Legal Business

Travers private equity departures continue as practice head leaves

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Private equity Travers Smith

Lucie Cawood, the head of Travers Smith’s private equity and financial sponsors group, has left the firm, marking the latest in a series of exits from the City firm’s transactional practices.

Cawood has led the firm’s PE group since January 2023, when she succeeded Ian Shawyer, following his move to Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton. She has spent over 20 years at the firm, making partner in 2012, and was also on the firm’s diversity and inclusion board.

Recent key deals she has been involved in include co-leading on Inflexion’s £342m take-private of DWF last year alongside corporate partners Richard Spedding and Ben Lowen.

In a statement, the firm said that she had decided to retire from the partnership to focus on her family. She will be replaced as practice head by Will Yates, has been at the firm since 2007, making partner in 2015.

Cawood’s departure is another blow for Travers’ private equity practice, which saw the double departure of partners Ian Keefe and George Weavil to Goodwin this spring. Other recent departures include Genna Marten, who joined Linklaters in March 2023, and James Renahan, who moved to Fried Frank in mid-2022, as well as Shawyer’s predecessor as practice head, Paul Dolman, who left for Latham & Watkins in 2021.

Eight partners remain in the firm’s private equity and financial sponsors group – Yates, Victoria Bramall, Alex Dixon, Tom Hartwright, Emma Havas, Adam Orr, Laura Kelly,  and managing partner Edmund Reed. The team has recently handled matters such as advising Sixth Street Partners and Patron Capital on the £1.35bn acquisition of Cala Homes from Legal & General, on which Dixon took a lead role.

Yates thanked Cawood for her ‘considerable contribution’ and cited ‘a very busy start to the new financial year’.

‘We are excited and energised to drive the private equity business forward, and build on our enviable client base,’ he said. ‘Our dynamic and flexible approach, coupled with a focus on building long lasting relationships puts us in a great position to pursue, alongside our valued clients, the many opportunities arising from current market dynamics, and to provide the right environment for a fulfilling and enjoyable career in the industry for our people.’

Recent departures from other practices include Mahesh Varia, the head of the firm’s incentives and remuneration group, whose move to A&O Shearman was announced last week (8 November), although the firm did recently secure a boost for its funds team with the hire of Joel Grossmark, who joined from Blackstone Credit and Insurance, where he had led the Europe legal function for five years.

Despite the recent exits, Travers posted strong financials for 2023-24, with a near-10% increase in revenue to £215m and a 18% increase in PEP. The firm cited strong performances across core sectors including disputes and investigations, corporate, M&A and asset management, as well as ‘continued success in private equity’, according to senior partner Andrew Gillen.

Legal Business

‘A powerful thing’ – how the Mindful Business Charter is reinvigorating efforts to tackle mental health issues in law

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Mental health BristowsCMSTravers Smith

It’s not news to anyone that the legal profession is stressful. As Michael Cavers, head of debt capital markets at CMS and chair of trustees at the Mindful Business Charter (MBC) puts it: ‘Lawyers are high achievers and perfectionists. Law firms – and our clients – have high expectations of our lawyers, and they have high expectations of themselves. We acknowledge that this can be a trigger for poor mental health.’

Launched six years ago to the day on World Mental Health Day 2018, the MBC – which takes the form of a commitment that member firms sign up to – aims to tackle the mental health issues prevalent in the industry, by raising awareness, reducing stigmas and supporting those in distress, focusing on factors such as openness, respect and the need to ‘switch off’.

Since inception, it has grown from 12 to over 130 members, with signatories now including firms such as A&O Shearman, Baker McKenzie, Clifford Chance, Linklaters, Hogan Lovells, CMS, Travers Smith and Bristows.

But City law firms would not be worth their salt if they signed up without doing their due diligence. So what is it about the MBC that appeals to so many firms?

Morwenna Scholes, head of HR at Bristows, highlights the role that the MBC plays in the firm’s wellbeing efforts: ‘‘It acts as a spotlight on the issues, and anchors the many wellbeing initiatives we had in place at Bristows – I’m delighted to say that it has found its way into our daily language, with people across the firm saying: “That’s not very MBC”.

