Legal Business

Ince & Co hits choppy water in Singapore as Reed Smith appoints leadership duo

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Singapore Ince & CoReed Smith
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As part of its quest to seek a local tie-up Reed Smith has secured the double hire of Ince & Co‘s Singapore managing partner and the head of its local alliance firm, putting Ince’s own Singapore law alliance at risk.

Ince’s Singapore office has become a hub for its core its shipping law and insurance practices, but the firm’s ability to conduct local law has been affected by the departure of Incisive Law managing director Mohan Subbaraman to Reed Smith.

Subbaraman was key to forming the Ince Law Alliance in March 2011 and his exit is expected to result in further departures from 10-lawyer Incisive Law to Reed Smith.

The Singapore venture has been viewed as a success for Ince and helped the firm to build out its shipping client base.

Ince & Co’s Singapore managing partner, Richard Lovell, also joins Reed Smith after 18 years at the firm. He has practised in Singapore since 1988 and specialises in insurance and marine disaster work in the surrounding region.

His arrival at Reed Smith, alongside Subbaraman, takes the number of lawyers at Reed Smith’s Singapore office to 21.

Asian expansion has become a key priority for the US firm, with Shanghai launching in 2011, Singapore opening in 2012 and Kazakhstan launching in 2014. But with Reed Smith unable to practise local law in Singapore, Subbaraman and Lovell have been tasked with creating a local alliance to change that.

Reed Smith said in a statement: ‘As part of Reed Smith’s strategy to seek a Formal Law Alliance in Singapore in the near future, the firm hopes to be joined by senior practitioner Mohan Subbaraman from Incisive, part of Ince & Co’s Formal Law Alliance in Singapore, and market-leading insurance and marine casualty partner Richard Lovell. No date has been confirmed for either Richard or Mohan’s arrivals.’

Ince confirmed the duo had retired with no definitive end-dates and that until then, the alliance with Incisive would continue. Further departures and the end of the alliance would affect the firm’s overall maritime, energy and offshore, trade and insurance practices. It would also leave a hole in the firm’s ability to advise the increasing number of global shipping and insurance clients looking to set up operations in Singapore.

However the firm today (30 October) announced that it had reshuffled its pack in the region to ‘demonstrate [its] ongoing commitment to clients in its core sectors with interests in Singapore and across Asia Pacific’.

Ince has appointed shipping, energy and international trade partner John Simpson to succeed Lovell as managing partner in Singapore. Simpson has been based in Singapore since 2007 and was made partner in 2010. Meanwhile, regional head of admiralty in Hong Kong, Harry Hirst, has been relocated and will join Simpson at the office, while finance lawyer Devandran Karunakaran, who recently advised the lenders on the BW Pavilion LNG financing, has been promoted to partner.

tom.moore@legalease.co.uk, jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

On the move: Ince & Co cuts costs by downsizing office space

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Financial management Ince & Co
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Ince & Co has signed a new 17 year office lease and will reduce costs by moving into a smaller office in Algate Tower at the end of March 2016. 

A spokesman for the firm said while reduced costs were a benefit of the move, the purpose of shifting was to get closer to its shipping and insurance clients in the City.

The new 35,000 sq ft office is smaller than Ince & Co’s current office of about 64,000 sq ft, but the firm has not reduced its headcount, space would simply be used more efficiently. Ince & Co’s current office at International House had been too big for some time, the spokesman said, adding that it was really only using about 45,000 sq ft and the rest had been taken back by International House.

While Companies House filings show Ince & Co LLP spent £2.5m on its operating lease in 2013/14, but it is not known how much the firm is paying annually for its new office. Any savings could help the firm’s flailing bottom line, which was down this year for the second year running.

This year Ince & Co posted global revenues down by 8% to £79.4m from the £86.7m posted in 2013/14. In April, the firm’s headcount was cut after it restructured its partnership and support staff with six partners and ten secretarial staff set to depart. The firm’s UK revenue for 2014/15 came in at £47.5m, dropping 9% from £52.2m.

The firm’s international senior partner Jan Heuvels said: ‘After 10 years in International House, our current premises have become out-dated and no longer suitable for our needs. Aldgate Tower brings us even closer to the London shipping and insurance markets and reinforces our long-term commitment to our clients in those sectors.’

