Shearman & Sterling has hired Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer’s co-head of telecoms, media and technology, Frank Miller, as the firm bids to pull in a greater array of M&A in the City.
Parabis’ private equity owner in ‘discreet discussions’ to sell off legal businesses
Following a number of restructurings and a Christmas-time capital injection from its private equity owner, insurance-focused law firm Parabis Group is in talks to sell off parts of its business.
Ranson eyes Eversheds’ chief exec role as he leads growth drive
In a move which sets him in a strong position to run for chief executive when incumbent Bryan Hughes steps down in 2017, Eversheds managing partner Lee Ranson (pictured) has been tasked with leading a ‘Growth Agenda’ following the firm’s subdued performance in this year’s Legal Business 100, which saw growth flatline, and profit per equity partner (PEP) edge up by 2%.
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Revolving Doors: Insurance-focused firms invest as Clydes expands in South Africa and DWF hires a former managing partner
Last week saw a flurry of announcements as firms revealed their hires made over the summer. Clyde & Co invested in its South Africa office with a lateral from Linklaters’ ally Webber Wentzel, DWF hired the former managing partner of Anderson Strathern and Holman Fenwick Willan (HFW) hired a partner from Chadbourne & Parke’s City office.
The Last Word: Through the looking glass
From a successful UK focus to consolidation, LB100 management figures give their reflections on the market
So far so good
‘A number of businesses like us have adopted a strong sector proposition in the UK and that has been welcomed by the market. It reflects a general improvement in the UK economy and those businesses with a strong imprint in the UK market will benefit from that. We have grounds for confidence but the main challenges I see are around the uncertainty that remains at a macro level in a number of economies where we trade. It remains to be seen how clients respond and adapt to the EU referendum in the UK. There is continuing uncertainty in the eurozone, brought about by the position of Greece – I still see that limping along.’
John Cleland, managing partner, Pinsent Masons
Client Profile: Susanna Berger, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co
KKR’s European GC talks about building a local team for a diversifying finance giant.
One of the most common criticisms levied at general counsel (GCs) is their inability to share best practice, as well as their supposed lack of knowledge of the challenges facing peers. However, for Susanna Berger, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co (KKR)’s GC for Europe, networking with peers is one of the best parts of the job.
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LB100: The Top 25 – The world turned upside down
The predicted comeback year for the UK legal elite instead turned industry trends and conventional wisdom on their head. Legal Business jumps down the rabbit hole and tries to make sense of it all.
‘Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!’ The Red Queen, Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass
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Legal Business 100 2015: Interactive main table
LB100 2015: Partner Earnings
LB100 2015: Behind the numbers – profitability revealed
LB100 2015: Core Stats
LB100: The Second Quartile – The first shall be last…
The City’s mid-tiers defied the critics to achieve market-leading pace through 2015, cementing the gains of recent years. How big an upset can the tortoises deliver?
There are a few simple ideas that define the pecking order in the UK legal industry. The big boys are international, materially larger than the tiers below and two to three times as profitable as their mid-pack cousins.
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LB100: The Second 50 – More or less
Specialist practices and focused City firms in the second 50 thrived in what remained an uncertain market.
The second 50 is a hard place for any law firm without a strong claim on their chosen patch. Overall this section of the market saw a flat year despite the support of a relatively upbeat domestic economy and surging property market.
LB100: The Second 50 – The Lion & the Unicorn
Regional firms are experiencing mixed fortunes. Can they take advantage of a less London-focused client base?
Regional and national firms dominate the second half of the Legal Business 100 (LB100), but typically they do not enjoy the same success as the London-based firms that also occupy the lower end of the table. This year, 32 firms ranked 51-100 are regional or national law firms based outside London, totalling £1.2bn in revenue from 6,308 fee-earners.
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LB100 2015: Methodology and notes
LB100 LAW FIRMS
The firms that appear in the Legal Business 100 (LB100) are the top 100 firms in the UK, ranked by gross fee income generated over the financial year 2014/15 – usually 1 May 2014 to 30 April 2015. We call these the 2015 results. Where firms have identical fee incomes, the firms are ranked alphabetically.
SOURCES
An overwhelming majority of firms that appear in the LB100 co-operate fully with its compilation (see ‘Transparency’, right) by providing our reporters with the required information. A limited number of firms choose not to co-operate officially with our data collection process and in these circumstances we rely on figures given to us by trusted but anonymous sources. Continue reading “LB100 2015: Methodology and notes”
The LB 100 2015 – Through the looking glass
Life during law: Peter Crossley, Squire Patton Boggs
I started life in South Africa mainly doing crime and divorce. Knowing something about criminal law, and the cut and thrust of the courtroom, is a good base for anybody who wants to do litigation.
I wanted to go to the Bar but my father was a bank manager in South Africa with a lot of barrister customers who weren’t doing very well so he basically said: ‘You’ll never make it so become a solicitor.’ Both my parents were English, my father was at Dunkirk and was badly wounded and captured so he emigrated to South Africa for health reasons. He was always a pretty strong character and was the sort of man who you couldn’t ignore!
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Keeping up with the Joneses – will A&O’s pay overhaul keep top talent?
Sarah Downey looks at the £20k pay boost and whether the market will follow suit
Allen & Overy (A&O)’s decision to award lucrative associate salaries similar to some US firms in July, as part of a wider overhaul of how it rewards junior lawyers, has sparked renewed debate in the City about how best to retain top talent.
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The Finance View: Bigger, simpler, cheaper? How to position the modern securitisation counsel
Michael West assesses the impact of the ongoing rehabilitation of structured finance
Securitisation lawyers have been hard pressed since the financial crisis, diversifying their practices and often even ditching the S word. However, relief has been increasingly at hand in the last two years as the thinking of regulators and policy-makers has swung from seeing the financing tool as a cause of the banking crisis to key for getting more investment into the economy. Highlighting this shift at a speech to the Global ABS 2015 conference in Barcelona in June, the Bank of England’s executive director of prudential policy David Rule gave public backing to proposals to create EU-wide criteria for simple, standard and transparent (SST) products, a move he said would ‘play an essential role in de-stigmatising European securitisation, helping the market to develop on a sustainable track and attracting a broader investor base’.
A&O and Freshfields win work on Bwin’s bidding battle
888 looks set to strike £900m deal
Deal lawyers took little respite over the summer as the traditional lull failed to materialise. One deal that kept teams at Magic Circle duo Allen & Overy (A&O) and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer busy was the bidding battle between 888 and GVC Holdings for online gambling company Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment.
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