Legal Business

‘Long-term growth’: Lewis Silkin appoints CMS director of change

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Strategic recruitment CMS UKLewis Silkin

Lewis Silkin has appointed Graeme Wood as chief operating officer (COO) from CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang, ‘to support long term growth’ at the firm.

The hire comes 18 months after the firm unveiled a new strategy to invest in complementary and related non-legal services, and a plan to grow its employment, immigration and reward practices.

Wood was appointed director of change at Nabarro last February, as that firm looked to release more management time.

Previously, Wood was a senior manager in business services at Linklaters, where he was appointed finance and shared services head in 2013. While there, he set up the firm’s shared services centre in Warsaw.

Wood told Legal Business that the ‘strategy is that rather than growing through combining, which is what many firms are doing, we are focusing more on the particular strengths and deeper the existing relationships and grow from there.’

Wood’s role will be overseeing a large part of the back office support of the firm’s growth and efficiency. ‘A lot of clients are very happy with the legal advice and service they get, but they’re looking for innovation and improvement on how that advice is delivered. My role is to look at those areas moving forward,’ he added.

Ian Jeffery, a partner and Lewis Silkin’s CEO, said that Wood’s expertise in business transformation and management will ‘prove invaluable as we continue to evolve the firm and cement our position as a trusted, innovative legal and commercial advisor for clients.’

Last November, Lewis Silkin represented Addleshaw Goddard’s former head of real estate Mark Haywood after the firm launched arbitration proceedings against him. The action began two years after he left the firm for Nabarro to set up its Manchester office.

In June 2016, Lewis Silkin represented Nissan on an injunction application against pro-Brexit campaign group Vote Leave, after the group used Nissan’s logo in a leaflet.

More recently, in April 2017, Lewis Silkin was appointed to British Telecom’s legal panel, after a delayed review which kicked off last July. The new panel will run for three years until 2020.

Georgiana.tudor@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Linklaters wins Bovis mandate over Freshfields as Slaughters and Camerons advise bidders

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Corporate CMS UKLinklatersSlaughter and May

In response to a pair of competing takeover bids, Linklaters won the mandate to advise the target Bovis Homes, taking the role from regular adviser Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.

CMS Cameron McKenna advised prospective buyer Galliford Try, while Slaughter and May won a place acting for rival bidder Redrow.

Legal Business

‘You have to go with one brand’: CMS Cameron McKenna, Nabarro and Olswang ditch legacy names as merger goes live

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Legal mergers CMS UK

CMS Cameron McKenna, Nabarro and Olswang have merged together under the CMS brand, ditching the names of their legacy firms.

The long awaited three way merger went live yesterday (1 May), with Nabarro moving into Cannon Place across the weekend and Olswang set to join the building in two weeks’ time.

CMS managing partner Stephen Millar told Legal Business: ‘It’s been very much agreed from the outset that we go to market as a CMS brand. CMS is the bigger brand, it’s an international brand. Nabarro and Olswang are great brands, particularly in their sector areas, but when you bring three firms together you very much have to go with one, particularly when there’s different parts of CMS.’

The combination makes the firm a top-five global practice by lawyer headcount, with 4,500 fee-earners, if you include the CMS international network, and nearly 2,000 lawyers in the core UK-based partnership. The combined firm will have revenues of over £430m in the UK and more than €1.2bn of business across the CMS grouping of 13 member firms.

However, not all are on board with the combination, with the latest to exit being Camerons leveraged finance partner Peter Crichton. Crichton, whose key clients include Alcentra, Bluebay, Cordet Capital, Crescent Capital will join US firm McDermott Will & Emery. Additionally, 39 Essex Chambers announced today that energy partner Lindy Patterson QC will leave CMS to join as a door tenant.

CMS will be unrolling its new brand campaign across the City to introduce new CMS’s new UK offering, a project which has come at a considerable cost for the firm. Millar said: ‘This is a significant investment because our brand positioning is very important. We have probably been seen as a bit of an understated brand in the City and we’ve decided to do something big – we decided to do the biggest UK merger ever. As a result some significant investment in the brand is appropriate.’

