Posted on

No such thing as a free lunch – first judgment clarifies termination of third party litigation fund

Third party litigation funders look set to adopt a similar position to insurers in driving the litigation agenda after a judgment last week confirmed what the market already knew; there is no such thing as a free lunch or litigation.

Sitting as deputy judge of the High Court, Mr David Donaldson QC in Harcus Sinclair v Buttonwood Legal Capital Limited (BLC) and others set out the first judgment to consider termination of third party litigation funding agreements since the arrival of the Jackson reforms. Continue reading “No such thing as a free lunch – first judgment clarifies termination of third party litigation fund”

Posted on

First limb of Lloyds privatisation sees Slaughters and Freshfields win lead roles

Five years on from the collapse of Lehman Brothers, Slaughter and May and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer have won the leading roles on the first limb of the government’s privatisation of Lloyds Banking Group, which was rescued by the UK taxpayer in 2008.

Slaughters is advising UK Financial Investments Limited (UKFI) on the HM Treasury’s disposal of a 6% stake in Lloyds Banking Group, worth around £3.3bn. Continue reading “First limb of Lloyds privatisation sees Slaughters and Freshfields win lead roles”

Posted on

Kirkland opens up in Beijing to expand 65-lawyer Chinese operation

Kirkland & Ellis has expanded its sizeable Chinese footprint by opening an office in Beijing, the top 10 global firm announced today.

With 55 lawyers in Hong Kong and 10 in Shanghai, the new Beijing presence will focus on M&A and private equity transactions, international capital markets transactions, fund formation and government enforcement and investigations.

Corporate partners David Zhang, who joined from Latham & Watkins two years ago, and Chuan Li, who is the founding partner of the firm’s Hong Kong and Shanghai offices, will spearhead the Beijing launch. Continue reading “Kirkland opens up in Beijing to expand 65-lawyer Chinese operation”

Posted on

Comment: Why the in-house triumph over law firms may prove short-lived

In the decade prior to the collapse of Lehman Brothers, an excess of work masked the corrosive effect to law firms from competition with increasingly sophisticated and growing in-house legal departments (C&I teams). Post-Lehman, the economic downturn has exposed significant structural challenges to overstaffed law firms, which have been ruthlessly exploited by C&I to decisively shift the balance of power in favour of clients. Nevertheless, the triumph of in-house, measured by its rapid growth and ability to wrest increasingly complex work from law firms while simultaneously squeezing them on rates, may prove to be short-lived.  Continue reading “Comment: Why the in-house triumph over law firms may prove short-lived”

Posted on

Competition and Markets Authority wins over doubters as City nerves subside

After longstanding debate followed by a consultation launched by the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS) in March 2011, the new umbrella Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has been brought in to reduce duplication of costs, increase confidence in the system, and, so goes the theory, create a more robust system.

Bringing together the Competition Commission and certain consumer functions of the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), the CMA, which will be established as a non-ministerial department governed by an independent board but accountable to Parliament, has been broadly welcomed by the legal profession.

Continue reading “Competition and Markets Authority wins over doubters as City nerves subside”

Posted on

In-house: Lloyds Banking Group sees knock-on effect at senior level as it fills GC for group legal role

In-house promotions and moves often have a domino effect across the entire legal function and Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) is no exception. The major British financial institution has most recently announced that former corporate M&A head Hugh Pugsley will take over as general counsel for group legal from Kate Cheetham, who was promoted to deputy general counsel in January this year.

Pugsley, a former associate at Magic Circle firm Allen & Overy, has moved up the ranks of the 60-strong team and will now be responsible for advising the global banking giant on financial reporting, M&A, corporate development, HR, and property-related issues. Continue reading “In-house: Lloyds Banking Group sees knock-on effect at senior level as it fills GC for group legal role”

Posted on

Swings and roundabouts: DLA Piper announces replacement Birmingham head and double hire as Patrick Somers joins from BLP

After losing Birmingham managing partner Mark Beardmore to Eversheds last week DLA Piper has announced his replacement plus a double hire to boot, as former Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) partner Patrick Somers joins the firm.

Somers, who was BLP’s Thames Water relationship partner and led its innovative managed legal services (MLS) division, under which it took over the legal work and staff of Thames Water, becomes the second BLP partner this year to join DLA, after corporate partner Rob Salter joined in May. Continue reading “Swings and roundabouts: DLA Piper announces replacement Birmingham head and double hire as Patrick Somers joins from BLP”

Posted on

In-house: Clifford Chance and Slaughter and May lawyers take senior roles at CMA, Shell and PwC

Magic circle lawyers have this week filled a number of senior regulatory and in-house positions, with a Slaughter and May partner unveiled as general counsel of the new Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and a former lawyer named Shell‘s UK legal head; while Clifford Chance‘s head of employee benefits has joined PwC as a director in its employee rewards team.

