Legal Business

Bird & Bird’s Kerr set to hit 23 years in charge following re-election

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Leadership Bird & Bird
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Tech firm Bird & Bird has reappointed its longstanding leader David Kerr (pictured) as its chief executive for a further three years and elected the founder of its Italian practice as chairman.

Kerr’s re-election sees him continue an unbroken 20 year tenure as chief executive, having first taken on the role in 1996. In that time Kerr has overseen the firm’s expansion from 70 lawyers in three offices to 1,100 fee earners across 28 offices around the globe.

Massimiliano Mostardini, who founded Bird & Bird’s Italian practice when he joined the firm in Milan in 2003, has been elected as the firm’s next chairman after Michael Frie confirmed he would not be standing for re-election. Frie leaves the post after nine years as chairman.

Since arriving at Bird & Bird 13 years ago, Mostardini has overseen the launch of a Rome office and growth in the country to 110 lawyers. He is also the co-head of the Italian intellectual property group and is a member of the firm’s international global board, the international management committee and the international IP steering group. His practice is built on advising companies on domestic and pan-European intellectual property litigation relating to patents, trademarks, copyright, advertising and unfair competition.

Kerr said: ‘Bird & Bird has a bright future and I am honoured to continue my work here as CEO. The speed of change in the global economy both for our clients and the legal profession is intense. Our firm is at the cutting edge both in understanding the changes clients are going through and in adapting our services to meet their needs. It will be an exciting period.’

The firm’s most recent LLP accounts showed revenue in the last financial year rose 6% to €327.1m from €308.7m while profit before member’s remuneration increased by 10% to €93m from €85m. Bird & Bird’s net debt rose by 21% to €46.3m from €38.3m in 2014 following a refinancing of the business, while the top paid member took home 12% more, the firm’s accounts show.

tom.moore@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Asia round-up: Olswang and Bird & Bird build offerings while Slaughters Hong Kong partner Hyman retires

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Asia Bird & BirdOlswangSlaughter and May
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The past week has seen changes for several UK-headquartered firms in Asia with Olswang appointing a new Asia managing partner and Bird & Bird making two lateral partner hires, as corporate partner Neil Hyman retires from Slaughter and May‘s Hong Kong office.

TMT firm Olswang has appointed a new Asia managing partner with corporate partner Andrew Stott taking over from Rob Bratby who headed the region for past four years. Olswang confirmed that Bratby will return to the London office to ‘take up a global telecoms and emerging markets role’. Bratby joined Olswang from US firm Mayer Brown as partner in 2008 where he worked in the City for almost four years before relocating to Singapore in 2012.

Olswang’s new Asia head Stott has been with the firm since 2002 and advises companies, financial institutions and individuals on international public and private M&A, investment deals and strategic joint ventures. Stott also has experience in working on multi-jurisdiction transactions across Europe, North America and Asia. His new role will take effect from 1 May 2016.

Olswang chief executive Paul Stevens commented: ‘We look forward to welcoming Rob back in London. His return to the UK was part of the firm’s plan from the outset, and we are very grateful to Rob for helping to build a robust and client-centric business in Singapore from which our team can grow further.’

Elsewhere, Slaughter and May Hong Kong corporate partner Hyman is due to retire from the partnership on 30 April. Hyman joined the firm in London in 1986 and was made a partner in the corporate practice in 1995. He then transferred to the firm’s Hong Kong office in 2001.

Some of his recent transactions include advising Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation on its $4.95bn acquisition of Wing Hang Bank; and representing international healthcare group Bupa on the acquisition of Quality HealthCare Medical Services, the largest private clinic network in Hong Kong, for $355m, from Fortis Healthcare.

Meanwhile, Bird & Bird is building its Asia Pacific teams with two new dispute recruits as Jonathan Choo joins from Olswang, and Robert Rhoda joins from RPC.

According to the firm, the ‘appointments represent a major boost to the firm’s rapidly growing Asia-Pacific dispute resolution group’ and places the firm ‘among the strongest arbitration teams in the Asia-Pacific region covering both contentious and non-contentious work’.

Choo will be based in Singapore and previously headed Olswang’s Asian arbitration and dispute resolution practice and also co-headed the international arbitration group. He has experience of a range of significant disputes and arbitrations both in Singapore and overseas.

Rhoda joins from RPC’s Hong Kong office, where he was a member of the commercial disputes group focusing on international arbitration. Rhoda has experience of high-stakes international arbitration matters, as well as advising on commercial litigation and regulatory matters in both London and Hong Kong.

jashiree.kalia@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Bird & Bird’s net debt rises by a fifth, as highest paid member gets 12% more

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Financial results 2015/16 Bird & Bird
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Bird & Bird‘s net debt rose by 21% in the last financial year to €46.3m from €38.3m in 2014 following a refinancing of the business, while the top paid member took home 12% more, the firm’s accounts show.

