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Feeling the chill? Kirkland reports just 8% revenue increase for 2022

riding on a Kirkland & Ellis wrecking ball

Often the bellwether for global law firm financials, the world’s highest-grossing firm, Kirkland & Ellis, has posted muted revenue and profit growth for 2022, with turnover up 8% and partner profits up just 2% – its slowest performance year-on-year for some time. 

Kirkland made major waves in the legal sector last year, when a 25% surge in revenue saw it become the first law firm to pass the $6bn revenue mark. Its 2022 financials show a further increase, though a more modest one, with a steady rise of 8% to $6.5bn. This more modest growth was also evident in PEP, which went up 2% to $7.5m, after jumping 19% to $7.4m in 2021. Revenue per lawyer, meanwhile, declined 5%, to $1.9m.   Continue reading “Feeling the chill? Kirkland reports just 8% revenue increase for 2022”

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Revolving Doors: Weil loses two to Sidley as Latham hires Linklaters competition partner

City of London

Sidley Austin’s London office made a major play last week with the hire of two prominent energy infrastructure and private equity partners from Weil, Gotshal & Manges. James MacArthur has joined the firm’s global energy, transportation and infrastructure practice and will be followed shortly by his Weil colleague Ed Freeman.

MacArthur is ranked as a Legal 500 ‘Leading Individual’ in corporate and M&A and acts for corporate and PE sponsors on both European and global deals. Continue reading “Revolving Doors: Weil loses two to Sidley as Latham hires Linklaters competition partner”

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What Next? Eversheds and Shoosmiths act as high street giant acquires beleaguered Cath Kidston

Next has bought Cath Kidston for £8.5m after the embattled fashion brand filed for bankruptcy. The vintage-inspired lifestyle and homeware brand, founded in 1993, first collapsed in 2020, resulting in the loss of 1,000 jobs and the closure of the majority of its UK stores.

Cath Kidston has now entered administration for the second time after struggling under the ownership of Baring Private Equity Asia, which sold the business last summer to distressed investor Hilco Capital. Continue reading “What Next? Eversheds and Shoosmiths act as high street giant acquires beleaguered Cath Kidston”

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HSF alliance firm Prolegis launches Singapore disputes practice with Morgan Lewis team

Prolegis, the boutique which struck a formal law alliance (FLA) with Herbert Smith Freehills in 2015, has launched a disputes practice in its Singapore heartland with the hire of a team led by Daniel Chia (pictured) from Morgan Lewis.

Chia, who led the Asia disputes practice at Morgan Lewis, will take on the role of director and head of litigation and will bring with him three other lawyers. Jonathan Tang and Yanguang Ker will join Prolegis as directors, along with associate Charlene Wee. Continue reading “HSF alliance firm Prolegis launches Singapore disputes practice with Morgan Lewis team”

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‘A lot of grey areas’: India legal market liberalisation met with optimism though questions remain

While the international legal community has largely been sanguine at the Bar Council of India (BCI) opening the door for foreign lawyers and law firms to establish offices and practice in India, uncertainties remain.

The BCI announced the decision on 15 March in its ‘Rules for Registration and Regulation of Foreign Lawyers and Foreign Law Firms in India, 2022’. The BCI said in a statement that ‘time has come to take a call on the issue.’ Continue reading “‘A lot of grey areas’: India legal market liberalisation met with optimism though questions remain”

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Revolving Doors: Linklaters loses another partner to Cleary hiring spree as Travers exits continue

American eagle carrying away lawyers

Cleary Gottlieb has returned to Linklaters for another partner, this time hiring the Magic Circle firm’s co-head of the financial sponsor leveraged finance practice, Edward Aldred, to its private equity team.

The move has been seen as another coup for the Wall Street firm’s recently expansive London strategy and represents a further blow to Linklaters after Cleary hired its M&A partner Nick Rumsby last November. Continue reading “Revolving Doors: Linklaters loses another partner to Cleary hiring spree as Travers exits continue”

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Revolving doors: Withers adds finance litigation partner as Howard Kennedy acquires construction boutique

Withers has strengthened its dispute resolution offering with the addition of banking and finance litigation partner Henry Farris. Farris moves from Mishcon de Reya, where he previously headed its private equity disputes practice.

Speaking to Legal Business, Peter Wood, CEO of Withers’ dispute resolution division, said Farris’s hire fitted its growth strategy. ‘Our international dispute resolution division’s growth strategy has been to reinforce our strengths – and to bring in some selected new skill sets – through recruiting experienced and talented new partners’. He added:  ‘A particular area of focus has been to build out a crypto and digital assets practice, which has from the start been immensely active, working on some landmark disputes in the US, UK and Singapore.’    Continue reading “Revolving doors: Withers adds finance litigation partner as Howard Kennedy acquires construction boutique”

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‘The strategy has not changed’: Hogan Lovells holds steady after end of Shearman merger talks

Miguel Zaldivar

‘Has the strategy changed? The short answer is: no, it hasn’t.’

