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Guest post: Forget Dewey – what you need to be assessing on strategy and partner pay

Law firm managers who are planning large-scale, hubristic expansion-by-acquisition should study the Dewey & LeBoeuf morality play very closely. The rest of us should not. It’s a distraction that diverts attention from what matters closer to home.

Permit me to analogise: those of us who are dealing with the daily stresses and strains of keeping a marriage healthy could, I suppose, closely study the example of Tiger Woods as a way of understanding how marriages fail in a spectacular explosion of adultery. Continue reading “Guest post: Forget Dewey – what you need to be assessing on strategy and partner pay”

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Disruptive Models: ABS tally for 2013 reaches 2012 level as Shakespeares becomes latest to convert

The number of firms granted alternative business structure (ABS) status in 2013 has now hit the same level as for the whole of 2012, as Shakespeares last week became the latest mid-tier outfit to announce it has been granted a licence.

Shakespeares was the 72nd firm to obtain a licence in 2013, the same number as obtained a licence in total in 2012 after the Solicitors Regulation Authority began accepting applications on 3 January. Continue reading “Disruptive Models: ABS tally for 2013 reaches 2012 level as Shakespeares becomes latest to convert”

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Travers Smith in surprise discrimination defeat

Top 50 City firm Travers Smith has suffered the rare public humiliation of losing a high profile discrimination case after a tribunal found the firm denied a former trainee a place in the firm because she had fallen pregnant.

The Central London Employment Tribunal found that Travers ‘contrived to prevent Katie Tantum from being offered a post as a newly qualified solicitor because of her pregnancy’, according to a statement by Tantum’s solicitors, Leigh Day & Co. Continue reading “Travers Smith in surprise discrimination defeat”

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Asia round-up: Bingham makes funds push in Tokyo while Eversheds launches in Beijing

The lateral hire market has been particularly active in Asia this week, with some of the most established international players in the region losing experienced partners.

The most notable move came in Japan, where US firm Bingham McCutchen has added seven White & Case lawyers to its investment funds team in Tokyo. Continue reading “Asia round-up: Bingham makes funds push in Tokyo while Eversheds launches in Beijing”

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Corporate stirrings: Cinven gifts Freshfields with IPO while HSF defends Severn Trent

A handful of major corporate mandates were unveiled this week as private equity house Cinven kicked off its £1.4bn proposed initial public offering (IPO) of annuity provider Partnership Assurance Group and Severn Trent rejected a preliminary takeover offer by an international consortium.

Amidst signs of renewed confidence in the IPO market, Cinven has instructed Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer – led by corporate partners Mark Austin and Adrian Maguire – to advise on the float of Partnership Assurance, which Cinven acquired for €200m in 2008. Continue reading “Corporate stirrings: Cinven gifts Freshfields with IPO while HSF defends Severn Trent”

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Bar round-up: Bar Council appoints chief executive while 39 Essex Street to suspend pupillages

It’s been a busy week at Bar but not necessarily for the right reasons. While the Bar Council has appointed its first chief executive in two years, 39 Essex Street has announced it is to take a year out from recruiting pupils for following its merger with 4-5 Gray’s Inn last year. Meanwhile, controversial comments from Hardwicke Chambers’ Barbara Hewson have forced it to distance itself publicly from its own member. Continue reading “Bar round-up: Bar Council appoints chief executive while 39 Essex Street to suspend pupillages”

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Edwards Wildman joins the ranks of international firms in Istanbul

The increased importance of Turkey as strategic hub for international firms has been underlined with news that US firm Edwards Wildman Palmer is to open an office in Istanbul in association with local M&A and private equity boutique Ismen Law Firm.

The date of the opening will depend on regulatory approval by the Istanbul Bar Association but it will become the 600-lawyer firm’s the first office in the Central & Eastern Europe, Middle East and Northern Africa (CEEMENA) region. Continue reading “Edwards Wildman joins the ranks of international firms in Istanbul”

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Global London: Andrews Kurth becomes latest Texan in City gold rush

The appetite of Texan firms for the UK energy market shows no sign of abating with news that Houston-based Andrews Kurth is to follow neighbours Bracewell & Giuliani and Locke Lord into the City.

The Andrews Kurth launch is spearheaded by UK energy specialist Peter Roberts, who is leaving Ashurst two years after becoming partner. Continue reading “Global London: Andrews Kurth becomes latest Texan in City gold rush”

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Revolving Doors: Clutch of firms including Bird & Bird, Dentons and Sidley make key hires

The lateral hires market has over the past week continued to defy an overall drop in activity as Bird & Bird, DWF, Dentons, Sidley Austin and Baker & McKenzie all made strategic hires.

Late last week 234-partner Bird & Bird was joined by Field Fisher Waterhouse (FFW) franchising partners Graeme Payne and Victoria Hobbs – a not unexpected move after the recent hire of high profile FFW IP and IT head Mark Abell, with whom the duo worked on a number of mandates and were widely tipped to follow. Last year the pair advised luxury shirt brand Thomas Pink on a franchise deal leading to the opening of stores across India. Continue reading “Revolving Doors: Clutch of firms including Bird & Bird, Dentons and Sidley make key hires”

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Shearman bolsters London private equity team with double Weil Gotshal partner hire

The brisk trade in private equity partners continues in the City with news today (15 March) that Shearman & Sterling has hired Weil, Gotshal & Manges’ experienced corporate partner Mark Soundy.

