The increased fluidity between the various limbs of the legal profession has been in evidence over the past few days as offshore litigation boutique Kobre & Kim hires Littleton Chambers’ Andrew Stafford QC as a partner and high profile Ince & Co partner Jonathan Lux joins Stone Chambers, while Devereux Chambers has also announced the …
The trend of companies increasingly enhancing their teams to include sophisticated and growing in-house legal departments shows little sign of abating as independent brokerage and financial software group AKJ becomes the latest to boost its legal capabilities, hiring its first general counsel and in-house lawyer, the former legal chief for the London Stock Exchange Tom …
Continue reading “Moving in-house: Broker AKJ brings in former LSE-lawyer as first general counsel”
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Herbert Smith Freehills have reached an eleventh hour settlement of the £142m professional negligence claim brought against them by London Underground (LUL). Due to be heard over a four week period in October, the case is arguably the largest ever filed against a City firm.
Outsourcing giant Capita is to re-enter the UK legal market, having reached a conditional agreement to acquire Optima Legal Services, subject to approval from the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). Capita submitted an alternative business structure (ABS) licence application last week. In an ironic twist, Capita’s plans have emerged three years after the SRA ordered Optima …
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has begun an evaluation of financial data gathered from 2,000 law firms after warning earlier this summer that an increasing number of the UK’s 11,000 law firms face financial collapse due to a ‘toxic combination of factors causing a perfect storm’. Elsewhere, the latest report from KPMG reveals the total …
In-house promotions and moves often have a domino effect across the entire legal function and Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) is no exception. The major British financial institution has most recently announced that former corporate M&A head Hugh Pugsley will take over as general counsel for group legal from Kate Cheetham, who was promoted to deputy …
After longstanding debate followed by a consultation launched by the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS) in March 2011, the new umbrella Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has been brought in to reduce duplication of costs, increase confidence in the system, and, so goes the theory, create a more robust system. Bringing together the …
Continue reading “Competition and Markets Authority wins over doubters as City nerves subside”
Hogan Lovells has bolstered its policies and procedures around workplace stress and mental health in the wake of the tragic suicide of respected IP partner David Latham earlier this year. The inquest into Latham’s death, who jumped in front of a tube on 15 February, opened yesterday (12 September) at Westminster Coroner’s Court, when coroner Jean …
The number of training contracts being offered by City firms may have dropped by over 20% but the recently revealed retention rates of Eversheds, Clyde & Co, CMS Cameron McKenna and Maclay Murray & Spens remain high, although Simmons & Simmons has slid to 71%. Eversheds, which yesterday (10 September) posted an 87% retention rate, …
One of the biggest surprises to come out of Macfarlanes lately is not that it was one of the strongest performers in the LB100 this year, but rather the significantly accelerated rate of lateral hires joining the firm, bringing an increased risk of upsetting traditionalists at the City blueblood. With the recent re-hire of one …
Continue reading “Lateral movement: Martin explains Macfarlanes’ current hiring spree”
