Legal Business

Olswang posts a healthy 8% revenue growth after turbulent year

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Financial results 2015 CMS UK
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It has been a year of management and team departures but Olswang today reported that its revenues for the financial year 2014/15 are up 8% to £126.7m from £117.6m, while profits per equity partner (PEP) are expected to hold steady at £490,000.

The firm has also reported that its debt position has also significantly improved this year with net bank debt standing at £10.1m, down from £22m the year before. While its final financials are subject to verification and audit, the firm said it anticipates seeing PEP remain unchanged on last year at £490,000, the result of increased investment in IT and knowledge.

Olswang’s CEO, Paul Stevens (pictured), said: ‘Our initial results for financial year 2014/15 are very satisfactory. Activity is up on the previous year and we have generated more revenue in the TMT sectors too. We have seen very strong results in our finance and real estate groups in London, as well as in our Munich office, which more than doubled in size over the course of the year. Our Munich office’s growth has been driven by the close collaboration among our international IP practice group and the significant demand for our services in Munich from our TMT clients. In line with that demand, we will continue to build on that success during this coming year. ‘

Nonetheless, it has been a turbulent year for the TMT firm and a difficult start to Stevens’ time as CEO since former managing partner David Stewart departed the firm last October. Since then there have been some other key departures, notably last month when the firm’s Berlin outpost announced that it was ‘decoupling’ from the firm and entered into discussions with a number of international firms in the city, including Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Morrison & Foerster.

mark.mcateer@legalease.co.uk

For more on Olswang’s strategy and the fallout from Stewart’s departure, see: Evasive Action – Can Olswang live up to its own ambitions?

Legal Business

Revitalised Nabarro posts 8% revenue growth, a 21% PEP leap and sets out new strategy

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Financial results 2015 CMS UK
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After flat turnover growth in recent years, Nabarro has recorded £126m in revenue for the 2014/15 financial year, an 8% rise on last year and its largest annual increase since 2008, alongside a 21% jump in profit per equity partner (PEP) to £576,000, constituting a double digit increase for a third consecutive year.

The 2014/15 results constitute a marked turnaround in revenue terms for the LB100 firm which last year posted broadly flat turnover at £116.7m, a rise of just 0.3% while PEP increased by 10.5% to £475,000. The preliminary figures show the firm’s PEP has grown by 74% over a three-year period.

Senior partner Graham Stedman (pictured) pointed towards the firm’s recent move to 125 London Wall which generated property savings, its office openings, and a resurgent real estate market as key to its growth.

Management has also notably rewarded its younger talent with strong-performing associates receiving over £1m in bonuses this year.

Stedman said: ‘Teams right across the firm have worked hard and we have recognised their efforts. In addition, our work on the profitability of the firm has delivered another strong PEP performance which this year is combined with significant turnover growth.’

To ensure the firm’s growth is ‘sustainable’, Stedman added that a new three-year strategy, which was developed in consultations held with partners last year and with the help of Møller PSF Group, will aim to grow work won from international clients to a third of revenue by 2018 and renew focus on four key sectors: healthcare & life sciences, and infrastructure, real estate, and technology. The firm is also working to identify opportunities to improve business processes and deployment of IT.

The results come on the back of investments made by the firm since last year. Clearly in hiring mode to build out internationally, in April it enhanced its Singapore offering with the appointment of senior disputes partner Steven Lim, the founder and managing director of Clyde & Co’s joint venture partner Clasis, to head its Singapore office while two laterals were also made at the start of this year in Dubai with Ravinder Bhullar from Baker Botts and Kevin Joyce from Pinsent Masons, joining its infrastructure, construction and energy practice.

Investment in the UK meanwhile saw the launch of a partner-led offering in Manchester with the hire of Addleshaw Goddard real estate head Mark Haywood, and partners Monica Brij and Nathan Jansen. It made further recruits to the base in January with corporate partner Howard Gill and real estate partner Peter Winnard from Pinsent Masons and Eversheds respectively.

Major mandates include securing a coveted spot alongside Shoosmiths on the legal panel of Mercedes-Benz UK following a competitive tender process that saw Wragge Lawrence Graham & Co fail to win a place. True to form the real estate practice performed solidly with significant instructions including advising Canada Pension Plan Investment Board on its £1.1bn acquisition of UK student accommodation provider Liberty Living.

sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

13 partners to go in Germany as Olswang announces ‘decoupling’ of Berlin arm

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Germany CMS UK
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Olswang has announced that 13 German equity partners, specialising mainly in corporate and finance, will be leaving the firm later this year as it plans to hive off its Berlin office, leaving just a base in Munich.

