Legal Business

Financials 2015/16: Kennedys highlights Asia growth as firm posts solid turnover boost of 7%

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Financial results 2015/16 Kennedys
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Insurance specialist Kennedys has announced solid revenue growth of 7% for this financial year from £129.9m to £138.8m. In addition, the firm’s UK figure has topped £100m, with turnover at £102m from £99.6m.

According to the firm, the strongest growth has been in the Asia Pacific region, with the firm’s Singapore office increasing 144% from £3.2m to £7.8m as a result of strong aviation growth and Kennedys’ joint law venture agreement with Singapore firm Legal Solutions which the firm secured in March 2015.

In addition Kennedys Hong Kong office performed well, reporting an increase in turnover of 33% with the office’s regulatory practice doing particularly well. Growth was also posted in a number of Kennedys’ 22 offices, including in Dubai and Miami, with the Miami office bolstered by the lateral hires of Florida qualified Neil Bayer and Florida and Pennsylvania qualified Dan Sanders, which allowed the firm to offer US law for the first time.

Kennedys senior partner Nick Thomas (pictured) said the results underlined the firm’s long-term global growth strategy.

‘We’ve seen excellent international growth, with new offices and a number of strong lateral hires who we are very happy to have welcomed to the firm. We are planning for continued growth in the coming year both domestically and internationally which will, as ever, be centred on where our clients require it and where compelling opportunities present themselves.’

During the last financial year, Kennedys made significant inroads internationally, opening offices in Russia and Denmark, and forming associations in Norway, Sweden and Argentina.

The firm also made nine lateral hires globally including a three-partner personal injury team from Lyons Davidson in Birmingham and DAC Beachcroft’s former Singapore office head Ben Nicholson.

Other UK firms have posted more subdued results, as earlier this week Watson Farley & Williams and RPC reported single digit revenue rises, up 5% and 6% respectively. Yesterday UK boutique Sacker & Partners improved revenues by 13% to £26.8m and profits by 15% to £15.3m

kathryn.mccann@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Kennedys global push continues apace as it follows insurance clients to Argentina

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Latin America Kennedys
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Continental Europe the next priority as firm chases larger international revenues

Kennedys formed another international association last month, this time with Buenos Aires firm Estudio Bunge – Bunge, Smith & Luchía Puig.

Legal Business

Growth mode: Kennedys bolts-on US law capability with local hires and forms fifth LatAm alliance

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Latin America Kennedys
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Kennedys has made two local partner hires in Miami in a move which will allow the firm to practice US law for the first time. US-qualified Neil Bayer and Dan Sanders will join Kennedys’ Miami office and will oversee the firm’s US advisory capability. The hires come as the firm aims to give ‘rise to new local growth opportunities and strengthen its London market capability’.

Bayer joins Kennedys from Gray Robinson with litigation experience of advising insurance underwriters and private clients on issues relating to yachts and super yachts, including first and third party insurance claims involving both property damage and personal injury.

Sanders worked in private practice before joining global insurer, Zurich, where he was head of technical claim excellence for the Americas. He has vast experience of insurance policy issues and claims regarding a range of indemnity contracts and policies, including professional indemnity, financial lines, general liability, construction, motor, property and aviation.

The firm has also formed its fifth Latin America (LatAm) association in Argentina with local firm Alberto Bunge & Asociados (ABA). ABA is led by founding partner Alberto José Bunge and focuses on large and complex insurance and reinsurance matters. The boutique has worked with Kennedys since 2013.

The formal alliance marks the firm’s second move into LatAm, in the last 12 months, having made another association with Mexican firm Bufete Solís Marín around this time last year, and complements Kennedys’ other existing associations in Brazil, Chile and Colombia.

Kennedys senior partner Nick Thomas said: ‘Our international clients operate in this developing market and we regularly advise on large property, energy and construction claims in Argentina, via both London and Miami. Having worked with ABA on various matters, we are delighted to formalise our relationship.’

He added: ‘Until recently, our Miami ‘hub’ was exclusively focused on supporting Latin America and the Caribbean, and London Market (re)insurers. I’m now delighted to welcome Neil and Dan, enabling us to advise on US law for the first time.’

The firm recently grew its footprint in Scandinavia through a combination of mergers and alliances, having taken over a four-partner and 12-lawyer Danish firm Erritzøe, and also formed associations with Norwegian firm Kogstad Lunde & Co and Swedish firm NorelidHolm.

‘Insurance clients are constantly consolidating so have a global perspective and want global law firm panels,’ Thomas told Legal Business. ‘Back in 1977, we knew we were never going to be a Clifford Turner, but we knew we could be an insurance class act. We have stolen a massive march on everybody else.’

Kennedys currently boasts 14 offices worldwide along with 12 associate offices, with a view to integrate these local offices completely. ‘Our cultural values are very important to us. This way, clients get used to the other lawyers and we can parachute the lawyers in,’ added Thomas. While the firm’s City base is servicing some hotspots in Europe, an official set up in Germany, France and Italy is next on the agenda for the UK top-30 firm.

jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Kennedys obtains Scandinavia cover with Danish merger and Norway and Sweden alliances

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Europe Kennedys
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After spending most of 2015 launching new offices and forming international alliances, Kennedys has announced one merger and two formal alliances with three Scandinavian firms in a bid to boost its European presence.

Kennedys is taking over Danish law firm Erritzøe and forming associations with Norwegian firm Kogstad Lunde & Co and Swedish firm NorelidHolm. The partnerships all take effect from 1 January 2016.

Erritzøe, a four-partner, 12-lawyer firm in Copenhagen, will become ‘a full Kennedys office’ and will be led by senior partner Morten Erritzøe Christensen. Kennedys has worked with Erritzøe since 2007 and in 2012 the firm became a Kennedys-associated office.

Christensen said: ‘We will benefit from leading insurers finding it easier to instruct us on the highest value claims. While we expect the increase in instructions to come primarily from local insurers, we see a benefit in developing the number of international instructions that will result from being part of Kennedys’ global presence.’

The firm also announced today (9 December) its formal association with Oslo-based Kogstad Lunde & Co, which is a six-partner, ten lawyer firm which Kennedys has worked with since 1995.

Stockholm-based NorelidHolm, which was established in 2005, also becomes an associate office, bringing with it two partners and eight lawyers in total.

It’s been a busy year for Kennedys which has invested in growing its international footprint with launches in Moscow and Scotland, and forming alliances with local firms in China and Chile.

After several top 25 global firms cut back their Moscow offerings last year, Kennedys set up a Russian base in May through an exclusive arrangement with local firm and former Clyde & Co best friend CIS Advocates. 

The firm has also embarked on a number of formal tie-ups this year including a formal association with Chilean insurance boutique Sateler Depolo Diemoz in April; a joint venture in Singapore with local 30-partner firm Legal Solutions in March; while in February, Kennedys made another move in Latin America with its association with Mexican firm Bufete Solís Marín. In January, it formed a co-operation agreement with Chinese law firm AnJie.

jaishree.kalia@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

Russian market beckons for Kennedys as others continue to ‘adjust’

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CIS and Russia Kennedys
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After several top 25 global firms cut backs their Moscow offerings last year, there have been signs of renewed interest in Moscow as Kennedys set up a Russian base last month through an exclusive arrangement with local firm and former Clyde & Co best friend CIS Advocates, while Chadbourne & Parke invested in a new managing partner.

Kennedys’ launch comes with the hire of former Clyde & Co Russian insurance practice head Constantin Saranchouk, along with an associate, and follows troubled markets in Russia across 2014 that saw a raft of firms scale back in the region due to international sanctions.

Legal Business

Promotions round-up: Bond Dickinson and Kingsley Napley promote three as Kennedys makes up female trio in round of four

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Partnership promotions KennedysKingsley NapleyWomble Bond Dickinson
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In the latest round of LB100 firm promotions, Kennedys made a 75% female promotions round as three out of four of its new partners were women while both Bond Dickinson and Kingsley Napley bolstered their practices with a trio of new partners.

Three of Kennedys’ promotions were based in London with insurance liability lawyer Anne-Marie Hodges, insurance specialist Samantha Silver and marine insurance and shipping disputes expert Jonathan Evans all being made up to partner, along with Cambridge-based clinical negligence specialist Amanda Mead.

The firm now has 169 partners with over a quarter female and has made a number of international moves this year, establishing a presence in Moscow, forming a joint law venture in Singapore and opening offices in Scotland.

Kennedys’ senior partner Nick Thomas says: ‘While we continue to welcome talent from outside the firm, nurturing our people and ensuring they have the opportunity to develop their careers at Kennedys is key to the growth of the firm and our future success.’

Meanwhile, national firm Bond Dickinson made up three in its 2015 round across its Bristol and Newcastle offices.

Two joined the firm’s partnership in Bristol with Andrew Harding promoted in real estate and Alastair Mitton promoted to IT Partner in its technology practice. Harding has focused on developing Bond Dickinson’s real estate investment and development offering with a focus on the hospitality and leisure sector, while Mitton’s primary experience has been on large IT and technology projects that have a strong regulatory bias, as well as data protection.

In Newcastle, Kevin Bell was been promoted as a corporate finance partner within the firm’s transport and infrastructure sector team. He advises on heavy and light rail franchise and concession bids, franchise mobilisations plus commercial and regulatory matters for train operating companies.

Also making up three was litigation-focused Kingsley Napley. The firm spread its promotions across practice areas with private client lawyer Simon Hardy, corporate & commercial specialist Anthony Macpherson and family law expert Claire Wood all making the grade.

Hardy specialises in Court of Protection work acting for individuals who lack the capacity to manage their property and affairs, as well as being responsible for Kingsley Napley’s professional Deputyship service. Macpherson’s experience spans a range of corporate transactions including M&A, joint ventures, shareholder agreements, corporate finance and private equity deals while Wood has focused on divorce and separation issues as well as drafting pre and post-nuptial agreements.

michael.west@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Targeting Russia: Kennedys launches in Moscow with former Clyde & Co Russian insurance head

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CIS and Russia Clyde & CoKennedys
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Following troubled markets in Russia across 2014, a handful of firms have signalled a renewed interest in the region, with Kennedys being the most recent to set up a Russian base.

The firm has formed an arrangement with local firm and former best friend of Clyde & Co – CIS Advocates. The launch comes with the hire of Clyde & Co’s Constantin Saranchouk, who formerly headed the firm’s Russian insurance practice, along with an associate.

The office will operate as Kennedys CIS Advocates, and will be headed by Russian-qualified Saranchouk, who subject to SRA approval, will become a Kennedys Law LLP partner in due course. Saranchouk joins Kennedys having served at Clyde & Co since April 2011. Before this, he was the founding partner of Vetta Legal from October 2004 to April 2011.

The new office, launched today (6 May), will be the firm’s first Moscow base and have an initial focus on high value insurance disputes covering international power and energy, construction and aerospace markets. This will later develop to cover a wider client base that includes international insurance groups, London Market insurers and Russian insurance companies.

Kennedys’ Moscow launch is the latest in a series of oversea developments, including a cooperation agreement in China and a Joint Law Venture in Singapore, announced this year, as well as a formal association with Chilean insurance law firm, Sateler Depolo Diemoz Abogados (SDD).

Meanwhile, US Chadbourne & Parke also recently boosted its presence in Russia with the hire of energy partner Andrei Baev from Berwin Leighton Paisner as Moscow managing partner. This came after Chadbourne closed down its Kiev operations last summer.

Contrary to Chadbourne and Kennedy’s decision to scale up in Moscow, numerous firms cut back in Russia last year as US-led economic sanctions heavily affected the debt financing capabilities of some of Russia’s largest banks. Firms known to be affected by the sanctions included Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, Linklaters, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, White & Case and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, while Clyde & Co closed its Russia office in 2013 after it found a lack of opportunity in the market.

Legal Business

International ambitions: Kennedys enters formal association with Chilean boutique

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Latin America Kennedys
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Insurance specialist Kennedys, which has been boosting its international ties in recent months, has entered into another formal association – this time with Chilean insurance boutique Sateler Depolo Diemoz (SDD).

A specialist litigation and arbitration firm, four-partner SDD is based in Santiago and has over 25 years’ experience in the Latin American market. The firm has previously worked with Kennedys and focuses on corporate, insurance, real estate, consumer, intellectual property and information technology matters.

Commenting on the alliance, senior partner at Kennedys, Nick Thomas (pictured), said the move was strategically important for the firm: ‘Expanding our international reach is key to our strategy and Latin America is an area of increasing importance to insurers and reinsurers. We will continue to look for growth predicted on client need and strong market opportunities.’

This association is the latest move for Kennedys, which has embarked on a number of formal tie-ups this year. Last month, the firm bulked up its presence in Singapore through a joint venture with local 30-partner firm Legal Solutions while in February it made another move in Latin Amercia with its association with Mexican firm Bufete Solís Marín, and, in January, it entered into a co-operation agreement with Chinese law firm AnJie.

In addition, late last year it boosted its Asia presence with a seven-lawyer aviation team, including two partners from Clyde & Co and one from Norton White while it also recently entered the Scottish market with the launch of two new offices in Edinburgh and Glasgow.

kathryn.mccann@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Singapore scramble – Kennedys enters JV to bolster presence in city state

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Singapore Kennedys
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After last month saw Withers secure a new alliance in Singapore while other firms made moves in the country, Kennedys has bulked up its presence in the city-state through a joint venture (JV) with local firm Legal Solutions.

The tie-up will see Kennedys, which already has an office in Raffles Place, strengthen its position in Singapore with the JV housing a total of 30 lawyers. Its partner, the dispute resolution and corporate focused Legal Solutions, has two recommendations in The Legal 500: one for shipping and another for dispute resolution.

The Attorney General’s Chambers of Singapore has already granted Kennedys’ licence, and an official office opening will take place in the next few months subject to final regulatory formalities. The new venture will operate under the name of Kennedys Legal Solutions and carry out both on onshore and offshore work.

The announcement follows a series of moves by LB100 firms to enhance their presence in the nation this year. Withers established a formal law alliance with KhattarWong in February while Herbert Smith Freehills entered into a best-friend agreement with Singapore law firm Prolegis. DLA Piper also recently increased its office’s capability with the hire of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher’s Singapore partner John Viverito.

For Kennedys, the move comes after it boosted its Asia presence with a seven-lawyer aviation team, including two partners from Clyde & Co and one from Norton White, in December 2014, and entered into a co-operation agreement with Chinese law firm AnJie in January this year.

jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk