Long live the Verein. The overwhelming majority of firms in this year’s Global 100 report are still single-partnerships, but with seven of the top 100 firms in the world now comprising multiple partnerships, it’s clear that the mantra of ‘one partnership, one firm’ is being challenged.
Tough decisions needed for LG/FFW
Ahead of our LB100 report next month, one merger is on the table that requires some hard choices now to be a future success.
Lawrence Graham (LG) has confirmed it is ‘evaluating a merger’ with City rival Field Fisher Waterhouse (FFW). The deal would put the new firm comfortably in the top 25 of the LB100 with an expected turnover of over £150m. Continue reading “Tough decisions needed for LG/FFW”
The reality gap and the Global 100
There is a curious phenomenon that affects both the NHS and, now it seems, the legal sector. The reality gap. Ask a patient treated in hospital for a broken leg what their experience of the doctors and hospital was, and in the main it will be positive. But ask the same person what they think of the NHS on the whole, and usually they will say that the whole system is going to the dogs.
Magic Circle sees revenues up after muted financial year
Turnover at Magic Circle firms rose by a modest 2.6% this year, with the UK’s five Global Elite firms pulling in over £5.2bn of fees and £4.2bn worth of profit in the 2011/12 financial year.
As the UK’s financial reporting season kicks off, Allen & Overy emerges as one of the top performers after another strong year that saw turnover climb by 5% to reach £1.18bn, up from £1.12bn in 2010/11. The firm is one of the best performing in the group over the past five years, growing revenues by an average of 3% each year since 2008. Much of that can be attributed to the firm’s network in emerging markets, with around 15% of A&O’s lawyers now based in Asia.
Continue reading “Magic Circle sees revenues up after muted financial year”
Creditors draw battle lines over Dewey & LeBoeuf assets
An intense and long-running battle is set to begin over the assets of Dewey & LeBoeuf which, as many observers had long predicted, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan on 28 May.
The filing sets the stage for a struggle between creditors that experts predict could run for years in a process that one observer likened to ‘bear-baiting’.
Continue reading “Creditors draw battle lines over Dewey & LeBoeuf assets”
Scottish fire sale continues as DWF snaps up Biggart Baillie
Merger fever continues to grip the Scottish legal market after veteran firm Biggart Baillie announced in June that it would be joining forces with ambitious Major UK firm DWF on 1 July.
The merger between Biggart Baillie, a Scottish blueblood which can trace its origins back to 1894, and LB’s 2011 National/Regional firm of the Year DWF, is the fifth Anglo-Scottish union since the start of the year. It follows a joint venture between DAC Beachcroft and Andersons, which was announced in March; the acquisition of niche Scottish practice Anderson Fyfe by TLT, which takes effect in July; the announcement in June that Shoosmiths would acquire Archibald Campbell & Harley; and the high-profile merger of Pinsent Masons and McGrigors, which went live on 1 May.
Continue reading “Scottish fire sale continues as DWF snaps up Biggart Baillie”
Emerging market specialist Salans dealt a blow by Asia exits
Salans has been left with no partners in China after Shanghai office managing partner Bernd-Uwe Stucken and corporate partner Wei Liu left to join Pinsent Masons in June.
Continue reading “Emerging market specialist Salans dealt a blow by Asia exits”
Shakespeares and Harvey Ingram announce merger
Acquisitive Birmingham firm Shakespeares has continued its explosive growth of the last few years by announcing that it is set to combine with Leicester-based stalwart Harvey Ingram on 1 August 2012.
At press time both firms were expected to vote overwhelmingly in favour of a union in a partners’ ballot at each firm at the end of June, according to Shakespeares’ commercial director Hamish Munro.
Continue reading “Shakespeares and Harvey Ingram announce merger”
Ashurst pushes ahead with Beijing and Seoul launches
Ashurst is preparing to move into Seoul and is applying for a licence to practise in Beijing, as the firm looks to leverage off its recent tie-up with Australian firm Blake Dawson to bulk up in Asia.
Geoffrey Green, managing partner of Ashurst Asia, said it was vital to grow the firm’s Asian presence. ‘Ashurst has been relatively lightly represented in Asia. Compared to our competitors we are pretty underweight in Asia and given the fact the world is moving further east, that’s where the growth opportunities are,’ he said.
Continue reading “Ashurst pushes ahead with Beijing and Seoul launches”
Power brokers
As all eyes turn to energy as the safe hedge in a turbulent market, there is no doubt that the sector’s general counsel are in an excellent bargaining position
In terms of legal spend, an energy company is a particularly lucrative client. To begin with, the acquisitive nature of these cash-rich corporates means that transactional advice is clearly a must. Also, as the recent BP oil spill all too effectively demonstrated, the high-risk nature of the industry provides a fair flow of environmental and litigation instructions too.