The firm confirmed the partners will leave ‘by agreement later in the year, along with their colleagues in the Berlin office’ and that it is expecting to suffer a drop in revenues. The firm also said it will now focus on developing its German operations out of its Munich office and announced the hire of corporate partner Robert Heym, who has a focus on technology, life sciences and aerospace, from GvW Graf von Westphalen.

Chief executive Paul Stevens (pictured) said: ‘Given Olswang’s focus on TMT, we have agreed that our Berlin colleagues will continue to seek to grow their practice under a different brand.’

The TMT firm added in a statement there has been ‘agreed an arrangement which will minimise disruption for clients and secure continued employment for all staff’.

Germany managing partner Christian Schede said: ‘This is an amicable separation, reached by mutual agreement, which does not preclude the two sides working together in the future. In Berlin, we will continue to offer a fully integrated corporate and finance practice. Obviously, our plans for the business are still evolving and we will make a further announcement in due course.

Schede added: ‘In the meantime, the decoupling of the Berlin office from the wider firm will take place in a carefully controlled manner over the coming months. During this time, we will be working extremely closely with London to ensure that clients see no interruption to the service that they receive.’

Stevens, who took over as chief executive on a permanent basis in May following the surprise resignation of leader David Stewart last October, said: ‘While these changes will reduce the firm’s revenues in the short-term, we expect no significant effect on our profitability, nor any disruption to the implementation of our strategic plans and longer term sustained growth. The firm will continue to execute on its overall strategy of developing its position as a leading TMT firm, focused on Europe and Asia. In Germany, we will continue to grow our Munich office, which is an important part of this offer. Munich has grown from two fee earners to 18 in less than four years and we are very pleased with both its excellent performance and its future prospects.’

Stewart, who left after rifts emerged with other partners on strategy, upgrading elements of the firm, office expansions and firm spending, recently reappeared in Turks and Caicos as a partner at offshore firm Griffiths & Partners. Since his departure, Olswang has since seen a number of exits from its executive team including general counsel and partnership secretary Simon Callander.

The firm recently reported mixed 2013/14 financial results with profit per equity partner (PEP) down 4%, following a double-digit drop last year, while revenue is up 7% to £117.6m.

Olswang is the latest law firm to shrink its German operations with Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe having closed two offices earlier this year while Clifford Chance has seen multiple partner departures after a strategic review carried out by German head Peter Dieners. Last year, Sidley Austin completely closed its German operations as its last remaining partner, Jens Rinze, left for Squire Patton Boggs while Shearman & Sterling closed both its Düsseldorf and Munich offices in 2013

sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk

For more on Olswang’s strategy see: Evasive Action – Can Olswang live up to its own ambitions?

Legal Business

Six months after surprise exit, ex-Olswang head Stewart packs his bags to re-emerge at Caribbean law firm

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Offshore CMS UK
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After having unexpectedly stepped down from his role as Olswang’s chief executive in October last year amid differences with other partners, David Stewart (pictured) has re-emerged away from the City as a partner at Turks and Caicos firm Griffiths & Partners. 

Stewart joins as the offshore firm’s fifth lawyer. The outfit, which is led by Conrad Griffiths QC, covers banking, finance and regulatory, corporate, litigation, real estate trusts and private client services.

The move has seen Stewart return to Turks and Caicos Islands, where he worked as an attorney at Miller Simons O’Sullivan from September 1990 to May 1992, before he left to join the City litigation group at legacy SJ Berwin where he made partner. Stewart joined Olswang in 1997, becoming managing partner ten years later till 2010 when he took up the chief executive role at the media leader. However, halfway through his term, he unexpectedly stepped down from the role and resigned within the same month of October.

It is still unclear as to exactly why Stewart decided to step down, but it is understood there was a difference in views between Stewart and other partners on strategy, upgrading elements of the firm, office expansions and firm spending.

Olswang recently elected intellectual property partner Paul Stevens as leader of the firm, taking over from Michael Burdon who was handed the role on an interim basis.

jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk

For more on Olswang’s leadership see:  Evasive Action – Can Olswang live up to its own ambitions?

Legal Business

Another management departure at Olswang as GC Callander leaves to take on new role at Addleshaws

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Strategic recruitment Addleshaw GoddardCMS UK
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Addleshaw Goddard has hired Olswang’s general counsel (GC) and partnership secretary Simon Callander as it expands its partnership secretary role, left vacant by Peter Smith last year, to include GC responsibilities.

Callander, who had worked at Olswang from November 2011, is the latest management exit from the firm after global director of human resources Ffion Griffith, who also sat on the firm’s executive committee, left in March. He specialises in areas including major commercial contract negotiation, litigation and risk management, and operational leadership and management.

Legal Business understands that Callander accepted an offer from Addleshaws in March and is currently working out his notice period before joining the firm in September. The general counsel portion of the role is new for the firm and was added, according to a spokesperson, because ‘there is a sense that the firm would benefit from somebody taking on that role and responsibility. It covers a wide range of areas including risk.’