The three firms have had around 140 referrals and has done between 40 to 50 pitches since announcing merger plans last September. ‘That, for me, the real litmus test of what clients think,’ Miller said.

The firm is also investing in technology, something the firm has labelled ‘CMS 2.0’, to improve operational efficiency and client service. The firm has introduced new collaboration zones for each practice group in its Cannon Place headquarters and is investing in technology such as AI.

As for future growth plans, the firm’s senior partner Penelope Warne (pictured) said it has not turned away from the idea of a US merger: ‘Right now that’s not our focus, in due course it will become our focus. We’re equally interested in Asia as we are looking west to America. Over the last 12 months we have opened in Hong Kong, and through the merger we have acquired two offices in Singapore which we are now integrating. We already have offices in Shanghai and Beijing. We are working in Asia very effectively but it’s an important area.’

madeleine.farman@legalease.co.uk

Read more: ‘Sale of the century – Has Camerons picked up a bargain with Olswang and Nabarro?’

Legal Business

News in brief – April 2017

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Job cuts CMS UKStephenson Harwood

300 JOBS CUT AHEAD OF CMS MERGER

Approximately 300 support staff roles are to be cut at CMS Cameron McKenna, Olswang and Nabarro ahead of their triple merger next month. The firms ran a redundancy consultation from January to March, with 650 of the 950 support staff offered roles in the combined firm.

 

Legal Business

Strategic recruitment: Latham continues litigation push with Olswang hire

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Strategic recruitment CMS UKLatham & Watkins

After taking Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan partner Martin Davies at the start of this year, Latham & Watkins is continuing its litigation push with Olswang partner Ian Felstead.

While Legal Business understands Latham partners have already voted on Felstead’s arrival, it is understood Felstead is still grappling with Olswang’s difficult exit terms, which have been known to restrain partners from joining new firms for up to 18 months.

His departure will come as a blow to Olswang, as it has suffered several exits ahead of the triple merger with CMS Cameron McKenna and Nabarro.

Felstead started his career at Olswang as a trainee in 2000, and specialises in commercial, media and regulatory litigation advising clients on issues like defamation, privacy, contempt, data protection and copyright issues.

Key matters Felstead has been involved with include acting for News Group Newspapers in relation to the hacking scandal and acting for The Guardian in its defence of a breach of confidence action brought by Barclays.

In commercial litigation, Felstead acted for ITV on its High Court litigation with STV in 2011, PartyGaming on its dispute with Empire Online and BPI on its Copyright Tribunal reference regarding online music.

Other Olswang departures of late in London include intellectual property veteran Michael Burdon to Simmons & Simmons last month. Earlier in March it was announced that Dentons would be taking on a team of four patent lawyers alongside partner Justin Hill from Olswang, as well as a trainee and two support staff to launch a UK patents practice.

In January, Olswang Paris head Guillaume Kessler also left the soon-to-be-merged firm in favour of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe. The firm’s Paris office has since closed.

Olswang and Latham both refused to comment at press time.

georgiana.tudor@legalease.co.uk

Read more: ‘Sale of the century – Has Camerons picked up a bargain with Olswang and Nabarro?’

 

 

Legal Business

Nabarro posts perfect score as Camerons drags three-way trainee retention rate down to 84%

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Trainee retention CMS UK

Trainees at Nabarro and Olswang certainly seem set on the prospect of a three way merger with CMS Cameron McKenna, with 100% and 88% respectively from the two firms accepting offers as newly qualified (NQ) solicitors.

Camerons, however, appears to be having a harder time of retaining its intake, posting a 78% retention rate with 22 positions accepted from 28 trainees. Of these 19 were in London, with two in Bristol and one in Vienna.

Nabarro accepted all nine of its intake into London, while seven of Olswang’s eight trainees accepted their offers.

The overall retention rate came in at 84%, with the combined firm keeping on 38 trainees of an overall intake of 45.

Camerons senior partner Penelope Warne (pictured) said: ‘Ahead of our combination, we are delighted to welcome the 38 NQs that will be joining the new firm. Attracting and retaining the best people is crucial to the success of our business and we want to ensure that our talented people are provided with the best opportunities to progress. I am also pleased to see the vast number of practice and sector groups that our NQs have been welcomed into which demonstrates the strength of our growing areas.’

