Perhaps the most surprising thing about waking up on a Sunday morning in May to be faced with a Sunday paper featuring a close-up photograph of a well-known footballer’s face was that its publication seemed to take everyone by surprise. Continue reading “Don’t know much about geography: interdicts across the border”
Simplification and reduction of burdens for Dutch companies with share capital
In the near future some significant changes will be made to Dutch corporate law, with the chief aim of achieving greater simplicity and reducing the burden for businesses.
This article will discuss several expected changes that will specifically affect private companies with limited liability (BVs) and public companies with limited liability (NVs). Some of these changes will take effect in the near future. Continue reading “Simplification and reduction of burdens for Dutch companies with share capital”
Free at Last – Enyo Law
Three litigation partners left Addleshaw Goddard last year to set up a conflicts-free, disputes-only boutique. LB finds out how well the model is working.
For many, it’s a depressingly familiar scenario. You’re an experienced litigation partner handling financial services and contentious civil fraud disputes, advising corporates, entrepreneurs and high-net-worth individuals. A senior in-house lawyer from a bank asks you to represent them against another major financial institution after being given your name by a partner from a rival firm. A conflict check then reveals a banking partner at your firm had dinner with the other side and anticipates some corporate work in the pipeline. You have no choice but to decline the instruction.
Eastern Rivals
The financial crisis has done more than stall investment in Central and Eastern Europe. It has caused a remarkable sea change in the respective legal markets, where the international elite have their work cut out
The crystal balls of Romania’s gypsies would be a valuable tool for many a law firm partner operating in Central and Eastern Europe. Almost precisely to the day of Lehman Brothers’ collapse, the investment appeal of these emerging markets all but extinguished. Continue reading “Eastern Rivals”
Pole Position
Poland is rapidly emerging as the shining star of the East, but a stiflingly competitive legal market means that progress doesn’t easily equate to profits
At the height of the global economic downturn, senior business executives in Warsaw had time for coffee at any point in the day. ‘It was really disturbing,’ shudders one local lawyer. Continue reading “Pole Position”
Global 100 – Slice by slice
The Global legal market is stratifying at a pace never seen before. From the rocketing profits on Wall Street to the rapidly expanding global giants, which model paid off in this year’s Global 100?
Whether your strategy is to devour the world whole, or take it piece by piece, financial centre by financial centre, global competition has never been fiercer. Bounding straight into the top ten of the Global 100 this year is the newly merged Hogan Lovells, while a dose of revenues from down under has seen Norton Rose rocket into the top 40. Continue reading “Global 100 – Slice by slice”
Global 100 – To the ends of the Earth
In the rush to conquer new markets, the leading British and American firms are changing the landscape of the global legal sector. Time to check your international strategy
Costs cut. Headcount down. Profits preserved. Now is the time to grow. Continue reading “Global 100 – To the ends of the Earth”
Global 100 – The top table
A strong economic downturn means that the stars of global law are shining ever brighter. Time to reassess just who makes the grade
The world has changed and the Global Elite needs to reflect that. To butcher a phrase: the gap between the haves and the have-a-bits is widening. By almost every measure this elite group of firms is moving ahead. The average net income at a Global Elite firm is $545.5m compared to $291.6m for the whole Global 100 – the gap in profit per equity partner (PEP) is no less marked, with the Global 100 average PEP sitting at $1.4m compared to $2.3m for the Elite firms.
On the rebound
Government initiatives and a resurgent economy have made Singapore and South-East Asia a key focus of the international legal profession once again
In 2006 Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer’s then Asia managing partner Perry Noble explained to LB why the firm had pushed through a major rationalisation of its partnership in the Far East. In the hope that its Asia business would begin to make the profits that the London HQ demanded, the firm radically reduced the size of its partnership in Asia and closed its Singapore office.
Portugal – Out of the ruins
As Portugal considers the implications of its recent €78bn bailout, LB assesses the impact it will have on the legal market and how Portuguese law firms can survive in an economy stuck in limbo
By the time that this issue of Legal Business hits desks, Portugal will be on the brink of electing its new government. What form that government takes remains to be seen, although a majority coalition involving one of the two largest parties (the Socialist Party and the Social Democratic Party) looks almost certain. Continue reading “Portugal – Out of the ruins”
Portugal – Shifting sands
With Portugal’s recession expected to continue for at least another two years, the country’s law firms have no option but to go abroad. LB assesses whether their international strategies are paying dividends
As any schoolboy will tell you, Portugal has a proud tradition as one of Europe’s foremost explorers. The era of Henry the Navigator and Vasco da Gama was a golden age of European discovery, in which a tiny nation spread its tentacles throughout the world and, for a period, became one of its greatest powers. Continue reading “Portugal – Shifting sands”
Middle East – Still standing
As the Arab Spring spreads across the Middle East, investors are flocking to safe ground. LB discovers which states will prosper and which have the most to lose.
