Legal Business

Partnership promotions: Norton Rose Fulbright makes up 51 in largest promotions round since merger

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Norton Rose Fulbright (NRF) has today (27 April) announced a total of 51 lawyers were made up to partner across the US, Canada Europe, Asia and Africa in what constitutes its largest promotions round since its 2013 combination.

Last year’s tally saw the firm make up 46 to partner – its first global partner promotions since the merger of Norton Rose and Houston energy firm Fulbright & Jaworski – while a pre-merger Norton Rose made up 33 partners in 2013, marginally down on the 2012 figure of 36.

Female partners accounted for 19 out of 51 promotions (or 37%) and the appointments were made within practice groups including corporate, M&A and securities (15); banking and finance (11); dispute resolution and litigation (11); employment and labour (5); intellectual property (3); tax (2); antitrust and competition (1); regulation and investigations (1); occupational health, safety and security (1); and public interest (1) across Asia, Australia, Canada, Europe (of which five were in the City), South Africa, and the US.

In London the focus was on dispute resolution with four of the five being made up in that practice while Matt Hardwick was made up in the banking and finance team. The firm’s US outposts benefitted the most with 13 new partners spread across offices in Houston, Washington DC, San Antonio, Austin, New York, Los Angeles and Denver.

The appointments also include nine promotions to the South African equivalent of director and a patent agent promotion in Canada, to the partnership.

Global chief executive Peter Martyr said: ‘This year’s promotions underline our strategy of continued investment in our core markets, and I am pleased to welcome the new partners and directors who will play a key role in our future. Our industry strengths continue to be the focus for our lawyers as a route to advising our clients on the matters that most affect them and, as such, these incredibly talented individuals will further support our clients and our own ambitions, representing the newest generation of leadership at Norton Rose Fulbright.’

It follows Linklaters’ announcement this morning of its 23-strong promotions round, of which nine corporate lawyers were made up, constituting nearly 40%, and spread across its City, Shanghai and its European offices.

NRF’s partnership promotions in full:

Asia

Tassanai Kiratisountorn (banking and finance, Bangkok)

Nicky Davies, (banking and finance, Singapore)

Vicky Jones (banking and finance, Singapore)

Kate Sherrard (banking and finance, Singapore)

James Parker (corporate, M&A and securities, Hong Kong)

Allan Yee (corporate M&A and securities, Hong Kong)

Craig Loveless (corporate, M&A and securities, Singapore)

Stephen Woods (corporate, M&A and securities, Singapore)

Australia

Marshall Bromwich (corporate, M&A and securities, Brisbane)

Ben Smits (corporate, M&A and securities, Sydney)

Fiona Wallwork (corporate, M&A and securities, Sydney)

Tom Martin (occupational health, safety and security, Perth)

Canada

Robert Froehlich (corporate, M&A and securities, Calgary)

Trent Mercier (corporate, M&A and securities, Calgary)

Mathieu Deschamps (corporate M&A and securities, Montréal)

Evelyn Li (corporate M&A and securities, Toronto)

Heidi Reinhart (corporate M&A and securities, Toronto)

Rahool Agarwal (dispute resolution and litigation, Toronto)

Daniel McDonald (employment and labour, Toronto)

Jill Daley (intellectual property, Toronto)

Alexandre Daoust (intellectual property, Québec)

Europe

Matt Hardwick (banking and finance, London)

Alex Wass (banking and finance, Paris)

Karsten Kühnle (corporate, M&A and securities Frankfurt)

Jan Jakob Peelen (dispute resolution and litigation, Amsterdam)

David Harris (dispute resolution and litigation, London)

Jason Hungerford (dispute resolution and litigation, London)

Katie Stephen (dispute resolution and litigation London)

Charlotte Winter (dispute resolution and litigation, London)

South Africa

Desiree Reddy (banking and finance, Johannesburg)

Alishka Singh (banking and finance, Johannesburg)

Yushanta Rungasammy (corporate, M&A and securities, Johannesburg)

Ross Forgan (disputes resolution and litigation, Johannesburg)

Daniel McConnell (dispute resolution and litigation, Johannesburg)

Siphokazi Bosi (employment and labour, Durban)

Jonathan Jones (employment and labour, Johannesburg)

Sabu Sangoni (employment and labour, Johannesburg)

Liesl Williams (public interest, Johannesburg)

United States

Neely Agin (antitrust and competition, Washington, DC)