Cavers believes the independent nature of the MBC and its popularity among law firms is a key part of the appeal. ‘It’s a framework that allows us to have conversations with other law firms, our clients, and internally – conversations that we might otherwise find a little bit awkward,’ he explains.

Signatories are quick to acknowledge the role that the MBC has played in helping to transform attitudes towards mental health. As Moira Slape, chief people officer at Travers Smith and deputy chair of trustees at the MBC puts it: ‘What I’m most proud of is the fact that the vocabulary that we have in the firm around mental health is so much more developed. People in the firm who have had their mental health challenges are braver about sharing them.’

This point is echoed by Cavers: ‘During Mental Health Week, and throughout the year, people across the firm share their stories and experience of mental health quite openly in a way that I’m absolutely convinced they wouldn’t have done not that many years ago.’

A new set of best practice guidelines were released on 24 September, which Cavers believes will give firms a chance to ‘reinvigorate their efforts’ when it comes to mental health in the workplace.

CMS recently put together a new mental health senior steering committee, which has dedicated some time to reviewing the new MBC guidelines. These include: encouraging senior leaders to role-model care for their mental health; introducing regular senior board reporting on mental health; and developing effective mechanisms to understand and identify risks to particular demographic groups and practice areas.

MBC CEO Richard Martin (pictured top) – himself a former City employment lawyer at firms including Speechly Bircham and Jones Day – believes that modern life is creating a more challenging environment for junior lawyers: ‘The working world is much more intense and demanding than when I was coming through the ranks. Some people in my generation will say, “I had to go through that so why shouldn’t you?” My response is, first of all – you didn’t. And secondly, that feels like a fairly sad way to justify difficulty.’

One issue that is frequently brought up as a factor behind rising stress levels is the salary wars currently roiling the London legal market. As Martin puts it: ‘It doesn’t take a genius to recognise that if you’re paying 180 grand, you’re going to expect quite a lot in return for that.’

Travers’ Slape echoes this sentiment: ‘The salary wars do layer on an additional level of expectation for very young people in the profession. It’s a problem that is not going away.’

She adds that the stresses of the sector are leading to a change in aspirations for young people entering the legal profession: ‘Some still want to be partners, but increasingly others don’t want to deal with the added pressures and stress that comes with partnership.’

As Layla Tow, chief marketing officer and head of business development at Bristows, sums up: ‘The MBC has given some structure and commonality of goal across the sector at leadership level. It’s kept workplace wellbeing front and centre – and that’s a powerful thing.’

How firms are supporting their staff and partners

CMS

– The establishment of a mental health and wellbeing committee that provides a safe forum for members to discuss and share ideas and feedback
– The establishment of a responsible business board committee for board-level discussions about mental health and wellbeing.
– Time Out, No Questions Asked’ programme – employees can take one month of unpaid leave per year, in addition to their regular annual leave, no questions asked
– 200+ wellbeing ambassadors, located across all UK offices, trained in mental health awareness and able to offer confidential support.

Travers Smith

– A dedicated menopause policy – including a number of paid-for benefits, to provide support to people who are experiencing symptoms associated with the perimenopause and menopause.
– Free counselling services to all employees and partners, alongside a 24/7 helpline facility
– Free membership of Calm.com, facilitating access to mindfulness and meditation sessions.
– Establishing a group of volunteers across the firm who are members of the mental health first aid aware group.
– Employee-led groups, such as the Menopause Awareness Group, Bereavement Support Group and Cancer Support Network, which provide support to those dealing with the mental impacts of the menopause and loss respectively.

Bristows

– A wellbeing consultation day, with a specialist medical provider providing 1-2-1 sessions that staff can book for a physical and mental health screening
– A massage day – staff can book an ‘above clothes’ 15-minute massage slot
– Free 1-2-1 consultations with a financial wellbeing coach – covering everything from savings, mortgages, budgeting to retirement
– A team of 30 qualified mental health first aiders across the firm – just under 10% of the staff and partners.

tom.cox@legalease.co.uk

Efforts to improve mental health in the legal profession will be among the many law firm initiatives recognised at the upcoming UK ESG Awards 2025 in London next year – for more details and how to submit, click here.

Legal Business

Travers Smith reaches record highs for revenue and PEP despite recent partner exits

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Financial results Stevens & BoltonStewartsTravers Smith

Turning the page on last year’s disappointing financial performance, when revenue nudged up by just 1% and profit per equity partner (PEP) stayed flat, Travers Smith today (29 July) announced record-breaking results for 2023-24.

