Allen & Overy (A&O) is unlikely to replace the start-up that has been snapped up by Facebook just two months after it joined Fuse, the magic circle firm’s innovation hub. London-based Bloomsbury AI, which has built a tool that can read documents and answer questions about them, is joining the social media giant in a …
Continue reading “Allen & Overy Fuse start-up Bloomsbury sold to Facebook for $23m”
Barclays is intent on pushing dozens of major law firms to adopt a radical overhaul in working arrangements in time for its long-planned move away from a formal panel by 2021. The global banking giant confirmed on Monday (2 July) that it had completed its final global panel review, further reducing its advisers from 140 …
Continue reading “Barclays presses counsel for radical shake-up by 2021 as it unveils final panel”
One of the UK’s big six energy suppliers, EDF Energy, has nearly halved its external advisers in a bid to plug into ‘deeper’ relationships, while the addition of two new firms mirrors the refreshment seen elsewhere in the Co-operative Group’s revamped legal panel. In late April, CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang and Bryan Cave Leighton …
Continue reading “Refreshing revamps: EDF and Co-op Group look to new firms in panel reviews”
A longstanding and well-respected member of the in-house community, Felix Ehrat has abruptly stepped down from his role as general counsel (GC) of Swiss healthcare giant Novartis after becoming entangled in a controversy involving US President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer. Ehrat said in mid-May he would retire from Novartis shortly thereafter. He had been GC …
Continue reading “Veteran Novartis GC Ehrat steps down over ‘error’ in Trump lawyer agreement”
William Fry’s David Carthy will join the firm to head new office The decision of DLA Piper to join a handful of other City and international firms that have opened a Dublin office in the last year was partly to do with the UK’s move to leave the EU, and partly not.
LB: What was the background to the merger talks? Therese Pritchard (TP): I started it. It’s my fault. In February of 2017, I was interested in strategic growth. So looking for a firm that had the same culture and practice areas that are successful or where they were interested in growing. I did some reading. …
Continue reading “Eyes on ‘the prize’ – BCLP’s leaders on going all-in for transatlantic union”
Shifting to an agile-working office is a peculiar experience. Two camps quickly emerge: those excited by change and colleagues happy with decades-old paper in a pile on their desk. It is unsettling, yet can galvanise a workforce. DLA Piper is similarly moving into a bespoke, semi-open-plan office this year – its single-largest capital investment ever. …
Continue reading “Deal View: DLA moves house in London but can it break free?”
Commitment. Marriage. Honeymoon. Divorce. Conversations about single-supplier legal advisory mandates are rife with relationship-strewn analogies. While no two arrangements are the same, most begin with a commitment from a company and its in-house legal team to reduce external legal spend and get a better handle on its multitude of legal connections.
Shortly before Richard Price went in-house as group general counsel (GC) and company secretary at Anglo American, the legal team’s headcount was cut in half. This was not coupled with a reduced workload, however. Expectations remained the same. Quite a platform for Price, a former external adviser to the company as Shearman & Sterling’s co-head …
Continue reading “Client profile: Richard Price, Anglo American”
Thrusting national operator DWF is gearing up to be the largest UK firm float yet with a London Stock Exchange listing later this year. The top 25 UK law firm initially went into standard non-denial mode today (15 June) over reports it is aiming to float later this year with a supposed price tag of …