Bryon Farnsworth (banking and finance, Denver)

Anna Lee (banking and finance, New York)

Daniel Tristan (banking and finance, Houston)

Natasha Khan (corporate, M&A and securities, Houston)

Tarifa Laddon (dispute resolution and litigation, Los Angeles)

Mark Emery (dispute resolution and litigation, Washington, DC)

Jeffrey Webb (dispute resolution and litigation, San Antonio)

Shafeeqa Watkins Giarratani (employment and labour, Austin)

Daniel Leventhal (intellectual property, Houston)

Mark Faccenda (regulation and investigations, Washington, DC)

Robert Morris (tax, Houston)

Ron Scharnberg (tax, Houston)

sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Asia: Norton Rose Fulbright takes on five-strong Fried Frank disputes team in Hong Kong

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Strategic recruitment Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & JacobsonNorton Rose Fulbright
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Norton Rose Fulbright (NRF) has recruited a team of five lawyers from Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson’s disputes practice in Hong Kong in the wake of the latter’s decision to pull out of Asia in January.

Former Fried Frank partner Alfred Wu joined the firm’s disputes group this month alongside consultant Philip Nunn and associates Muriel Cheng, Anita Fong and Kevin Hong. Nunn joins the firm as a senior consultant.

NRF’s Hong Kong disputes team is led by Camille Jojo, and the hires takes the total number of partners to six. The new recruits bring with them experience in general commercial and construction disputes, and contentious regulatory issues. Clients they have represented in investigations and actions/prosecutions include the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, Stock Exchange of Hong Kong, Financial Reporting Council and Companies Registry as well as assisting in undertaking internal control reviews and FCPA and SEC related investigations.

NRF’s head of dispute resolution and litigation for Europe, the Middle East and Asia commented: ‘Globally we have seen a significant increase in the demand for dispute resolution services, and our team is growing to meet this demand. Hong Kong is a key hub for China, and Asia as a whole, and Alfred’s team will bring valuable additional resources to our offering.’

The firm’s head of North Asia, Phillip John, added: ‘Chinese companies have been using Hong Kong extensively as a platform and springboard for investments in overseas markets. With recent market volatility, we expect to see more dispute work from these corporations in Hong Kong. Alfred and his team will bolster our capabilities for China and Hong Kong disputes and arbitration work and deepen the resources that we can offer to clients in the region.’

In January Fried Frank confirmed it was shutting its Hong Kong and Shanghai offices, leaving the firm without an outpost in Asia. The decision affected 33 employees, of which all but one sat in the Hong Kong office. All of the employees were discussing their options in regards to relocating to other offices within the firm, although most were expected to enter redundancy consultations.

sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Reshuffles: Norton Rose Fulbright finalises restructure as it reviews practice areas

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Norton Rose Fulbright has carried out a reshuffle of its management positions including creating a new global business head and scrapping its deputy managing partner role as it moves forward with plans to revamp its tax practice’s and smaller departments’ strategies.

Deputy managing partner Tim Marsden’s role was dropped during the re-election process of chief executive Peter Martyr in November, with Martin Scott now taking on management responsibility for EMEA as managing partner of Norton Rose Fulbright LLP. Despite losing the role, Marsden will keep his seat on both the global and EMEA executive boards and will now look at developing the firm’s 65-partner tax practice and other smaller departments, aiming to improve their co-ordination.

Marsden will focus on smaller departments across the firm to see how they can be ‘threaded better together and how to go to market with them’, said Norton Rose Fulbright’s chief executive Peter Martyr (pictured).

Martyr added: ‘In the past we looked at tax as being a support function for corporate and banking – instead we thought, we have this big resource, let’s look at this and get someone with an experienced eye to see if we can find something interesting and innovative instead of it being an asset advisory function. We want to have a global tax structure.’

Meanwhile, Ava Yaskiel has stepped up into Martin Scott’s previous position as global head of corporate while Raj Karia has become the firm’s head of corporate for EMEA.

Other appointments include Martin McCann to the executive board and as global head of business with a remit to review potential areas of improvement while Denver-based partner-in-charge Gene Lewis also made it onto the board. Martyr said: ‘Lawyers are traditionally conservative so Martin will look at initiatives on how to build business acumen throughout the partnership.’