Revenue passed £200m for the first time, reaching £215m —a nearly 10% increase from last year’s £197.5m.

PEP, meanwhile, climbed 18% to £1.3m – the highest the firm has ever recorded, with profit up 22% to £77m.

Andrew Gillen, the firm’s senior partner discussed the results with Legal Business. ‘The results were in line with the high expectations we set for ourselves, but it’s always satisfying, especially when some areas of our business faced challenging markets,’ he said. ‘Achieving the high expectations we set for ourselves is always rewarding.’

The firm’s growth was broad-based, with strong performances across core sectors including disputes and investigations, corporate, M&A, private equity, and asset management.

Managing Partner Edmund Reed (pictured) said: ‘Our approach is about smart, incremental improvements – making small adjustments to enhance efficiency rather than any major changes.’

In recent years Travers has navigated a series of challenges, including several senior departures, including corporate partner Richard Spedding, who moved to Linklaters in May; Doug Bryden, formerly head of environment, operational regulatory, and co-head of ESG and impact, who joined Freshfields last October; and private equity partners Ian Keefe and George Weavil, who moved to Goodwin in April.

Addressing the departures, Gillen said: ‘Our continued success in private equity and other areas reflects the robustness of our platform. Departures are a natural part of a dynamic market, but they haven’t significantly impacted our operations. Our recent lateral hires underscore the enduring appeal of our firm.’

Travers made several additions over the last year, including strengthening its funds team with the hires of Proskauer Rose lawyer Tosin Adeyeri as a partner last October and Blackstone European legal counsel Joel Grossmark in June. The firm also brought in Watson Farley & Williams partner Ryan Ayrton into its cross-practice infrastructure sector group, in a move announced this month.

The firm also made management changes, with Gillen elected senior partner in November and Heather Gagen, Tim Gilbert, and Susie Daykin taking over as heads of dispute resolution, employment, and pensions respectively. In addition, Travers promoted six new partners and elevated 11 lawyers to senior counsel, while increasing newly qualified salaries by 9% to £120,000 and enhancing trainee packages.

On maintaining competitiveness, Reed said: ‘Our comprehensive approach – combining competitive pay, bonuses, benefits, work quality, culture, and career development – ensures our overall package stands out. Our lower turnover rate compared to the market average and successful lateral partner hires are a testament to our firm’s attractiveness at all levels.’

Notable work for the firm has included advising AlpInvest Partners on its new European semi-liquid, evergreen private markets strategy, guiding Zegona Communications in its €5bn acquisition of Vodafone Spain, and issuing proceedings alleging abuse of dominance against Newcastle United on behalf of Sports Direct.

Reflecting on the past year, Reed said: ‘I’m thrilled to see strong performance across all areas of our business. Even in challenging markets, especially within M&A, we’ve managed to secure impressive mandates despite a tougher economic environment over the past 12 months.’

He concluded: ‘The situation is clearly improving. It feels much more positive now compared to this time last year, and I’m optimistic that the current financial year will continue this upward trend.’

Elsewhere, Stewarts, has also posted a strong set of results showing revenue up 12% to £95.2m. PEP is up by more than 16% to £1.42m, with £1.82m paid to the firm’s highest earner, and just over £753,000 at the bottom of the equity ladder – up from £1.7m and £592,000 respectively.

The performance marks a bounceback after last year’s results saw revenue fall by 25% and profit plummet by 56%.

‘I am pleased to announce a solid set of financial results with growth in both revenue and profit as compared to the prior year’, said managing partner Stuart Dench in a statement.

‘As a disputes-only law firm, our revenue is non-linear, and this represents a good core income performance and is our second highest revenue year. We have made significant investments in cases over the past year including DBA and CFA mandates. We invested in our people, making six lateral hires and promoting six to the partnership.’

Stewarts has long stressed that its disputes-only model means growth will be non-linear, and last year’s decline came off the back of a hugely impressive 2021-22 that saw revenue rise by 43% to more than £114m and profit soar by 93% to hit £58m. The firm’s five-year revenue growth rate now stands at over 38% based on the figures reported in 2019’s LB100 – up two percentage points on its 2018-23 rate of 36%, but still a sight below its 2017-22 rate of 46%.

