Legal Business

Revolving doors: Specialists and US firms build up in the City

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US firms Greenberg TraurigKingsley NapleyMcDermott Will & Emery
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Last week saw specialist and US firms strengthen their presence in the City and Europe as Kingsley Napley strengthened its disputes offering, Lee & Thompson hired a head of sports, Greenberg Traurig Maher brought in a corporate partner to its London office and McDermott Will & Emery hired a team of private equity lawyers in Paris.

Litigation specialist Kingsley Napley hired Will Christopher as a partner in its Dispute Resolution practice from Pinsent Masons. He specialises in civil fraud, asset recovery and investigations having led the business crime and commercial fraud group at McGrigors before its merger with Pinsents. Prior to that, he worked at Reid Minty and PCB Litigation focusing on fraud related litigation.

Meanwhile, Greenberg Traurig Maher expanded its City corporate team with the hire of corporate partner Joel Wheeler.

Wheeler joins Greenberg as an equity partner from Crowell & Moring where he has been a partner since 2009, with a focus on corporate and commercial matters, including M&A, private equity, debt and equity capital market offerings and corporate restructurings. He has experience on cross-border deals including in the US, Kazakhstan, Russia, Ukraine, Kurdistan, China and Cambodia. Prior to Crowell, Wheeler worked at US firm Debevoise & Plimpton.

Greenberg chief executive officer Richard Rosenbaum said: ‘As the London office continues to target high profile, complex, cross-border deals, Joel’s extensive cross-border expertise across the US and Europe in particular, allows him to bring tremendous global experience and insight to this role. While Greenberg Traurig enjoys an outstanding transactional track record, we are increasingly looking to enhance and broaden the offering that our corporate and finance groups provide.’

The addition take Greenberg’s partner headcount in the City to 20 and almost 50 fee-earners but Wheeler’s exit will serve a blow to Crowell’s already small team in London, leaving just one full-time partner and London head Adrian Jones to hold the fort alongside three associates, and two other partners who both split their time between the London and Washington DC offices.

Another US firm also expanded its European offering as McDermott boosted its Paris office with a team of private equity specialists. The new arrivals consist of three partners, Henri Pieyre de Mandiargues, Carole Degonse and Grégoire Andrieux, who all join from Curtis Mallet-Prevost Colt & Mosle.

David Goldman, partner and head of McDermott’s corporate advisory practice said: ‘Our aim is to be recognized as one of the leading firms in the Paris legal market, and the arrival of this group adds tremendous expertise to the Firm’s transactional practice’

Back in the City, Oli Shipton joined Lee & Thompson as partner, having previously been Group General Counsel at Round World Entertainment (RWE). Shipton joins the corporate & commercial group and will also become a head of the firm’s sport group.

At RWE his role involved advising across the group’s varied business interests including 1966 Entertainment, which managed the commercial rights of the England Men’s National Football Team; 10Ten Talent which represent Pelé, Jack Wilshere, and Glenn Hoddle; and Iconic Images. Alongside his new role Oli will continue as principal counsel for the RWE businesses. His experience focuses on commercial contracts within the sporting and creative fields.

jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk

michael.west@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Showing its teeth: Law Society invokes Magna Carta as it launches legal action against court fees’ ‘flat tax’

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Legal regulation Kingsley Napley
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The Law Society is challenging the government’s decision to increase certain court fees by over 600% and has issued a pre-action protocol letter for judicial review saying the move would be tantamount to ‘selling justice’.

Announced this morning (23 February), the Law Society has listed multiple grounds to challenge the fee increase. Key points include an increase being contrary to the Magna Carta principles of not ‘selling justice’; the government lacking the power to raise fees for the purposes it stated in its consultation – to make ‘departmental savings’; proceeding without justifying evidence; and failing to allow representations on enhanced fees in combination with amendments to the remissions scheme.

Other grounds listed includes consultees not being told how much money needed to be raised from enhanced fees or why, constituting ‘a breach of the government’s own consultation principles’ that state sufficient response must be given for any proposal to permit intelligent consideration and response. Lastly the regulatory body stated that when the government tabled its second round of proposals on higher fees for possession claims and general civil applications, ‘it had already made up its mind about certain options, which is unfair’.

The Society, which is being represented by Kingsley Napley, has now requested the government provide information on how much money it proposes to raise through enhanced fees and outline what the money will be spent on. It has further requested an explanation over how modernisation of the court services will appear in the government’s accounts.

The potential implications of the enhanced court fees mean people may be put off going to court when they have genuine claims, and provide an incentive for large companies to deny liability while knowing that injured parties would not be in a position to fund expensive court fees. The Law Society held its own consultation during late January and early February, and received responses from 181 members, which estimated that the total value of work in the affected areas could decrease by between 27-36% as a result of the fee increases. Further concerns included the value of work bought by individuals falling by 30-40%, and the value of work from small and medium-sized companies potentially falling by 42-55%.

Additional signatories to the pre-action protocol letter includes the Bar Council, the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives (CILEx), Forum of Insurance Lawyers (FOIL), Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL), Motor Accident Solicitors Society (MASS), Chancery Bar Association, Action Against Medical Accidents (AvMA) and the Commercial Bar Association (COMBAR).

Law Society president Andrew Caplen said: ‘The government’s policy on “enhanced court fees” amounts to a flat tax on those seeking justice. The government’s hikes – due to come in from April – will price the public out of the courts and leave small businesses saddled with debts they are due but unable to afford to recover. State provision for people to redress wrongs through the courts is the hallmark of a civilised society.’

