Withers leads way in major tie-up as Singapore rush continues

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HSF, KWM and DLA Piper invest in key South-East Asia hub

Highlighting continued law firm interest in the Singaporean economy and its potential as a hub for South-East Asia, were the announcements in February by a host of Legal Business 100 firms of plans to enhance their presence. Most notably, Withers established a formal law alliance (FLA) with Singapore law firm KhattarWong while Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) also teamed up with a local outfit, King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) confirmed plans to open an office, while DLA Piper secured a coup with the hire of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher’s Singapore partner John Viverito to lead its offering in the city state.

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Life During Law – John Reynolds

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If you wanted to do litigation, there was no better place than Herbert Smith. I have no idea why but it was always going to be litigation. It was all I saw on TV and in books, there were no books written about M&A lawyers.

Suddenly the City just couldn’t get enough lawyers – if you had a pulse you could get a job in those days.

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More outward-facing but does new leadership have a message for Pinsents?

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Pinsents has delivered operational competence at the expense of flair and visibility. Kathryn McCann asks if a more outward-facing leadership team can energise a low-profile thoroughbred.

‘If you were to ask: “What’s Pinsents’ vision and where is it ultimately going?”, I’m not sure you will get a consistent answer. I myself would struggle to answer it.’

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Can Cooley make good on its City ambitions?

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Sarah Downey talks to chief executive Joe Conroy about its high-impact City launch

‘Eight years ago, I couldn’t get anyone to talk to me – I couldn’t even get my face slapped,’ says Cooley chief executive Joe Conroy on his attempts to establish a London presence for the Palo Alto-based leader.

It’s difficult to picture such a scenario now. Despite its late entrance in the UK, Cooley is undoubtedly a major force in the US, being well-established as one of the premier names in California’s legal technology community. After much speculation and one or two false dawns, largely due to long, drawn-out negotiations with prospective laterals, the firm announced in early January it would create a 55-lawyer UK practice, including a 15-strong partner team from Edwards Wildman’s beleaguered London office and a further five from Morrison & Foerster (MoFo).

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Strategy review puts US merger and new office launches on HSF agenda

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Further New York growth and Washington DC offering on the cards

Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) is accelerating its US development plans, launching consultations to explore a US merger and office openings outside of New York.

The performance of HSF’s New York office has exceeded early expectations after landing a number of large white-collar investigations and helping to win the firm a role advising JP Morgan Chase on the Asia end of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)’s probe into whether the bank hiring the offspring of powerful Chinese officials helped it to win work in the country, as US regulators ramp up their checks on New York-based investment banks’ activities in Asia.

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Reckitt Benckiser group GC Mordan looks to review and formalise panel

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Reckitt Benckiser (RB) is making plans to carry out a UK panel review, with Bill Mordan, senior vice president and group general counsel (GC), also looking to formalise the company’s current panel arrangement.

The multinational consumer goods company currently has an informal panel arrangement in the UK, which consists of a two-tier system of seven firms. Tier one comprises Magic Circle firms Slaughter and May, Allen & Overy and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, while tier two includes firms such as Eversheds and, in particular, Thrings’ office in Swindon, which support contract work, negotiations and some civil disputes.

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Shearman & Sterling plans first African office opening

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Firm prepares for association in Egypt with energy focus

US law firm Shearman & Sterling is preparing to open an office in Egypt, marking the firm’s first foray into Africa with plans for an international arbitration and projects practice.

Shearman, which has a five-partner office in Abu Dhabi handling project finance and arbitration work, and a satellite operation in Dubai, is hoping to extend its on-the-ground presence in Egypt as investors return to the country after the revolution in 2011.

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Addleshaw Goddard to establish flexible resourcing capability after strategy revamp

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Addleshaw Goddard (AG) is looking to establish a flexible resourcing capability by creating a pool of qualified lawyers and paralegals to backfill gaps in services left by lawyers seconded to clients or where extra capacity is needed for discrete assignments.

The firm has already spoken to recruiters about setting up a roster of flexible workers and may expand its use in the future. It is understood that the new flexible resourcing will form part of the client development centre (CDC) headed up by key clients senior manager Greg Bott, although after an initial pilot, progress is still in the early stages. The model is seen as a first step to potentially offering a flexi-working service to clients, similar to those offered by Berwin Leighton Paisner’s Lawyers On Demand (LOD) and Pinsent Masons’ Vario network. A spokesperson for the firm added: ‘This is just one of many initiatives that we are looking at to improve our agility and operational effectiveness.’

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News in brief – February 2015

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KENNEDYS OPENS IN SCOTLAND

Last month, Kennedys finally entered the Scottish market with the opening of offices in Glasgow and Edinburgh after talks with Simpson & Marwick fell through at the end of 2013. The firm hired Francis Gill & Co’s founder and director Frank Gill, and Rory Jackson, insurance liability and regulatory partner at McClure Naismith, to co-lead the practice.


LATHAM OPENS NEARSHORING OFFICE IN MANCHESTER

Latham & Watkins announced it is set to open a business services office in Manchester during 2015. In the firm’s second centre (after its first in LA), 25 staff will focus on IT and technology support in Europe and there will also be a financial analysis team to provide practice and regional heads with greater budgetary insight.

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Tackling ‘passive disobedience’: Layton sets CC course with new strategy

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CC international plan for increases in US and Asia revenue

With the partnership keen to improve retention rates and eager to re-establish itself as an iconoclastic, ambitious and imaginative business, Clifford Chance (CC) managing partner Matthew Layton has laid out the firm’s international strategy, which includes greater focus on client satisfaction, making new leadership appointments, and increasing US and Asia revenues to approximately 20% and 25% respectively over five years.

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