In conversation with Legal Business, Dench said: ‘We’re pleased with the results because they show the depth and diversity of our income. We’ve continued to invest in a strong portfolio of DBA and CFA cases, which could support very strong financial results in the future.’

‘Our vision is that by 2030 we will be the UK’s leading disputes firm in each of our practice areas.’

He added: ‘We want to add further strength and depth in commerical litigation and international arbitration. We’re also looking at patent disputes, tech disputes, and disputes relating to AI and cyber – the linking theme is disputes in emerging sectors of the economy.’

Another firm to unveil strong results for 2023-24 is Stevens & Bolton, which has posted double-digit increases in revenue, profit, and PEP in its 150th year.

Revenue for the 11 months to 31 March 2024 was £38.8m – up 20% on the same 11-month period 2022-23. Annualised figures showed revenue up 18% to £42.3m, profit up 31% to £16.7m, and PEP up 22% to £360,000, with £750,000 at the top of the equity spread.

‘I am delighted that our results so clearly reflect the confidence placed by our clients in our talented and cohesive group of partners and lawyers’, said managing partner James Waddell in a statement.

Chief operating officer Doug Williams added: ‘While the firm has demonstrated consistent and sustainable performance, we recognise the increasing pace of change in the legal market and shifting needs of both our clients and our people and have evolved our ambition and approach to match.

‘This year’s step-change in performance was supported by an increased focus on business management and is underpinned by investment in our professional non-legal teams and operating platform as we look to push beyond traditional business services.’

The firm has brought its financial year-end forward to align with the UK tax year after HMRC changed its basis period rules to require all self-employed individuals and partnerships be taxed on the basis of the tax year rather than their own financial year-end, joining firms such as Fieldfisher and Macfarlanes that were also affected by the change.

The results come after a rocky 2022-23 that saw revenue dip by 1% while PEP fell by 16% as reported in last year’s LB100.

anna.huntley@legalease.com

alexander.ryan@legalbusiness.co.uk

Legal Business

‘We’ve gone a long way but are by no means complacent’ – embedding LGBTQ+ inclusion in the legal profession

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Diversity Travers Smith

Travers Smith partner and senior LGBTQ+ champion Daniel Gerring discusses with Legal Business the importance for law firms to avoid complacency and how they should continue to persevere with LGBTQ+ inclusion.

What was your personal journey regarding coming out in the profession?

Like a lot of young people starting work, I went back into the closet. After being out at university and in law school, I felt that I wanted to test the water at work before deciding what to do. Being back in the closet was strange and challenging – not being able to be yourself is hard for most people. When I did eventually come out, overall, I had a very good experience. I was at Allen & Overy at that stage and even back then – back in the early 2000s – it was already an inclusive firm with some really great role models. I did have an interesting moment with a drunk colleague very shortly after I came out. She said, ‘Have you met my trainee? He’s marvelously gay!’. It wasn’t meant with any malice, but it made me feel really uncomfortable being reduced to a stereotype, so much so that I still remember it vividly more than 20 years later.

Regarding coming out, the thing is that it isn’t a ‘one and done’ process – you have to keep doing it. When you go to the hairdressers and they ask you about your weekend, you have to decide whether or not to stay in the closet. It’s the same with clients and people you’re working with, and it isn’t immediately obvious how they will react. I remember having a client I was close with doing a very intense deal and, because I was wearing a wedding ring at the time, she always asked about my wife. I didn’t correct her early on and then it became too awkward to do anything about it until the deal was finished. I needn’t have worried as she was great, but it’s just another thing to have to think about and which can use up your energy unnecessarily.

You’ve done a lot of work, both in the legal sector and beyond, aimed at supporting LGBTQ+ people and causes. What do you think are some of the main challenges for LGBTQ+ inclusion, and do you feel an obligation to use your own experience to help others and be a role model?

The concept of being a role model is interesting. When I was a very junior partner, someone talked about me as a role model, and I remember feeling instinctively very uncomfortable and a bit like a fraud being labelled that way. But, reasonably quickly, particularly because I was in a firm where I was the only openly LGBTQ+ partner at the time, I felt that I had a responsibility to try and help other people by being visible.

