Following an extensive review of its legal support services in May, Wragge & Co has made 26 full time equivalent (FTE) staff redundant with a further 65 roles transferred across to business process outsourcing (BPO) group Intelligent Office. The BPO arrangement sees staff from across all four of the 502-lawyer firm’s legal groups – corporate, commercial, …
DWF has continued its highly acquisitive streak with the announcement today (11 October) that it has taken on an 11-partner, 50-strong team from LB100 insurance specialist firm Greenwoods. A statement from Greenwoods said today: ‘Following its merger with Plexus Law in May 2013, Greenwoods has agreed the TUPE transfer of 11 partners and their teams. …
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Ian Metcalfe’s eight year stewardship of Wragge & Co as managing partner is to come to an end in April next year when current head of the firm’s projects team David Fennell will take over the role, the firm has announced. Focusing on projects and PFI, Fennell has led the firm’s 12-partner projects team for the …
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Eversheds is significantly expanding its Africa offering and is currently in discussions to establish offices in the key markets of Tunisia, Morocco, Ghana, South Africa and Kenya over the coming months. The 1760-lawyer firm has also today (1 October) announced the launch of the Eversheds African Law Institute (EALI), which will share knowledge, training and …
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Increasingly assertive clients are making advisers jump through more hoops to secure lucrative work. Legal Business assesses if law firms are rising to the challenge. While the prolonged struggle for understanding between in-house counsel and their external providers has seen general counsel (GCs) lose many small battles with law firms over the years, the signs …
This year, we asked in-house counsel to name the best law firms across three core yardsticks. Amid pressure on budgets, we chart the advisers whose time is worth clients’ money Asking law firms to rate their peers objectively is like nailing jelly to a wall — they are often either evasive or delusional. Researchers at …
The banking giant’s deputy GC discusses management challenges Barclays deputy general counsel (GC) Michael Shaw has proved himself to be highly adaptable since joining the bank in 2009 from legacy Herbert Smith. It was in 2010 that the outside world witnessed the knock-on effect of Barclays Capital head Jonathan Hughes stepping down, after which Judith …
BLP sees three partners depart; London hires hit double figures for September The lateral hire market in the City picked up sharply in September, with the number of notable hires announced in the first few weeks of the month comfortably into double figures. Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) saw a gloomy summer draw to a close …
Barclays has begun the biggest capital raising by a UK bank since 2009, under which Clifford Chance (CC), Sullivan & Cromwell and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer led on its initial £5.8bn rights issue, as the global financial institution moves to plug a £12.8bn funding gap. A team from CC, led by London corporate partner Patrick Sarch …
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DLA Piper has further bolstered its Asia Pacific offering with the hire of a four-lawyer IP team from Jones Day in Beijing, led by the US firm’s former head of IP in China, Horace Lam. Lam will join DLA’s Beijing office in October along with counsel Stacy Yuan and associates Alicia Ma and Helen Ding, together …
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