Camerons’ retention rates have been low in recent years, including a dismal 61.5% retention rate in its spring cohort in 2015.

The announcement of the new lawyer intake at Camerons comes just hours after the three firms reported around 300 support staff redundancies as part of a rationalisation of back office roles, cutting the total number joining the new firm from 950 to 650.

Meanwhile, Norton Rose Fulbright reported earlier this month that the firm had kept on around 83% of its March qualifying round. The firm made 20 offers to its 24 strong class, all the offers accepted.

matthew.field@legalease.co.uk

Read more: ‘Camerons’ double merger adds up but will it multiply?‘

Legal Business

Consolidation: CMS Olswang and Nabarro to cut roughly a third of support staff jobs ahead of merger

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Job cuts CMS UK

As the firms prepare for their three way merger, 300 support staff roles at CMS Cameron McKenna, Olswang and Nabarro are set to be cut following a redundancy consultation.

The consultation, which ran from 16 January to 3 March, only concerned UK roles. Of the 950 support staff across the three firms 650 staff were offered roles in the combined firm.

The three firms confirmed a merger in October last year, raising the prospect of a number of back office rationalisations with the three partnerships set to take up residency in Camerons’ Cannon Place office when the merger goes live in May.

A statement from Camerons said: ‘We can confirm that the consultation process for our business services and secretarial teams has now concluded. Of the 950 support staff across our three firms including outsourced service providers, 650 staff have been offered roles in the new firm. Of those leaving the majority have chosen to take voluntary redundancy and we have honoured all requests regardless of whether there was a role or not.’

Camerons’ UK business had previously signed a deal to outsource a large proportion of UK support staff functions to Integreon in 2010, scaling back the deal in 2013.

While business service and secretarial roles have been cut, the firm’s previously said no fee earner redundancies were expected.

However, there have been several Olswang exits in recent days, including the departure of five patent lawyers for Dentons and the exit of former interim chief executive Michael Burdon to Simmons & Simmons.

matthew.field@legalease.co.uk

Read more: ‘Comment: There’s value in CMS’ purchase and one big hurdle ahead’ and ‘Sale of the Century – Has Camerons picked up a bargain with Olswang and Nabarro?’

Legal Business

Simmons lands Olswang heavyweight Michael Burdon in senior exit ahead of triple merger

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Litigation CMS UKSimmons & Simmons

Ahead of his firm’s triple merger with Nabarro and CMS Cameron McKenna, Olswang veteran Michael Burdon is to leave for Simmons & Simmons to reinforce the firm’s intellectual property (IP) offering.

Burdon will join on 2 May, one day after the triple merger’s live date. While at Olswang he was head of European patent litigation and a partner in the firm’s IP group.

Burdon was the interim chief executive of Olswang following the sudden departure of David Stewart in October 2015. He was an elected board member at the firm and previously head of the firm’s commercial group. Burdon joined Olswang in 2002, having previously been a partner at Eversheds.

His exit will come as a blow to Olswang as it loses lawyers from one of its core practices ahead of the merger with Camerons and Nabarro. Last week, it was announced that Dentons would be taking on a team of four patent lawyers alongside partner Justin Hill from Olswang, as well as a trainee and two support staff to launch a UK patents practice.

Simmons head of IP Rowan Freeland said: ‘Michael’s arrival adds bench strength to our IP team who continue to provide cutting-edge advice for clients. He is a highly skilled patent litigator and a really nice guy, and I look forward to working with him.’

Simmons has already added three new partners since the start of the year, most recently taking on Emily Monstiriotis , former head of construction disputes at Bond Dickinson. The firm has also bulked out its capital markets offering with the addition of Simon Ovenden from Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, as of 1 May, and Jonathan Mellor from Allen & Overy (A&O).

The hire comes after Simmons lost four IP partners which left for A&O last year. The Magic Circle firm added Marc Döring, Marjan Noor, Mark Heaney and David Stone, who joined A&O’s IP team led by Nicola Dagg.

matthew.field@legalease.co.uk

Read more in: ‘Sale of the century – Has Camerons picked up a bargain with Olswang and Nabarro?’