Doing work on LGBTQ+ inclusion is part of a wider personal commitment I have to social justice and the rights of minority and disadvantaged groups. I’m also not a believer in the phrase of doing the gay job’ alongside ‘the day job’. I see promoting LGBTQ+ inclusion and social justice as core parts of my identity, both at work and beyond.

I started on that journey with more of a focus on social mobility – taking on my first non-exec role when I was a trainee in my early 20s. LGBTQ+ inclusion followed, alongside a focus on homelessness and social housing as well as refugees and asylum seekers.

Sadly, there are many challenges still out there. Part of the problem is that there’s a lot of complacency around the rights of LGBTQ+ people. In the UK, people too often look at the LGBTQ+ community, particularly the LGB community, and say, ‘you got what you wanted – you can get married and have kids,’ and in a very narrow sense that is correct. But if you go below the surface there’s all sorts of issues. As a relatively new parent, I have seen examples of officialdom at its worst and a legal system creaking at the edge trying to cope with alternative families. I have experienced prejudice as a gay dad which (perhaps complacently) I thought was largely in the past. The safety of LGBTQ+ people is also not something to take for granted. The Office for National Statistics most recently reported that hate crimes based on sexual orientation are up by 112% in England and Wales in the last five years and this figure is much worse – at 186% – for trans people. The position in many other countries is still more concerning, including many Commonwealth States with legacy anti-LGBTQ+ British colonial laws.

As a firm, Travers Smith is committed to walking the walk and not just talking on these issues. For example, we have sponsored a PhD student at the University of Cambridge to support her research on LGBTQ+ issues. We also worked with the charity GiveOut to set up the GiveOut LGBTQI Legal Aid Fund. Through the fund, GiveOut has partnered with leading law firms including Travers Smith and A&O Shearman to channel financial and pro bono legal support to LGBTQ+ organisations around the world, including in South Asia and East Africa. As well as sitting on the board of GiveOut, I’m also chair of Just Like Us (JLU), a young people’s LGBTQ+ charity which now works with over half of the secondary schools in the UK. We’ve worked closely with JLU over the past seven years to develop a mentoring programme aimed at supporting you LGBTQ+ graduates transition from student life to the workplace. Over that time, we’ve worked with hundreds of students to help them feel more confident and comfortable with their identity, and to empower them to be role models of the future.

How has the industry improved since you began your career?

The industry has improved markedly, and we have some amazing younger talent coming through, including many great new role models.

When I started, there were some great examples of good practice, but overall, there were an awful lot of issues and a lot of firms where LGBTQ+ people felt deeply uncomfortable. The truth of the matter is, when I joined Travers Smith in 2009, I didn’t feel comfortable at all. People were incredibly kind and personable, but it lulled them into a false sense of security, thinking, ‘We’re a nice firm, therefore we can’t have any problems’. In reality, there were problems, quite a lot around banter and just not thinking about how to be inclusive. What we’ve done at Travers Smith is to be honest with ourselves and thoughtfully implement change. We’ve gone a long way but are by no means complacent. Our LGBTQ+ Network Group plays a key role in continuing to drive change and I am delighted to support its work as our Senior LGBTQ+ Champion.

Within the sector generally, there have been some major strides to improve things. Along with some awesome colleagues from across the profession, I was involved in setting up the LGBTQ+ Division of the Law Society of England and Wales. I have been delighted to see how the Division has grown over recent years, spreading best practice and providing support to solicitors across the country. Alongside this, we are fortunate to have groups such as the InterLaw Diversity Forum, which, under the leadership of Daniel Winterfeldt, continues to go from strength to strength.

What more do you think needs to be done to embed LGBTQ+ inclusion in the law?

There are a few themes I would concentrate on. The first is retention of LGBTQ+ staff and partners. There remains a real lack of research around LGBTQ+ people in the law, but the research that does exist indicates that many firms find it harder to retain LGBTQ+ people, even when they’re successfully recruiting diverse candidates. Law firms need to ensure they are not being complacent and continue to persevere to make workplaces more inclusive. We need to listen to our colleagues and continue to push boundaries.

