After months of wrangling, the heavily trailed union between Global 100 firms Bingham McCutchen and Morgan, Lewis & Bockius looks set to go ahead, after a pre-recorded voicemail message from Bingham managing partner Steven Browne informed partners of the proposed union on Friday (19 September).
Accounts show fee and profits slide at Edwards Wildman in London as partner departures pile up
Having endured a difficult time in recent months with an exodus of partners from its London office, US law firm Edwards Wildman Palmer published its UK limited liability partnership (LLP) accounts in August, which recorded a 10% drop in UK turnover, alongside a 21% drop in profit.
The LLP accounts, dated to 31 December 2013, show revenue fell to £25.1m from £27.8m, operating profit decreased to £8m from £10.1m and net debt rose to £323,827 from £54,952.
Global 100 Choice of Law – Clash of the Titans
In the global market, there remain two great powers: English and New York law. While US law has gained an edge in recent years, the debate continues over which will emerge victorious.
The popularity of English law is one of the UK’s most enduring sources of soft power, having underpinned the huge global success of London’s law firms and projected British influence for hundreds of years. And yet it is rarely commented on.
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Hostile takeovers globally at highest value since May 2007
Increase in bids raises hopes of a rise in UK M&A work
M&A partners are predicting that the UK could soon see an increase in lucrative hostile takeovers after the first five months of this year saw unsolicited bids globally hit their highest value since May 2007, standing at a total of $273.4bn.
Bids, whether pending, completed, withdrawn or rejected, are up significantly on the $70.6bn announced in 2013, according to figures from Dealogic, largely driven by Pfizer’s unsuccessful $122.6bn approach for the UK’s AstraZeneca, announced on 2 May, in what is the third largest hostile M&A bid on record.
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Weil Gotshal hires restructuring heavyweight Wilkinson from Goldman Sachs
It has long been renowned as the top restructuring shop in the US but Weil, Gotshal & Manges was a late entrant to Europe’s work-out scene. As such the New York-bred law firm has taken a headline-grabbing step to take its City practice ‘to the next stage of growth’ with the hire of Goldman Sachs heavyweight Andrew Wilkinson, who is to join the firm at the end of April.
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Dwindling partner promotions at A&O and Freshfields fail to maintain current partnership levels
The UK’s elite law firms often point to their rigorous partnership promotion process as a natural selector of the best talent but at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Allen & Overy (A&O) the promotion of just 15 and 16 partners respectively in recent weeks is insufficient even to maintain the partnerships at their current levels.
For Freshfields, the latest promotions round is a marginal increase on the 14 promoted in 2013, but is a significant decline when compared with the 20 partners promoted in 2011 and 2012.
FBI and Manhattan DA charge four former Dewey managers with fraud
The long-running investigation into the collapse of Dewey & LeBoeuf shifted up a notch today with the announcement that three top executives and a client relations manager at the now defunct firm have been charged with fraud.
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Tax overhaul threatens US firms with four-year cash drain but could boost global mergers
US law firms are facing a fundamental overhaul over the way they calculate and distribute their profits that could result in far higher short-term tax bills if controversial proposals currently before Congress are approved. Continue reading “Tax overhaul threatens US firms with four-year cash drain but could boost global mergers”
US merger talks: Patton Boggs and Squire Sanders confirm ‘early’ discussions
Washington-based Patton Boggs and transatlantic top 40 Global 100 firm Squire Sanders are in preliminary merger talks, the firms confirmed to Legal Business today (27 February), with a view to creating a 1,700-lawyer firm with 45 offices across 22 countries.
The confirmation, which comes after widespread reports of the talks across the US legal and financial media yesterday (26 February), stressed that ‘discussions are in very early stages, and there is no assurance that a combination will be completed.’ Continue reading “US merger talks: Patton Boggs and Squire Sanders confirm ‘early’ discussions”
Tax overhaul threatens US firms with four-year cash drain but could boost global mergers
US law firms are facing a fundamental overhaul over the way they calculate and distribute their profits that could result in far higher short-term tax bills if controversial proposals currently before Congress are approved.
The proposals could see US firms with over $10m in revenues forced to switch their accounting model from a cash basis, under which money received in a financial year is taxable, to a UK-style accrual method, where taxable revenue includes work done but not yet billed or collected.