It is late April and tanks are being deployed by security forces in Syria following the government’s inability to quell civil resistance protests. Of the long list of countries affected by political unrest recently, those that have hit the headlines most emphatically include Libya, Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen. But does this turmoil have the lawyers in the region’s main financial centres worried?
Middle East – New ball game
On 2 December 2010 FIFA, the international governing body of football, officially announced that a desert state would be hosting the 2022 World Cup. Qatar, a country with a population of only 1.6 million people, endures average daytime temperatures in excess of 40°C in June and July. How will the players cope?
The bid chairman, and sixth son of the current Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani was unruffled: ‘We will have to take the help of technology to counter the harsh weather. We have already set in motion the process.’
Redrawing the map
The latest boom in transactional work from emerging economies is a welcome antidote to difficult home markets for international firms. LB looks at the differing approaches to growth and who the clients of the future might be
It is easy to understand how law firms get carried away by the opportunities that new, emerging markets present. In the past five years there has been a rush to set up offices in places that a generation ago would have held little attraction. The shift of transactional power has now fundamentally moved to emerging economies led by Brazil, Russia, India and China (the BRIC countries). Continue reading “Redrawing the map”
Street smart – QualitySolicitors
QualitySolicitors represents a new generation of firms changing the way that law is done on the high street. With the advent of alternative business structures later this year, LB investigates what impact these new players will have on the industry.
It’s just after the May Bank holiday and the co-founder of QualitySolicitors, Saleem Arif, is on his mobile in a windy motorway service station explaining the thinking behind his business. Continue reading “Street smart – QualitySolicitors”
Tip Top
Intellectual property is the trophy practice for many firms in 2011. LB examines the current popularity of IP at law firms and the story behind a spate of lateral hires in the past year
Whisper it, but for the global legal community the demise of Howrey brought two pieces of good news. First, its collapse meant a credible competitor had fallen away in the areas of intellectual property (IP), litigation and antitrust. The other bonus was that a number of excellent IP specialists were suddenly on the market. While Howrey’s decline has been well documented, the speed with which other firms scooped up many of the survivors is worth noting.
A matter of time – Simmons & Simmons
After a failed merger, a drop in both revenue and a profits, and a slew of partner departures, Simmons’ new managing partner Jeremy Hoyland certainly has his work cut out. Can his plans for change deliver?
Jeremy Hoyland’s timing has always been a little off. He qualified just before the 1990s’ recession, tried to launch a finance practice in Asia just as the Asian financial crisis hit in the late 1990s and has now taken over Simmons & Simmons at a time when the firm’s financials continue to struggle and it is being over-shadowed by several of its closest rivals. Continue reading “A matter of time – Simmons & Simmons”
Pulling the strings
Despite the increasing popularity of arbitration, a significant number of clients have been disappointed by the performance of an arbitrator. LB asks what can be done to improve faith in the system
When something gets a mention in the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s Budget speech, it is usually important. So when George Osborne spoke of the government’s intention to ‘promote the UK as the global centre of legal arbitration’ in March, the global arbitration community sat up and took note.
Brazil – A different beat
The Brazilian Bar is taking a stand against foreign firms that work alongside local associated practices. Few in the market are now prepared to bang the drum for local alliances
Hostility within the Brazilian legal market, especially São Paulo, could hardly be more intense. The Brazilian Bar Association, Ordem dos Advogados do Brasil (OAB), recently reiterated its opposition to local lawyers forming alliances with the local offices of foreign law firms. It puts Linklaters, Mayer Brown, DLA Piper, Uría Menéndez and their local associated practices – Lefosse Advogados, Tauil & Chequer, Campos Mello Advogados and Dias Carneiro Advogados respectively – very much in the firing line.
Brazil – Carnival time
Brazil’s economic growth and status in the global economy has helped create one of the most sophisticated legal communities among the emerging markets
The legality of foreign law firms having local associated practices may grab some of the headlines, but Brazil’s relentless economic expansion and the growth of international deals in the market has been getting the top billing. The boom has not only attracted a slew of foreign firms but also driven the development of an increasingly sophisticated domestic legal market.