Singapore-based partner Nick Merritt will succeed McCann as head of infrastructure, mining and commodities.

sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Norton Rose Fulbright coup as FTSE company consolidates legal work with global adviser

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It may not be the name most associated with sole adviser mandates in the legal industry but Norton Rose Fulbright (NRF) has still scored a notable win. The global law firm has confirmed this week that it has secured a position as global legal counsel to engineering company IMI following an overhaul of its use of external counsel.

The Birmingham-based IMI previously had over 70 law firms engaged on a variety of issues. NRF will now take the lion’s share of work across the board including commercial contracts; competition; compliance; employment; export controls/sanctions; product liability and environmental; intellectual property; litigation and real estate.

The firm’s client relationship partners include London-based Sam Eastwood, Jill Gauntlett and Mike Knapper. The appointment comes despite the absence of a previous substantive relationship for NRF with the FTSE 250 company, which employs around 12,000 staff.

Eastwood told Legal Business: ‘What we’ve got now is an arrangement where law firm partnering is the thrust. It’s also part of a continuing re-alignment of the in-house legal function enabling it to be more proactive and strategic in its focus on legal risk management. They need, given the extent of their operations, help from a global law firm for that. We will continue to invest a huge amount in understanding the client and its procedures. As a result, we can flex and respond to their needs. This appointment essentially reflects the development and evolution of IMI’s in-house legal function.’

Eastwood added: ‘We appreciate this is a significant departure for IMI and we believe that providing a global service to the group will create greater efficiencies.’

While NRF has been less publicly associated with the kind of consolidated mandates for major clients handled by Eversheds, DLA Piper and Baker & McKenzie, the firm did last year secure the role of global legal adviser to British automotive group McLaren. The appointment saw Baker & McKenzie lose out after having advised the company since the 1980s and with annual legal fees said to be worth around £1m. While the spread of such arrangements have been relatively slow, current indications are that they are gradually gaining ground among clients, with Heineken’s UK arm this year appointing DLA Piper as its primary counsel.

sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Trainee retention: Norton Rose Fulbright publishes spring 2015 retention figures

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Norton Rose Fulbright (NRF) has announced an 81% retention rate for its March 2015 qualifying intake, down on the 92% the firm posted for the spring 2014 cohort but an improvement on autumn’s numbers.

Of the group of 26 trainees, two resigned from the process, with the firm then offering newly-qualified (NQ) positions to 21 of the remaining 24 individuals. All 21 offers were accepted.

This marked the firm’s second 100% acceptance rate in a row, as 17 out of 17 NQ offers were accepted from trainees in the 22-strong cohort which qualified in September 2014, though giving it a 77% rate overall. In its spring 2014 round the firm kept on 24 out of 26 trainees.

Commenting on the latest figures, NRF’s training principal Michael Black said: ‘We are pleased to confirm that 21 of our 26 qualifiers will be joining the practice and are delighted to have achieved a 100% acceptance rate.’

NRF offers its trainees six-month international secondment opportunities in a number of overseas offices. The firm has an extensive international presence, with offices across Europe, North and South America, Africa, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region. Yesterday, the firm announced its further expansion into southern Africa, agreeing strategic alliances with firms in Uganda and Zimbabwe.

For the other retention rates published in this round, see here.

The story was first published on Legal Business’ sister publication The Lex 100.

daniel.coyne@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Of ‘strategic importance’: NRF expands African footprint with two new alliances

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Africa Norton Rose Fulbright
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Norton Rose Fulbright (NRF) is continuing to expand its offering in Africa and has agreed a strategic alliance with both Ugandan firm Shonubi Musoke & Co Advocates and Zimbabwean firm Gill, Godlonton & Gerrans.

Announced today (24 February), the firms will ‘collaborate on selected client matters’ to provide legal support, particularly in the areas of energy and infrastructure. The alliances will extend the firm’s African coverage which currently comprises offices in Dar es Salaam, Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban and Casablanca.

Established in Kampala in 1987, Shonubi Musoke & Co Advocates specialises in energy and mining, public private partnerships, and in the oil and gas sector, as well as in its traditional strongholds of M&A, project finance, banking and finance (including Islamic banking), telecommunications and real estate. Gill, Godlonton & Gerrans is one of the largest corporate and commercial law firms in Zimbabwe.

Rob Otty, managing director of Norton Rose Fulbright in South Africa, said: ‘Our alliance with Gill, Godlonton & Gerrans and Shonubi Musoke & Co Advocates reflects the strategic importance of Africa to our global business. [Both] bring an unparalleled breadth of experience in their respective countries, which will now be available to our clients.’

