Posted on

Face value – mentoring in the hybrid work era

‘Sitting on your computer in your bedroom all day isn’t culturally enriching. When we see how our junior lawyers operate now, you can tell they’ve been trained during the pandemic. They’ve missed out on the day-to-day, hearing the titbits of conversations, the lift discussions, the conversations on the way to and from meetings,’ laments Slaughter and May M&A partner Sally Wokes.

Wokes is far from alone in her assessment of the challenges firms currently face getting both trainees and junior associates up to speed. Continue reading “Face value – mentoring in the hybrid work era”

Posted on

Work in progress – Big Law’s existential office conundrum still needs fixing

The news that Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has directed partners, associates and trainees in London and Manchester to come into the office at least three days a week will have piqued interest around the market recently.

The move to increase office time from the 50% requirement the firm set out last year won’t have come as a surprise to many law firm leaders. They have been grappling with the thorny issue of how best to give staff the flexibility on offer pretty much everywhere else in the market while simultaneously avoiding ennui prompted by looking around at an empty office each day. Continue reading “Work in progress – Big Law’s existential office conundrum still needs fixing”

Posted on

A sneak preview of the LB100 – the lawyers are always fine, aren’t they?

'LB100 star' tattooed hands

‘In the event of a recession, the lawyers will be fine. They always are. Unless you work at Ince.’ So quips one senior market commentator when discussing early indications from our Legal Business 100 research this year.

Indeed and notwithstanding the unfortunate Ince (if you’ve missed it, more of its embattlement in ‘Ince owns up to pensions gaffe as cyber attack wreaks £5m havoc‘), the message coming through from the UK’s top 100 law firms by revenue is positive. In fact, it is very bullish indeed. Continue reading “A sneak preview of the LB100 – the lawyers are always fine, aren’t they?”

Posted on

Keystone Law: Our Little Book

‘400 lawyers, 25 services, 19 sectors, one ethos.’ So says the mysteriously titled ‘Our Little Book’, which adorns the table in the meeting room greeting Legal Business after the short journey from Fleet Street to Keystone Law’s Chancery Lane office. The very idea of there being an office might raise eyebrows, given the firm’s reputation as a ‘virtual law firm’. The London location is the only physical space owned by the company and, with its abundance of meeting rooms and hot-desking spaces, is not designed to house everyone at once.

A lack of a conventional workspace is only the start. The firm breaks from tradition in all manner of ways, and yet has grown apace in recent years. Revenue rose 27% to £69.6m in the 2021/22 financial year, and scarcely a month passes without a flurry of new recruits announced. After several pandemic-hit years in which people from all walks of life reassessed their working habits, the model is viewed with a good deal less suspicion than it once was. Continue reading “Keystone Law: Our Little Book”

Posted on

History of mergers: State of the union

‘The global Magic Circle is all American. The reality is that the English Magic Circle are now competing with the next tier down of US firms. So, for a UK Magic Circle firm to merge with a lower tier US firm would likely be accretive.’

So says Charlie Geffen, formerly a partner at Ashurst and Gibson Dunn. He expresses a common pessimism on this side of the pond about the chances of an elite UK and US merger. Continue reading “History of mergers: State of the union”

Posted on

London calling? Recruiters eye New Zealand talent market as borders reopen

As prime minister Jacinda Ardern declared New Zealand’s borders fully open on 31 July for the first time since March 2020, commentators have reckoned on a whole new talent pool.

Overseas experience (OE) had long been a rite of passage for many qualified New Zealand lawyers, with nearest neighbour Australia being the obvious choice for such experience. Indeed, Allens was among the firms known to actively recruit talent from the New Zealand market. Continue reading “London calling? Recruiters eye New Zealand talent market as borders reopen”

Posted on

No Roome for growth? A new chapter for Akin Gump’s City office

Akin Gump has made impressive strides in the City over the past eight years. With James Roome, the driving force behind its fêted City restructuring practice set to retire, can the firm continue its London trajectory?

The 2014 Bingham McCutchen deal that brought James Roome to Akin Gump is described as ‘one of the transformative events’ by the firm’s chair, Kim Koopersmith (pictured). In the first full year after his arrival, City revenue more than doubled, jumping from $35.8m in 2014 to $91m in 2015. And far from being a one off, London revenue has since grown 65% to hit $150.4m for 2021 – significantly outpacing Akin Gump’s global revenue growth of 31% over the same period. Continue reading “No Roome for growth? A new chapter for Akin Gump’s City office”

Posted on

Strategic recruitment: Paul Hastings taps Latham City banking team as Pallas launches in New York

Arun Birla

Despite the typical summer slowdown of the global lateral recruitment market, there have still been plenty of eye-catching hires. Many of the headline moves have a transatlantic hue as US firms continue to attract top talent in the City, while UK firms have had mixed results in the States.

