Linklaters leads Magic Circle pack amid solid 2018/19 trading but uncertainty looms over the City elite

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Linklaters leads Magic Circle pack amid solid 2018/19 trading but uncertainty looms over the City elite

Lawyers are a pessimistic bunch by nature and, with the big four Magic Circle firms posting another year of solid but unspectacular revenue and profit per equity partner (PEP) growth, the consensus view is that 2018/19 could have been a lot worse.

Amid a wider slowing of the UK economy and Europe’s deal markets in the face of Brexit and a range of cross-border headwinds, the City’s big four international players posted another year of the moderate results that have defined their post-banking-crisis form. Continue reading “Linklaters leads Magic Circle pack amid solid 2018/19 trading but uncertainty looms over the City elite”

Taylor Wessing quartet boosts flourishing Goodwin City office as O’Melveny losses stack up

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Taylor Wessing quartet boosts flourishing Goodwin City office as O’Melveny losses stack up

The City offices of progressive US firms continue to set the tone for the London lateral recruitment market – a charge most recently exemplified by Goodwin Procter, which has secured a four-partner technology and life sciences team from Taylor Wessing.

Goodwin hired Malcolm Bates, David Mardle, Tim Worden and Adrian Rainey in a move that makes good on the firm’s promise to build out its City technology and life sciences bench. Mardle started in mid-June, while the remainder will join after completing their respective notice periods. Bates was head of the life sciences practice at Taylor Wessing and advises licensing, collaboration and distribution, manufacturing, outsourcing and R&D projects, as well as contract and patent disputes and regulatory matters. Continue reading “Taylor Wessing quartet boosts flourishing Goodwin City office as O’Melveny losses stack up”

Prestige, cash and a bit of spin: how to get ahead in trainee recruitment

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Prestige, cash and a bit of spin: how to get ahead in trainee recruitment

As the associate pay war rages, Thomas Alan finds major firms are falling back on cultural tropes in the expensive jostle for trainee talent

When Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer announced in May a pay hike for newly-qualified salaries, rising from £85,000 to £100,000 with bonuses on top, new battle lines were drawn in the war for junior talent. Continue reading “Prestige, cash and a bit of spin: how to get ahead in trainee recruitment”

NRF launches legal ops consulting arm with the mind behind Barclays’ radical panel reforms

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NRF launches legal ops consulting arm with the mind behind Barclays’ radical panel reforms

Norton Rose Fulbright (NRF) made an ‘offensive move’ against the much-hyped threat of the Big Four on legal operations consulting with the hire of the well-regarded former Barclays head of external engagement, Stéphanie Hamon (pictured).

Hamon, who quit the bank earlier this year, joins as a fee-earner in August to head the new practice and help ‘in-house departments function like a business’. Continue reading “NRF launches legal ops consulting arm with the mind behind Barclays’ radical panel reforms”

Brexit vs Dicey – The constitutional lawyer’s view on these strange days

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Brexit vs Dicey – The constitutional lawyer’s view on these strange days

With Brexit entrenching divisions, Britain’s patchwork constitution is being increasingly pitted against political upheaval. Do legal experts see crisis brewing?

Britain has developed an uncharacteristically laid-back attitude to constitutional change, with once-rare reforms to the UK’s ad hoc democratic settlement coming at a startling pace in recent years. The previous Labour administration ushered in varying degrees of devolution in Scotland and Wales, before in 2003 pulling the UK’s highest court out of the House of Lords and into the new Supreme Court (tacked on was reform of the Lord Chancellor’s historic role). The process of further EU integration under the Maastricht Treaty, not to mention Labour’s 1998 Human Rights Act, which gave domestic force to the European Convention on Human Rights, also had significant impact. Continue reading “Brexit vs Dicey – The constitutional lawyer’s view on these strange days”

Challenging Brexit headwinds force City middleweights to look to Europe for growth

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Challenging Brexit headwinds force City middleweights to look to Europe for growth

Thomas Alan assesses the early financial results in a tougher year for the UK’s chasing pack

The latest financial results from the UK’s mid-table firms show a more challenging economic environment is producing a lag on growth in the domestic market, as firms look to Europe to continue Brexit-proofing their growth. Continue reading “Challenging Brexit headwinds force City middleweights to look to Europe for growth”

Eversheds spins off New Law arm to supercharge growth and attract external investment

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Eversheds spins off New Law arm to supercharge growth and attract external investment

Hamish McNicol reports on Eversheds Sutherland taking the partnership shackles off its Konexo offering

The alternative legal service provider (ALSP) market is estimated to be worth more than $10bn annually. Research led by Thomson Reuters, called Alternative Legal Service Providers 2019: Fast Growth, Expanding Use and Increasing Opportunity, found that the revenue generated from ALSPs had grown to that amount in 2017, up 13% from an estimated $8.4bn a couple of years earlier. Continue reading “Eversheds spins off New Law arm to supercharge growth and attract external investment”

‘Time for a change’ as multiple corporate legal chiefs leave posts for pastures new

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‘Time for a change’ as multiple corporate legal chiefs leave posts for pastures new

Anna Cole-Bailey rounds up the latest senior corporate in-house moves

A string of general counsel (GCs) have made career changes of late, including high-profile names such as the long-serving Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAML) European legal chief Sajid Hussein and Rio Tinto GC Philip Richards. Continue reading “‘Time for a change’ as multiple corporate legal chiefs leave posts for pastures new”

Italian legal market consolidates as local champion Bonelli merges with rival Lombardi

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Italian legal market consolidates as local champion Bonelli merges with rival Lombardi

The leadership of Slaughter and May’s Italian ally, BonelliErede, claims the firm has moved far ahead of its competitors after the recent takeover of litigation and corporate independent, Lombardi e Associati.

In a significant move for a market traditionally used to schisms, the merger – effective from July – sees Bonelli strengthen its position as the largest of the country’s three champions, growing its lawyer headcount by 70 to more than 500. Continue reading “Italian legal market consolidates as local champion Bonelli merges with rival Lombardi”

Eversheds launches in Chicago and dreams of California in first post-merger US moves

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Eversheds launches in Chicago and dreams of California in first post-merger US moves

Eversheds Sutherland has chosen one of the most competitive legal markets for its first US office launch since its transatlantic union went live just over two years ago.

The firm in June opened its seventh US base in Chicago, home to strong Global 100 players Sidley Austin and Mayer Brown, and the world’s highest-grossing firm, Kirkland & Ellis. The focus will initially be on real estate, M&A and litigation, targeting the diversified industrials, technology, media and telecoms, financial institutions and energy sectors. Continue reading “Eversheds launches in Chicago and dreams of California in first post-merger US moves”