In December the Lord Chief Justice also expressed concern to the proposed changes with ‘deep concerns’ in a letter addressed to the Ministry of Justice, and said ‘increases on this scale will have a detrimental impact on a number of court users, affecting individuals and businesses alike. There is likely to be a disproportionately adverse impact on small and medium enterprises and litigants in person.’

sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Reputation management: Kingsley Napley taps Mishcon for media litigator Harris

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Strategic recruitment Kingsley NapleyMishcon de Reya
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Kingsley Napley continues to enhance its dispute resolution offering with the hire of high profile media litigator and Mishcon de Reya partner, Charlotte Harris.

Harris will join the firm’s disputes team in January 2015 and will be tasked with launching the firm’s new media and reputation management unit in order to strengthen and underline the firm’s existing expertise in the field.

A leading individual in the Legal 500 and described as ‘exceptionally bright and well informed’, Harris joined Mishcon in March 2011 from Manchester firm JMW where she was head of media. She has been heavily involved in the exposure of the phone hacking scandal and the Leveson Inquiry; serves as a board director at Hacked Off, a lobby group advocating for press regulation; and has previously acted for clients including Max Clifford in his High Court battle against News Group Newspapers.

Disputes partner Gerard Cukier said he is ‘delighted Charlotte will be joining us. She brings immense experience in the areas of media and reputation where she has been an innovator and a fearless advocate for her clients over the last few years.’

On her appointment, Harris commented: ‘Kingsley Napley is an influential top player, and everybody I have met there has been first class. In an environment where reputational management has become part of an everyday agenda, clients are more savvy as they face the challenges of media exposure to avoid a crisis, to manage their image and in the glare of the spotlight. The calm and collaborative approach of Kingsley Napley is just what is needed for the smooth and rough times.’

The arrival of Harris follows that of former DLA Piper partner Jo Rickards, a leading criminal litigator who represented former News of the World editor Andy Coulson in the phone hacking trial, and who joined Kingsley Napley’s disputes team in August.

sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk          

For more on press regulation and the phone hacking scandal, see Shock and Flaw – is Leveson workable?

Legal Business

DLA sees leading criminal litigator Rickards leave for Kingsley Napley

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Strategic recruitment DLA PiperKingsley Napley
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Kingsley Napley has made a key hire to its criminal litigation team, as DLA Piper partner Jo Rickards, who recently represented former News of the World (NotW) editor Andy Coulson in the phone-hacking trial, is set to join the firm this August.

Acknowledged as a leading individual for corporate crime work by The Legal 500, Rickards’ appointment brings the number of partners in Kingsley Napley’s criminal litigation practice to 13.

Rickards recently represented Coulson in criminal proceedings where in late June he was found guilty and sentenced to 18 months for conspiring to intercept voicemails at the now-defunct Sunday tabloid following an eight-month trial at the Old Bailey. The trial also saw Rickards cross paths with her new colleagues at Kingsley Napley, with partner Angus McBride representing Rebekah Brooks.

Hers is the second high-profile departure from DLA’s City disputes practice, which in March also saw IT litigation head Lee Gluyas defect to Nabarro. The world’s largest firm made a significant splash when it hired Rickards in 2010 from Peters & Peters in 2010 – and other clients ahave included Silvio Berlusconi and the Maxwells

Kingsley Napley’s criminal litigation head Stephen Parkinson said the firm ‘…is the natural home for someone of Jo’s talent. Having worked alongside her in high profile trials, we recognise her tenacity, meticulous preparation and sound judgement. Her reputation is wholly justified.’

On her appointment, Rickards added: ‘Criminal and regulatory scrutiny of major corporates and senior employees has never been more challenging for clients or for us. In an increasingly competitive environment, I am delighted to join Kingsley Napley and play my part in upholding its reputation as the go-to firm for high-profile criminal and financial regulatory defence work.’

sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Committed to Crime – boutique firms and White-collar Crime

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Legal affairs BCL SolicitorsKingsley Napley
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White-collar crime work was once the comfy preserve of niche London law firms that knew their way around the inside of a police station. Not any more. But as the big international players stake a claim, the boutiques are standing their ground.

When the Bribery Act came into force in July 2011, it shook the world of white-collar crime to its core. In one fell swoop the UK became home to the most stringent legislation combating corruption in the world, going beyond the scope of America’s Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). Its strict measures created a worldwide trend of amplified anti-corruption enforcement, which is now booming in a similar fashion to competition law in the nineties, and the established legal market players found themselves with a fight on their hands.

Legal Business

Making Headlines

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Kingsley Napley
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General Pinochet, Nick Leeson and Ian Maxwell are all former clients.

More recently, Rebekah Brooks and UBS rogue trader Kweku Adoboli have called in Kingsley Napley for help. LB speaks to managing partner Linda Woolley about a firm where the clients make the front pages.

The reception area at Kingsley Napley’s offices in Clerkenwell very much reflects the character of the firm. It’s small, but big enough to serve its purpose. It lacks the ostentation of many City rivals but isn’t too Spartan either. In fact, it’s just about right. Kingsley Napley hasn’t gone for the wow factor, which is probably just as well. Unlike some of its larger City neighbours, many of the firm’s most high-profile clients won’t ever step foot inside its office.