Perhaps the most surprising thing about waking up on a Sunday morning in May to be faced with a Sunday paper featuring a close-up photograph of a well-known footballer’s face was that its publication seemed to take everyone by surprise. Continue reading “Don’t know much about geography: interdicts across the border”
Simplification and reduction of burdens for Dutch companies with share capital
In the near future some significant changes will be made to Dutch corporate law, with the chief aim of achieving greater simplicity and reducing the burden for businesses.
This article will discuss several expected changes that will specifically affect private companies with limited liability (BVs) and public companies with limited liability (NVs). Some of these changes will take effect in the near future. Continue reading “Simplification and reduction of burdens for Dutch companies with share capital”
Free at Last – Enyo Law
Three litigation partners left Addleshaw Goddard last year to set up a conflicts-free, disputes-only boutique. LB finds out how well the model is working.
For many, it’s a depressingly familiar scenario. You’re an experienced litigation partner handling financial services and contentious civil fraud disputes, advising corporates, entrepreneurs and high-net-worth individuals. A senior in-house lawyer from a bank asks you to represent them against another major financial institution after being given your name by a partner from a rival firm. A conflict check then reveals a banking partner at your firm had dinner with the other side and anticipates some corporate work in the pipeline. You have no choice but to decline the instruction.
Eastern Rivals
The financial crisis has done more than stall investment in Central and Eastern Europe. It has caused a remarkable sea change in the respective legal markets, where the international elite have their work cut out
The crystal balls of Romania’s gypsies would be a valuable tool for many a law firm partner operating in Central and Eastern Europe. Almost precisely to the day of Lehman Brothers’ collapse, the investment appeal of these emerging markets all but extinguished. Continue reading “Eastern Rivals”
Pole Position
Poland is rapidly emerging as the shining star of the East, but a stiflingly competitive legal market means that progress doesn’t easily equate to profits
At the height of the global economic downturn, senior business executives in Warsaw had time for coffee at any point in the day. ‘It was really disturbing,’ shudders one local lawyer. Continue reading “Pole Position”
Global 100 – Slice by slice
The Global legal market is stratifying at a pace never seen before. From the rocketing profits on Wall Street to the rapidly expanding global giants, which model paid off in this year’s Global 100?
Whether your strategy is to devour the world whole, or take it piece by piece, financial centre by financial centre, global competition has never been fiercer. Bounding straight into the top ten of the Global 100 this year is the newly merged Hogan Lovells, while a dose of revenues from down under has seen Norton Rose rocket into the top 40. Continue reading “Global 100 – Slice by slice”
Global 100 – To the ends of the Earth
In the rush to conquer new markets, the leading British and American firms are changing the landscape of the global legal sector. Time to check your international strategy
Costs cut. Headcount down. Profits preserved. Now is the time to grow. Continue reading “Global 100 – To the ends of the Earth”
Global 100 – The top table
A strong economic downturn means that the stars of global law are shining ever brighter. Time to reassess just who makes the grade
The world has changed and the Global Elite needs to reflect that. To butcher a phrase: the gap between the haves and the have-a-bits is widening. By almost every measure this elite group of firms is moving ahead. The average net income at a Global Elite firm is $545.5m compared to $291.6m for the whole Global 100 – the gap in profit per equity partner (PEP) is no less marked, with the Global 100 average PEP sitting at $1.4m compared to $2.3m for the Elite firms.
On the rebound
Government initiatives and a resurgent economy have made Singapore and South-East Asia a key focus of the international legal profession once again
In 2006 Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer’s then Asia managing partner Perry Noble explained to LB why the firm had pushed through a major rationalisation of its partnership in the Far East. In the hope that its Asia business would begin to make the profits that the London HQ demanded, the firm radically reduced the size of its partnership in Asia and closed its Singapore office.