Global 100 – Podium Standings
The world’s 100 largest law firms have faced another challenging year of depressed economic markets and little to no transactional work. So how have they fared? LB finds out
The combined revenues of the 100 biggest law firms in the world reached new heights this year. Setting a five-year Global 100 record, combined turnover came to over $81bn, greater than the Olympian levels the market reached in the boom year of 2007. In broad strokes it has been another year of single digit rises in revenues, profits and lawyer numbers. But with inflation running at around 3% in the UK and the US, performance in real terms has been more muted than those top-line figures suggest. The past financial year was essentially a flat market, a solid performance but nothing to set the world alight.
Global 100 – The state of the union
After a series of shocks to the global economy, followed by Dewey & LeBoeuf’s downfall, there’s plenty of concern for US firms
American managing partners have become accustomed to false dawns and 2011 had a depressingly familiar feel to it. The start of the year was promising, with counter-cyclical workflows in litigation and bankruptcy joined by an uptick in corporate deal activity, but this came to a familiar halt over the summer. The continuing crisis in the eurozone and uncertainty over America’s debt ceiling undermined any hope that the activity through the first half of the year would continue for the second six months.
Chindia – Centre of the universe
Singapore has emerged as the location of choice to serve the legal markets in China and India and is attracting waves of international firms. LB looks at the reasons why the jurisdiction is king of the so-called Chindia market
With the European Union in its spiralling debt mess and the US hugely overdrawn, global businesses are concentrating their efforts on Asia and, naturally, law firms are following. But whereas Hong Kong was traditionally the default outpost for international law firms, Singapore has emerged as the destination of choice for many newcomers. There are two main reasons for this. Firstly, the city state is ideally positioned to serve both India and China, two major economic powerhouses that form the so-called ‘Chindia’ market. Secondly, the shackles that restricted foreign firms operating in Singapore have been loosened.
Why keeping it low key can be shrewd
On the face of it, news that Bristol-based TLT is to open simultaneously in Scotland, by acquiring niche firm Anderson Fyfe, and also in Belfast, by hiring a small team of local lawyers, is hardly earth-shattering.
But while the news may be dominated by major international firms’ expansion plans in Asia, or even significant full-scale tie-ups such as McGrigors and Pinsent Masons, you could argue that, relatively speaking, low-key moves such as TLT’s make better strategic sense for all concerned.
Throwing a lifeline from a sinking ship
In early May, members of Dewey & LeBoeuf’s management team left the firm. One headed for the greener pastures of O’Melveny & Myers; one headed for a new home at Winston & Strawn; while the others went to Proskauer Rose and Arnold & Porter. Online message boards lit up like a Christmas tree, with commentators likening those moves to ‘rats fleeing a sinking ship’ and to Francesco Schettino, the captain who allegedly left the sinking Costa Cruise ship off the coast of Italy.
Quinn Emanuel snags A&O London arbitration duo
Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan has ruffled Allen & Overy (A&O)’s feathers in London after the US litigation specialist hired the Magic Circle firm’s global arbitration chairman Stephen Jagusch and fellow partner Anthony Sinclair in May. The firms are understood to be locking horns over the departure terms, with a deal yet to be struck.
The hires will see Quinn Emanuel launch its own City arbitration practice, to be led by Jagusch. While the firm has already had some success in arbitration work in London, it plans to grow the office to 35 lawyers, of which ten will be partners.
Continue reading “Quinn Emanuel snags A&O London arbitration duo”
Rival firms benefit from imminent Dewey collapse in City
With troubled US firm Dewey & LeBoeuf on the brink of collapse, a number of firms have already stepped in to boost their City offerings by providing homes to small groups of partners. Twenty-four of the firm’s 33 London partners had plans to leave the firm at press time.
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius has emerged as the most acquisitive firm in London, taking six former Dewey partners in the capital, including its former London managing partner Peter Sharp.
Continue reading “Rival firms benefit from imminent Dewey collapse in City”
Australia tempts yet another major international player
Linklaters has joined the ranks of its Magic Circle peers by moving into the Australian market via an alliance with Allens Arthur Robinson (AAR).
The alliance, which went through on 1 May, was planned over a year ago, according to a source close to the firm. AAR, which had operated an exclusive relationship with Slaughter and May, is viewed by many as one of the best in the region.
Continue reading “Australia tempts yet another major international player”
Emerging markets dominate 2012 partner promotions round
Good news for senior associates in emerging markets: there are now more partners than ever being made up in Asia. If you are an aspiring associate in Asia or Australia you stand a much greater chance of making partner at a UK firm now than five years ago. According to data collected by LB, this year the UK’s top 25 firms made up 48 partners in Asia, compared to just 26 in 2008.
Continue reading “Emerging markets dominate 2012 partner promotions round”
Mixed fortunes for mid-market in tough Scots climate
TLT’s recent takeover of niche Scottish firm Anderson Fyfe is the latest chapter in a flurry of movement among mid-market firms in Scotland trying to secure their futures amid pernicious market conditions.
The Bristol-based firm is set to acquire Anderson Fyfe’s Glasgow and Edinburgh operations from July, while simultaneously launching a Northern Ireland practice through the lateral hire of banking litigation partner Katharine Kimber from Belfast firm Wilson Nesbitt Solicitors.
Continue reading “Mixed fortunes for mid-market in tough Scots climate”