In an unusual break from its mantra of transparency, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has decided it will no longer hold public board meetings or give members of the legal press permission to attend.
Continue reading “SRA gets secretive, blocking public and press access to board meetings”
Two years after Cooley‘s launch in the City with a dramatic flurry of hires, the office has hit turnover of $47m and grown rapidly. Matthew Field talks to Cooley London managing partner Justin Stock about the firm’s next move. Continue reading “Q&A: Cooley’s Justin Stock talks launching in London and his ambition to match US success”
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Allen & Overy (A&O) have both kept on 31 members of their spring trainee intake, with retention rates of 84% and 82% respectively. Continue reading “Freshfields and A&O latest in the Magic Circle to post spring trainee retention rates, keeping on 84% and 82% respectively”
US litigation specialist Boies, Schiller & Flexner has hired Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) head of public international law Dominic Roughton. Continue reading “HSF public international law head to boost Boies Schiller City practice following Miles exit”
Eversheds Sutherland has appointed corporate partner Keri Rees to head up the firm’s global company commercial practice group following Keith Froud’s appointment as managing partner, Legal Business has learned. Continue reading “Legacy Eversheds partner Keri Rees takes top corporate role at newly-merged firm”
Slaughter and May is changing heads in three practice areas: dispute resolution, outsourcing, technology, intellectual property (IP) and sport, and pensions and employment, as Linklaters has also promoted a new real estate leader. Continue reading “Refreshing the ranks: Magic Circle firms freshen up practice area leadership”
Hearing that Legal Business was gearing up for an in-depth look at the collapse of the European arm of King & Wood Mallesons (KWM), a well-informed contact told me that this story could not be told without going back to the Stanley Berwin days. Continue reading “Comment: Myths and monsters – how KWM got swallowed by its own culture”
Latham & Watkins announced today (9 March) that it has continued bolstering its financial services offering in the City with the hire of Linklaters financial regulation partner Daniel Csefalvay.
Ahead of the tripartite merger between CMS, Nabarro and Olswang, Facebook has announced that it has taken on commercial disputes partner Anna Caddick from its external adviser Olswang as its EMEA head of regulatory and litigation.
Gowling WLG has lost its legacy Lawrence Graham private client team, including four partners, to Mayfair firm Forsters.
Private client head Anthony Thompson is to depart, along with partners Catharine Bell, Nicholas Jacob and Daniel Ugur. The partners will be joined by 10 lawyers and five staff members. Continue reading “‘The right move’: Four-partner private client team leaves Gowling WLG for Forsters”
James Wood talks to lawyers in an industry that attracts advisers for the long haul
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 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.
‘Everyone is on their own voyage of discovery. But is any law firm leveraging AI in a material way? I don’t think they are – yet.’
Derek Southall, Gowling WLG
Can legal AI match the hype? Legal Business asks key figures about the future for law technology
PUBLICITY KING
‘Of course they’ll have prices, but then you’ll try to work your way around those prices. The reason you’re seeing lots of press releases that say “law firm signs up to use [tech provider] Kira” is because Kira will give you a discount if you do that. Honestly, “law firm uses Kira” isn’t really news, let’s be brutally honest. But Kira will say: “I’ll give you a 10% publicity discount if you do it.” Why not? Why wouldn’t I do that? That then helps Kira to tell a story that says Kira is already being used by Clifford Chance, Linklaters, Freshfields… Suddenly if I’m law firm number 72 and I see all these big law firms, I’m thinking, shit, I’d better use that too.’
Nick West, chief strategy officer, Mishcon de Reya
I’ve enjoyed every minute as a barrister and a judge. Two careers. I’ve been privileged.
I didn’t want to be a lawyer. Even when I went to Oxford I didn’t know. I thrashed around, then stumbled into the Bar. I wanted to do something in the real world. My father was always starry-eyed about the Bar. I suspect that came into it too.
Continue reading “Life during law: Lord Dyson, 39 Essex Chambers”
A year ago, Spanish leader Garrigues unveiled its fifth office in Latin America, adding Chilean firm Avendaño Merino to its existing outposts in Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and Peru. And, as the most expansive Iberian practice in the region, there is undoubtedly pressure to prove the strategy effective. Fortunately, Garrigues has seen startling 81% revenue growth to €18.6m in the region in the last 12 months and expects to generate €30m from Latin America in 2017.
Managing partner Fernando Vives Ruiz says the turning point was a tactical switch to offer a fully-integrated practice in Latin America rather than relying on best-friend alliances. It decided to go it alone in 2013 when it pulled the plug on its Latin American alliance, Affinitas, which it set up in 2004. Continue reading “Hunting El Dorado – Iberian firms keep their eyes on prizes at home and abroad”
The collapse of KWM, cyber threats and Brexit have all come together to cause unease among City law firms. Our annual risk survey asks if risk managers can help avoid a domino effect.
There is little debate about what is dominating discussion among law firm managers right now. Not article 50 and not Donald Trump’s latest whim. The subject gripping law firm risk for our tenth annual risk management survey with broker Marsh is the events leading up to 4.40pm on 17 January 2017 – the moment the European and Middle East operation of King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) went into administration. Continue reading “All fall down? – The 2017 Risk Survey”
DLA Piper‘s finance partners are being encouraged to participate in cross-office and cross-practice collaboration within a new framework called Project Connect, led by Martin Bartlam, who takes over as the firm’s international finance head on 1 May.
Continue reading “Project Connect: New DLA finance head to push collaboration pay incentives”
Linklaters has launched a pair of artificial intelligence (AI) products in the latest innovation push for the Magic Circle firm, including a tool to navigate ring-fencing reforms for core banking clients. Continue reading “Deus ex machina: Linklaters signs up Lloyds and RBS to ring-fencing software”
A $210m claim against Burness Paull will go to a full Scottish civil trial after Edinburgh’s Court of Session found last month that legacy firm Paull & Williamsons had acted in breach of conflict of interest rules. While the court found that the firm did not act fraudulently, the case is now likely to move to a full hearing in early 2018. Continue reading “Lawyers in Burness Paull conflict trial face professional complaints as case moves to full hearing”
Switzerland is changing. Among the country’s traditionally-minded law firms, conservatism is in decline, fuelled by a greater appetite for domestic mergers, increased lawyer mobility between firms and a belated focus on alternative legal service provision. Accordingly, Swiss lawyers are much like the swans on Lake Geneva: smooth and serene on the surface, all the while paddling furiously underneath. An energetic response to the fresh demands of an evolving legal services landscape is paying dividends for some.
The wider economy presents a mixed picture, as Urs Klöti, managing partner of Pestalozzi, outlines: ‘Challenging times remain. The Swiss franc is still very strong, which means that export services are extremely expensive compared with previously. That’s an issue for bigger law firms, because many of our invoice payers are non-Swiss counterparts: in relative terms, we’re certainly more expensive than two or three years ago. We often hear it when we talk about fees.’ Continue reading “Making ripples – Turbulent times ahead for the Swiss legal market”
After 27 years at the Magic Circle firm, former senior partner Robert Elliott has been appointed chairman at Irish bank Permanent TSB Group Holdings. Continue reading “To the bank: Linklaters’ Elliott takes chair role at Permanent TSB”
