Legal Business

Right to vote: Eversheds reforms fixed-share partner scheme to include voting and greater profit share

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Partnership Eversheds Sutherland
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In the wake of HMRC’s tax changes which have seen fixed-share partners (FSP) contribute capital at a slew of LB100 firms and many reassess their partnership model, Eversheds has reformed its fixed share scheme by allowing some FSPs to vote in firm elections and take home an increased profit share.

The scheme will enable a group of senior FSP’s to vote in the election of the firm’s chairman, chief executive and board while also providing an opportunity to buy into a profit pool worth up to 20% of their remuneration.

The change comes after a 12 month consultation which looked at creating a more transparent approach to the FSP system and build a stronger connection between reward, banding performance and partner participation.

Commenting on the changes, which came into effect on 1 May, Eversheds managing partner Lee Ranson said that the fixed partners were an extremely important group, and central to the firm’s continued success.

He added: ‘After an extensive period of consultation, we have developed a new enhanced approach to rewarding those partners that has strong support across all levels of the firm. It is an important step in developing an even more transparent approach to remuneration and one that more clearly links performance to reward and enhances partner engagement.’

Taylor Wessing recently announced it would move to an all equity partnership, also on 1 May, while Mishcon de Reya has plans to convert this summer.

Meanwhile, the firm has expanded in Asia with the appointment of Muna Dandan – former head of legal for Barclay’s retail and commercial banking business in the Middle East – as head of the firm’s financial services disputes and investigations (FSDI) practice in Asia.

Dandan, who also joined the firm at the start of May, was, before his role at Barclays, deputy head of legal at property development company Nakheel PJSC and an in-house legal adviser for HSBC in the Middle East. Dandan also worked in private practice at Reed Smith and Baker & McKenzie, advising banks and large multi-national corporates on general commercial litigation.

kathryn.mccann@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Partner promotions: Eversheds makes 22 up to partner with nine overseas

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Partnership promotions Eversheds Sutherland
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As LB100 firms continue to make efforts to improve the gender diversity of their partnerships, Eversheds has made up 22 lawyers across the UK, Europe, Middle East and Africa, with 45% of these women.

The majority of the 22 promotions for 2015, which includes affiliated offices, were UK-based with offices in London, Cardiff, Leeds, Birmingham, Ipswich and Manchester all receiving new partners, with the City gaining the most with four new partners. However, over 40% of promotions were made internationally including Abu Dhabi, Mauritius and Madrid. A further 10 lawyers have also been appointed as legal directors or equivalent.

The partner promotions were spread across four practice groups: company commercial, real estate, litigation and dispute management, and human resources. Company commercial saw the biggest number with 12 lawyers made up across eleven offices, while real estate gained five partners in five different locations. There were four partners promoted in the litigation team, while one partner in human resources was promoted in Eversheds’ Dublin office.

Commenting on the promotions, Bryan Hughes, Eversheds’ chief executive said: ‘Our new partners and legal directors have contributed significantly to the achievement of our strategic objectives. They have demonstrated dedication and hard work and provide a further building block for the firm to continue its strategic expansion around the world.’

The full list of partner promotions is as follows:

Company Commercial

Geraldine Ahern, Abu Dhabi

Richard Batchelor, London

Joanne Canning, Cardiff

Louise Finnie, Birmingham

Yannik Fok, Mauritius*

Richard Jones, Manchester

Agnes Koko, London

Emna Louati, Tunisia*

Crisanto Pérez-Abad, Madrid

Bruno Schoch, Berne

Greg Shapiro, South Africa*

Tamás Zentai, Budapest

Real estate

Dawn Hilton, Birmingham

Lee Jackson, London

Cian MacGinley, Dublin

Michelle Naylor, Manchester

Peter Nesbit, Leeds

Litigation and dispute management

Mark Howarth, Leeds

Nicola Lashmar, Ipswich

Rich Lloyd, Birmingham

Jennifer Miles, London

Human resources group

Anna Broderick, Dublin

*affiliated office

kathryn.mcann@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

‘A significant phase of renewal’: King & Wood Mallesons takes real estate team from Eversheds

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Strategic recruitment Eversheds SutherlandKing & Wood Mallesons
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Three months after persuading Eversheds‘ heavyweight real estate trio William Naunton, Clive Jones and Cornelius Medvei to stay in Big Law and not launch their own boutique, King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) has hired a team of Eversheds partners as it seeks to reshape its London office.