Ince & Co hired CBRE to assist with its search for a new space while Berwin Leighton Paisner provided property law advice.

victoria.young@legalease.co.uk 

Legal Business

Holman Fenwick Willan takes London banking partner from Ince & Co

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Strategic recruitment Holman Fenwick WillanInce & Co
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During a tough year for insurance specialists, Holman Fenwick Willan has hired a partner from rival Ince & Co, appointing Stephen Marais to build its asset finance practice.

Marais joins Holman’s London team having served at Ince & Co since 2011. He has experience in advising on ship finance, commodity and trade finance, and aviation finance transactions. He has also acted on structured transactions, in particular sale and leaseback transactions, orphan trust arrangements, Islamic finance and export credit supported transactions.

While at Ince & Co, Marais acted for the arranger as deal counsel on a €84m German registered loan note financing for the acquisition of a 13,100 teu container vessel for a Middle Eastern shipowner; and advised a ship owner on the syndicated debt financing of two bulk carriers.

Marais commented: ‘Since the global financial crisis of 2008 and the resulting loss of liquidity, the banking and finance sector has changed quite significantly. Traditional lenders have exited some sectors while new capital providers have made their presence felt. I am looking forward to helping the firm take advantage of the opportunities for further growth in this area.’

Holman finance head Elinor Dautlich said Marias’ extensive experience of working on structured asset finance transactions across a number of Holman’s sectors of focus would enhance its offering.

Marais’ hire comes in a year when insurance specialists have faced a tough time.

While Holman celebrates the new partner addition, the firm saw a 15% slide in its profits per equity partner (PEP) for the 2014/15 financial year. In August, the firm, which has 13 offices including Paris, Hong Kong, Sydney and Sao Paulo, saw a 3% drop in revenue from £144m to 139m with the UK generating over half of this bringing in £70m. This translated into a net income figure of £38m with the 81 equity partners giving a PEP figure of £469,000 – a 15% fall on last year’s £554,000.

The firm was also hit with a professional negligence dispute earlier this year, brought by a former maritime client, Pimesa Trading Incorporated, which accused the firm of acting negligently when it advised on a contract for the sale of an offshore drilling rig.

Ince & Co’s numbers have not fared much better, having fallen for the second year running, down by 8% to £79.4m from the £86.7m posted in 2013/14. In April, the firm’s headcount was cut after it restructured its partnership and support staff with six partners and ten secretarial staff set to depart.

jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Life after Kaplan: Ince & Co picks BPP while Mills & Reeve lets its trainees decide

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Education Ince & CoMills & Reeve
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BPP has picked up Ince & Co as a client while Mills & Reeve is allowing trainees to pick for themselves following Kaplan’s announcement it will close its law school.

Apollo Education Group’s BPP has picked up the majority of mandates so far after Kaplan announced in August it would no longer offer LPC courses. The legal educator has so far added Ince, Mayer Brown, Nabarro and Holman Fenwick Willan to its client roster after Kaplan announced its closure. The University of Law (ULaw) had signed former Kaplan clients Shearman & Sterling and Trowers & Hamlins ahead of the law school’s closure while after the announcement Penningtons Manches has said that students can switch this year to ULaw but it will carry out a full review of its options.

Another Kaplan client, Fieldfisher is yet to make a decision on a new provider. A spokesman for Fieldfisher told Legal Business it was in the process of a tender but refused to say which educators were involved.

An Ince & Co spokesman said the firm’s deal with BPP was effective immediately, but declined to comment further.

Meanwhile, London trainees at Mills & Reeve will pick their own learning providers following the closure of Kaplan’s law school as the firm said it will not sign with either BPP or ULaw.

Mills & Reeve, which has about 20 trainees per year, had a deal with Kaplan for its London trainee cohort. While six will complete their London courses with Kaplan this year, no trainees in the upcoming year’s intake were planning to study in the capital.

While trainees may choose to study with BPP, ULaw or other providers, following the closure of Kaplan’s law school there would be no deal with a particular school.

