Early March 2018 looked like the best of times to be a lawyer at Latham & Watkins. At the end of February the Los Angeles-bred giant had become the first law firm to report revenues above $3bn. This distinction crowned two decades in which it had been the most upwardly mobile firm in BigLaw, smoothly …
Continue reading “Heavy hangs the crown – Can Latham remain the global firm to beat?”
Norton Rose Fulbright (NRF) is asking its staff to agree to a 20% cut of weekly working hours and delaying profit distribution to partners in response to the Covid-19 crisis. The firm announced today (20 April) it is asking its employees to sign up to a temporary change of their contract for one year from 20 …
The UK Treasury and Bank of England (BoE) have called in their go-to counsel Slaughter and May and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer as they iron out details of the multibillion-pound support scheme to underwrite British business through the coronavirus crisis. The UK Government announced last week the Covid-19 Corporate Financing Facility to help companies with cash …
Latham & Watkins and Hogan Lovells have become the latest law firms to ramp up their response to the increasingly global spread of COVID-19 by sending all their staff home. The news comes as the number of casualties continues to rise around the world, with the latest figures reporting over 200,000 confirmed cases while the death toll has passed 8,000.
Linklaters has followed its City rivals in asking staff to work from home due to the quickening spread of COVID-19. The firm today (17 March) moved to a full remote working arrangement for its 1,200-lawyer Silk Street headquarters.
Law firms around the world have been forced to take ever more radical measures in an attempt to contain the spread of COVID-19, with Reed Smith asking its staff to work from home as Taylor Wessing closed its London office after a member of staff tested positive. Reed Smith confirmed to Legal Business today (13 …
Latham & Watkins’ executive committee has appointed Stephen Kensell as London managing partner, just four years after he joined from Allen & Overy (A&O). The appointment, effective yesterday (5 March), sees the banking veteran take over from fellow finance partner Jay Sadanandan, who leaves the post after five years.
Sidley Austin’s City base grew by less than 1% and missed expectations it would turn a profit in 2019, as the firm’s global growth also slowed. The Chicago-bred firm reported yesterday (4 March) revenue of £98.1m for its City base compared to £97.5m the previous year, despite a 6% increase in its London lawyer headcount …
The coronavirus epidemic has spread to Austria and hit one of Central Europe’s most prominent law firms, with a partner at Wolf Theiss hospitalised in serious condition and three more employees testing positive to Covid-19. A spokesperson for Wolf Theiss confirmed that on Thursday last week (27 February) it learned one of its partners had …
Fears around the spreading coronavirus have yet again affected the business of law, as the world’s second-highest grossing firm Latham & Watkins called off its annual global partnership meeting in New York citing safety concerns. Meanwhile Baker McKenzie has re-opened its London office today (2 March) after an employee taken ill with suspected symptoms last …