The partnership secretary role at Addleshaws has been vacant for just over a year since Peter Smith retired last May. Smith, who served in the role for almost five years, was previously the global COO of Baker & McKenzie and was based in Chicago. He was also chief executive of the now defunct Norton Rose M5 Group from 1990 – 1998.

The move follows news earlier this month that Olswang had elected intellectual property partner Paul Stevens as chief executive, taking over from Michael Burdon who carried out the role on an interim basis following former chief executive David Stewart’s resignation in October last year. Stewart’s exit came after differences emerged with other management figures over the firm’s strategy, expansion plans and spending.

kathryn.mccann@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Revolving doors: Simmons welcomes back a partner from Cadwalader as Nabarro hires from McGuire Woods

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Strategic recruitment CMS UKSimmons & Simmons
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Last week saw a range of firms bolstering key practices areas with a capital markets partner returning to Simmons & Simmons, Nabarro building its disputes resolution group, Jones Day hiring a team in The Netherlands while Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) made a significant appointment.

Targeting disputes work emanating from Eastern Europe, Nabarro added Adam Greaves, a partner specialising in commercial international litigation and arbitration, particularly fraud cases and white collar crime investigations, to its dispute resolution practice. Joining the London office from US firm McGuireWoods, he has focused on cases from the region, particularly Russia and Ukraine, as well as US and British government investigations into alleged corruption abroad. He has also worked on anti-corruption compliance systems.

Jonathan Warne, Nabarro’s head of Dispute Resolution, said: ‘With increased investment from Eastern Europe flowing into South East Asia, there is a clear opportunity for Adam to develop new lines of business for Nabarro with our growing team in Singapore as we look to extend our disputes offering in the region.’

Meanwhile, Simmons & Simmons welcomed back an old partner, expanding its financial markets practice in Hong Kong with David Neuville who left the firm in 2007 for Jones Day. Neuville spent five years at Jones Day as a partner before moving to Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft in 2012. He specialises in capital markets, both equity and debt, working for issuers and underwriters on global offerings of securities.

Back in Europe, Jones Day announced it was hiring Aldo Verbruggen as a partner in its Amsterdam office along with two lawyers, Hansje van den Noort and Tessa van Roomen, all from Houthoff Buruma. The trio will join the firm’s corporate criminal investigations practice with Verbruggen, who previously served in the Dutch Public Prosecutor’s office, well regarded for his experience in high-profile cases involving corporate criminal law.

Luc Houben, partner-in-charge of Jones Day’s Amsterdam office, said: “Increasingly, companies and financial institutions are faced with highly sensitive internal and external investigations, often with multi-jurisdictional dimensions. Aldo is one of the most prominent lawyers in the Netherlands in the field of corporate investigations and corporate criminal law.’

Finally, BLP announced the appointment of Nathan Willmott as new Departmental Managing Partner of its litigation and dispute resolution team. Willmott joined the firm in 2007 and takes over from Jonathan Sacher who will now lead BLP’s Insurance Sector Group from 1 June. Oliver Glynn-Jones takes over Willmott’s role as head of BLP’s commercial dispute resolution group while Graham Shear is becoming head of international for the litigation team.

michael.west@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Replacing Stewart: Olswang picks IP partner Paul Stevens as new chief executive

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Leadership CMS UK
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After looking externally for a permanent replacement for former chief executive David Stewart, Olswang has turned internally and elected intellectual property partner Paul Stevens (pictured) to the role.

Stevens officially started in the position yesterday (13 May), taking over from Michael Burdon who took up the role on an interim basis following former chief executive David Stewart’s resignation in October last year. Stewart’s exit came after differences emerged with other management figures over the firm’s strategy, expansion plans sand spending.

Executive search firm Egon Zehnder was brought in to select candidates and a selection committee, comprising five partners and a non-executive director, assessed both internal and external candidates. Stevens, who joined the firm in 1997 and helped found Olswang’s IP practice, was the only recommendation and with the Olwang Board’s endorsement was put to a vote earlier this week.

Stevens, who has been head of the international IP practice since 2013 will have an initial three year term as chief executive and will now appoint a new executive committee.

Stevens said: ‘It is a tremendous privilege to be entrusted with the role of CEO. Olswang has always dared to challenge convention in the service of its clients. I look forward to upholding the values of the firm while thriving on the challenges of the evolving legal market. Comprising such a collaborative group of innovative people, Olswang is well placed to meet those challenges in alignment with our clients’ requirements.’

michael.west@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Asia: Nabarro hires Clyde & Co senior disputes partner to head Singapore office

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Strategic recruitment Clyde & CoCMS UK
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Joining the spate of firms to bolster their offering in Singapore in recent months, Nabarro has today (30 April) announced the appointment of senior disputes partner Steven Lim, the founder and managing director of Clyde & Co’s joint venture partner Clasis, to head its Singapore office.