In London, Latham & Watkins’ banking vice-chair Ross Anderson and fellow partners Mo Nurmohamed, Karan Chopra and Rob Davidson joined Paul Hastings in July. The team brings a breadth of experience in leveraged finance and direct lending deals, having led on recent high-profile transactions; recent examples include acting for the arrangers of the TLB financing to support Blackstone’s acquisition of Huws Gray, and the arrangers of the financing to support Bain’s acquisition of ITP Aero, a carve out from Rolls-Royce. Continue reading “Strategic recruitment: Paul Hastings taps Latham City banking team as Pallas launches in New York”

Posted on

Show us the money: 2021/22 financial results show strength in numbers

The annual torrent of financial results has swept the market once more, with all eyes as usual on how the Magic Circle firms fared against City peers.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Allen & Overy (A&O) both racked up 10% revenue growth, with Clifford Chance (CC)’s turnover growing 8%, and Linklaters’ increasing by 7%. In absolute terms, CC recorded the largest fee income of £1.97bn, narrowly ahead of A&O’s £1.94bn. Linklaters and Freshfields followed with £1.78bn and £1.7bn respectively. Continue reading “Show us the money: 2021/22 financial results show strength in numbers”

Posted on

A&O, Latham and Reed Smith up for the top prize as shortlists unveiled for 25th Legal Business Awards

Allen & Overy, Latham & Watkins and Reed Smith are among the firms competing to be named Law Firm of the Year at this year’s Legal Business Awards.

Also shortlisted in the flagship category for the awards, which will take place at Grosvenor House Hotel on 27 September, are Bird & Bird, gunnercooke, RPC and Shoosmiths. Continue reading “A&O, Latham and Reed Smith up for the top prize as shortlists unveiled for 25th Legal Business Awards”

Posted on

Onward, Singapore: King & Spalding names new managing partner as Sidley backs laterals in the city state

Singapore cityscape, Marina Bay

As a growing number of international firms pivot their focus in Asia to Singapore, King & Spalding’s appointment of banking heavyweight Andrew Brereton as the office’s new managing partner could be viewed as a declaration of redoubled commitment to the city state.

The Atlanta-headquartered firm first brought the Clifford Chance veteran on board at the start of 2019 as part of an effort to build out its finance and restructuring capabilities in the wider region. Continue reading “Onward, Singapore: King & Spalding names new managing partner as Sidley backs laterals in the city state”

Posted on

The Client profile: Dan Kayne, O Shaped

Some people go into law with dreams of changing the world, but for Dan Kayne that came much later.

In fact, he admits he fell into the profession almost by accident. ‘I honestly went to university to do a law degree not really knowing why, except that it was clearly a very good degree to have. Then I started applying for training contracts, like many of my peers did, towards the end of my time at law school and I got a series of interviews down in London.’ Continue reading “The Client profile: Dan Kayne, O Shaped”

Posted on

The Legal 500 Data: Ten years of tiers

As highlighted in this month’s The Legal 500 view article on page 22, the white-collar and corporate crime market has seen significant volumes of lateral hiring activity year after year. This recruitment activity continues to shift both the L500 corporate crime rankings, which focus on advice to corporates embroiled in investigations, and the white-collar rankings, which focus on those advising the individuals within them.

Taking a ten-year view of both rankings though, it is clear that despite City firms’ efforts, to date, the very top of the white-collar rankings remain largely the preserve of the crime boutiques, while City firms dominate the corporate crime rankings. The same is also true of the leading individual tables by number. Lower down though there is more evidence of the impact recruitment is making on the rankings, with firms including Dechert, Cadwalader and Paul Hastings among those climbing the rankings over time and increasing their leading individual counts. Continue reading “The Legal 500 Data: Ten years of tiers”

Posted on

The Legal 500 View: Why allegations of ‘woeful mismanagement’ and a ‘chronic lack of investment’ at the SFO aren’t stopping the white-collar lateral hiring carousel

Despite intense scrutiny of the SFO and a slowdown in new cases, the market for white-collar expertise is as hot as ever, as Georgina Stanley discovers

The last 12 months may not have been as busy as they could have been for the white-collar community, but that has not stopped the practice grabbing more than its fair share of headlines. Continue reading “The Legal 500 View: Why allegations of ‘woeful mismanagement’ and a ‘chronic lack of investment’ at the SFO aren’t stopping the white-collar lateral hiring carousel”

Posted on

Israel focus: Sea change

‘Trying to analyse retroactively the last 12 months is probably the most challenging assignment.’ So reflects Mike Rimon, corporate and securities partner at Meitar Law Offices. ‘Those 12 months consist of the second half of 2021 and the first half of 2022. The contradiction is as big and significant and meaningful as it can be.’