The CMA – the new body which brings together the Competition Commission and and some consumer functions of the Office of Fair Trading- yesterday (12 September) announced the appointment of former Slaughter and May partner Sarah Cardell as GC as it completes its leadership team in time for its official launch on 1 October. Continue reading “In-house: Clifford Chance and Slaughter and May lawyers take senior roles at CMA, Shell and PwC”

Posted on

Hogan Lovells bolsters mental health and workplace stress measures in the wake of tragic IP partner suicide

Hogan Lovells has bolstered its policies and procedures around workplace stress and mental health in the wake of the tragic suicide of respected IP partner David Latham earlier this year.

The inquest into Latham’s death, who jumped in front of a tube on 15 February, opened yesterday (12 September) at Westminster Coroner’s Court, when coroner Jean Harkin heard the 58-year-old lawyer was worried about a relatively minor evidence point on a particularly complex case he was working on. Despite constant reassurance from fellow partners and external counsel that his concerns were unjustified, he became ‘inconsolable.’ Continue reading “Hogan Lovells bolsters mental health and workplace stress measures in the wake of tragic IP partner suicide”

Posted on

Line up, line up: Twitter, Royal Mail and Foxtons go to market

After a flurry of initial public offerings (IPOs) earlier in the year, with Esure, Countrywide and Partnership Assurance among the UK companies to go public, a new wave of IPOs are lining up to go to market, including Royal Mail, Foxtons and, most recently in the US, Twitter.

Twitter rather aptly tweeted its intentions to float on the stock market yesterday (12 September) with leading technology IPO specialists Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati tipped for the role. Continue reading “Line up, line up: Twitter, Royal Mail and Foxtons go to market”

Posted on

Mergers push the top 100 firms back into double digit growth

A wave of consolidation in the UK legal industry has sparked double digit growth among the top 100 law firms for the first time in five years.

The latest Deloitte quarterly legal sector survey today (13 September) revealed a 10.5% increase in fee income generated in Q1 (ending 31 July) compared to the same period last year.

The growth was boosted by mergers within the sector, which accounted for approximately half of the fee income increase, with the balance due to an increase in general market activity. Continue reading “Mergers push the top 100 firms back into double digit growth”

Posted on

Asia Round-up: Linklaters and Sidley Austin hire in Hong Kong and Singapore while DLA suffers another Singapore exit

Magic circle lateral hires still happen comparatively infrequently but if they do happen, these days it’s quite often in Asia. The past week has seen Linklaters appoint David Kidd of his own eponymous firm as a partner to lead its pan-Asian restructuring and insolvency practice. He will join the firm in October and be based in Hong Kong. Linklaters has been involved in high profile insolvencies such as MF Global and Lehman Brothers and Stuart Salt, Linklaters regional managing partner for Asia, said: ‘David is one of the leading R&I lawyers in the region and we are excited about further developing this side of our business with him.’ Continue reading “Asia Round-up: Linklaters and Sidley Austin hire in Hong Kong and Singapore while DLA suffers another Singapore exit”

Posted on

Further DLA regional fall out as Eversheds hires Birmingham managing partner and head of technology

DLA Piper has suffered further regional losses as Birmingham managing partner Mark Beardmore and head of technology and sourcing Simon Jones depart for Eversheds.

Corporate M&A and private equity partner Beardmore, who regularly acts for private equity funders and management teams on management buyouts and secondary buyouts, is thought to have been approached by Eversheds and resigned from DLA last week. Continue reading “Further DLA regional fall out as Eversheds hires Birmingham managing partner and head of technology”

Posted on

Record breaking $49bn Verizon bond issue sees Debevoise and Davis Polk secure lead roles

Debevoise & Plimpton and Davis Polk & Wardwell have landed roles on Verizon Communication’s record breaking $49bn US bond issue. The deal is bigger than the three previous record sized deals combined: Apple’s $17 billion deal in April, AbbVie’s US14.7 billion last November and Roche Holdings’ $13.5 billion transaction in 2009, according to Reuters, which also points out that the issue is larger than the GDP of 90 countries.

Debevoise is advising Verizon, with a New York team led by corporate chair Jeffrey Rosen, corporate partners Michael Dis and Steven Slutzky working alongside tax partner Peter Furci.