Soundy is joined by fellow Weil Gotshal partner Sarah Priestley, a corporate tax specialist focusing on private equity and hedge funds. Associate Simon Burrows will also move over from Weil to Shearman as partner. Continue reading “Shearman bolsters London private equity team with double Weil Gotshal partner hire”

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Quinn’s global master plan – elite disputes shop hits HK for third foreign launch of the year

Having only launched its first foreign office in 2008, US disputes leader Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan clearly now has the taste for foreign expansion. The latest stop on its global tour is Hong Kong, with the ultra-profitable litigation shop today (15 May) unveiling details of its long-awaited local launch, coming only days after it sealed a deal to enter the Australian legal market. Continue reading “Quinn’s global master plan – elite disputes shop hits HK for third foreign launch of the year”

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A gloomy week for legal job prospects as OC follows BLP to announce likely job cuts

Osborne Clarke (OC) is to make up to 13 fee-earners redundant as it begins a two-week consultation, the top 50 UK law firm announced today (15 May).

Managing partner Simon Beswick said that the 400-lawyer firm would be informing associates affected by the consultation today in response to what he said was ‘over-capacity’ in the business. Continue reading “A gloomy week for legal job prospects as OC follows BLP to announce likely job cuts”

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UK Green Investment Bank welcomes Pinsents McVicar as MacRitchie moves on

The formal establishment of the UK Green Investment Bank (GIB) has had a domino effect on senior counsel moves as the government funded initiative’s hunt for a general counsel (GC) comes to a successful close with the hire of rated Pinsents Masons energy partner Euan McVicar.

McVicar, who specialises in the financing and development of energy projects, will join the sustainable project investment bank in late summer 2013, although no specific date has yet been given.

Continue reading “UK Green Investment Bank welcomes Pinsents McVicar as MacRitchie moves on”

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Redundancy round continues as BLP latest to announce fee-earner cuts

Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) has become the latest major UK law firm to announce job cuts as firms increasingly examine their business models in light of a sustained slump in market activity.

The top-20 City firm announced today that is has entered a redundancy consultation affecting around 58 legal staff, 44 secretarial staff and some business services staff, with a target reduction in salary of 15% in the latter group. Continue reading “Redundancy round continues as BLP latest to announce fee-earner cuts”

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Comment: A star signing is one thing but who needs a lateral?

The worlds of business, politics and sport have since the 1970s fallen increasingly under the spell of the star individual and law has been anything but an exception. As partnership mitigates the heaviest excesses of the winner-takes-all compensation cultures seen in banking, sports and plc management, in law the star culture has manifested to a considerable extent via the partner recruitment market.

The emergence and massive expansion of this international bazaar for senior legal talent over the last 25 years has had a profound impact on the profession – often unhappily so. Continue reading “Comment: A star signing is one thing but who needs a lateral?”

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All change at Shell – legal head pushes through shake-up and puts final touches to global panel review

While the trend of in-house departments bolstering their internal capability and cutting reliance on external counsel is well established, Royal Dutch Shell’s legal head Peter Rees QC has taken the logic to the extreme.

Since replacing Beat Hess as the global energy group’s legal director in January 2011 Rees has pushed through major changes, restructuring Shell’s around 750-lawyer department and kicking off a far-reaching global panel review. Continue reading “All change at Shell – legal head pushes through shake-up and puts final touches to global panel review”

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DMH jumps aboard the Riverview Law bandwagon as ‘Tesco law’ challenger moves to widen service

Riverview Law will have addressed some of the criticisms of its fixed-fee legal services model with news today (13 May) that it has signed a strategic alliance with established south east law firm DMH Stallard.

A statement by Riverview Law – one of the touted and aggressively marketed of the ‘Tesco law’ challengers – said the alliance would cover a number of areas, including disputes, M&A and real estate. The alliance will see Riverview Law refer its customers to the 48-partner, 100-lawyer Brighton-based firm while allowing DMH Stallard to offer it clients the access to Riverview’s service lines. In the coming months, the two will combines to launch a range of fixed-fee services and products to the market.

Continue reading “DMH jumps aboard the Riverview Law bandwagon as ‘Tesco law’ challenger moves to widen service”

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Legacy Herbert Smith equity partners on hook for capital boost

Legacy Herbert Smith has become the latest UK firm to ask partners to bolster its capital levels, issuing a multi-million pound cash call in preparation for financial integration with Australia’s Freehills.

The call – thought to be worth up to around £20m – was issued in a memo sent weeks ago to all 170 equity partners. It is thought that the equity partners have been asked to contribute £2000 per equity point. Herbert Smith’s lockstep ladder runs from 43 to 100, meaning those at the top of equity, around 65, are liable to pay around £200,000 each.

Continue reading “Legacy Herbert Smith equity partners on hook for capital boost”