011 Stefano Simontacchi, then head of tax at the Italian legal giant Bonelli Erede Pappalardo, made a high-stakes presentation at the firm’s general partners’ meeting. The increasingly disastrous economic climate in Italy was forcing the firm to reappraise its strategy and Simontacchi, as part of a three-partner committee, had been approved by the firm’s board to find a solution.
‘We needed strategic thinking about whether we wanted to be a very small boutique or whether we wanted to remain at the size we were,’ recalls Simontacchi. ‘In which case, how could we survive when overall spending capacity of the market is decreasing?’
Continue reading “Renaissance style – the battle to modernise Italy’s legal elite”
LB100 – The top 25: The age of turbulence
It’s been a bumpy ride for many of the UK’s largest firms, fighting battered profits with consolidation and increased global expansion. Welcome to the Legal Business 100, where headline revenue increases hide a tougher reality
When the UK’s 62nd largest law firm by revenue is suddenly wiped off the face of the earth, despite posting a 2% revenue increase in 2011/12, you’d expect a little nervousness within the profession. Cobbetts, which went into administration in March, posted a profit per equity partner (PEP) increase of 16% in its last-ever LB100 appearance, something that many of the firms occupying the list today would gladly take. But, as it would turn out – as has been the case ever since the 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers – when it comes to law firm financials, all is not what it seems. And, as the demise of Halliwells proved in 2010, it takes more than the collapse of a regional stalwart to seriously unhinge the market.
Continue reading “LB100 – The top 25: The age of turbulence”
LB 100 – The second quartile: Wind swept
Mid-pack advisers faced contrasting fortunes over the year, with many generalists seeing margins under continued pressure, while a sizeable band of confident City and insurance players rode the winds
With a combined total of 9,859 lawyers, 1,416 equity partners, £2.46bn in revenue and profits of £578.7m, the firms ranked 26-50 in the LB100 lag significantly behind the top 25 as a group.
Revenue at the average firm in the upper quartile of firms is up 9%, inflated by the wave of mergers that has boosted the income at firms such as Dentons and Herbert Smith Freehills, while firms ranked 26-50 managed average revenue growth of 7%.
LB 100 – The second 50: Scattered in the wind
The gulf between success and failure among the firms occupying the second half of the LB100 is as pronounced as ever. From highly profitable boutiques to ravaged regionals desperate for a merger, we chart the haves and the have-nots
Collectively making up just a tenth of the LB100 firms’ total 2012/13 revenue for 2012/13 of £19.1bn, law firms ranked between 51 to 100 in the table can be polar opposites. The gap between high and low performing firms in these two quartiles is as startling, with profit per lawyer (PPL) varying from £177,000 at ascendant litigation specialist Stewarts Law to just £15,000 at the beleaguered Manches.
Continue reading “LB 100 – The second 50: Scattered in the wind”
LB 100 – The Five Year View: Riders on the Storm
A five-year view of the LB100 underlines the profound impact globalisation has had on the UK’s top firms but also the soaring success of the best mid-pack players. Legal Business analyses the winners and losers since Lehman unleashed a storm
The five years that have passed since 2008, when the previous year’s credit crunch morphed into full economic meltdown, have been, in relative terms, the bleakest period economically in the UK since the Second World War. Yet despite this, with the exception of 2009/10, when total revenues tumbled 14%, collectively the UK legal profession has grown remarkably during that period. In our 2008 report, total turnover of the top 100 firms was £13.96bn. This year, those top 100 firms have amassed revenues of £19.1bn, an increase of 37%. Continue reading “LB 100 – The Five Year View: Riders on the Storm”