Recent filings with Companies House show the highest paid member at the firm took home €1.023m, up 12% from last year’s €911,000. This figure in LLP accounts does not necessarily equate to the highest paid equity partner and can relate to ‘golden handshakes’ to retiring members.

Net current assets increased by just over 100% following a ‘successful refinancing’ in November 2014 and a 9% ‘improvement’ in net assets attributable to members.

Loans and other debts due to members jumped by 8% to €71.7m from €66m while staff costs increased to €147.8m from €141.5m. The firm’s working capital facilities were restructured in November 2014 to an unsecured revolving credit facility which is committed to November 2017.

Revenue rose 6% to €327.1m from €308.7m while profit before member’s remuneration increased by 10% to €93m from €85m.

The firm, which reports in Euros, noted the weakening of the currency by just under 6% against a basket of our major trading currencies and said its main financial risks arise from the ‘current economic climate in the countries it operates, competitive and client pressure to reduce fees and the management of foreign currencies.’

The number of fee earners at the consolidated firm increased to 935 from 926, as total staff numbers rose from 1,732 to 1,759.

The firm made expansion a strategic priority last year in a bid to reposition itself internationally, and established an Australian practice by merging with Sydney-based Truman Hoyle, and signed co-operation agreements with three foreign firms. This included two Indonesian firms, intellectual property specialists K&K Advocates and business law firm Nurjadin Sumono Mulyadi & Partners, and Turkish IT and telecoms boutique BTS & Partners in June.

Bird & Bird plans to move its London office to a 147,000 sqft space at 12 New Fetter Lane next autumn, committing to a pre-let that will see it pay £8.28m a year for the premise. The agreement, which weighs in at £58.11 per sqft, makes the annual cost of the property worth 38% of Bird & Bird’s current leasehold expenditure globally. In 2013/14 the firm paid £21.5m in rent.

sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

DLA Piper boosts Hamburg outpost with team of 20

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Strategic recruitment Bird & BirdDLA Piper
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DLA Piper has added a team of 20, including five partners to its Hamburg office from Bird & Bird, in a move said to double the outpost in size. 

The hires include media and competition lawyer Stefan Engels and trademark and design practitioner Ulrike Grübler who join the firm’s Intellectual Property and Technology (IPT) practice group.

Bird & Bird partner and regulatory law specialist Michael Stulz-Herrnstad joins the litigation & regulatory practice group.

Joining the firm’s corporate team is partner Jörg Paura who has particular expertise in the steel, automotive and media industries and partner Daniel Weiß, who focuses on media, aviation and steel.

Also joining the IPT team are experienced media and competition lawyers Beatrice Brunn and Verena Haisch, and Verena Grentzenberg, who specialises in data protection law. Counsel Mirjam Rüve willl also move to DLA Piper, contributing expertise in corporate litigation and insolvency law.

DLA Piper’s managing partners for Germany Bernd Borgmann and Benjamin Parameswaran said: ‘DLA Piper continues its systematic growth. The addition of this large and market-leading team is a significant reinforcement for our German practice and the Hamburg office.’

The firm’s total fee earner headcount of the firm in Germany will be about 200 lawyers after the hire, with the Hamburg office believed to have doubled in size.

victoria.young@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Bird & Bird’s turnover climbs 6% to €325.5m but stays flat in sterling

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Financial results 2014/15 Bird & Bird
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Tech specialist Bird & Bird, despite stating that it has faced ‘challenging economic conditions in many of our major markets’, has posted a 6% rise in revenues to hit €325.5m.

The firm stated that in sterling terms turnover was flat on last year when it pulled in £259m. Bird & Bird has not released its profit figures for the 2014/15 financial year, but has undergone rapid expansion in the past year as it spent to reposition itself internationally.

In the 12 months to 30 April, Bird & Bird established an Australian practice by merging with Sydney-based Truman Hoyle and signed cooperation agreements with three foreign firms. The tech firm tied-up with two Indonesian firms, intellectual property specialists K&K Advocates and business law firm Nurjadin Sumono Mulyadi & Partners, and Turkish IT and telecoms boutique BTS & Partners in June.

Those moves followed similar agreements signed in recent years including in Korea with Seoul-based Hwang Mok & Park, in China with Beijing-based Lawjay Partners and in Malaysia with Tay & Partners.

Accounts filled at Companies House showed profits at the LLP fell 5% in 2013/14 from €60.3m to €57.1m as staffing costs rose. While turnover was stated as €309m in the year to 30 April 2014.