Lim is set to play a ‘central role’ in developing the firm’s Asia-Pacific hub for the disputes, infrastructure, construction and energy practices. The firm said in a statement it will complement the strategy for the Dubai office which sees a large focus placed on arbitration. Lim currently sits on the panel of arbitrators of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre, Kuala Lumpur Regional Centre for Arbitration and the International Centre for Dispute Resolution.

Recommended by The Legal 500 and described as ‘inventive’ and a ‘very impressive advocate’, Lim joined Clyde & Co from the Hong Kong office of Baker Botts in 2010, and subsequently co-founded the joint law venture of Clyde & Co with Singapore constituent firm Clasis in 2013.

Senior partner Graham Stedman said: ‘This is a high profile appointment, commensurate with our ambitions for the Singapore office. Steven will lead a team with a mandate to grow our international work in the region, enhance our reputation for advising clients on complex, international arbitration. He will also seek to develop our Singapore platform within the regulatory structures available to international firms in this important Asia Pacific legal hub.’

King & Wood Mallesons secured a licence to operate in Singapore in February while Morgan Lewis & Bockius teamed up with Stamford Law to enter the market last month.

sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Fee transparency: Olswang, OC, Taylor Wessing and 12 others sign up to service to reduce legal fee disputes

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Innovation CMS UKOsborne ClarkeTaylor Wessing
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Taylor Wessing, Olswang and CMS Cameron McKenna are amongst a host of firms to sign up to Apperio – a platform designed to create transparency on legal fees.

Fifteen law firms have signed up to the initiative so far including Osborne Clarke, Taylor Wessing, Charles Russell Speechly and Taylor Vinters, in a bid to help clients track their legal spend by regularly sharing fee information using a transparent platform.

According to Apperio founder and former CMS Cameron McKenna lawyer Nicholas d’Adhemar, the initiative will significantly reduce disputes over fees between clients and the respective firm. ‘During my career as a lawyer, I experienced wrangling over legal fees due to the opaque nature of billing. Poor communication between the firm and the client would sometimes lead to clients being charged with random bills, sometimes three times higher than what was expected,’ said d’Adhemar. ‘Apperio will effectively help clients receive reduced bills, and see fee’s recorded accurately and on time.’

Other features include a streamlined tender process and a tool which allows clients to monitor the amount of partner/associate time spent on each transaction/case. ‘The idea is to encourage proactive management [on these issues] as opposed to a reactive fallout,’ d’Adhemar added.

Some fifteen clients have signed up to the platform, mainly consisting of venture capitalists and private equity firms so far, including Octopus Investments, Capvest, Patients Know Best and Elliptic. Apperio’s next move is to introduce the idea into mainstream corporate, and have over half of UK’s top 200 law firms signed up by the end of the year.

Clients subscribe to Apperio by paying a quarterly fee, and are charged in accordance to the amount of legal work they want tracking, ranging from an overall legal spend of £350,000 up to £10m.

D’Adhemar launched Apperio in February 2013 initially as a tendering process for clients, which later evolved into a legal fee tracker the following year. Before this, d’Adhemar worked as legal counsel at Sterling Energy for a year in January 2009, having left CMS Cameron McKenna after three years of being an associate.

jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Partner promotions: Olswang makes up five in an expanded all-female round

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Partnership promotions CMS UK
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Olswang has continued the trend of firms improving their partnerships’ gender diversity by promoting a five-strong all-female round after promoting only men in the previous two years.

The media, communications and technology focused firm has made up five female lawyers in one of its largest round since 2012. Three women have been promoted in the firm’s London offices across the real estate, commercial litigation and corporate departments while the remaining two were in Paris within corporate and intellectual property.

Last year, Olswang promoted two male lawyers to partner, with one each in its London and Berlin offices while, in 2013, the firm made up three men to partner.

This year’s promotion round takes the firm’s total partnership count to 122 across eight offices in Europe and Asia. Olswang chief executive Michael Burdon said: ‘I am proud to welcome these five outstanding lawyers to the Olswang partnership. Melissa, Anna, Katie, Jessica and Clara are part of a successful growth strategy in key areas of the firm. They each embody Olswang’s values of innovation, collaboration and responsibility, and I’m delighted to have them as my fellow partners. I look forward to seeing them continue to flourish and develop their careers and practice areas.’

Olswang 2015 partner promotions in full:

Melissa Brett – real estate, London

Anna Caddick – commercial disputes, London

Katie Nagy de Nagybaczon – corporate, London

Jessica Schinkel – corporate, Paris

Clara Steinitz – intellectual property, Paris

Jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk