CMS junior partners to pay up to £50k in response to HMRC shake-up

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CMS Cameron McKenna has called on its fixed-share partners (FSPs) to make a substantial contribution of capital in light of HM Revenue & Customs’ (HMRC) recent overhaul of the way partnerships are taxed.

Members of the junior partnership that fall into band one of the firm’s four-tiered remuneration structure have been asked to contribute around £35,000 to £50,000 each. With 90 partners in this bracket, this means a total capital investment of up to £4.5m.

A partner at the firm told Legal Business: ‘The firm doesn’t necessarily need the money – it’s not a call for borrowings or to meet debt requirements. It’s a call to even out the capital positions across the various levels of the partnership. People were not necessarily happy taking on more borrowings but it hasn’t caused any ructions across the junior partnership.’

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HSF shakes off post-merger politics in favour of sole global corporate head as Ferraro takes over

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Setting aside the notoriously difficult post-merger politics of selecting one partner to run a core practice area, Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) in mid-April announced that joint global head of corporate Mike Ferraro will this month take over as sole head.

Fellow co-head Patrick Mitchell will, after four years as head of corporate, take up a new role as head of the firm’s infrastructure practice in both the UK and EMEA. Mitchell will work closely with Andrew Clark, head of projects for Australia and Asia, in the continued development of what the firm describes as ‘this strategically important practice’. Mitchell will also maintain his role in developing the firm’s presence in Germany.

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Hogan Lovells gives voice to partners under 45 with new board level role

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Higson elected ahead of move to single global CEO

Hogan Lovells has taken a step towards giving its younger partners a high level representative voice with the announcement in April that it has created a position on its 12-strong board for an equity partner aged 45 and under.

London corporate partner Ben Higson has been elected to the role and the firm has also chosen German IP and technology partner Leopold von Gerlach to take over from José María Balañá as the representative for Continental Europe on the board, which has supervisory responsibility in overseeing the affairs of the firm but without executive responsibility for strategy, management, and operational decisions.

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GC appointments for EY, HarperCollins and BNY Mellon

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Reshuffles see trio promoted to fill senior roles

Three high-profile in-house counsel appointments in the UK and US last month saw accountancy giant EY, publishing house HarperCollins and global investment bank BNY Mellon fill their senior general counsel (GC) roles.

EY promoted its Americas legal chief Michael Solender to global vice chair and GC, which will see him carry out a global reorganisation of the EY legal function and integrate EY’s internal legal operations worldwide.

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Life during law: Helen Burton

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The first deal I worked on when I qualified at Allen & Overy (A&O) was for David Morley and everything went wrong. On the Monday morning, I went to his office and he saw the look on my face and said: ‘Helen, don’t bring me problems, bring me solutions.’ I turned around and walked out, but that stayed with me. The job of a lawyer is not to bring problems but to find solutions.

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Heineken UK in talks to appoint sole legal adviser

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The UK arm of global cider and beer producer Heineken is actively considering going down the one-stop-shop route for the bulk of its legal work, appointing a sole legal adviser in a bid to cut down its external legal spend.

Heineken’s company secretary and UK head of legal Graeme Colquhoun anticipates that one of the firms with which the brewer already has a relationship would be best placed to serve in the role, meaning that firms including Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Allen & Overy, Shepherd and Wedderburn, TLT Solicitors, Morton Fraser, Irwin Mitchell, Osborne Clarke, CMS Cameron McKenna and Pinsent Masons could all be in line for the windfall instruction.

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Dwindling partner promotions at A&O and Freshfields fail to maintain current partnership levels

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The UK’s elite law firms often point to their rigorous partnership promotion process as a natural selector of the best talent but at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Allen & Overy (A&O) the promotion of just 15 and 16 partners respectively in recent weeks is insufficient even to maintain the partnerships at their current levels.

For Freshfields, the latest promotions round is a marginal increase on the 14 promoted in 2013, but is a significant decline when compared with the 20 partners promoted in 2011 and 2012.

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Q&A with HSF’s new global head of disputes Justin D’Agostino

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Justin D’Agostino has taken over as global head of dispute resolution at commercial litigation heavyweight Herbert Smith Freehills. Here the Asia-based lawyer talks to Legal Business about joining the dots of an expanding practice.

What effect will a Hong Kong-based disputes head have on the global practice?

Being based in Asia gives me a good opportunity to be in the middle of it all; it’s a positive from that respect. It will be different having the global head not being based in London but we have very strong local disputes managers in London. I will be joining the pieces across the globe.

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With an external legal spend in excess of $1bn since 2010, BP launches panel review

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Energy giant BP, which has paid around $1bn in external legal fees in relation to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill in 2010, has announced a review of its UK law firm adviser line-up.

Firms have been asked to tender for a place on the FTSE 100 company’s new roster, pending the expiry in May of a three-year panel put in place in 2011. The review will be completed towards the middle of 2014.

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Blake Lapthorn and Morgan Cole announce July merger

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Tie-up to create a strong platform in south of England and Wales

Despite talks over the giant south-east combination between Blake Lapthorn, Boyes Turner and Morgan Cole to create a £100m firm falling through late last year with Boyes Turner withdrawing, Blake Lapthorn and Morgan Cole last month announced the two will merge on 1 July to form Blake Morgan, a 120-partner firm with a joint revenue of £72m.

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