The firm said in a statement: ‘This is a solid performance across the firm, in the face of challenging economic conditions in many of our major markets. We have also seen strong growth in our traditional technology-driven sectors as well as in the growing number of other sectors in which technology and disruptive innovation are increasingly important.’

tom.moore@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Bird & Bird loses £1.8m professional negligence case over planning report

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Litigation Bird & Bird
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Bird & Bird has lost a professional negligence dispute taken by former client and offshore company Orientfield Holdings at London’s High Court and been ordered to pay out £1.8m in damages plus interest.

The dispute arose when in 2010 Orientfield instructed Bird & Bird for its purchase of a large residential property in St John’s Wood for £25 million, which was later bought by media executive Elisabeth Murdoch. However, the court found that the solicitors failed to advise Orientfield of a proposed development close to the property which would have negatively affected its intended use.

Bird & Bird had obtained a planning report for the property which revealed the existence of such developments but, unaware of this, Orientfield signed a contract to buy the property, paying a deposit of £2.5m. Upon learning of the development it terminated the contract and the vendors of the property brought a claim against Orientfield to retain the deposit, which was settled with the latter recovering half of the monies. Orientfield then brought a claim against Bird & Bird to recoup the balance of its deposit and other costs associated with the legal action brought by the vendors.

Bird & Bird argued that it was not under any duty to provide the report and therefore there had not been any negligence. However, Judge Mark Pelling QC held that the firm failed to provide Orientfield with the planning report and confirmed it was the duty of Bird & Bird to inform Orientfield of its content.

Bird & Bird said in a statement: ‘We are disappointed with the result but we’re discussing with our insurers the possibility of an appeal.’

Wedlake Bell partner David Golten advised the claimant while Bird & Bird was represented by Triton Global director Michael Robin.

Commenting on the case, Golten said: ‘We are thrilled that Orientfield has been successful and it is a well-deserved result. Clients rightly expect and should have professional advisors who act diligently to protect their interests. It has been a hard fought claim, and it is excellent that all of Orientfield’s loss has been recovered, including its legal costs.’

sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Launching in Luxembourg: Bird & Bird targets Unified Patent Court work with new office

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Europe Bird & Bird
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Bird & Bird has made an application to open in Luxembourg as it targets work heading to the new European Unified Patent Court (UPC).

The office will be number 28 for the firm and will also look to service both work regarding the Court of Justice of the European Union and, banking and finance clients based in the country.

The new court is being established by the European Patent Office and 25 countries including the UK, France and Germany but not Italy and Spain. A Preparatory Committee is currently holding a series of meeting to establish the Court’s rules and administrative procedures.

Chief executive of Bird & Bird, David Kerr, said: ‘Luxembourg is an important jurisdiction for the UPC and many of our IP clients, as well as for many of our financial services and tax clients, so opening an office in Luxembourg makes perfect sense for us.’

Morag Macdonald, joint head of the firm’s international Intellectual Property group, added: ‘The establishment of the Unitary Patent and the Unified Patent Court represents the largest change to patent law across Europe in 40 years.’

Bird & Bird has been in expansion mode over recent months announcing a merger with Truman Hoyle to establish a presence in Australia at the end of last year. The move added 25 lawyers to the firm including eight partners and is being led by Shane Barber.

Meanwhile, in November last year, Simmons & Simmons also announced it was looking to establish a Luxembourg office. The five-partner outpost, managed by Stéphane Ober, is being targeted at asset management and financial institutions.

michael.west@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Revolving doors: European hires as HSF recruits in Germany and Bird & Bird focuses on Denmark while Ogier hires from Kirkland

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Strategic recruitment Bird & BirdHerbert Smith FreehillsOgier
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King & Wood Mallesons real estate team hire from Eversheds may have made the headlines last week, but there were plenty of notable hires elsewhere. Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) bolstered its Frankfurt office which it launched in 2013 with a finance partner from K&L Gates while Bird & Bird welcomed a new partner in Denmark and Ogier added to its dispute resolution team in the Cayman Islands with a hire from Kirkland & Ellis’ London office.

Julia Mueller joined HSF’s Frankfurt office as its ninth lateral since opening in the city in April 2013. She is dual qualified in English and German law and specialises in corporate, leveraged and acquisition finance. Before joining K&L Gates in May 2012 she had worked at White & Case, helping to establish its acquisition finance group in Germany and before then was at Allen & Overy.

Ralf Thaeter, HSF’s German head, said: ‘Germany is a very important market for the firm and in Julia we have recruited someone with the reputation, quality and experience that will enable us to build the high quality finance practice we need to continue to compete for high value cross-border and domestic transactional work.’

Also in Europe, Bird & Bird boosted its corporate and M&A practice in Denmark, with the hire of Morton Brehm Jensen from Delacour, who specialises in company and tax law.

Meanwhile, Ogier has appointed Kirkland & Ellis’ Ulrich Payne as a partner in its Cayman Islands dispute resolution team. Payne, who also previously worked at Simmons & Simmons and Hogan Llovells, joins from Kirkland’s London office. His background is in international disputes, usually with a financial aspect, and has worked in the UK, France, Germany and Belgium, and has advised on disputes in Russia, the Middle East and the US.

Payne has joined Ogier’s Cayman Islands team which is led by partner Rachael Reynolds. Reynolds said: ‘Ulrich is a great addition to the team. His practice as a partner at Kirkland & Ellis focused on complex international financial disputes and arbitration, and he has many years’ experience advising banks and other financial institutions, accountants and high net worth individuals on complex financial products and transactional issues. The Cayman Dispute Resolution team is in an expansion phase and Ulrich’s appointment further strengthens our offering, particularly in the area of complex financial services litigation.’

Meanwhile at home, DAC Beachcroft bolstered its professional liability team in Bristol, while Leigh Day boosted its Manchester team with a hire from Irwin Mitchell.

Pensions specialist Rebecca Smith joins DAC from RPC, where she was a legal director, prior to that she was a partner with CMS Cameron McKenna. Smith primarily acts for pension trustees and administrators, benefit consultants and actuaries, and will be based in Bristol.

Further north, claimant law firm Leigh Day has appointed industrial diseases partner Helen Ashton to its Manchester team. Aston joins from Irwin Mitchell’s London office where she has more than 15-years’ experience.

kathryn.mccann@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Placed in the ‘bad bank’: Quinn Emanuel, Akin Gump and Bird & Bird lead on $835m Espirito loan dispute

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Litigation Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & FeldBird & BirdQuinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan
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Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld and Bird & Bird have been gifted lead instructions in two separate suits by Goldman Sachs and a group of investors on an $835m loan repayment dispute taken against Pinsent Masons’ client Portuguese bank Novo Banco at London’s High Court.

Quinn Emanuel’s London co-managing partner Richard East and Akin Gump restructuring specialist James Roome have been instructed on the first investor/lender suit, while local counsel is being provided by PLMJ’s head of banking and finance Hugh Rosa Ferreira. Meanwhile, Bird & Bird’s London disputes head Steven Baker was selected by Goldman Sachs to represent the investment bank in the second case.

Pinsent Masons is representing Novo Banco in the dispute with a team including partner Stuart McNeill and national head of banking and finance litigation Michael Isaacs.

The disputes relate to a special purpose vehicle, Oak Finance Luxembourg, which was created by Goldman Sachs to raise funds for Banco Espirito Santo (BES), a Portuguese bank based in Lisbon, for the purpose of financing an oil refinery in Venezuela.

However, in August 2014, Portugal’s central bank announced a €4.4bn bailout of BES that brought about its split into two banks: Novo Banco, which kept healthy operations, and a remaining ‘bad bank’ to keep toxic assets. As a result creditors, including the claimants whose loans were not transferred to the healthy bank, are expected to face significant losses and the loan unlikely to be repaid.

The first suit, which comprises 12 claimants including businessman Paul Singer’s hedge fund Elliott International, argues that the Bank of Portugal’s subsequent decision in December 2014 not to transfer the Oak Finance loan to Novo Banco was ‘based on incomplete and inaccurate information’.

It further added: ‘The Oak Finance investors do not accept that the Bank of Portugal had any legal grounds justifying the December 2014 decision. Although the Bank of Portugal has since been provided with facts that would require it to reverse its December decision, the Bank has refused to do so, instead referring these matters to be determined by a court.’

Damages claimed in the first suit between all 12 claimants total around $613m. Details about the Goldman Sachs suit have not yet been released by the London court.

Firms which last year landed high profile instructions on the break-up of the troubled Portuguese lender included Linklaters and Allen & Overy, with the former acting for BES and Novo Banco and the latter instructed by the central bank.

sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Branching out: RPC, Eversheds and Bird & Bird create new consultancy offerings

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Innovation Bird & BirdEversheds SutherlandRPC
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The recent push by major UK firms into non-legal services looks set to continue, with Bird & Bird and RPC both unveiling moves into non-legal consultancy, while Eversheds further expands its pioneering service.

Sticking with its technology, media and telecoms specialism, Bird & Bird in February established an IT project consultancy, Baseline, in a joint venture with Lancashire-based ASE Consulting. The endeavour sees partners, led by co-head of Bird & Bird’s transformational project team Dominic Cook, invest their own capital in the project, with the team agreeing to pass legal work back to the firm.