I also think we have made big strides in the G, and to some regards with the L, but we need to do more in terms of bi inclusion and representation. There is too often a suggestion that it’s easier for bi people ‘because they have choices’ but I’ve never heard of a bi person – when actually asked – who relates to that proposition.

Critically, we need to do much more to support trans people. Trans representation at law firms remains poor. We should take our lead from out trans colleagues on what they need, but there are unquestionably areas where most employers could still make relatively small changes, such as on healthcare and health-related leave, which could massively improve people’s lives.

The last point I’d add is something which is very personal to me, and that relates to families. I am lucky in that Travers Smith has an excellent family policy for same-sex couples and single parents. When my son was born, I was the primary carer, and I felt I needed and wanted to take a significant period of leave to be with him. Travers Smith’s policy treated me just as it would a female partner or member of staff who had had a baby, both in terms of the amount of time I could take and my remuneration. Somewhat surprisingly, this approach remains quite unusual and I’m not aware of another senior, male, City law partner who has taken the best part of a year away from his firm after having a child (if there are some and I don’t know them, I’d love to meet them). For firms which haven’t yet made this change to their policies – I’d politely ask, ‘Why not?’. It could be a real game changer for one of your colleagues now or in the future. LB

Legal Business

New brooms for Travers Smith as partnership elects Gillen to senior partner

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Leadership Travers Smith

Travers Smith today (6 November) announced the election of Andrew Gillen as senior partner.

With a term commencing on 1 January 2024, Gillen will succeed acting senior partner Siân Keall, who has been in the role, first in a part-time capacity since January 2023, and then full-time since 30 June following Kathleen Russ’s decision to step down from the role. Keall will remain a member of the firm’s partnership board until the end of her final term in June 2024.

Legal 500 Hall of Famer in equity capital markets, Gillen is Travers’ head of corporate M&A and ECM and is credited with establishing cross-border M&A as a core focus of the firm’s strategy. Gillen also has experience sitting on the firm’s partnership board, having helped guide the firm through the pandemic lockdowns.

Additionally, Gillen heads the firm’s international board, having helped to formalise its approach to international work, including the establishment of an international secondment programme. He also led the introduction of Travers’s PRIME work-experience scheme.

Alongside Gillen’s appointment, the firm has named Heather Gagen as head of dispute resolution, succeeding Rob Fell, Tim Gilbert as head of employment, succeeding Ed Mills, and Susie Daykin as head of pensions, succeeding Daniel Gerring. The partners will start their terms on 1 January 2024.

Gillen said: ‘As senior partner, one of my first priorities will be to retain and enhance our position as a leading independent UK law firm operating internationally. We will continue to develop our core areas of international asset management, complex transactions and global disputes and investigations, whilst seeking to further develop our corporate and institutional client relationships. I look forward to working with all of our partners to further strengthen our business and in delivering outstanding results for our clients.’

It has been a turbulent year for Travers, which suffered disappointing financial results in July. Revenue rose a meagre 1% to £197.5m and PEP flatlined at £1.1m. The firm also saw a steady stream of partner departures earlier in the year. Respected head of private equity Ian Shawyer left for Cleary, while its head of M&A tax Jessica Kemp moved to White & Case. Travers also lost private equity secondaries specialists Ed Ford and Sacha Gofton-Salmond to Simpson Thacher. Meanwhile, respected private equity partner Genna Marten moved to Linklaters and Dechert poached Samuel Kay for its London financial services and investment management practice.

More recently Freshfields appointed leading environment and regulatory lawyer Doug Bryden to its global ESG and sustainability practice. Bryden was previously Travers Smith’s head of environment and operational regulatory and its co-head of ESG and impact.

Edmund Reed, Travers’s managing partner said: ‘Many congratulations to Andrew on his appointment as our next senior partner. We have known each other for a long time having worked closely as corporate partners and sat on the partnership board together. We have both spent a large portion of our careers at Travers Smith and share a joint passion for the firm’s values and culture, which continues to set us apart from our competitors.’

‘I am very much looking forward to working with Andrew to navigate the next stage of the firm’s evolution and push forwards with our plans for the future. I would also like to thank Siân for taking up the role of acting senior partner earlier this year – she has done an outstanding job. The firm is in a much stronger position as a result of her sage counsel and I’m grateful that she will continue as a member of our partnership board until next summer,’ Reed added.

holly.mckechnie@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Russ to step down as Travers Smith senior partner

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Leadership Travers Smith

Kathleen Russ has taken the decision to step down as senior partner of Travers Smith, following a leave of absence for ‘exceptional family reasons’.

