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Corporate: Alibaba and Kabel Deutschland deals land roles for Freshfields, Linklaters and Hengeler Mueller

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Linklaters have landed two major corporate mandates advising Alibaba on what Reuters describes as ‘the most anticipated IPO since Facebook’ and Vodafone on its €7.7bn (£6.6bn) acquisition of Germany’s largest cable TV operator respectively.

Amidst much market speculation over roles and particularly the levels of fees that will be commanded, Freshfields is understood to be advising the China e-commerce giant on an IPO reportedly valued at as much as $100bn (64bn), with Hong Kong equity capital markets partner and Greater China head Teresa Ko understood to be leading the team. Continue reading “Corporate: Alibaba and Kabel Deutschland deals land roles for Freshfields, Linklaters and Hengeler Mueller”

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Three years in the making: Legal education and training review unveiled

A report touted as the most comprehensive review of legal education in the UK since the Omrod report of 1971 has finally been published today (25 June), three years after it was first announced.

The Legal Education and Training Review (LETR), which was undertaken on behalf of the Bar Standards Board (BSB), ILEX Professional Standards and the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), looks at the educational requirements for entering the profession, continuing education including the obligations of law school providers and the impact of the Legal Services Act. Continue reading “Three years in the making: Legal education and training review unveiled”

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Nabarro points to bonus and high performance uplift as it freezes junior lawyers pay

Nabarro has defended its decision to freeze the salaries of its trainees, newly-qualified (NQ) lawyers and those with one to two years post-qualification experience (PQE), promising that those who shine at any level will receive a 5% increase on their salary and benefit from the firm’s generous bonus scheme. Continue reading “Nabarro points to bonus and high performance uplift as it freezes junior lawyers pay”

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Middle East: Dentons ends period of upheaval in Kuwait with decision to close local office

Dentons’ partnership has voted in favour of shutting its Kuwait office following a review, bringing to an end a turbulent chapter in the region.

The firm, which has had an office in Kuwait since 2008, only in January entered into a new association with local lawyer Jamal Ahmed Al-Shehab, replacing its association with International Legal Group. Continue reading “Middle East: Dentons ends period of upheaval in Kuwait with decision to close local office”

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All or nothing: Only a handful of DBAs entered into as confusion reigns over hybrid model

‘It’s an extraordinary thing – hundreds of lawyers should have entered into Damages-Based Agreements (DBAs) by now.’

So says Leslie Perrin, former managing partner and senior partner of Osborne Clarke who is now chairman of litigation funding group Calnius Capital, with around £40m of capital to invest in litigation.

Instead, DBAs, which came into force under the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 and entitle a lawyer to claim a percentage of their client’s damages by way of fees, have failed to take off at all and Perrin adds: ‘The confusion around the regulations has been such that I don’t think more than a handful of DBAs have been entered into all across the country. Continue reading “All or nothing: Only a handful of DBAs entered into as confusion reigns over hybrid model”

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In-house: Facebook and Diageo fill top GC roles

Social networking giant Facebook and global drinks brand Diageo both this week announced appointments to fill their top legal positions.

Facebook confirmed yesterday (20 June) that it has appointed Colin Stretch to succeed company general counsel (GC) Ted Ullyot as vice president and general counsel from 5 July, following Ullyot’s announcement in May that he would be stepping down. Continue reading “In-house: Facebook and Diageo fill top GC roles”

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Lawyers On Demand launches new pay-as-you-go model as demand increases for flexible staffing

As senior private practice and in-house lawyers increasingly turn to flexible staffing options to manage their costs, Berwin Leighton Paisner’s (BLP) Lawyers on Demand (LoD) has extended its offering in the marketplace by adding a pay-as-you go, remote services model.

The new service, LoD on Call, will operate alongside the firm’s existing secondment model, now rebranded LoD on Site, which launched in 2007 and spun out from BLP in June 2012. Both are aimed at helping corporates and law firms to cost effectively manage the inevitable peaks and troughs in workflow. Continue reading “Lawyers On Demand launches new pay-as-you-go model as demand increases for flexible staffing”

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Comment: Don’t push your luck with partnership

Do law firms take partnership for granted? They really shouldn’t as the model has served them so well. Just consider the case. Partnership aligns management and ownership. This has helped large law firms to avoid the patchy governance and rewards-for-mediocrity seen at public companies over the last 20 years and drives partners to a pure form of performance pay. It is inherently long-term and as such has a strong record in promoting independence and ethical standards. And given that law isn’t a capital-intensive trade – at least once you cross the Rubicon of international expansion – partnership is workable (if not ideal) from a financing point of view. Continue reading “Comment: Don’t push your luck with partnership”

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Insurance: Mills & Reeve takes up last of DLA’s defendant insurance team as CMS snares RPC head

Mills & Reeve and CMS Cameron McKenna boosted their offerings at opposite ends of the insurance spectrum this week, taking staff from the Birmingham office of DLA Piper and the City office of RPC respectively.

Top 50 UK firm Mills & Reeve acquired a nine-strong defendant insurance practice from DLA, marking the conclusion of DLA’s withdrawal from the typically lower margin area of law, as first announced by the top 10 firm last year.

Continue reading “Insurance: Mills & Reeve takes up last of DLA’s defendant insurance team as CMS snares RPC head”

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CC to boost London corporate and regulatory insurance capability with hire of NRF’s Ashley Prebble

Clifford Chance (CC) has hired Norton Rose Fulbright (NRF) corporate insurance partner Ashley Prebble as the Magic Circle firm aims to boost its Lloyds and London market and general insurance capability.

