Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan has strengthened its German presence with the opening of a new office in Berlin with space for 10 lawyers.
The new office will be headed by Germany managing partner Marcus Grosch, who will split his time between Berlin, Mannheim and Munich. Grosch will be joined by an associate, but Quinn will also be looking to the local lateral market to bulk out the new hub. Continue reading “Quinn Emanuel expands European footprint with fifth German office in Berlin”
Nathan Peart, managing director of the Associate Practice Group at Major, Lindsey & Africa, analyses associate retention
The race to recruit and fill multiple vacancies in 2021 was a surprise to all after the first year of the pandemic. Law firms were busy across several practice areas and keen to attract the brightest and best lawyers into firms. However, after the rush of hiring, increase in salaries and sign-on bonuses paid out with guarantee periods long expired, how are firms keeping their new and existing lawyers, while balancing the tightrope between transparency and remaining competitive in the market? Continue reading “Guest comment: How are law firms retaining the top talent?”
Eversheds Sutherland’s corporate crime and investigations team has been strengthened by the addition of Anupreet Amole from Brown Rudnick, who represents clients from the banking, retail, energy and defence sectors.
The firm’s global co-head of corporate crime and investigations Zia Ullah said: ‘By building on our existing skills in fraud issues and white-collar crime defence and making significant investment in the development of our team, via promotions and lateral hires, we can provide our clients a high degree of subject matter experience. The addition of Anupreet to the team will add another layer of specialism as we support our corporate clients on their complex and often high-profile, investigations. We look forward to working with him.’ Continue reading “Revolving Doors: Eversheds snaps up white-collar specialist as Kirkland adds US funds team”
A trio of City firms acted on the sale out of insolvency of McColl’s to supermarket chain Morrisons, in a week that also saw significant mandates in the renewable energy and software sectors.
The transaction, which was structured as a pre-pack sale following the initiation of administration proceedings by McColl’s board on 6 May, ensured all employees would avoid redundancy, while also protecting all pension schemes. Continue reading “Dealwatch: Ashurst and Travers double up on McColl’s and Ideagen acquisitions as Freshfields energises offshore wind deal”
Dechert has strongly condemned retired white-collar partner Neil Gerrard after the High Court today (16 May) ruled that he and the firm itself breached their duty of care to mining giant and client ENRC.
The £70m claim brought in 2019 was heard by the High Court in an 11-week trial between May and September 2021. It centered around allegations that Dechert – which represented ENRC between 2011 and 2013 – colluded with the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) during an investigation into the company. Gerrard led on the matter for Dechert, with ENRC specifically alleging he passed on confidential information to the fraud watchdog and the press. Continue reading “Dechert condemns former partner Gerrard after High Court rules the firm breached ENRC client duty”
Greenberg Traurig continues to bolster its white-collar crime and investigations team with the addition of Rebecca Meads. Meads joins as the chair of the London white-collar practice from corporate crime boutique Peters & Peters. She arrives alongside senior associates Gavin Costelloe and Alex Swan.
This follows the firm’s hire of Jo Rickards, now co-chair of its global white-collar defence and special investigations practice, as part of a seven-shareholder coup from Mishcon de Reya in October 2021. Continue reading “Revolving Doors: BCLP hires Brown Rudnick restructuring duo as Greenberg bolsters white-collar practice”
Hasn’t what I’m snappily calling ‘Stephenson Harwood WFH pay cut-gate’ caused a furore?
In case you’ve missed it, the RollOnFriday report that the City firm is offering staff the option to work from home full time – but with a 20% salary reduction – has sparked righteous indignation, the level of which has not been seen since… forever. Continue reading “Comment: A personality crisis and the great WFH salary cut brouhaha”
Ince has launched a formal internal investigation after a viral tweet from a Cardiff restaurant owner claimed a group of its lawyers had behaved inappropriately towards a waitress.
In the social media post, which as of today (9 May) has been ‘liked’ close to 132,000 times, Cora owner Lee Skeet alleged in an email that the group had ‘talked down to, disrespected, and touched unwantedly’ a 22-year-old waitress named Lily.
