Following a year-long consultation with the partnership and external advisers, high-flying City firm Mishcon de Reya has revealed a refreshed business strategy for the next decade, with a target to lift UK revenue by 40% to £175m within the next three years. Unaudited figures for 2015/16 project revenue to be in excess of £125m.
Continue reading “‘A transformed business’: Mishcon de Reya unveils ten-year strategy”
Ince & Co is moving away from its traditional lockstep model and introducing a bonus pool above the top of its equity to reward its highest billers.
Continue reading “A new model: Ince & Co brings in bonus pool at top of equity”
Dear partner,
We know there is a lot of talk about the new generation of associates, how entitled and short term they are, and that either you or a colleague has been talking about what to do about the kids.
Continue reading “Comment: An open letter to Gen X partners and Millennial associates…”
Partners at King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) could be asked to inject more cash into the business as the firm considers alterations to its capital contributions structure.
Continue reading “KWM reviews capital contributions ahead of refreshed global strategy”
With the release last week of the Annual Report from Georgetown Law’s Center for the Study of the Legal Profession, the ‘Big Three’ annual reports – Altman-Weil’s Law Firms in Transition, Citi/Hildebrandt’s Client Advisory, and Georgetown’s – are now all out and we can see what trends and developments they seem to discuss in common.
Continue reading “Guest post: Law land annual reports -has the partnership model been outgrown?”
New research suggests US firms are picking up top talent by taking advantage of the misconception that UK firms exit their partners in their late 50s.
With the first wave of the Baby Boom about to turn 70, firms are asking the hard question, earlier and earlier. Guest writer Aric Press discusses the best way to have the Dirty Conversation.
A long-running case between Dechert and the administrator of the now dissolved Coudert Brothers over the former’s hiring of Paris and Brussels-based partners has finally come to an end with the US dispute shop agreeing to pay $2.4m in a settlement.
Continue reading “Ten years after hiring Coudert partners, Dechert pays $2.4m to settle dispute”
Conservatism and intransigence are qualities often bemoaned in the legal industry, in many cases beyond their manifestation. But there is one aspect in which the upper reaches of City law have shown a resistance to change verging on the surreal: the desperate embrace of a highly restrictive model of lockstep.
As we argue in our Future of Law special this month, the Magic Circle model is under intense pressure after seven years in which big changes in the industry and global economy have shifted against the group. Under the bonnet, these firms – which are well-run institutions that have been a British success story for very good reasons – have been through substantial restructuring in response. With a better global economy, strong international networks and transactional and contentious activity currently robust – a leaner and more productive big four are positioned for dramatic increases in profitability as their core markets pick up. And 2014/15 should be a very respectable year for the group.
Continue reading “Lockstep has to go for Magic Circle to enter new global elite”
City giant’s remuneration review comes after recent key departures
In a move considered overdue by some, Clifford Chance (CC) voted through proposed changes to its remuneration system in late April, creating a more flexible lockstep by stretching the top of the ladder in a bid to retain star partners.
The firm traditionally operated a lockstep system with a single profit pool, where partners spent three years as juniors before progressing on to the equity ladder, which ranges between 40 and 100 points. Under the changes voted through, leading partners can be moved from 100 points up to either 115 or 130, while others may be brought down from the 100-point plateau to 70 points. While billed by management as a fairly comprehensive review intended to look at performance across all geographies, it remains unclear which criteria will be used to determine how partners will move up or down the ladder.
Continue reading “Clifford Chance votes through changes to lockstep in bid to retain heavyweights”
