Legal Business

Addleshaws highest paid member took home more than £1m, LLP accounts reveal

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Financial results 2015/16 Addleshaw Goddard

Addleshaw Goddard‘s highest paid partner took home £1.1m in 2015/16, up from £936,000, its recently filed LLPs reveal. The accounts show turnover at £195.1m, an increase of 4%.

While the accounts also showed a third consecutive year of growth, with fees up from £186.9m, this figure was lower than the £202m reported by the firm in 2016, as not all of the firm’s business is covered in the LLP accounts.

An Addleshaws spokesperson said: ‘The difference between press release reported income of £202m is due to the impact of associated entities that for accounting purposes sit outside of the group and so are not consolidated with UK numbers.’

As Legal Business reported in 2016, the Berevosky settlement, a case relating to previous years and worth about £5m-10m, was also included in the firm’s 2015/16 figures.

Addleshaws closed the year in its strongest ever cash position at £25.7m, which the firm said was an increase of over £20m achieved through income and profit growth, better financial management and the firm entering into a revolving credit facility on 12 May 2015.

The spokesperson added: ‘The EU referendum and other macro-economic issues created a period of uncertainty which was particularly reflected in confidence and transactional activity at the start of the new financial year. Despite this uncertainty, a lot of the measures taken over the last two years leave the firm not only in an incredibly strong position but also very well positioned with an improved platform, client portfolio and sector focus.’

The average number of partners increased by six to 166 while average number of employees during the year excluding partners was 1,159, an increase of 140, or 14%

The firm recently re-elected managing partner John Joyce (pictured) for another four years, a term which he will begin in May. The LB100 firm is also in merger talks with US firm Hunton & Williams, which are said to be going from strength to strength, despite previous speculation that the discussions had been called off.

kathryn.mccann@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Four more years: Addleshaws elects Joyce for second term as managing partner

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Leadership Addleshaw Goddard

Addleshaw Goddard managing partner John Joyce has been re-elected uncontested for a second term as the firm continues its growth through mergers.

Legal Business revealed in November that Joyce was standing again as partners at the firm voted to acquire HBJ Gateley’s three Scottish offices in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Joyce, who was appointed into the role in May 2014 for a three-year term, will stand for another four-years beginning in May, following recent changes to the firm’s partnership deed that extended the terms of both managing partner and senior partner by a year.

Widely touted as a galvanising force for the top 20 firm, Joyce has led Addleshaws through current discussions with full service German firm Luther, which has ten offices across Germany. Luther’s turnover is €124m globally. If merger talks are successful, Addleshaws would easily reach its goal of achieving £250m in fee income by the financial year 2017/18. Since Joyce’s appointment, revenue at the firm has grown from £171.4m in 2013/14 to £201.8m in 2015/16.

‘Three years ago we set out a plan to improve business focus, performance and returns,’ said Joyce. ‘Despite the challenging economic and market conditions, we have made substantial progress in developing and improving our business across numerous fronts, most recently through the combination with HBJ – just one aspect of our strategic ambitions and we remain committed to further expansion internationally and in the UK.’

The firm is also in merger talks with US firm Hunton & Williams, which are reported to be going from strength to strength, despite previous speculation that the discussions had been called off.

madeleine.farman@legalease.co.uk

Read more in: ‘Welcome to the John Joyce show: Addleshaws’ head aims to push national firm centre stage’

Legal Business

Addleshaws settles £5m arbitration against former partner

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Litigation Addleshaw Goddard

Management at Addleshaw Goddard has settled arbitration proceedings against former head of real estate Mark Haywood, two years after he quit for Nabarro.

While the details of the case against former partner Haywood were made public after managing partner John Joyce circulated the information in a board report in October next year, the case has since been settled. The dispute was valued at £5m, which Nabarro had agreed to cover the costs of.

Nabarro recruited Haywood for the launch of its Manchester office alongside partners Nathan Jansen and Monica Brij in 2014.

Addleshaws had instructed XXIV Old Buildings’ Alan Steinfield QC, while Haywood was represented by Lewis Silkin and Serle Court’s John Machell QC. The usual grounds for suing partners for damages include loss of future revenue or loss of a key client.

Since Haywood’s departure, Addleshaws has tightened the rules around partner exits. The firm’s original partnership deed had a ‘bottleneck provision’, which meant no more than seven equity partners could leave without board consent in one financial year. However, earlier this year the firm changed the provision to extend it to fixed-share, or ‘category A’ partners. Other changes include the introduction of ‘bad leaver’ provisions and restrictive covenants relating to fee-earners.