Global chief executive Peter Martyr (pictured) said: ‘Africa is a key hub for our clients, and expanding across the region is of great importance to us. We see immediate opportunities in Africa in particular across energy and infrastructure, mining and commodities. Investment into other sectors is also gaining pace, particularly in financial institutions, technology and agriculture. These alliances mark a significant step forward in the development of our African practice, and will further enhance our global offering.’

Other firms recently bolstering their presence on the continent include Dentons which in early February announced the addition of a new South African office in Johannesburg to complement its already established presence in Cape Town.

sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Sticking with your leaders: Norton Rose Fulbright LLP re-elects Stephen Parish as chairman

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Having carried out the high profile re-election of its global chief executive Peter Martyr in autumn, Norton Rose Fulbright (NRF) has decided to stay the course with its LLP chair position and has re-appointed longstanding partner Stephen Parish as chair of Norton Rose Fulbright LLP.

London-based Parish will serve as chairman for another three-year term, effective from 1st May 2015, after having been first elected to the post in 2009, it will constitute his third term as chair. He will also continue in his role as a global vice chair of Norton Rose Fulbright. In addition, Parish sits on the firm’s global advisory board and chairs the London diversity and inclusion committee.

Parish, who has acted for clients including HSBC, Nordea Bank, and Burberry, has served in several managerial roles for the firm including as head of banking and global chair of the practice.

The accounts of the firm’s UK registered LLP, which covers UK, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Brazil, were published yesterday and recorded a near 4% increase in profit for the 2013/14 financial year alongside a 6.3% reduction in total borrowings.

The appointment follows the re-election of global chief executive Peter Martyr, who was appointed for a further three-year term in late October constituting his fifth term in the top role while Martin Scott, the firm’s global corporate head, M&A securities, succeeded Martyr as managing partner of Norton Rose Fulbright LLP.

Global chief executive Peter Martyr said: ‘I would like to congratulate Stephen on his re-election and thank him for his tireless hard work and dedication, whether it be supporting clients or championing diversity and inclusion issues. He has been integral to the growth of our practice in recent years and he will continue to be so as we develop the business further.’

On his re-election, Parish said: ‘The business has grown dramatically over the last few years and it has been very rewarding to see it develop into the global legal practice it is today. I am very pleased to be re-elected to chairman and I look forward to working with Martin Scott as well as the global management team to further strengthen our global platform.’

sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Accounts: NRF shows 4% profit bump as borrowings fall while Fieldfisher’s profit slides

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Financial results 2013/14 Norton Rose Fulbright
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Norton Rose Fulbright’s UK registered limited liability partnership (LLP) has recorded a near 4% increase in profit for the 2013/14 financial year alongside a 6.3% reduction in total borrowings while Fieldfisher’s net debt nearly doubled as the firm saw its profits decline.

Operating profit at the LLP, which covers UK, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Brazil, rose to £111m from £106.9m while turnover picked up 6% to £392m from £368m.

Borrowings were cut to £51.5m from £55m as loans repayable within one year dropping by nearly 90% to £1.6m from £16m with the burden shifted to those due between two and five years which increased from £33.6m to £45.6m. This saw the firm eliminate its net debt which was £7.5m in 2013, to post a surplus in 2014 of £5.0m.

Staff costs increased to £177m from £166m as the average number of fee earners rose to 1,068 from 1,028 leading to wages and salaries increasing to £160m from £150m. The share of profit allocated since the end of year to the member with the largest entitlement to profits stood at £1.27m compared to £1.21m in 2013.

Meanwhile, Fieldfisher suffered a different fortune with the firm increasing its borrowings while operating profit fell by 8.2%. The firm did see a rise in turnover of 5.2% from £96.7m to £101.6m, but that was outstripped by an £8.1m increase in operating expenses from £64.5m to £72.6m.

Operating profit dropped from £33.4m to £30.6m with the firm’s largest increase in costs falling under other operating charges which rose from £31.1m to £38.2m. The accounts include Fieldfisher’s cancellation of it property leases as it moved to Riverbank House.

Meanwhile, staffing costs remained broadly flat at £32.2m as, although the number of fee earners increased from 245 to 253, support staff fell by 7 people to 280. The average number of members also remained stable, dipping from 129 to 127, however the highest remuneration for a member fell from £625,000 to £620,000.

The firm’s net debt nearly doubled jumping from £5.3m to £10.2m as cash at bank and in hand fell and the firm’s bank overdraft increased from £7.6m in 2013 to £11.5m in 2014.