Mills & Reeve partner Brian Marshall told Legal Business that while the larger firms had bespoke courses tailored to them which reflected their work profile, Mills & Reeve simply didn’t have the numbers to sign a deal with the major players.

‘Although we do have some unique disciplines, we don’t see an advantage, it would be different if we had larger numbers,’ he added.

victoria.young@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Insurance specialists face tough times as Ince & Co’s revenues fall 8% and Kennedys flatlines

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Financial results 2015 Ince & CoKennedys
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While mid-tier firms continue to reveal solid returns for the 2014/15 financial year, those focused on insurance are suffering from the challenges in the sector with Ince & Co posting a drop in revenues and Kennedys revealing 1% turnover growth.

Ince’s global revenues have fallen for the second year running, down by 8% to £79.4m from the £86.7m posted in 2013/14. The year before that, revenues at the insurance focused firm stood at £93.2m in the 2012/13 LB100.

In addition, the firm’s UK revenue for 2014/15 came in at £47.5m, dropping 9% from £52.2m. The international picture was healthier with six out of eleven of the firm’s offices seeing year-on-year growth, with particularly strong showings in China and the Middle East.

Despite the firm’s turnover fall, it stated that profits had shot up 13% to £275,000 after dropping 2% in 2013/14 to £244,000.

The firm said the decline in revenues was because ‘current market conditions, particularly in the firm’s specialist sectors, remain challenging due to the continued downturn in the market – most notably in the shipping industry’.

Ince’s senior partner Jan Heuvels said: ‘We are counter-cyclical to many other top international firms, as traditionally a large portion of our work comes from major international disputes in our core sectors. Many of these disputes came to an end during the course of the last financial year [2014/15], along with a reduced appetite for litigation generally in our sectors. All these factors have impacted the firm’s bottom line.

‘The firm is addressing this downturn in revenue by focusing on a number of key growth programmes, for example, reshaping our partnership, updating the strategy of each sector group and practice team, and undertaking a substantial change process in our business services teams.’

Earlier this year, Ince & Co restructured its partnership and support staff with six partners and ten secretarial staff set to depart. This was after the firm conducted a round of redundancies last year which saw 33 roles cut.

Meanwhile, Kennedys also unveiled its 2014/15 figures with revenues coming in at £129.9m, up from £128.5m last year – showing an increase of just 1%. This comes after the firm enjoyed double digit growth last year when revenues rose 10%.

A large contributor of revenue at the top 30 firm came from its UK activity, which generated £99.7m – slightly higher than last year’s level at £98.3m – while London office fee income this year came in at £66.2m with £33.5m being generated outside of London.

The firm’s net income stands at £24.6m, with the highest earning LLP member pocketing £550,000, while the lowest earner took home £220,000. Of the 60-equity partners, three currently sit at top of the firm’s equity. However, PEP fell 2% from £419,000 to £410,000, having grown 3% in 2013/14.

The firm currently boasts a total of 21 offices, eleven of which are in the UK. The firm launched in Scotland at the beginning of this year with new bases in Edinburgh and Glasgow.

jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Redundancy watch: Six partners and 10 staff set to leave Ince & Co

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Restructuring Ince & Co
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Following a round of redundancies last year which saw 33 roles cut, Ince & Co is restructuring its partnership and support staff with six partners and ten secretarial staff set to depart.

Three partners have already left the firm following a partnership vote that unanimously agreed to the restructure. Another three partners will also exit over the next month, with the total six departing from the firm’s shipping, insurance, aviation and energy practice areas.

The secretarial services team restructure resulted in ten secretarial staff opting for redundancy packages. This restructure formed part of the firm’s ‘Business Services Change Programme’.

Ince senior partner Jan Heuvels, who has been leading the firm since January 2015, said: ‘The overriding objective of this programme is to improve the service delivered to partners, other fee earners and ultimately our clients.’

The new structure sees the creation of two new teams, and new senior and team personal assistant roles, which replace the firm’s existing legal secretarial roles. These new positions will provide all fee earners with one central point of contact for all secretarial needs.

In terms of the new teams, a new document production team has been formed with operators to focus on the production of documents and transcription; and a new team of administration assistants has also been created for basic administration such as filing, copying and scanning.

