LB100: The Second Quartile – Close Hauled

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It’s an unforgiving environment, but 2014 once again shows the well-captained mid-tier outfits sailing free.

‘I’m a great believer that you can always do better and however good a particular year was, you have to exceed that. And we are far from perfect.’ So says Simon Beswick, managing partner at Osborne Clarke (OC), one of the strongest performers in the Legal Business 100 (LB100) this year.

The Bristol-based firm saw turnover rise 26% in 2013/14 – the largest single increase in the LB100 – and has seen revenue rise by 69% since 2009.

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LB100: The Second 50 – Ports and Storms

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As some seasoned campaigners of the second half of the LB100 prepare to move up a class through mergers, a few City-based specialists continue to defy the tide of consolidation.

Of the merger activity that has swept through the Legal Business 100 (LB100) this year, it is the mid-market City players and national heavyweights that occupy the second 50 of the LB100 that have been most affected.

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LB100 2014: Methodology and Notes

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LB100 LAW FIRMS

The firms that appear in the LB100 are the top 100 firms in the UK, ranked by gross fee income generated over the financial year 2013/14 – usually 1 May 2013 to 30 April 2014. We call these the 2014 results. Where firms have identical fee incomes, the firms are ranked according to the highest profit per equity partner (PEP).

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The Target – will tougher measures finally boost gender diversity in the City?

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Faced with dire rates of female retention, law firms have abandoned previous resistance to public gender targets for their partnerships. Will it work?

It had been a fairly dry debate at the 2013 Georgetown Law panel discussion in London, covering a number of worthy issues facing the profession. Dry at least until near the end, when a Legal Business journalist on the panel told the sizeable audience of lawyers that law firms were perfectly able to function commercially while haemorrhaging female lawyers, the caveat being that if the profession was waiting for economic drivers to solve the gender diversity dilemma, it would be a long wait. The journalist then mentioned that the profession may want to consider more drastic measures.

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Protection rackets – behind the controversy of looming reforms on insuring law firms

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The insurance regime for law firms faces more upheaval amid reforms to rules on minimum cover. Legal Business assesses the latest controversy

In July, following a short consultation earlier this summer, the board of the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) announced a number of reforms, including proposals to reduce the minimum compulsory cover levels for professional indemnity insurance (PII) from £2m to £500,000 and the requirement that law firms assess the PII cover level appropriate for their work themselves.

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LB100: The Last Word – Market Comment

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From collaboration to rough quarters to restoring market confidence, leaders at Legal Business 100 firms give us their views on the last financial year and the next 12-18 months.

Persistent challenges

‘I feel very optimistic about the economy and therefore the opportunities. Any firm would be foolish in thinking the challenges have gone and those challenges continue to be how we deliver immaculate service and efficiencies to our clients. The market as a whole is still over-lawyered and that challenge remains. It’s still fiercely competitive.’

Monica Burch, senior partner, Addleshaw Goddard

 

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Global 100 Overview – Superman Returns

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Although the global recession laid many of the world’s leading law firms low for a time, this year’s Global 100 sees a return to form for some storied players. Legal Business discovers which firms have found their powers again.

It has been a rough few years for the supermen and women of the world’s largest law firms. While the disputes and insolvency markets have soared since the 2008 banking crisis, the big name transactional lawyers who had driven their firms’ growth for the preceding two decades faced a prolonged period where their powers and status faded as confidence ebbed from Western markets.

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Global 100 Market Comment – Word from the World

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From cooling in Asia markets to a resurgence in Europe; from increased deal work to an uptick in banking litigation – Global 100 law firm leaders share their views

A year in two halves

‘It’s been a year of two parts for quite a lot of our practices, with challenging economic conditions in the first half of the year followed by a return of market confidence, and with that the return of transactional activity. That was true across the world.’
Sonya Leydecker, joint chief executive, Herbert Smith Freehills

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