Legal Business

‘Mixed emotions’: Facebook appoints Olswang partner Caddick as new regulatory and litigation head in Europe

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Strategic recruitment CMS UK

Ahead of the tripartite merger between CMS, Nabarro and Olswang, Facebook has announced that it has taken on commercial disputes partner Anna Caddick from its external adviser Olswang as its EMEA head of regulatory and litigation.

Caddick acts on a wide range of commercial disputes for both private individuals and corporates with her work covering both litigation and arbitration. She also frequently acts for clients in mediation.

She made partner in 2015 after seven years at Olswang, joining as a legal director in 2009, making the move from commercial law firm M Law where she was an associate. Caddick trained at Hogan Lovells and was also a pupil barrister at Hogarth Chambers.

An Olswang spokesperson said: ‘Facebook is a long-standing client of Olswang, and the firm acts for Facebook on an array of technology and commercial law matters. Anna has been a valued partner within our litigation team, and so it is with mixed emotions that we bid her farewell from the partnership. However, we are delighted to see her take on this new role with a valued client.’

Facebook’s vice president and deputy general counsel Ashlie Beringer added: ‘We’re thrilled that Anna will be joining us to lead our regulatory and litigation teams in Europe. Her strong litigation skills and leadership will add to the strength of our growing legal team.’

Olswang will combine with CMS Cameron McKenna and Nabarro on 1 May, making the new entity a top-five global practice by lawyer headcount, with 4,500 fee-earners including the CMS international network, and nearly 2,000 lawyers in the core UK-based partnership.

The combined firm will trade as CMS UK with revenues of over £430m in the UK and more than €1.2bn of business across the CMS grouping of 13 member firms.

madeleine.farman@legalease.co.uk

Read more on the biggest UK legal merger for a generation: ‘Sale of the century – Has Camerons picked up a bargain with Olswang and Nabarro?’ (£)

Legal Business

Digesting a merger: CMS absorbs Olswang’s Spanish and Belgian operations as Paris and Munich status remains uncertain

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Legal mergers CMS UK

After considerable speculation over the fate of international partners post-merger, CMS Cameron McKenna has confirmed a number of lawyers in the European offices of Olswang and Nabarro will be joining its network on 1 May, while the fate of Olswang’s remaining lawyers in Paris remains uncertain.

As part of the three-way merger announced in September, the offices of Olswang in Madrid, Paris, Brussels and Munich were left in limbo due to the structure of Camerons’ international network.

The CMS network of European firms meant lawyers would have to negotiate joining one of the member firms, which largely operate as separate businesses.

The current arrangement sees Olswang closing its Madrid office, with three lawyers joining CMS’s Spanish business, including partner Blanca Escribano.

In Brussels, where Olswang’s current chairman Dirk Van Liedekerke is a partner, the firm will close its office in April as Van Liedekerke and five associates join CMS Debacker. They will be joined by Nabarro managing associate Rachel Bickler, who will join as counsel.

However, Olswang is set to shut down its Paris operations next week, which in 2015/16 took in around £5m in billings. Lawyers from the office had been without permanent accommodation after the lease expired at the start of this year. Several lawyers have already left, including tax partner Julien Monsenego, who joined Gowling WLG, while office head Guillaume Kessler joined Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe.

In addition, the firm said discussions to move Olswang’s Munich team into CMS Hasche Sigle in Germany are still ongoing. Last month, Legal Business reported Fieldfisher was one firm in talks with several lawyers from the office. Olswang’s German operations at one stage had turnover of almost £20m, before its entire Berlin office left for Greenburg Traurig in 2015. Last year, the Munich office had revenue of £4m from continuing operations.

While Camerons has secured some of Olswang’s international network, a sizeable chunk of the once 100-partner firm have left in the last year. In an interview with Legal Business, Olswang chief executive Paul Stevens said that ‘in excess of 65’ of its current 81 partners will join the merged entity. ‘There have been some conflicts and some people have made other choices’.

matthew.field@legalease.co.uk

For more on the CMS/Nabarro/Olswang tie-up see ‘Sale of the century – Has Camerons picked up a bargain with Olswang and Nabarro?’ 

See comment: ‘There’s value in CMS’ purchase and one big hurdle ahead’