Continue reading “Ince in firing line over ‘inappropriate’ restaurant behaviour allegations”
Richard King has been succeeded by corporate partner James Waddell as Stevens & Bolton’s managing partner as part of a leadership revamp.
King is stepping down after a successful five years in the role. In 2021, the Guildford-headquartered firm reported turnover of £29.1m, bringing the firm to 11 consecutive years of solid revenue growth. Corporate was among the fastest-growing practice areas last year posting 10% growth on 2020, behind only the firm’s intellectual property team, which reported a 17% growth. Continue reading “Leadership shake-up sees Stevens & Bolton unveil new managing partner”
The pandemic and GDPR regimes have heightened the litigation risk presented by data breaches and other cyber security issues in recent years.
Cyber attacks have grown in number and sophistication as businesses relied more than ever on technology to deliver their products and as remote working became the norm. According to a UK government report1, two in five businesses in Britain suffered cyber security attacks in the 12 months to March 2021, with an attached cost of £13,400 on average per data breach for medium and large companies. Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: As data breach becomes a battleground for class action litigation, companies need to take a risk-based approach to cyber security”
Ropes & Gray has taken further steps towards its goal of becoming the go-to private equity practice in the city with the addition of partners Dan Oates, Simon Saitowitz and Angela Becker in the London office.
The trio, all of whom have joined from Fried Frank, are the latest in a string of London recruits by the Boston-headquartered firm, which has seen a 25% increase in fee earners in the capital since last year. All three bring expertise in cross-border M&A and private equity transactions. Continue reading “Revolving doors: Four in three out for Squire as Ropes brings in private equity trio”
Following on from the spate of Moscow office closures in March as a response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, international firms have started to set out their future plans for practices and teams.
Clifford Chance outlined plans for its Moscow team, having announced that it would begin an ‘orderly wind down’ of its business in Russia in March. Continue reading “Eversheds and Clifford Chance Moscow teams launch independent firms following Russia exodus”
Gandhi & Associates’ Vishal Gandhi outlines the key mistakes to avoid while investing in or doing business in India
An overview of contract law in Saudi Arabia provided by Wissam Hachem and Harry Taylor of Al-Enezee in association with EKP
Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: Key considerations for contracting under Saudi law”
DLA Piper’s Jian-Cheng Ku and Rhys Bane provide the latest updates on an ongoing employee stock option tax proposal in The Netherlands
Lawyers from Epstein Rosenblum Maoz (ERM) provide an overview of the latest corporate developments in Israel
Addison Bright Sloane’s Victoria Bright provides an insight into Ghana’s burgeoning fintech market
The key question at the present time is ‘what’s next for M&A’? Ever since the financial crisis, the M&A market has been strong, driven by a favourable economic backdrop, a large pool of liquidity and fundamental structural dynamics being driven by digitalisation and more recently by the move towards net zero. This strength in activity has only ever been seriously held back by the pandemic, which was – at least for M&A – a relatively short lived affair. At no time in the last decade have we faced as many headwinds as we do now, but how will the M&A market adapt? Continue reading “Sponsored foreword: What’s next for M&A?”
In recent years, environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues have become increasingly important to shareholders and boards, as the regulatory landscape has developed quickly in multiple jurisdictions, and the financial and reputational risks of non-compliance with ESG regulation and best practice have increased. Listed companies, large corporates, private equity funds and financial institutions are all now subject to increased ESG-related reporting and disclosure obligations, and are demanding greater transparency and standards from investee companies in ESG matters. ESG factors are also increasingly relevant to acquisition finance, with the growth of the sustainable finance market.
Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: The impact of ESG on M&A transactions”
Eversheds Sutherland’s Richard Moulton, Eric Knai, Amanda Partland, James Trevis and Stephen Nash outline how their firm’s corporate group has gone from strength to strength Continue reading “Practice profile: Ambition meets focus to drive growth”