Looking to rebuild after a string of senior exits post-merger with City stalwart SJ Berwin in late 2013, real estate partners Simon Burson and Jeremy Brooks make the switch alongside principal associate George Burrha who is becoming partner in the move and technology specialist James Walsh. Five associates are also making the move to KWM’s offices.

KWM’s fast spinning revolving door has now seen 15 lateral partner hires in the last 12 months, making up ground in real estate and projects, while the corporate team has been heaviest hit by exits. Corporate co-head Richard Lever departed to launch Goodwin Procter’s private equity group in the City earlier this month, following the departure of his predecessor Steven Davis to Proskauer Rose, Tim Wright to DLA Piper and Ed Harris to Hogan Lovells.

The latest hires from Eversheds build out the firm’s capacity to capture hedge fund and investors in the UK’s booming real estate market. While Naunton served as head of real estate, Jones as London head of tax and Medvei as senior partner, Burson also carries over years of management experience, having run the firm’s 25-lawyer real estate offering in Cambridge.

Over the year, the firm’s real estate team has led on Invesco’s disposal of 1 Finsbury Circus to China Overseas Holdings Limited, British Land’s sale of Ropemaker Place to an AXA led consortium for £472m and advised China Investment Corporation and Invesco on their joint venture acquisition of Deutsche Bank’s London HQ, Winchester House.

William Boss, European & Middle East managing partner at KWM, said: ‘We have made enormous progress as a firm, which has led to a significant phase of renewal, and we will continue to hire the best collegiate and relationship focused talent for our business.’

tom.moore@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Q&A: A long-term commitment – Severn Trent’s in-house team share the thinking behind the new five-year sole adviser mandate with Eversheds

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In-house Eversheds SutherlandSevern Trent
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FTSE 100 water company Severn Trent recently re-appointed Eversheds as its sole adviser for a five-year term, commencing 1 April. Deputy general counsel Stuart Kelly and legal counsel Kristin Garret talk to Kathryn McCann about the mandate, getting monthly updates and the key performance indicators (KPIs) the firm will be judged on.

Stuart, why did you decide to stick with the sole advisor mandate, despite strongly considering at least two firms?

I would say this is the most extensive tender process that Severn Trent has done, it was robust and exposed all of our day to day work to the market. We engaged with a wide range of firms and that has led to the outcome that Eversheds will be appointed for five years for the entirety of our work that was subject to the tender.

We did originally expect to end up with at least two firms, as the debt recovery work is very small in volume and we thought that it was the type and volume of work that really should have been more attractive to a smaller, local firm. But that has proved not to be the case. The proposals that we had simply weren’t as good as the current arrangement. Ultimately it didn’t end up as we expected.

Why commit to a longer five-year term?

SK: There are a couple of points there. The first one to make is that we are in an industry regulated in five-year periods. One of the drivers was budget certainty because we know what our economic landscape looks like for the next five years and we need to work within that. We are also asking an awful lot from our legal service providers – a lot of commitment and a lot of investment and I think that goes hand in hand with a long-term commitment from us as well.

Kristin, what factors differentiated Eversheds from the rest of the proposals?

We were looking for three key things really: financial efficiency, budgetary certainty and a real quality offering. In terms of the financial efficiencies and budgetary certainty, Eversheds’ proposal for each of the five lots was the most competitive. In terms of the value added services offered, the proposal was very attractive as well. They offered to help us with our business processes, carry out reviews with us, provide online resources, horizon scanning and providing feedback, and also give us access to leadership and development coaching for the in-house legal team.

Another aspect of the proposal we were really keen on is the commitment to continuous improvement and innovation. What the proposal gave was a willingness to be measured against KPIs and to provide real detailed management information, each on a monthly basis, with analysis as to how we can use that to drive continuous improvement.

What sort of KPIs will the firm be judged on?

KG: Some of them are very simple KPIs around agreed fee estimates, not going over those fee estimates unless it has been agreed, the timing of when advice is given, how commercially focused the advice is and it being tailored to the right audience.

SK: There are also KPIs relating to innovation and contribution to continuous improvement. These are at the other end of the scale and really differentiated the proposal.

What is the next thing that Severn Trent will instruct Eversheds on?

SK: The industry is preparing itself for competition. We are currently a monopoly but competition is starting to make its way into the water industry and that’s important. Eversheds will be one of the key advisors preparing Severn Trent to be successful in a competitive market.

kathryn.mccann@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

In-house: Severn Trent sticks by Eversheds as sole adviser until 2020

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In-house Eversheds SutherlandSevern Trent
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FTSE 100 water company Severn Trent has reappointed Eversheds as its sole adviser for a new five-year term, despite having strongly considered appointing at least two firms to its new roster.

The company’s review took proposals from a total of 13 firms across five different areas: debt recovery, employment, general quality regulation, property and combined competition/commercial economic regulation. The legal team at Severn Trent had originally planned to give the debt recovery mandate to a smaller, local firm because it didn’t have the volume of work to hand to a larger sole adviser. However several firms, including Eversheds, pitched for a single mandate.

In a show of confidence in Eversheds, the appointment, which kicks in from 1 April, will stay in place until 2020, which is longer than the previous three-year arrangement and is longer than most other existing sole-adviser mandates. It is understood that the appointment is based on a fixed-fee basis, with fixed fees for each of the five practice area lots.

Kristin Garrett, legal counsel at Severn Trent, said: ‘We were looking for three key things: financial efficiency, budgetary certainty and then a real quality offering. In terms of the financial efficiency and budgetary certainty, Eversheds’ proposal for each of the five lots was the most competitive and also the proposal in terms of value added services was very attractive as well.’

Eversheds has been in a Tyco-style sole adviser role for Severn Trent, which is a top-15 client globally for the firm, since April 2010 with a relationship dating back to 2008. The company will still farm out some treasury and substantive M&A work to Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF).

Eversheds relationship partner for Severn Trent and head of litigation Ian Gray said: ‘To get this kind of appointment from one of our core client relationships is really important for us. We have invested a lot of our own time and effort in these kind of relationships and Severn Trent has always been at the forefront of that, alongside Tyco.’

kathryn.mccann@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Severn Trent sticks by Eversheds as sole adviser until 2020

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In-house Eversheds SutherlandSevern Trent
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FTSE 100 water company Severn Trent has reappointed Eversheds as its sole adviser for a new five-year term, despite having strongly considered appointing at least two firms to its new roster.

The company’s review took proposals from a total of 13 firms across five different areas: debt recovery, employment, general quality regulation, property and combined competition/commercial economic regulation. The legal team at Severn Trent had originally planned to give the debt recovery mandate to a smaller, local firm because it didn’t have the volume of work to hand to a larger sole adviser. However several firms, including Eversheds, pitched for a single mandate.

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.

Legal Business

Expanding overseas: Eversheds grows South African offering with new alliance

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Middle East and Africa Eversheds Sutherland
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Eversheds has further extended its presence in South Africa, establishing a new formal alliance with Cape Town firm Walkers, which counts clients including EY, Investec, Standard Bank and Woolworths.

Under the agreement, Walkers, which is a full service law firm, will continue to trade under its own name but will work closely with Eversheds in servicing clients. Eversheds already has two offices in Johannesburg in South Africa and a third in Durban which it opened last year (2014).

Over the last couple of years, the firm has also bolstered its Africa presence through the expansion of its Eversheds Africa Law Institute (EALI), a network of independent firms from across the continent, which currently incorporates 37 offices across Africa. Eversheds itself also has an existing presence in Africa, with offices in Casablanca, Durban, Johannesburg, Mauritius, Morocco, Tangier and Tunis.

Commenting on the tie-up, Peter van Niekerk, managing partner Eversheds South Africa, said: ‘Walkers are a first class firm who follow the same client focused ethos as Eversheds. I look forward to welcoming them on board and being able to offer our clients real expertise in one of South Africa’s most vibrant business hubs.’

Charl Theron, chairman of Walkers added: ‘This tie-up empowers Walkers to expand its service offering and expertise across Africa. In addition to this, the international reach of Eversheds will enhance our service offering to our many international clients.’

Africa seems to be the destination of choice for firms this week, with Norton Rose Fulbright announcing yesterday (24 February) strategic alliances with Ugandan firm Shonubi Musoke & Co Advocates and Zimbabwean firm Gill, Godlonton & Gerrans.

kathryn.mccann@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Revolving Doors: Management hires for K&L Gates and Eversheds plus a high-profile GC appointment

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Strategic recruitment Eversheds SutherlandK&L Gates
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Last week’s laterals saw a focus on hiring management with K&L Gates bringing in a new finance head in Sydney, Eversheds hiring in London for a head of strategy for Hungary, and, in the US, General Motors (GM) appointing a new general counsel (GC).

Firstly, in London, Seddons announced the hire of prominent libel and defamation lawyer Mark Lewis, who joins the firm from Taylor Hampton. Lewis – who has 25 years of experience in libel, privacy, confidentiality, reputation management and intellectual property matters – has worked with clients on the phone hacking scandals, including representing the Dowler family against News International, and since bringing the first case against the company in 2007, he has represented over 120 victims.

Lewis commented: ‘As the landscape for press regulation and complexity of modern reputation management continues to evolve, I’m confident that I can make a significant contribution to the firm and support its clients in protecting and defending their reputations in the UK and around the globe.’

Meanwhile, Richárd Eördögh, managing partner of Bird & Bird’s Hungarian offering, is set to join Eversheds as partner and Head of Strategy in its Budapest office. Eördögh joined Bird & Bird in 2011 after relocating from his position in London as chief legal counsel of Chayton Capital and its private equity real estate funds

Another in-house move, this time in the US, saw GM hire Craig Glidden as its new GC replacing long-time incumbent Michael Millikin on 1 March. Milliken, who has faced questioning from Congress in relation to the carmaker’s response to its faulty ignition switches, announced his retirement last year. Glidden joins from plastics, chemical and refining company LyondellBasell Industries and will take over responsibility for GM’s legal team in more than 30 countries worldwide.

Further afield, in Sydney, international law firm K&L Gates hired Jason Opperman as a partner in the firm’s finance practice. Opperman, who has more than 17 years of experience acting for banks and financial institutions, joins from Henry Davis York, where he led the banking, restructuring and insolvency practice.

Nick Nichola, K&L Gates’ managing partner for Australia said: ‘Jason was targeted for his outstanding leadership qualities and will assume the leadership role of our national practice group immediately upon commencement in the K&L Gates Sydney office. Jason shares the firm’s vision and believes the global platform and reach the firm delivers is critical to clients who want to stay competitive in the global marketplace.’

kathryn.mccann@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Bringing lawyers and consultants ‘under the same roof’: Eversheds launches financial services consulting arm

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Innovation Eversheds Sutherland
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Eversheds has expanded its consulting services business, Eversheds Consulting, with the launch of a financial services regulatory compliance offering, and recruited six senior consultants and a team of compliance contractors, including Jean-Paul Simoes and Jonathan Steward from EY and KPMG respectively.

Announced today (16 February) others to join includes Simon Chapman, Noreen Husain and Clive Summers from specialist regulatory and compliance practice Resources Global Professionals (RGP). They will be joined by RGP’s former managing director Simon Collins this month. The new venture will be spearheaded by financial services partner David Saunders, who prior to his move to Eversheds served as deputy general counsel at Nationwide Building Society.

Steward joins with 15 years of regulatory experience accrued at KPMG, Deloitte and as UK and EMEA compliance officer for insurer Beazley. Simoes comes from EY where he was a regulatory advisory manager, and having previously worked at Willis.

The firm stated it intends to make further investment in growing the team ‘over the coming months’, and Paul Worth, head of Eversheds’ financial institutions group, said: ‘The true differentiator here is that we will have lawyers and consultants under the same roof. The growth of the financial services regulatory consulting practice has already seen the firm winning work which otherwise would have gone to the “big four” accountants or risk consultants. This is a natural evolution of our financial services regulatory practice and provides us with the unique ability in the market to be a “one stop shop” for regulatory advice and assistance to our clients.’

Worth added, ‘Where appropriate it will also enable the client to rely on legal professional privilege, which is something which the accountants and risk consultants cannot provide.’

Eversheds was one of the first of the LB100 firms to enter the contract-lawyer market in 2010 when Eversheds Consulting was launched as a standalone legal consultancy offering, aimed at advising international in-house legal teams on how to manage their legal function more efficiently and effectively.

The service has already won work from clients including Barclays, ITN, Volvo and Du Pont and currently offers assistance with compliance, records management and dealing with legal suppliers as well as providing in-house teams with experts and approaches to tackling challenges within their organisations.

It follows RPC’s announcement last week of a new management consultancy business aimed at targeting its core insurance sector clients, with the firm hiring Rory O’Brien, the former head of risk consulting and software at Towers Watson, to spearhead the venture.

sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk