Reviving deal market lifts LB100 as top UK firms edge up profits and fees

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While the headline Legal Business 100 (LB100) results are once again inflated by significant merger activity at every level, there is evidence that many of the top 100 grossing firms in the UK are enjoying organic growth again.

Total revenue for the LB100 for 2013/14 is £20.82bn, an increase of 9%, while lawyer headcount swelled 6% to 65,111. With revenue growth slightly faster than 2012/13 but headcount growth slower, average revenue per lawyer (RPL), profit per lawyer (PPL) and profit per equity partner (PEP) were all up by 3% to £320,000, £98,000 and £640,000 respectively.

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Weil, Gotshal & Manges settles multimillion-pound negligence claim with private equity house

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Weil, Gotshal & Manges has paid over £3m to settle a professional negligence claim made against it in late 2013 by private equity house Bancroft.

The case was set to be heard before the commercial court in July but the US law firm agreed a confidential settlement that Legal Business understands to be between £3m and £5m.

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Accounts show fee and profits slide at Edwards Wildman in London as partner departures pile up

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Having endured a difficult time in recent months with an exodus of partners from its London office, US law firm Edwards Wildman Palmer published its UK limited liability partnership (LLP) accounts in August, which recorded a 10% drop in UK turnover, alongside a 21% drop in profit.

The LLP accounts, dated to 31 December 2013, show revenue fell to £25.1m from £27.8m, operating profit decreased to £8m from £10.1m and net debt rose to £323,827 from £54,952.

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‘Clifford Chance is brave to be looking at these things’: City giant mulls move towards all-equity

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Latest proposed changes by Magic Circle firm after recent overhaul of governance structure

Having taken the summer to vote through a substantive overhaul of its governance structure, the autumn agenda of Clifford Chance (CC) will see the partnership consider whether the firm should move to an all-equity model.

The Magic Circle firm currently deploys a single profit pool, lockstep system and partners spend three years as juniors before progressing onto the equity, which ranges between 40 and 100 units.

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Hong Kong Law Society president forced to go amid row over independence from China

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Ambrose Lam, president of the Hong Kong Law Society since May last year, was forced to resign on 19 August after a vote of no confidence was issued in response to his recent support of a Beijing white paper that raised issues over Hong Kong’s judicial independence. Hong Kong lawyers turned out in force on 14 August to an extraordinary general meeting (EGM), where 2,392 lawyers cast a vote of no confidence in the president. Just 1,478 lawyers voted against the motion, despite law firms reporting pressure from clients on the mainland not to pass the motion.

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Mishcons set to move to full-equity LLP in 2015

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Mishcon de Reya is set to bring all partners into the equity and convert to a limited liability partnership at the end of autumn 2015. The proposed new model will constitute a marked shift from the firm’s current structure, which consists of legal directors, junior (or fixed-share) partners and senior (equity) partners.

The transformation will see every partner become a form of equity partner, the current 37 become ‘senior equity partners’ and junior partners will be ‘junior equity partners’.

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Short-term boom but long-term questions loom for lawyers if Scotland votes to go it alone

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Michael West finds mixed feelings on independence from Scotland’s bloodied legal profession

It’s long been a hoary cliché to say that uncertainty is good news for the legal profession but it is hard to escape the conclusion that the uncertain prospect of a momentous vote on Scottish independence this month would be very good news for local lawyers… in the short term.

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Will $50bn Yukos award lead states to pull out of international arbitration treaties?

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The landmark Yukos decision has forced governments to consider the consequences of entering into international treaties that allow foreign investors to take disputes to arbitration. With the likes of Indonesia and South Africa having already torn up agreements, Russia having withdrawn from the Energy Charter Treaty that gave the Yukos shareholders jurisdiction and India mulling an exit from bilateral investment treaties, could the $50bn award lead more states to withdraw their consent to arbitration?

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After a patchy 2013 and a high-profile finance departure, can Weil sustain its City momentum?

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Tom Moore assesses the recent upheaval at Weil and talks to City head Francies about its ambitions

Life has never been dull at the City arm of Weil, Gotshal & Manges, but even those familiar with the firm’s eventful run since its launch in the mid-1990s turned their heads at the departure this summer of Stephen Lucas for Kirkland & Ellis. The former Linklaters partner, whose exit came shortly before his three-year guaranteed pay package expired, had been regarded as highly successful at building a deal finance team at Weil.

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A&O joins US firms on Walgreens’ acquisition of Alliance Boots

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US advisers take the lead on £5.6bn takeover of UK institution

The Walgreen Company has instructed New York law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz and Allen & Overy (A&O) to handle its acquisition of the remaining 55% of Nottingham-based chemist Alliance Boots in a £5.6bn deal.

The pharmacy giant already has a 45% stake in the group, which owns UK high-street favourite Boots, which it acquired in August 2012. This new deal will create the combined entity of Walgreens Boots Alliance, with more than 11,000 stores in ten countries and a portfolio of retail and business brands.

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