Other recent filings at Companies House includes King & Wood Mallesons LLP which revealed the firm’s UK office saw a 10.7% fall in turnover in the year to 30 April 2014, while Hogan Lovells recorded a 3.9% revenue boost in its International LLP from £581m to £604m. 

sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Disputes reboot: Norton Rose Fulbright targets India and construction following practice review

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Litigation Norton Rose Fulbright
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Having faced ongoing market criticism for losing multiple disputes partners from its City base in recent years, top ten LB100 firm Norton Rose Fulbright has developed a new strategy for the practice on an international scale in a bid to support growth outside the London office.

In July, Legal Business revealed that the firm intended to carry out a review of the practice in September, with a meeting comprising all EMEA team leaders to take stock of its current position and how to achieve growth outside London.

The disputes leadership have now agreed on a number of development initiatives, including forming an India group with partners from London, Dubai and Singapore working together to develop relationships in and coming out of the Indian market ‘with a view to capturing related disputes work in those jurisdictions’.

It has further established an international construction group with members from London, Dubai and Hong Kong and the development of an electronic product for use by clients; a form of support to help ‘manage potential disputes early on with a view to mitigating the risk of litigation’.

On the changes, EMEA disputes head Deirdre Walker told Legal Business: ‘Whilst within EMEA and particularly in London we have seen significant growth over the last 3 years, we recognised that there remains much left to do and that we need to focus on growth in Europe and Asia.’

Walker added that industries such as insurance, regulatory, investigations and IP remain ‘key areas for growth’ for the practice, particularly in Europe, while it is also focusing on energy and commodities as having ‘potential for real growth’ both in London and internationally.

The dispute team’s re-strategising follows a spate of departures since 2012 that were said to leave a substantial gap in the firm’s City offering, and included arbitration head Joseph Tirado for Winston & Strawn, respected financial disputes partner Charles Evans to Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy, Steve Abraham for Baker & McKenzie and high-profile litigation partner Antony Dutton, who resigned in January 2012 to join the City office of Dechert. Prominent partners remaining includes energy head Neil Miller, and disputes partners Susan Dingwall, Radford Goodman and Ruth Cowley. The Fulbright merger in June 2013 also brought respected global co-head of regulation and investigations Lista Cannon, together with head of investigations for EMEA Chris Warren-Smith and financial services litigator Melanie Ryan.

It also follows an overhaul in 2013 which saw the disputes practice’s dual energy and transport, and banking and commercial divisions multiplied into four, to include a contentious insurance practice following the hire of CMS Cameron McKenna partners Liam O’Connell and Kirsty Hick and the investigations and regulatory team run by Lista Cannon and Martin Coleman.

sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Dealwatch: Freshfields, CC and NRF called in on BT’s £12.5bn purchase of EE

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Corporate Clifford ChanceFreshfields Bruckhaus DeringerNorton Rose Fulbright
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Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Clifford Chance and Norton Rose Fulbright have won roles as telecoms giant BT plumps to acquire Britain’s largest mobile network group EE for £12.5bn.

BT has entered exclusive agreements with EE owners Germany’s Deutsche Telekom and France’s Orange to purchase EE. The news comes after BT confirmed it was in talks to purchase either EE or Spanish group Telefonica’s O2 last month.

BT turned to Freshfields for advice with co-head of M&A in London Ben Spiers, head of antitrust, competition and trade Rod Carlton and corporate partner Natasha Good advising.

Meanwhile, Clifford Chance M&A corporate partners Tim Lewis and Joachim Fleury represented Deutsche Telecom, while Norton Rose Fulbright corporate partners Oliver Stacey and Chris Pearson advised Orange.

Under the agreement, Deutsche Telekom will hold a 12% stake in BT and be entitled to appoint one member to BT’s board of directors while Orange will gain a 4% share. The remainder of the £12.5bn purchase price will be paid in cash with financing options currently being considered by the company.

BT said in a statement: ‘The proposed acquisition would enable BT to accelerate its existing mobility strategy whereby customers will benefit from innovative, seamless services that combine the power of fibre broadband, wi-fi and 4G.’

If approved, BT will consolidate its back-offices and make savings on procurement, marketing and sales costs. BT also expects to generate revenue through selling fixed-line services to EE customers who do not currently take a service from BT, and by accelerating the sale of converged fixed-mobile services to BT’s existing consumer and business customers.

jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk