Skadden’s Scott Simpson, one of the most influential M&A lawyers of his generation, has died suddenly at the age of 65, the firm announced today (30 May). The news will be a huge blow for Skadden and the industry at large, marking the loss of the firm’s co-head of global transactions and one of the …
Continue reading “A class act: Skadden and the industry mourn death of M&A icon Scott Simpson”
Hasn’t what I’m snappily calling ‘Stephenson Harwood WFH pay cut-gate’ caused a furore? In case you’ve missed it, the RollOnFriday report that the City firm is offering staff the option to work from home full time – but with a 20% salary reduction – has sparked righteous indignation, the level of which has not been seen …
Continue reading “Comment: A personality crisis and the great WFH salary cut brouhaha”
Truism alert – talent, especially in the ultra-competitive world of dealmaking, has never been in such high demand. It is interesting that, while this statement has been wheeled out ad infinitum to the point of becoming a platitude, the component parts of what constitutes legal talent are rarely analysed.
I wanted a career that appealed to my academic side but was also practical; set in real life. Law appealed to both sides.
In high school I got fascinated by courtrooms, the idea of standing in front of a judge and arguing! I’ve always loved to play with language and debate. I wanted to be in private practice, that was my dream, thinking that I knew what that was, which of course, I didn’t! When you’re so young …
I saw a seagull trying to drink a glass of red wine the other day. I was at the House of Lords for an event on ESG governance and standing on the balustrade of the terrace was a massive seagull sticking its beak into a glass of red. It knocked one glass into the Thames …
When Legal Business rounded off our inaugural ESG report last summer, we concluded that the coronavirus pandemic had given law firm leaders the opportunity to crystallise their stance on environmental, social and governance (ESG) imperatives. For one thing, partners were not jetting around the world, flying in the face (quite literally) of their carbon footprint …
That one of the chief concerns among law firm leaders in Legal Business’ annual Global London report is the retention of talent and the salaries required to do that in an ultra-competitive recruitment market is of course not ground-breaking news. Pundits have for years bandied around the term ‘the war for talent’, and with ever-more …
Clyde & Co and BLM are at an advanced stage of merger discussions, with both sets of partnerships due to vote on a tie-up before the end of March. Legal Business understands that there is significant confidence that the deal will be green-lit.
‘Every week two women are killed by their partners and three commit suicide due to domestic abuse.’ With such a chilling opening line, it is no wonder that Travers Smith’s submission for CSR Programme of the Year at the 2021 Legal Business Awards stopped the judges in their tracks.