Addleshaws has since bolstered its real estate practice significantly by taking advantage of partner exits at King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) European practice.

At the end of 2016 the firm hired former managing partner William Boss, as well as property partner Simon Tager and commercial real estate partner Michael Scott. It also hired commercial real estate managing associate Luke Harvey who joins as a partner. The combined fee earning potential of that group is almost £5m.

This month the firm also hired KWM construction specialist Julia Court, who had also been a partner at legacy SJ Berwin.

Addleshaws and Nabarro declined to comment.

victoria.young@legalease.co.uk

Read more in: ‘Welcome to the John Joyce show: Addleshaws’ head aims to push national firm centre stage’

Legal Business

Addleshaws US talks reach decisive stage as firm enters discussions with German outfit Luther

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Legal mergers Addleshaw GoddardLuther

Hunton & Williams is to decide in the next fortnight whether it will move to the next stage in merger talks with Addleshaw Goddard, Legal Business has learned, with Addleshaws also in talks to merge with German outfit Luther.

Hunton is to make a decision on moving to the next stage with Addleshaws over the next two weeks. The merger talks are said to be going from strength to strength, despite previous speculation that the discussions were called off.

It is understood Hunton needs a high threshold to get permission to move ahead and the next stage is not a partnership vote as negotiations will continue.

According to the latest AmLaw 100, Hunton has 696 lawyers and 167 equity partners across 19 offices in the US, Europe and Asia. In 2015 it posted gross revenue of $528m, a 7% drop on 2014.

In addition, Addleshaws is in discussions with full service German firm Luther. Luther, which has ten offices across Germany including Munich, Dusseldorf and Frankfurt, also has offices in Brussels, Singapore and London.

According to Luther’s website, the firm’s turnover is €124m globally, of which €110.3m comes from Germany. If merger talks are successful, Addleshaws would easy reach its goal of achieving £250m in fee income by the financial year 2017/18.

The news comes just weeks after partners at Addleshaws voted through a takeover of HBJ Gateley‘s three Scottish offices in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow.

HBJ Gateley, which is not part of the English PLC due to rules around Alternative Business Structures in Scotland, had turnover of £21.9m in in 2015/16, making it the eighth biggest Scottish firm.

Added to Addleshaws’ top-line revenue of £201.8m in 2015/16, the deal will create a business worth around £220m. Growth was slower in 2015/16, up 5% while the year before the firm posted double digit revenue growth of 12%, up from £171m in 2013/14 to £193m for the financial year 2014/15.

kathryn.mccann@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

White & Case advises as Canadian firm buys UK’s five pound note maker

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Corporate Addleshaw GoddardWhite & Case
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White & Case and Addleshaw Goddard have picked up lead roles as Canadian firm CCL Industries said it would buy Innovia Group for $842m from The Smithfield Group.

Innovia, which supplies the new UK plastic five pound note, makes most of the polymer banknotes around the world. The transaction is expected to close by the first quarter of 2017.

White & Case, which advised The Smithfield Group when it purchased Innovia in 2014, acted for the group of UK investors again with a team led by private equity co-head Ian Bagshaw.

Bagshaw said: ‘Our strong relationship with both organisations ensured we were ideally placed to support this strategically important transaction.’

White & Case’s team on the deal also included London-based Nicholas Greenacre and Lindsey Canning as well as local partner Katarzyna Czapracka in Warsaw.

Addleshaw Goddard acted for CCL Industries, with a team led by Manchester-based partners Richard Lee and Shelley McGivern. Toronto headquartered CCL Industries, which is the largest label maker in the world, has been a client of the firm for more than 15 years.

Lee said: ‘We are delighted to have been able to extend our long-standing relationship with CCL through working with them on this transformative acquisition of such a significant North West based business.’

CCL Industries’ deal follows the £1.35bn purchase by fellow Canadian firm Onex of Parkdean resorts from Electra Partners. Clifford Chance, Latham & Watkins, Travers Smith, Macfarlanes and King & Spalding are among firms to pick up roles on that deal.

victoria.young@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Revolving Doors: Addleshaws hires in London as Weil, Bakers and Dentons make international appointments

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Strategic recruitment Addleshaw Goddard
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Addleshaw Goddard boosted its London practice with another hire last week as Weil, Gotshal & Manges, Baker & McKenzie, Dentons and Withers all boosted their platforms.

Jonathan Fletcher Rogers will join Addleshaw Goddard’s London office from specialist employment and incentives firm Abbiss Cadres on December 12. Fletcher Rogers has previously spent over 10 years in the share incentives practice at Allen & Overy.

Weil has picked up Simpson Thacher & Bartlett competition heavyweight Kevin Arquit in New York. The former Clifford Chance (CC) partner, US Federal Trade Commission general counsel and its director of Bureau of Competition will join Weil as its co-head of antitrust and competition, working alongside former CC colleague Steven Newborn.

Baker & McKenzie has also bulked up its New York offering, adding M&A partner Arman Kuyumjian. With his experience representing healthcare and pharmaceutical companies in M&A transactions, Kuyumjian will also become a member of the firm’s healthcare industry group, providing support for cross-border transactions. He joins the firm from Haynes and Boone and was previously a corporate lawyer for Weil.

Dentons has appointed John Dick who will join its Singapore offering in its energy, resources and infrastructure practice. Moving from Ernst & Young (EY), Dick has a broad practice advising on projects pertaining to oil and gas, mining, power and infrastructure. Prior to joining EY, Dick helped set up and run offices for legacy Freehills in Vietnam and Singapore.

Withers also added corporate partner Farhana Siddiqui to its Singapore alliance. She joins the firm from Drew & Napier. Siddiqui has a particular focus on private equity, private capital and family office fund transactions advising family-owned businesses, SMEs and investors from across South East Asia.

madeleine.farman@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Quinn Emanuel takes fraud heavyweight Hastings from Addleshaw Goddard

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Strategic recruitment Addleshaw GoddardQuinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan
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Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan has recruited Addleshaw Goddard partner and fraud specialist Mark Hastings, constituting a major blow to the latter firm’s disputes practice.

Trained at Herbert Smith Freehills, Hastings was appointed as head of Addleshaws’ civil fraud practice in 2014. He specialises in fraud and trust litigations, contractual and warranty disputes and shareholder disputes, as well as advising on pre-action third party disclosure orders, freezing injunctions and search orders.

High-profile mandates includes serving as lead partner for Boris Berezovsky in several cases, including in defending a claim brought by his former partner Helena Gorbunova, a $6bn commercial court claim against Roman Abramovich, and in Berezovsky’s related $3bn Chancery Division claims against the estate of the Georgian billionaire Arkady Patarkatsishvili and others.

He also acted for His Majesty King Abdullah of Jordan in a High Court action concerning allegations of breach of trust, which settled on confidential terms, and represented one of the largest property development companies in the Middle East and a Bahraini investment bank in a $1bn claim.

It is understood Hastings will not be taking any ongoing cases from Addleshaws with him to Quinn.

Quinn has made several strategic hires to its London office this year, most recently with Allen & Overy’s global co-head of arbitration Michael Young, alongside the Paris hire of Herbert Smith Freehills’ (HSF) Paris disputes chief Isabelle Michou.

Earlier this year the firm strengthened its competition disputes bench capabilities with DLA Piper’s UK competition head Kate Vernon. Other significant laterals included Herbert Smith Freehills’ James Bremen as its chair of the construction practice and Clyde & Co litigator Paul Friedman as part of a bid to expand its Israel practice.

London office co-managing partner Richard East said: ‘Mark is exactly the sort of young and hungry litigator we need to help us take this practice in London to the next level.’

Quinn also announced the promotion of 13 partners today across its international offices, with just one associate made up in commercial litigator Khaled Khatoun.

Yesterday (6 December) Legal Business revealed that Addleshaws made a play for three King & Wood Mallesons partners and one associate, taking on the firm’s former managing partner William Boss, as well as property partner Simon Tager and commercial real estate partner Michael Scott. Addleshaws has also hired commercial real estate managing associate Luke Harvey who joins as a partner.

sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk

For more on Hastings’ career, see ‘Perspectives’ from the 2016 Disputes Yearbook

Legal Business

Another blow for KWM as Addleshaws hires former European head Boss along with two other partners

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Strategic recruitment Addleshaw GoddardKing & Wood Mallesons
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Addleshaw Goddard has made a play for King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) partners, taking on the firm’s former managing partner William Boss, as well as property partner Simon Tager and commercial real estate partner Michael Scott. Addleshaws has also hired commercial real estate managing associate Luke Harvey who joins as a partner.

The combined fee earning potential of the group is almost £5m, with real estate heavyweight Boss (pictured) the operational partner for the Crown Estate in relation to its Regent Street Portfolio, which is currently undergoing review.

Meanwhile Tager also acts for the Crown Estate in relation to its Regent Street portfolio as well as acting for Marks & Spencer on key developments across the UK, such as the development of the M&S head office at Paddington Basin.

