International round-up: Global 100 firms expand in the Middle East and Asia

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International round-up: Global 100 firms expand in the Middle East and Asia

Ahead of our annual Global 100 report in our November/December issue, firms have made concerted efforts to consolidate and expand in the Middle East and Asia in recent months.

Bird & Bird has announced a new office in Shenzhen, to be led by the firm’s Greater China intellectual property practice co-head Hank Leung, a Legal 500 leading individual for IP in Hong Kong. The new office will work closely with lawyers from the firm’s international network, including its offices in Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong. Continue reading “International round-up: Global 100 firms expand in the Middle East and Asia”

Ireland focus: No line on the horizon

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Ireland focus: No line on the horizon

‘What’s happening with Kirkland would make a great Netflix documentary, although maybe a bit niche,’ quips one managing partner of the recent saga of the Chicago-bred powerhouse and Paul Weiss’ London office. ‘Let’s hope they’ve had cameras dotted around the office!’ The amused detachment with which the remark is delivered could be said to sum up the stance of Ireland’s law firm leaders in the round – often looking on at the dramas besetting other international markets from a rarefied position of relative immunity to the worst of the upheavals faced elsewhere in the world.

However, no market is an island, and many of the challenges faced by Ireland’s leading firms this time last year not only remain but have become more urgent. Managing partners are just as alive to reversals created by an ultra-competitive recruitment environment, not helped by a cost-of-living crisis that shows little sign of releasing its grip any time soon, while the ongoing war in Ukraine and related upward spiral of interest rates and inflation continue to make themselves felt. Continue reading “Ireland focus: No line on the horizon”

Sponsored briefing: A brief overview of Dutch alternatives for participation structures

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Sponsored briefing: A brief overview of Dutch alternatives for participation structures

VanLoman partners Marc Oostenbroek and Gabriël van Gelder explore the advantages and disadvantages of structures for employee participation commonly used in the Netherlands

Participation structures are an often-used method to bind employees/managers to the company and to share the value increase realised. In the Netherlands generally four kinds of participation structures are used: stock options; stock appreciation rights (SARs); shares; and carried interest. Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: A brief overview of Dutch alternatives for participation structures”

Sponsored Q&A: Nicholas Blake-Knox – partner and head of Walkers’ asset management and investment funds group in Ireland

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Sponsored Q&A: Nicholas Blake-Knox – partner and head of Walkers’ asset management and investment funds group in Ireland

Can you tell us a little bit about your career and how you ended up at Walkers?

When I graduated from University College Dublin in 2001 with a business and law degree I wasn’t entirely sure what I wanted to do. A friend in university had started working in a finance role within a fund administrator and he told me that if I joined and stayed for three months that he would get a €500 referral bonus. I joined. He got the referral bonus (which he didn’t share with me incidentally) and subsequently left to become a primary school teacher. Ironically, I have remained in the funds industry ever since. My legal career began a couple of years later with one of the leading domestic firms in Dublin, where I was earmarked for their investment funds group when I finished my traineeship. In 2011, I moved to London and joined the global asset management firm, PIMCO. I stayed in London with PIMCO for almost seven years before returning to Ireland in 2018 when I joined Walkers. During my time in London I completed an MBA at London Business School and briefly considered the idea of moving out of a legal role but ultimately stuck with a career in the legal profession. I feel that I have made the right choice and enjoy working in the funds industry in Ireland. Last year, I was elected to the Council of Irish Funds (the asset management and investment funds industry association here) and recently have been appointed to the role of vice chair of the association and consequently will assume the role of chair next year. Continue reading “Sponsored Q&A: Nicholas Blake-Knox – partner and head of Walkers’ asset management and investment funds group in Ireland”

Sponsored briefing: Challenges and strategies in a competitive market

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Sponsored briefing: Challenges and strategies in a competitive market

Lisa Broderick of DAC Beachcroft examines the key problems and priorities for Irish clients, as well as the firm’s recent international growth and adaptations post-Covid

DACB Dublin is part of DAC Beachcroft LLP, an international law firm with over 2,800 professionals and a legal network advising across the United Kingdom, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America and North America. Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: Challenges and strategies in a competitive market”

Sponsored briefing: What you need to know: Ireland’s Individual Accountability Framework (IAF)

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Sponsored briefing: What you need to know: Ireland’s Individual Accountability Framework (IAF)

Introduction

The Central Bank (Individual Accountability Framework) Act 2023 (the Act) was signed into law on 9 March 2023 and provides for the introduction of Ireland’s IAF, which represents a significant development in Ireland’s regulatory landscape. The Act’s origins can be traced back to the Central Bank’s 2017 recommendation for enhancing senior individuals’ accountability within regulated financial service providers (RFSPs). It aligns with international efforts to mitigate misconduct risks and addresses cultural failings identified in RFSPs during the 2008 financial crisis. Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: What you need to know: Ireland’s Individual Accountability Framework (IAF)”