Davis Polk is advising the underwriters J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Barclays Bank, Merrill Lynch and Pierce, Fenner & Smith as joint lead arrangers and joint bookrunners. Continue reading “Record breaking $49bn Verizon bond issue sees Debevoise and Davis Polk secure lead roles”

Posted on

Comment: The age of turbulence has only just begun for the UK’s top 100 firms

Respectable, yes, but 2012/13 was a tough year, even by the post-Lehman standards law firm leaders have become accustomed to. While a frantic run of consolidation and international expansion pushed revenue up 8% to £19.1bn, like-for-like growth was far more subdued.

On all objective measures of productivity and profitability, there were further slides, even before accounting for inflation. Back-of-the envelope calculations indicate that the UK’s top 100 law firms are about 25-30% off their boom-time highs in real terms underlying profitability.

Continue reading “Comment: The age of turbulence has only just begun for the UK’s top 100 firms”

Posted on

Trainee retention: Eversheds, Clyde & Co, CMS Cameron McKenna and Simmons reveal rates

The number of training contracts being offered by City firms may have dropped by over 20% but the recently revealed retention rates of Eversheds, Clyde & Co, CMS Cameron McKenna and Maclay Murray & Spens remain high, although Simmons & Simmons has slid to 71%.

Eversheds, which yesterday (10 September) posted an 87% retention rate, offered 40 out of 45 newly-qualified (NQ) lawyers a permanent role at the firm, which 38 accepted. The figures mirror last autumn’s retention round, when the same number of NQs were kept on. Continue reading “Trainee retention: Eversheds, Clyde & Co, CMS Cameron McKenna and Simmons reveal rates”

Posted on

Revolving Doors: September ushers in hires for Bakers, Clyde & Co, Eversheds, Pinsent Masons and Irwin Mitchell

A return to business as usual this September has brought a wave of lateral hires including 4,000-lawyer Baker & McKenzie’s recruitment of leading M&A partner Mats Sacklén (pictured) from the London office of McDermott Will & Emery, where he was head of the European corporate practice. Sacklén, who joins Baker’s Stockholm office to bolster its European corporate offering, is dual-qualified in Swedish and US law and focuses on cross-border M&A, divestures, joint ventures, privatisations, and debt and equity investments.

Sten Bauer, managing partner in Stockholm, commented: ‘He is very well-known in the market, both in London and Stockholm, and has worked on some of Europe’s largest deals over the past decade.’ Continue reading “Revolving Doors: September ushers in hires for Bakers, Clyde & Co, Eversheds, Pinsent Masons and Irwin Mitchell”

Posted on

Dysfunctional, inefficient and expensive: City Law Society responds to MoJ consultation on regulation

The City of London Law Society (CLLS) has responded to the Ministry of Justice’s (MoJ) call for evidence over concerns around the complexity of the legal services regulatory landscape with claims that it is dysfunctional and will need to be overhauled. The MoJ led by justice minister Helen Grant kick-started the wholesale review in June this year, in a bid to reduce the regulatory burden on the profession.

In its response yesterday (9 September), the CLLS, which represents approximately 15,000 City lawyers, claimed that the current regulatory framework is ‘not ideal’, fails to regulate all sectors of the solicitors’ profession in an appropriate manner, is unnecessarily complex and expensive and that ‘the total cost of regulation is close to getting out of control.’ Continue reading “Dysfunctional, inefficient and expensive: City Law Society responds to MoJ consultation on regulation”

Posted on

Don’t blame your shareholders for tax avoidance decisions, Farrer & Co report warns FTSE 100 bosses

Company directors facing scrutiny over their low corporate tax bill are not able to effectively blame their decisions on their duty to shareholders, a Farrer & Co legal opinion sent to FTSE 100 companies has said.

The opinion, sent yesterday (9 September) to the chief executives of the UK’s largest companies, was commissioned by the Tax Justice Network and concludes that ‘the idea of a strictly “fiduciary” duty to avoid tax is wholly misconceived’. The TJN, which circulated the opinion, was prompted by fears that UK business leaders are justifying their decision to find tax loopholes on the need to maximise profits for shareholders.

Continue reading “Don’t blame your shareholders for tax avoidance decisions, Farrer & Co report warns FTSE 100 bosses”

Posted on

Redundancy watch: MMS loses 28 staff and Shakespeares launches consultation as Ashurst’s Scottish fallout continues

Redundancy is a word that has been heard rather less over the quieter summer months but yesterday (9 September) Scottish firm Maclay Murray & Spens confirmed it has made a total of 28 staff redundant. Meanwhile, Midlands firm Shakespeares this week confirmed the launch of a consultation over 19 secretarial roles as Ashurst completes the first stage of a redundancy process affecting 350 roles.

Continue reading “Redundancy watch: MMS loses 28 staff and Shakespeares launches consultation as Ashurst’s Scottish fallout continues”