BT kicks off strategy review to overhaul internal function

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BT’s in-house legal team has begun a wide-reaching strategic review on how to change its internal structure to bring its lawyers closer to the business, while the telco also prepares for its next panel review.

Chris Fowler, general counsel (GC) for UK commercial legal services, said the review will see the team ‘centrally manage the legal resource (such as litigation and certain commercial functions) but keep senior lawyers as close as possible to individual business units to act as a business partner and meet their specific business needs’.

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‘Absolutely outrageous’ – Gove floats £60m-plus tax on City law firms to fund criminal courts

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New justice secretary Michael Gove is set for a tussle with City lawyers after floating a plan to impose a multimillion-pound tax on commercial law firms to pay for the abolition of a controversial criminal court charge on guilty defendants.

Gove’s plan has been proposed as a means to replace the revenues generated by the court charge that was supposed to bring in between £65m and £90m annually. A report in The Times in October said that a 1% levy has been floated as a means of appeasing the Treasury. Such a levy on the top 100 UK firms, which have combined revenues of £20.64bn, would potentially generate more than £200m annually but promises to ignite controversy over arbitrary taxation of one industry.

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Shearman abandons defined-benefit scheme to defuse pensions time bomb

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While some US law firms have long ignored mounting pension liabilities, relying on annual profits to pay retirees, Shearman & Sterling has become the latest firm to alter its pensions system to limit future payouts.

Shearman’s 200-strong partnership has voted to remove defined-benefit pensions for future partners, a plan that typically hands retirees an annual payment based on a percentage of their final ‘salary’.

The change was introduced in the middle of October and affects any new partner, whether a promotion or a lateral hire.

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Linklaters ranked best adviser for second year in annual survey

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Sarah Downey reports on the clients’ verdict

Linklaters has again been awarded top marks as an external adviser in Legal Business‘ fourth annual in-house survey, emerging as the clear overall favourite for both quality of advice on high-profile, strategic matters, as well as ranking first overall for value for money.

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News in brief – November 2015

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SLAUGHTER AND MAY WIPES £600M OFF BA SUIT

Litigators at Slaughter and May have successfully struck out around £600m from a claim against client British Airways. The airline is one of several airlines facing a cartel damages action from flower importer Emerald Supplies and 564 other shippers. In October the Court of Appeal disagreed with Justice Peter Smith’s decision to adjourn a strike-out application against the economic tort claims and reduced the £1bn claim to £400m.


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‘Like Scotland leaving the UK’: Bank ring-fencing reforms herald big changes

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Further proposals for banking reform issued last month by the Bank of England are expected to cause significant internal restructuring of in-house legal teams, with some banks effectively having two separate legal functions.

Under the reforms, banks with core deposits greater than £25bn, including Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, The Royal Bank of Scotland, Santander UK and The Co-operative Bank, will from 2019 need to separate their retail banking function from the rest of their group, which will divide the activities in the legal team. Banks are currently in a transitional phase of determining where the line is drawn between retail banking and investment banking operations.

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DLA shows African ambition with dual office launch

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Global 100 firm goes alone after warning alliance firms to integrate

DLA Piper’s split from South African associate firm Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr two months ago has spurred the world’s second largest law firm into action, deciding to go it alone in Africa through launches in Morocco and Johannesburg.

The moves mark DLA’s first on-the-ground presence in Africa, having enjoyed a relationship with firms on the continent through its Africa group since 2006. The office in Casablanca is already open for business, while Johannesburg will launch by March 2016. The launches follow a warning to its associated firms that failure to integrate with the rest of the network could result in broken relationships and a competitor instead of a friend.

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La Dolce Vita: Dentons opens first Italian office with DLA hires

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Dentons has opened its first office in Italy having hired 21 lawyers, including three partners from DLA Piper, as well as from a local employment law boutique.

Leading the team from DLA is the firm’s former managing director for Europe and Africa, Federico Sutti, who also previously served as Italy managing partner for more than 16 years. He joins energy partner Matteo Falcione and real estate expert Federico Vanetti. Partners Aldo Calza and Iacopo Aliverti Piuri are also joining from employment law boutique hELP, which was founded by Calza after leaving DLA Piper.

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Worldpay IPO to spark London fintech boom after £2.2bn float

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Dealmakers predict end-of-season deal flourish in Q4

London’s goal of becoming a hub for tech companies to list took a further step in October, after payment processing company Worldpay floated on the London Stock Exchange in the largest City listing so far this year.

Allen & Overy (A&O), Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Weil, Gotshal & Manges all scored roles as City-headquartered Worldpay sold 51% of its outstanding shares, raising £2.16bn with Worldpay receiving about £947.8m.

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Moving on: homebuilder McCarthy & Stone turns to A&O for its November listing

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Regular counsel Freshfields advises lead arrangers on £1bn IPO

Retirement home builder McCarthy & Stone has selected Allen & Overy (A&O) to advise on its £1bn initial public offering (IPO) as it prepares this month to return to public ownership almost a decade after the developer was taken private.

McCarthy & Stone’s appointment of A&O is a move away from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, which was listed as the developer’s solicitor in its most recent annual report in 2014. However, Freshfields already has a lead role on the float, acting for underwriters Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and Jefferies International, with partner Mark Austin leading the team.

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