Life During Law: David Patient

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Life During Law: David Patient

My father was a consultant obstetrician, his brother was an accountant, but I was rubbish at science and didn’t like maths. I was pushed down this corridor – ‘why don’t you do law?’ I knew absolutely nothing about it and no-one in our family had been a lawyer.

Some of my best friends still are people I met at university. A lot of them have gone off to do other things but one of them who has remained a close friend from the very first evening we met is a senior corporate partner at Allen & Overy, Richard Hough. Really lovely guy. Continue reading “Life During Law: David Patient”

Sponsored briefing: Valuation – the new frontline in restructuring under the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020

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Sponsored briefing: Valuation – the new frontline in restructuring under the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020

In the summer of last year, the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 (CIGA) was rushed through the UK Parliament in a five-week period to deal with the expected fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic. As the biggest change to the UK’s insolvency and restructuring legalisation in over 20 years, one of the cornerstones of this new legislation is the introduction of the Restructuring Plan. While many of the provisions and the intent of both the Restructuring Plan and the existing Scheme of Arrangement are not dissimilar, what is ground-breaking is the introduction of the Cross-Class Cram-Down mechanism (or CCCD) and the sharp focus this is bringing on evidence as to where value breaks within the capital structure of the company in question. Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: Valuation – the new frontline in restructuring under the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020”

Sponsored briefing: Running a people business

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Sponsored briefing: Running a people business

You have been chair of Paul Hastings’ City office since October 2018. What have been your personal highlights of how the firm has developed in London?

Arun Birla (AB): I’ve enjoyed seeing our practices grow, and not just from a client or revenue perspective, but also in other aspects that are particularly important to me – diversity and inclusion, wellness, and on the social mobility front. We’ve built on all those elements – clients, revenues and integrating new partners, alongside what some people might call the softer things, but I don’t like that term. Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: Running a people business”

Sponsored briefing: Dear ‘Do More With Less’ CEOs. Can We Talk?

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Sponsored briefing: Dear ‘Do More With Less’ CEOs. Can We Talk?

Google “do more with less in legal” and many of the top results date back to 2008 and beyond. It is difficult to remember a time when legal budgets were not on the chopping block. Yet there has never been a time when their services were more in demand—from global regulation to cybersecurity to go-to-market strategy.

If organizations are going to complete their long-sought-after digital transformation in as litigious a world as today’s, legal must lead. And they cannot do so armed with nothing. Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: Dear ‘Do More With Less’ CEOs. Can We Talk?”

The Legal 500 View: The rise of US firms from barbarians at the gate to London’s top tiers

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The Legal 500 View: The rise of US firms from barbarians at the gate to London’s top tiers

A ten-year analysis of Legal 500 data highlights the ever-growing status of top Global London firms in London, as Georgina Stanley and Ben Wheway explain

The ten largest Global London firms have almost tripled their top-tier rankings in the UK Legal 500 over the last ten years, according to data analysis which highlights their increasing penetration at the top end of the City legal market.

The group (full list below*) have increased their combined number of tier one rankings by 186% from 21 to 60 over the last decade. This compares with a 32% increase in top-tier rankings for the ten largest UK firms by revenue, from 158 to 208. Continue reading “The Legal 500 View: The rise of US firms from barbarians at the gate to London’s top tiers”

Life During Law: Anu Balasubramanian

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Life During Law: Anu Balasubramanian

I come from a family of lawyers. My father was a lawyer and a judge, and my brother followed in his footsteps and became a lawyer. So there was a lack of original thought on my part. I just went with the flow and followed them into the profession.

I was born and brought up in India. I went to school there and did my first degree there, in history. When I was at university, law was rarely done as an undergraduate degree and that programme has only just been introduced. When I finished my first degree, I followed in my brother’s footsteps and came to the UK to read law. Continue reading “Life During Law: Anu Balasubramanian”

Sponsored briefing: Flexible and stable: The growing appeal of offshore SPACs

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Sponsored briefing: Flexible and stable: The growing appeal of offshore SPACs

Conyers’ Neil Henderson, Anton Goldstein and Matthew Stocker on the resurgence

Special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) enjoyed a resurgence in 2020 as an alternative to traditional IPOs. Now, as 2021 begins, investors continue their search for efficient ways to deploy capital and generate attractive returns in the Covid-19 era of low interest rates and market volatility. Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: Flexible and stable: The growing appeal of offshore SPACs”

Sponsored briefing: Are we on the cusp of an evolution in the legal sector, when collaborative ways of working between firms will become the norm?

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Sponsored briefing: Are we on the cusp of an evolution in the legal sector, when collaborative ways of working between firms will become the norm?

Covid-19 has disrupted almost every sector of the economy. Dr Peter Allinson, chief executive of Davitt Jones Bould, asks whether the pandemic has acted as an accelerant to fundamental shifts already at play in the legal profession, and offers his perception of a growing spirit of collaboration in the industry

While the last 12 months has seen as much disruption as any of us have witnessed in our careers, it remains true that the legal profession is used to weathering adverse business cycles. My observation, drawing on many years’ experience, is that the most resilient firms are those that have a strong sense of who they are, what they do best, and truly where their core business is. If that is the case, then they can ride out the worst of the ‘boom and bust’ and avoid the need to treat their people as a ‘disposable’ item. Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: Are we on the cusp of an evolution in the legal sector, when collaborative ways of working between firms will become the norm?”

Life During Law: Samantha Mobley

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Life During Law: Samantha Mobley

My family story is not one of generations of lawyers. My great grandfather was a coal miner in Wales.

I went to school in South Africa and grew up in the apartheid era. My parents moved there when I was a small child and I had always wanted to move back to the UK. I applied to read law at Bristol University and I’ve never regretted it. I worked at the Albion pub in Clifton to pay some of my way through university. Continue reading “Life During Law: Samantha Mobley”

The Legal 500 View: The gender agenda: the rankings and firms making progress on diversity

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The Legal 500 View: The gender agenda: the rankings and firms making progress on diversity

Legal 500 editors Georgina Stanley and Ben Wheway take an in-depth look at gender diversity in the latest Legal 500 London rankings

‘Institutional male dominance is hard to shift – it isn’t enough to want to change; sometimes these things are structural,’ says Travers Smith disputes partner Caroline Edwards (pictured) of the difficulties women lawyers can face trying to build their profile in the legal market and the directories that reflect it, including The Legal 500. Continue reading “The Legal 500 View: The gender agenda: the rankings and firms making progress on diversity”