That was the message from Hogan Lovells chief executive Miguel Zaldivar, who spoke to Legal Business alongside deputy chief executive Michael Davison about the firm’s strategy after its proposed merger with Shearman & Sterling fell through recently. Continue reading “‘The strategy has not changed’: Hogan Lovells holds steady after end of Shearman merger talks”

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‘Crisis averted’: City banking and corporate partners react as HSBC acquires SVB UK

Barclays and HSBC offices in Canary Wharf

After a tense weekend of negotiations, the Bank of England announced on Monday (13 March) that HSBC would buy the UK branch of collapsed US bank Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). The acquisition, which was completed for a token amount of £1, prevents SVBUK being put into insolvency.

The Bank of England said in a statement that all depositors’ money with SVBUK is safe and secure as a result of this transaction: ‘SVBUK’s business will continue to be operated normally by SVBUK. All services will continue to operate as normal and customers should not notice any changes.’ Continue reading “‘Crisis averted’: City banking and corporate partners react as HSBC acquires SVB UK”

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Sponsored briefing: A guide to NFT and metaverse-related trade marks

Over the past year, each of us started to become more familiar with the terms such as non-fungible tokens (NFT), blockchain, digital assets or metaverse and it is obvious that we will be using these terms even more. Despite the growing popularity of the matter, there are either no or limited regulations available on the same while the virtual world will be a host of numerous legal issues.

Although it is interpreted as possible to obtain legal protections in other legal remedies, considering the advantages of trade mark registration, it is advisable to file a trade mark application which will also be able to provide protection in the metaverse based on Article 7 of the Turkish Industrial Property Code (IPC), which prescribes as follows: ‘Trade mark protection provided by this Code shall be acquired by registration.’ Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: A guide to NFT and metaverse-related trade marks”

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‘A somewhat unique position’: Quinn Emanuel opens second mainland China office in Beijing

Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan has announced the launch of a new office in Beijing, its second in mainland China following its 2016 opening in Shanghai.

The new branch will be headed by Xiao Liu, head of Quinn’s China practice. Haiyan Tang will remain as head of the Shanghai office, and will also move into a co-leading role in the China practice alongside Liu. The firm will continue to focus on investigations, litigation, and arbitration, for both China-based clients and multinational clients doing business in China. Continue reading “‘A somewhat unique position’: Quinn Emanuel opens second mainland China office in Beijing”

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Revolving doors: Private equity stays hot with high-profile departures from A&O and Travers

starry sky over the City

Sullivan & Cromwell made a major play last week with its hire of prominent private equity partner Karan Danamani from Allen & Overy. A Legal 500 Hall of Famer in high-value PE transactions, Danamani joined Allen & Overy from Ashurst in 2014, and has significant expertise in complex cross-border work.

The move marks a significant step for Sullivan & Cromwell: though the firm is strong in cross-border M&A, it currently has little presence in the UK and European PE market. Continue reading “Revolving doors: Private equity stays hot with high-profile departures from A&O and Travers”

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International round-up: Morgan Lewis opens second German office as Taylor Wessing welcomes new Ireland partners

Morgan Lewis is to open a Munich office with a team of 20 lawyers from Shearman & Sterling, in what are the latest departures from Shearman as its merger talks with Hogan Lovells collapsed. Morgan Lewis’s new transactional and regulatory team will focus on M&A, private equity, finance and tax.

Partners Florian Harder, Florian Zielger and Jann Jetter will lead the Munich office. Harder, head of  Shearman’s German office, will be Morgan Lewis’ Munich managing partner. He has represented international corporates, strategic investors and private equity firms on M&A transactions for German and cross-border deals.  Ziegler is a leveraged finance partner, concentrating on both German and cross-border leveraged finance transactions, while Jetter leads the tax advisory practice, which has a focus on post-deal reorganisations and integrations, as well as tax-orientated structuring of private equity funds and private equity transactions. Continue reading “International round-up: Morgan Lewis opens second German office as Taylor Wessing welcomes new Ireland partners”

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Pivot, pivot: Shearman names new senior partner in wake of failed Hogan Lovells merger talks

Shearman & Sterling has named respected litigator Adam Hakki as the senior partner successor to David Beveridge, as the firm comes to terms with its failure to strike a merger deal with Hogan Lovells.

The move will be cemented in a formal election later in the year, however the firm said in a statement that Beveridge, Shearman’s executive group, and its policy committee are ‘unanimous in their support’ for Hakki. Continue reading “Pivot, pivot: Shearman names new senior partner in wake of failed Hogan Lovells merger talks”

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‘We share strategy, values and corporate culture’: Taylor Wessing seals strategic alliance with Spain’s ECIJA

Shane Gleghorn

Taylor Wessing is expanding its global TMT offering  in Spain and Latin America through a new strategic alliance with Madrid-based ECIJA.

Announced today (7 March), the alliance ‘is in response to the continued investment, innovation and expansion of TMT and life sciences companies worldwide’. Continue reading “‘We share strategy, values and corporate culture’: Taylor Wessing seals strategic alliance with Spain’s ECIJA”