‘We were able to fill a significant proportion of the new roles from our existing secretarial staff, but the changes regrettably resulted in 10 redundancies,’ added Heuvels. ‘We are now in the process of recruiting for six new roles.’

The firm confirmed it has concluded the restructure of its partnership and its secretarial services team, and that no other fee earners will be affected by the restructure.

In August last year, the firm’s global revenues fell to £86.7m in the 2013/14 financial year from £93.2m in the 2012/13 LB100. Against the firm’s latest audited figures, this worked out to be a drop of 5% from £91.7m.

jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Partner promotions: Stephenson Harwood makes up five in London as Ince promotes City duo and one in Dubai

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Partnership promotions Ince & CoStephenson Harwood
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Stephenson Harwood and Ince & Co are the latest firms to announce their partner promotions, with the former making up five partners in London while Ince made up two in the City and a third partner in Dubai.

All located in London, promotions at Stephenson Harwood were spread across three practice areas with its marine and international trade, commercial litigation and finance groups all receiving a boost. The round brings the firm’s partnership total to 129.

Commercial litigation and marine and international trade also benefitted in Ince’s promotions round with James Hickland and David Richards joining the practice areas in London respectively. The firm also made an international promotion with Khalid Hamed joining the partnership in Dubai.

Alongside the three promotions, Ince also bolstered its ranks in London with the lateral hire of Anna Anatolitou from Bird & Bird. Previously based in the UAE, where she led Bird & Bird’s regional aviation practice and worked in-house for the Air Arabia Group, Anatolitou will relocate to the firm’s London office.

Since last year’s partner promotions, Ince & Co also promoted Matthew Stratton to partner in corporate and recruited Philippe Ruttley to head up its EU and Competition practice.

The full list of partner promotions is as follows:

Stephenson Harwood

Nick Barber, London, marine and international trade

Russell Binch, London, commercial litigation

Max Lemanski, London, marine and international trade

Ros Prince, London, commercial litigation

Jonathan Proctor, London, finance

Ince & Co

Khalid Hamed, Dubai, commercial

James Hickland, London, commercial litigation

David Richards, London, marine and international trade

kathryn.mccann@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Management changes: DLA Piper overhauls board as Ince & Co picks new senior team

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Leadership DLA PiperInce & Co
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A mass reshuffle has taken place of DLA Piper’s executive managment team, with the firm’s Dutch head of corporate Barbara van Hussen and chief of practices and sectors Juan Picon being made joint managing directors of Europe and the Middle East. Meanwhile, Ince & Co has selected Hamburg-based partner Jan Heuvels to succeed James Wilson as international senior partner.

Picon’s appointment comes after heading practices and sectors alongside Simon Levine, who is set to become chief executive in the New Year. That position has now been split in two, with London-based head of corporate Charles Severs becoming managing director of practice groups and Germany managing partner Jan Geert Meents promoted to managing director of clients and sectors. Both will sit on the nine-person executive management team.

Van Hussen becomes one of the most senior women at the firm and the first female on what was an all-male executive committee. Both corporate partners, van Hussen and Picon, take over from retiring head of Europe and the Middle East Ulrich Jungst.

After a year of turmoil in Australia for DLA Piper, with head Tony Holland having departed last year to join local firm Gilbert + Tobin and Sydney-based Andrew Darwin stepping into the role for an interim period, John Weber now fills the final spot on the management team having been brought on board to be Australia managing partner from Minter Ellison. Darwin continues in his role as COO and keeps his spot on the firm’s global board.

With several senior positions vacated, UK head of corporate Bob Bishop takes over as international chief from Charles Severs and M&A partner Ben Parameswaran and employment partner Bernd Borgmann replace Jan Geert Meents as Germany managing partners.

DLA Piper’s executive managment team steers the firm’s strategy in all regions but the US, which has its own committee that is chaired by global co-chairman Roger Meltzer, and Jay Rains, who is set to join Levine as co-CEO on 1 January.

Ince & Co has also increased the number of management positions, appointing global head of shipping, Paul Herring to the newly created position of chairman to work alongside Heuvels in representing the firm to clients.

