DWF announced in June it was considering what would become the largest UK law firm initial public offering (IPO) yet. For further coverage of this, see ‘No free lunch’. Continue reading “Legal 500 Data: The data behind the story”
Tim Maltin of Maltin PR on the importance of getting the balance right between winning the court case and winning over the public
King Pyrrhus of Epirus famously said: ‘If we are victorious in one more battle with the Romans, we shall be utterly ruined.’ He was talking in 279 BC about the large number of soldiers he had lost in the Battle of Asculum, but today he could just as easily have been referring to the high cost of litigation, or the pitfalls of winning the legal battle inside the courtroom at the expense of losing the communications war outside it. Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: An asymmetric approach to litigation PR”
Framed by mounting unease in the face of bitter Brexit negotiations, an uncertain business outlook and an inconclusive 2017 general election, the Legal Business 100 (LB100) has defied expectations to post one of its strongest performances of the last decade.
Despite a wider environment harking back to the turmoil and divisions of 1970s Britain, the LB100 shows the UK’s leading law firms driving group turnover up 10% to £24.2bn. The group generated total profits of £7.6bn, for comparison roughly ten times that of FTSE 100 retailer Sainsbury’s, or twice that of banking giant Barclays. Continue reading “LB100 shrugs off Brexit fears as fees hit £24bn but leaders wary of chaotic winter ahead”
This time last year, a collective sigh of relief from City dealmakers was reverberating around the Square Mile as the M&A market regained momentum despite a backdrop of economic and political uncertainty. Since then, deal counsel have barely paused for breath, with many juggling multiple deals well into the parts of August in which even the most committed deal junkie would expect to be pretending not to check work emails on a sun lounger.
Such boom-time dynamics are borne out by the latest Mergermarket figures for H1 2018, which saw announced global M&A deals hit $1.94trn, its highest value since the financial crisis. Continue reading “Mega-deals and convergence stoke M&A but subdued volumes and volatile conditions linger”
A sign of things to come?
After Lawyers On Demand (LOD) earlier this year secured private equity backers, fellow New Law pioneer Riverview Law in August announced a sale to Big Four group EY. The deal, which saw original backer DLA Piper offload its remaining 14% stake, has been cited as evidence of the Big Four’s renewed push into legal services. EY’s global head of alliances for tax, Chris Price, has become the chief executive of the rebranded EY Riverview Law. Continue reading “Summer news in context”
My father is Greek, my mother was English. There’s been no law in the family, much more of a trading background on my father’s side. But there is a wonderful circularity between his old Greek shipping mates that would be in my environment as a child, and the fact that Clyde & Co is the world’s number one marine firm.
I had an open mind going into articles. I was lucky to have a seat in Paris, which is disputes and arbitration. A combination of that plus the domestic disputes work I did, I just preferred it to corporate or real estate. Continue reading “Life during law: Simon Konsta”
Freeths has seen revenue almost double over the past five years (see Legal Business 100 table), and are often mentioned to our researchers by partners and general counsel alike as a firm that has significantly impressed. We take a look at the firm’s The Legal 500 rankings and some of the FTSE clients that it represents. Continue reading “Who Represents Who: The data behind the story”
DLA Piper has topped this year’s Legal Business 100 with revenue of £1,799.5m, an increase of 7% from last year. See our full coverage of the Legal Business 100. Continue reading “Legal 500 Data: The data behind the story”
After last year’s double-digit revenue growth for three of the big four Magic Circle firms, 2017/18 financials for the same group have failed to make as much of a splash this time around.
But while failing to match last year’s 11% uptick in revenue and profit per equity partner, Clifford Chance (CC) nevertheless leads the pack this year, in more ways than one. Continue reading “The City’s big four report steady growth in a boom deal year as CC leads Magic Circle”