Prebble, who will work closely with the firm’s private equity and regulatory teams, specialises in corporate and regulatory insurance work including initial public offerings (IPOs), mergers and acquisitions, Part VII transfers, distribution agreements and regulatory matters. Continue reading “CC to boost London corporate and regulatory insurance capability with hire of NRF’s Ashley Prebble”

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Forsters appoints new private client head as department hits 164% revenue increase over five years

West End boutique Forsters has appointed Fiona Smith to take over as head of the private client department as it achieves a run of 164% revenue increase over five years.

Smith, who succeeds current head David Robinson at the Mayfair firm, specialises in offshore tax planning, wills, trusts and probate law. She acts as adviser to many of the firm’s longstanding clients, including media figures, entrepreneurs, charities, landed estates and directors or owners of listed UK companies.

Her appointment comes just weeks after the LB100 firm posted a 16% revenue increase, with fee income coming in ahead of budget at £32.5m, up from £28m in 2011-12. Continue reading “Forsters appoints new private client head as department hits 164% revenue increase over five years”

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Visa Europe’s GC joins A&O’s global antitrust practice

Allen & Overy (A&O) has hired Visa Europe’s general counsel (GC) and executive vice president and company secretary Vanessa Turner as a partner in its global antitrust practice.

Turner will be based in the Magic Circle’s Brussels office, advising European and international clients dealing with EU and other regulators on merger clearance, cartels and other antitrust and competition matters. Continue reading “Visa Europe’s GC joins A&O’s global antitrust practice”

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Two birds, one stone – A&O finance veterans joins Co-op team as GC as firm acts on rescue

Securing a major deal and having one of your partners take a senior role with the same client is a nice trick to pull off but Allen & Overy (A&O) appears to have managed that this week after securing a lead role on the Co-op’s rescue plan and ‘donating’ a veteran partner to the lender’s management team.

Continue reading “Two birds, one stone – A&O finance veterans joins Co-op team as GC as firm acts on rescue”

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SJ Berwin reveals turnover increase of 2% as partnership expansion hits PEP

SJ Berwin has become the latest leading UK law firm to release its 2012-13 financial results, with its unaudited accounts revealing an increase in revenue of 2% to £184.6m, exceeding last year’s growth figure of 1.1% to £180.1m.

Profit figures have yet to finalised but early indications suggest that net profit has risen slightly at the top 25 UK firm, although profits per equity (PEP) partner have contracted by up to 10% in light of expansion to the partnership over the past year, falling from £635,000 to around £570,000. Continue reading “SJ Berwin reveals turnover increase of 2% as partnership expansion hits PEP”

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Hogan Lovells hires rated HSF tax partner in another post merger exit for the firm

Rated Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) City tax disputes lawyer Rupert Shiers is set to join Hogan Lovells to head its direct tax disputes practice.

Shiers will start in his new role on Monday (24 June), working alongside indirect tax disputes head Michael Conlon QC. He focuses on disputes with HM Revenue & Customs and has led appeals to the First-tier tribunal, Upper Tribunal, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court, as well as references to the European Court of Justice. His clients have included Cadbury Schweppes and BMW Holding. Continue reading “Hogan Lovells hires rated HSF tax partner in another post merger exit for the firm”

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Osborne Clarke reaps benefit of year of European expansion with revenue increase of 14%

Osborne Clarke has ended a year of international expansion with 2012-13 revenues up by 14% to £112m as it beds down new offices in Italy and Spain.

The revenue growth masks a couple of slow periods for the firm’s transactional business in what managing partner Simon Beswick described as a ‘lumpy market’. Discounting revenues from the top 40 UK firm’s new offices, its year-on-year turnover figure fell by 1% from £98m in 2011-12 to £97m in 2012-13.

The 410-lawyer firm posted a dip in net profits during the same financial period, down 5% from £37m to £35m. Continue reading “Osborne Clarke reaps benefit of year of European expansion with revenue increase of 14%”

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City lawyers say court strike will cause minimal disruption but should be given due attention

As court staff go on strike this afternoon (17 June) in protest at the Ministry of Justice’s (MoJ’s) plans to cut £220m off the annual criminal legal aid budget, it is with the support of many City lawyers.

The unusual move comes as the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) last week claimed the MoJ’s plans could breach human rights laws and as lawyers warn that cuts made to civil legal aid earlier this year are already leading to a significant increase in pro bono requests and in areas outside of their expertise. Continue reading “City lawyers say court strike will cause minimal disruption but should be given due attention”

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Pinsent Masons’ post merger revenue up by 40%

Top 20 UK law firm Pinsent Masons has seen its year-on-year turnover increase by 40% from £221m to £309m thanks to its merger with McGrigors in June last year.

The firms, which would have had a combined turnover last year of around £294m, have in real terms seen a growth in revenue of 5%.

The increase comes after a year of international expansion during which Pinsents opened new offices in Munich, Paris and Istanbul, for the first time giving it more offices overseas than in the UK. Continue reading “Pinsent Masons’ post merger revenue up by 40%”

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Comment: Say what you like, City practices taking on larger real estate is a good sign

If upgrading your square footage is any litmus test of how City firms feel about the future then a raft of them including DLA Piper, Bird & Bird and Field Fisher Waterhouse (FFW) can be said to be in confident mood.

As reported by Property Week on Tuesday (11 June), top Global 100 firm DLA is the most recent UK firm looking to expand its City office space, hiring Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) to carry out a search for up to 200,000 sq ft of space, an increase on the 110,000 sq ft office it currently occupies in Noble Street. Continue reading “Comment: Say what you like, City practices taking on larger real estate is a good sign”