Scott acts for quoted property companies, institutional investors, developers, lenders and occupiers with recent transactions including advising British Land.

Addleshaws may also take some associates from KWM to support these hires.

Addleshaws head of real estate Leona Ahmed said: ‘This latest investment is very much a part of our significant commitment to the real estate sector and consistent with Addleshaw Goddard’s wider strategic goals. We have for some time been looking to augment our team and the skills and profile of these partners are massively complementary to the existing team, as well as bringing new opportunities for the combined group.’

Last week it was reported that KWM’s head of litigation Craig Pollack was in talks to move to US firm Covington & Burling. Pollack was one of the biggest billers at KWM’s City office and advises investment banks, hedge funds, public companies and high net worth individuals.

Should he sign the dotted line, he will join a spate of partners to depart KWM for Covington since last year, including Alex Leitch, Greg Lascelles, and Elaine Whiteford.

If he leaves he will be the latest in a long line of defects from KWM’s European business; heavyweight biller Michael Halford has recently joined Goodwin Procter and will be joined by funds partners Ajay Pathak, Ed Hall, Shawn D’Aguiar and Patrick Deasy.

Corporate finance partner Andrew Wingfield joined Proskauer Rose, while former managing partner Rob Day is also to move to Proskauer. The pair’s resignation, along with Halford’s exit and Jonathan Pittal also handing in his notice caused KWM to halt its recapitalisation plans in October.

Following the quartet’s resignations the European partnership looked to its Chinese and Australian counterparts for a rescue deal.

The tabled deal required around 60% of the European partnership to commit to a 12 month lock-in and a contribution of around £14m in capital. This meant around 70 of 120 partners had to agree. However, this was not successful, as only 21 partners agreed to the deal. The firm is now exploring its options, with a merger or pre-pack administration reported as two of these options. Since then, Dentons emerged as a suitor to take the the entire European partnership.

KWM declined to comment.

kathryn.mccann@legalease.co.uk

Read more: ‘Four more years: Addleshaws Joyce to run again as leadership election kicks off’

Legal Business

Four more years: Addleshaws Joyce to run again as leadership election kicks off

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Leadership Addleshaw Goddard
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Addleshaw Goddard managing partner John Joyce is to stand for re-election for a second term at the helm of the firm.

A formal election process begins this month (December), with the result finalised by the end of February.

Joyce (pictured), who was appointed managing partner in May 2014 for a three-year term, is hoping to serve another four years as managing partner, following recent changes to the firm’s partnership deed which extended the terms of both managing partner and senior partner by a year.

At the moment there does not appear to be much appetite for a contested election at the firm. Regarding another four years of Joyce, one partner said: ‘With Brexit still out there a period of continuity and stability is probably not a bad thing.’

However another partner suggested: ‘Yunus [Seedat] would have a strong following, as the corporate side of the firm would back him,’ and that Joyce was currently determining whether anyone was likely to stand against him.

Joyce is a fan of contested elections, standing against real estate head Adrian Collins in 2014, following outgoing chief Paul Devitt’s ahead of term resignation.

His standing for re-election comes as the partnership voted through a merger with HBJ Gateley, with both firms confirming the discussions in November. HBJ Gateley, which is not part of the English PLC due to rules around Alternative Business Structures in Scotland, had turnover of £21.9m in 2015/16, making it the eighth biggest Scottish firm.

Added to Addleshaws’ top-line revenue of £201.8m in 2015/16, the deal will create a business worth around £220m. The firm has been clear that it wants to make £250m in fee income by the financial year 2017/18, which a HBJ Gateley takeover would help achieve.

Joyce’s leadership thus far has been defined by merger rumours, with well-publicised talks with Glasgow-based Maclay Murray & Spens called off at the beginning of the year. The firm is also currently in merger talks with Virginia-based Hunton & Williams.

kathryn.mccann@legalease.co.uk

Read more in: ‘Welcome to the John Joyce show: Addleshaws’ head aims to push national firm centre stage’

Legal Business

Joyce stands for re-election as Addleshaw partners vote through Scottish merger

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Scotland Addleshaw Goddard
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Addleshaw Goddard managing partner John Joyce is to stand for re-election for a second term beginning May 2017, it was revealed at the end of November as partners at the firm voted to acquire HBJ Gateley’s three Scottish offices in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Joyce, who was appointed into the role in May 2014 for a three-year term, is hoping to serve another four years as managing partner, following recent changes to the firm’s partnership deed that extended the terms of both managing partner and senior partner by a year.