It’s no secret that events of the last few months have caused the global economic outlook to change dramatically from the buoyancy of last year. Despite the shadow of the Covid-19 pandemic lifting from many parts of the world, a fall in consumer confidence caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, ongoing global supply chain issues and spiralling inflation rates mean that almost every jurisdiction is experiencing a slower 2022. Israel is no exception. Continue reading “Israel focus: Sea change”

Posted on

Life During Law: Sara Maccallum

Boodle Hatfield is 300 years old this year. Weʼve had a number of events celebrating this milestone, all leading up to a big party for everyone at the firm, which weʼre all looking forward to!

The legacy of the firm is as a trusted adviser to private clients, starting out as a sort of in-house steward to the Grosvenor family, and we want to build on the success of the past 300 years as we are merely the custodians of the Boodle Hatfield name. It may be a cliché, but the firm really is a family of people that are working together, and I hope that we can maintain that and build on it, even in this different working environment that we now find ourselves in. Continue reading “Life During Law: Sara Maccallum”

Posted on

Sponsored briefing: Time and tide – Current trends in the Israeli M&A market

We may be looking at a major upheaval in the Israeli M&A market, as recent times have been quite a change compared to the last couple of years.

During 2020-21 the Israeli market, having recovered from the initial Covid-19 influence, has seen exceptionally high volumes of M&A deals. So much so that according to certain analysts, the year of 2021 reflected a 70% increase in overall M&A deal value, with both local and foreign entities acquiring Israeli companies and fuelling the market with cash. Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: Time and tide – Current trends in the Israeli M&A market”

Posted on

Sponsored briefing: The application of Consumer Protection Legislation to international platforms operating in Israel

Does the Israeli Consumer Protection Law 5741-1981, a mandatory law, apply to international online platforms, offering their services to Israeli consumers – even though their terms of use stipulate that disputes between the consumers and the platform shall be governed by foreign law and not the laws of the state of Israel?

This question, that greatly concerns the Israeli courts is awaiting a resolution. An initial indication for a resolution can be found in a new Supreme Court ruling which considered and provided guidelines to the circumstances in which foreign choice of law clauses will be honoured. Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: The application of Consumer Protection Legislation to international platforms operating in Israel”

Posted on

Sponsored briefing: Popular tech sectors of today’s transactions

It is evident that the year 2021 was a remarkable one for the Israeli tech industry. Multiple companies turned into unicorns and many already coined unicorns either went public or merged with Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) on various stock exchanges worldwide. Still today, nearing the final quarter of 2022, Israeli-based companies continue to be a point of attraction and focus for domestic and foreign investors and strategic and financial acquirers alike, even amidst what some would consider a borderline-recession and during declines in the stock markets globally. Through this whirlwind, some of the desirable sectors we have seen continue to grow and entice interest from investors are data centre services, cyber security, artificial intelligence (AI) based technologies, online shopping and delivery services, agriculture technology and the food-tech industry.

Covid-19 led to a significant surge in demand for data centre services capable of hosting and channelling the enormous volume of cloud-based data and services being created. With social distancing mandates in force, countless employees, students, and consumers were required, or chose, to work, study and shop from the comfort and safety of their homes. The natural effect of this was the further shift of physical interactions to the online realm, resulting in companies and governmental agencies and organisations grappling to maintain operations despite use overload, or adapt to a practically virtual-only world. Data centres came into play as a solution for internet traffic, providing organisations with backup components and infrastructure for power supply, data communication connections, environmental controls, and various security matters. A recent significant transaction in this sector was the sale of 49% of Med-One Ltd’s share capital from the Livnat family (represented by our firm) to the prominent American private equity firm Berkshire Partners and the van Rooyen Group, for a consideration reflecting a company valuation of approximately NIS1.5bn, and we expect to see continued growth in all that is related to data centres and solutions. Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: Popular tech sectors of today’s transactions”