Tough times, new entrants and mobile talent – A Legal Business year in review

Posted on | Blogs |
Tough times, new entrants and mobile talent – A Legal Business year in review

It’s been another eventful year on the front lines of the City and global legal profession marked by mergers, expensive transfers of big-name partners and sharply-dividing fortunes of individual law firms. Underpinning this are ominous structural shifts in the industry thanks to changing buying behaviour and technology. A consultant friend of mine asked last week …

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‘It’s no different to being a deal lawyer’ – Jacobs reflects on a year at Linklaters’ helm

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‘It’s no different to being a deal lawyer’ – Jacobs reflects on a year at Linklaters’ helm

Last October, Linklaters’ Charlie Jacobs took over as senior partner amid high hopes that the rainmaker would bring flair and dynamism to leadership at a City giant that looked in danger of losing its way. One year on, Legal Business sat down with Jacobs to discuss progress made. On taking the senior partner role: ‘When …

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Freshfields ushers in sweeping reforms to ditch heritage as lockstep shop in hugely symbolic move

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Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has pushed through a wholesale overhaul of its partnership structure that will see top earners bringing home as much as five times its most junior equity partners. The move – which was backed in a partners’ vote concluding today (14 November) – will see Freshfields’ core equity range widen from between 17.5 …

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Comment: BLP’s US merger bid – a certain loss of confidence

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Comment: BLP’s US merger bid – a certain loss of confidence

If nothing else, it is safe to say Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP)’s not-very-convincing claim that management was not dead set on a US merger was stretching it. Because recent news that the firm is debating a union with Bryan Cave screams: ‘We really want a US merger!’ The talks come after last year having gone …

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Our leadership: Evolving London’s courts for a global market

Posted on | Commercial Litigation Summit 2017 |
Our leadership: Evolving London’s courts for a global market

Despite post-Brexit challenges to the UK’s legal market and persistent concerns over court funding, confidence remains high among commercial practitioners of London holding its place as a top-tier global disputes centre. In the first panel of the 2017 Commercial Litigation Summit on 3 July a prestigious line-up of jurists and practitioners assembled to discuss key …

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Privilege: A rock and a hard place

Posted on | Commercial Litigation Summit 2017 |
Privilege: A rock and a hard place

For years, privilege was the invaluable asset taken for granted by the profession. But those days have long since passed, with regulators increasingly testing the boundaries of privilege in a series of investigations and court actions. This trend has re-opened much of the settled law on privilege and generated several cases – most notably the …

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The Legal Services Act ten years on – still waiting for the Big Bang

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The Legal Services Act ten years on – still waiting for the Big Bang

As this issue hits desks, it will be ten years since the Legal Services Act gained Royal Assent, ushering in the most liberal services market in the world by some margin. Given that span of time, and the five years since the most radical elements of the act came into force with the regime for …

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What’s the point of Baker McKenzie?

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What’s the point of Baker McKenzie?

Ever wonder what Baker McKenzie is waiting for? The firm once had a crystal clear market position as the only major commercial practice that got anywhere near being truly globalised. And while the sprawling nature of the network meant a 20-year battle to shrug off the franchise tag, Bakers has long achieved polished mid-market credibility …

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BLP’s US merger bid – a certain loss of confidence

Posted on | Comment |
BLP’s US merger bid – a certain loss of confidence

If nothing else, it is safe to say Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP)’s not-very-convincing claim that management was not dead set on a US merger was stretching it. Because recent news that the firm is debating a union with Bryan Cave screams: ‘We really want a US merger!’ The talks come after last year having gone …

Continue reading “BLP’s US merger bid – a certain loss of confidence”