Day-to-day responsibility for running the firm will remain with Heuvels who is relocating to London to take up his position in January 2015. Jan Hungar will take over his current role as Hamburg managing partner.

Wilson, who has led the firm for two terms since 2008, will return to a client facing role in the global shipping group.

tom.moore@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Financials 2013/14: Ince & Co suffers a 7% fall in global revenues, down to £86.7m

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Financial results 2013/14 Ince & Co
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Ince & Co’s global revenues fell to £86.7m in the 2013/14 financial year from £93.2m in the 2012/13 LB100. Against the firm’s latest audited figures, this works out to be a drop of 5% from £91.7m.

The firm said the drop in revenues was due to a series of large dispute cases, including settlements and mediation, reaching a close after lasting between three to four years.

Aside from this year, the firm has had an impressive record of maintaining strong growth with revenues growing 45% from 2008 to 2013.  The firm consists of 307 lawyers and 96 equity partners with £282,000 in revenue per lawyer. The firm declined to provide its profits.

Nevertheless, the firm aims for a more positive year ahead. The firm’s senior partner James Wilson told Legal Business, that while the big-ticket dispute cases are no longer prevailing, there is still a decent amount of high value work available in London and overseas, especially in Singapore, Hong Kong and China. ‘The Asia economies started to blossom five to ten years ago. With this comes the rise in average wealth the increasing awareness and need in emerging markets for sophisticated insurance,’ said Wilson.

He added, ‘It is counter-cyclical. A big part of our practice is disputes. And the shipping, trade and aviation markets collapsed in 2008/09. Many transactional firms were hit immediately as a result while we got an upsurge in work, especially in disputes. A lot of these cases came to an end in 2013/14, so the last year was not expected.’

Earlier this year, Ince & Co made ten shipping and insurance fee-earners and six secretarial staff redundant in London, citing ‘prevailing economic conditions in our core sectors’. In total, the firm slashed 33 roles globally affecting fee-earners and support staff.

Ince managing partner and insurance head for Europe Jan Heuvels told Legal Business that the harder trading was in part due to large insurance clients squeezing panel terms, particularly in the firm’s financial lines team.

‘This area of the market is very price-driven, and we are generally known for our marine and re-insurance work, so we are working very hard in financial lines to compete on price and service,’ Heuvels says. ‘This is challenging as insurance companies’ in-house functions are phenomenal. It is no longer just about the general corporate counsel role. In-house teams now have highly trained insurance specialists taken from leading firms.’

Jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Further hire for Thirty Nine Essex with arrival of Ince & Co litigation partner

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Strategic recruitment 39 Essex ChambersInce & Co
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After three decades in private practice longstanding Ince & Co litigation partner Denys Hickey has re-joined the Bar with a move to Thirty Nine Essex Street Chambers, just weeks after the leading set hired Shell’s former head of legal, Peter Rees QC.

Hickey, a specialist in oil and gas and commodity trading work, started his career as a barrister and was called to the Bar in 1975, requalifying as a solicitor and joining Ince & Co in the late 70s.

He completed a three-year stint in the firm’s Singapore office to head its energy & offshore group for the Asia Pacific region in 2010 before returning to London in 2013.

At 39 Essex Street Hickey’s role will involve practising as counsel, arbitrator and mediator. He will also operate between the set’s offices in London, Singapore, and Kuala Lumpur, when it officially launches there later this year. The move will constitute the first UK barristers chambers to establish a presence in Malaysia, where it will focus on domestic and international arbitration.

Hickey’s arrival follows the set’s hire in March of former legal director of Royal Dutch Shell Peter Rees QC.

Chief executive and director of clerking, David Barnes, said: ‘We are thrilled that Denys will be joining Thirty Nine Essex Street. He is extremely well regarded in his field and his wealth of experience as counsel and arbitrator will be a fantastic offering for our clients both in the UK and particularly in Asia, where his knowledge and understanding of the market will be invaluable.’

Hickey added: ‘I am delighted to be joining Thirty Nine Essex Street, and look forward to help develop the arbitration and mediation practice. I am particularly looking forward to continuing my practice in Asia, and hope to contribute to the continued growth of both arbitration and mediation in the region.’

Sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk