Month: February 2017

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Sponsored briefing: Offshore but not off limits

Navigant logo

Navigant’s David Lawler on recent developments in asset-tracing claims

Given the multiplicity of channels available to money launderers and the increasingly sophisticated methods they use to cover their tracks when routing dirty money, claimants in asset-tracing cases face many barriers to recovering funds. Indeed, electronic banking means that funds transfers across borders and through multiple accounts allow fraudsters to quickly and repeatedly splinter assets into sub-accounts, almost instantaneously. They have many ways to hide money, involving webs of credits and debits between banks and intermediaries. Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: Offshore but not off limits”

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One man band: Can Ropes & Gray maintain the momentum without Allen?

Madeleine Farman and Victoria Young ask the firm’s leaders about growth in the City.

Ropes & Gray’s rapid growth in London is an ascent which any newcomer would aspire to. Although the Boston firm was late to the party when it officially opened in 2010, its sole European base has enjoyed an impressive upward trajectory. Revenue was up by almost a third in 2015 to $83m, a successful result on the back of a 30% increase in 2014 when City turnover was $64m. Continue reading “One man band: Can Ropes & Gray maintain the momentum without Allen?”

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The year offshore in review – The Iron Islands

Stormy Jersey

Despite a year of pronounced headwinds, our annual focus on the ten largest offshore firms reveals that 2016 activity levels remained robust with an increasing focus on Asia and continued strength in dispute resolution. However, among the leadership of these firms there is little doubt that Brexit has had an inevitable effect on performance.

‘The reality of Brexit has and will continue to impact business as much as the prospect of Brexit has done,’ says Jonathan Rigby, managing partner at Mourant Ozannes. Continue reading “The year offshore in review – The Iron Islands”

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9,000 clients vote: BLP, Travers and DLA Piper win plaudits for innovation but City giants miss the mark

In a margin-conscious environment it is tough for advisers to catch a client’s eye, but according to flagship research into GC attitudes, a group of quality City law firms are standing out from the crowd through cutting-edge service delivery.

Continue reading “9,000 clients vote: BLP, Travers and DLA Piper win plaudits for innovation but City giants miss the mark”

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The emerging GC – shrouded in the vague

Do you ever get the feeling you’re flying blind as a general counsel? Not in the context of your own business, which will generate reams of numbers and facts to indicate how the legal function is performing within that one company. But in the context of how GCs and legal teams are developing at a wider level, profession-wide and within industry sectors, the question stands.

Continue reading “The emerging GC – shrouded in the vague”

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Northern Lights

The professional life of a public company general counsel in Scotland can feel isolated at times. As a member of a small club, opportunities to plug into the professional networks that their peers in the South East of England take for granted can be limited. ‘We do get a sense sometimes that we are a decreasing community!’ confesses Christopher Morgan, GC and company secretary at Glasgow-based engineering plc Weir Group. ‘Certainly the number of Scottish-based plc GCs is thin on the ground and
it’s dwindling.’

Continue reading “Northern Lights”

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The promised march of the builders – mind that rhetorical gap

What do president Donald Trump, chancellor Philip Hammond and premier Li Keqiang all have in common? The answer does not relate to hairstyles but infrastructure – all have highlighted enhanced national infrastructure as key to bolstering their economies against the threat of slowing global growth. And they are not alone – the Word Economic Forum estimates the shortfall in global infrastructure investment to be at least $1trn per year. Continue reading “The promised march of the builders – mind that rhetorical gap”

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Getting there

Transport and infrastructure has long been viewed as one of the less glamorous legal practice areas, best suited to lawyers with the patience for ploughing through the minutiae of statutes. But with ever-increasing public and political scrutiny and a rush of private investors looking to park their money in safe assets, it has become one of the most high-profile – and demanding – areas of legal work. Continue reading “Getting there”