Offshore report: Tempering against the tempest

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Offshore report: Tempering against the tempest

When taking stock of the markets over the last 12 months, it is safe to argue that tougher times must inevitably be afoot. While upheavals wrought by the pandemic may have largely receded into the rearview mirror, the volatility that has come to characterise recent times shows no sign of abating, with the Ukraine war leading to energy insecurity and the cost of living crisis, the need to navigate ever-changing Russian sanctions, as well as the looming threat of a global recession.

However, even in this tumultuous environment, offshore law firms continue to defy the odds, with 2022 only building on the growth seen by many in previous years. ‘Despite expecting a challenging economic environment, income has been up across service lines and sectors, without exception,’ states Edward Mackereth, global managing partner at Ogier, echoing the sentiment of many offshore law firm leaders. Continue reading “Offshore report: Tempering against the tempest”

Greece focus: Lap of the gods

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Greece focus: Lap of the gods

Greece remains buoyant, despite the global pressures affecting jurisdictions worldwide. Major transnational corporations and huge global players are beginning to adjust their investment strategies and are viewing Greece as a major opportunity for inbound investment. Panagiotis Drakopoulos, managing partner of Drakopoulos Law, remarks: ‘It has been somewhat surprising that a lot of foreign investors (particularly non-EU) see Greece as a gateway not only to just the region, but to Europe itself.’

The country is strategically located geographically, economically, and politically, and is highly attractive to growing numbers of investors that view Greece as a potential hub for their operations. Drakopoulos attributes the shift in part to political factors, noting that ‘the current political climate is very friendly to foreign investment; Greece is in a growth mode.’ Elected in 2019, the Mitsotakis government is self-proclaimed to be avowedly pro-investment and has passed key investment legislation. Continue reading “Greece focus: Lap of the gods”

Sponsored briefing: Outlook for the Greek legal market

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Sponsored briefing: Outlook for the Greek legal market

Dimitris Zepos, managing partner of Zepos & Yannopoulos, on what the future holds for the legal market in Greece

The Greek legal market has traditionally been highly fragmented and therefore shallow, with freelance lawyers and small family-owned offices making up the lion’s share of the market. To be fair, small-scale business models have not been a particularity of the Greek legal market, but rather a replicate of the average Greek entrepreneurial model. According to the Hellenic Federation of Enterprises, 96% of SMEs employ up to nine people and this includes companies without any employees or with just one.

According to data published by the Greek Authority of Public Revenue, the number of individual lawyers has remained steady since 2019, amounting to approximately 35,000 (34,672 for 2021). According to the same data, the total turnover of legal services in Greece amounted to €940M in 2019, out of which, approximately €470M was generated by individual lawyers. This means that 35,000 individual lawyers generated approximately 50% of the sector’s total turnover in 2019. To put things in perspective this amount is equivalent to the annual turnover of one single international law firm, Bird & Bird, which in 2019 was ranked 100th in the world, based on turnover.

The figures in question have started shifting, indicating that the legal market is moving slowly, yet steadily, towards a more mature way of doing business. In 2021, the number of law firms increased to 1,060, compared to 907, back in 2019. The total turnover of legal services reached €1.4bn, growing by 60% compared to 2019. Out of that figure, approximately €940m of turnover has been generated by law firms, whereas the performance of individual lawyers has remained in the range of €500m. In other words, growth in the sector has been fuelled by the increasing number of law firms and their growth.

Fragmentation of the legal market is also evident when one looks at figures concerning headcount. The ten-largest law firms in Greece, based on headcount, employ approximately 600 lawyers in total, out of the approximately 38,000 active lawyers in the country.

At Zepos & Yannopoulos we have always believed that strength derives from teaming up. With a total team of 118 lawyers, 14 economists and 82 other professionals, we are proud to be within the top 3% of employers in Greece. Consolidating practices and people allows us to adapt to the pace of a constantly changing world, to foster legal talent and encourage innovative thinking, all to the benefit of our clients, our people and the community as a whole.

The legal profession in itself is changing. Firms are called upon to cater to a wide and complex range of comprehensive needs. The question is no longer whether the Greek legal market should change to adjust to this new era, but instead how fast it can do so.

For more information, please contact:

Dimitris Zepos,
Managing partner

Zepos & Yannopoulos
280 Kifissias Ave. 152 32 Halandri Athens, Greece

T: (+30) 210 69 67 000

E: info@zeya.com

www.zeya.com