Russ (pictured) will return to her role as senior partner in a part time capacity, sharing responsibilities with Siân Keall, who has been acting senior partner since January. Russ will stand down as a partner and senior partner on 30th June, after which she will remain as a consultant at Travers, focusing on areas of strategic importance such as ESG, D&I and client listening.

The firm will hold an election for a senior partner successor in the autumn, after the summer break. Keall will continue in the role of acting senior partner until the election.

Russ first took on the role of senior partner in July 2019, succeeding long term leader Chris Hale. She has been a tax partner at Travers since 2001, leading the tax team from July 2007 to January 2017. Russ was re-elected for a second term as senior partner in November 2022.

Keall is a partner in the firm’s employment department and a member of its diversity & inclusion board.

A spokesperson for Travers Smith said: ‘The partnership board recognises that Kathleen has made a significant contribution to Travers, and they are delighted that she will be continuing as a consultant.’

Edmund Reed, managing partner of Travers, said: ‘We are delighted to welcome Kath back after her leave of absence for exceptional family reasons and the inevitable impact of those circumstances on Kath. We prioritise the wellbeing of our people ahead of anything else, and enabling Kath to share the responsibilities of the senior partner role with Siân Keall will allow her to balance her personal situation at home with the time-pressures that can come from performing the senior partner role, at a leading city law firm.’

holly.mckechnie@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Stopping the bleeding at Travers will require hard-won loyalty and a pay overhaul

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Pritchard Travers Smith

Looking at the recent wave of departures from Travers Smith brings to mind fears expressed by peers when we last did a major analysis of the firm back in 2019.

Four years ago, harbingers of doom were quick to jump on the perceived threat to such a UK-centric firm amid Britain’s exit from the European Union. Noted one corporate partner at a US firm at the time: ‘If profit starts to fall post-Brexit, what do you do with Paul Dolman? If Paul left, it would be a killer blow. He is talismanic.’

Legal Business

Shearman and Travers hit with losses as recruitment turns to restructuring and leveraged finance

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Strategic recruitment Shearman & SterlingTravers Smith

Ongoing talk of a merger with Hogan Lovells has prompted an exodus from Shearman & Sterling, with the departure of EMEA and Asia M&A head Philip Cheveley to Sidley Austin one of the headline moves in the London market in recent weeks.

The blow to Shearman will be even more keenly felt since the move represents a reversal for one of its stated ambitions to focus on corporate, and because Cheveley only joined from Travers Smith less than two years ago, in March 2021.

Legal Business

Revolving Doors: Travers and Shearman exodus continues as US firms pick up the talent

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Revolving doors Shearman & SterlingTravers Smith

Once a rare phenomenon, exits from Travers Smith have picked up pace in recent weeks, with the latest departures announced this week being those of Ed Ford and Sacha Gofton-Salmond to Simpson Thacher & Bartlett. Partners at Travers since July 2021 and July 2022, respectively, Ford and Gofton-Salmond will bring to Simpson Thacher with capabilities in the private equity secondaries market.

Jason Glover, managing partner of Simpson Thacher’s London office and head of its European funds team commented: ‘Simpson Thacher has a multifaceted private funds practice in Europe and the addition of Ed and Sacha will further enhance our ability to provide clients with the flexibility needed to meet an evolving market.’

Glover also signalled the firm’s confidence in the continued expansion of the secondaries market, after total transactions reached a new record of $57bn in 2022, according to Jefferies’ global secondary market review. ‘Secondaries have grown in popularity in recent years’, he said, ‘and we expect that their use will continue to grow in a wide variety of private equity strategies.’

The two moves mark another gain for the firm from Travers after Stephanie Biggs came over to co-lead the European financial services and funds regulatory team earlier this month.

At Shearman & Sterling, meanwhile, the absence of any fresh news on the much-speculated upon merger with Hogan Lovells did not stem the outward flow of lawyers, as insolvency and restructuring partner Helena Potts left for Paul Hastings.

Potts is the third partner to join the firm’s London office so far this year, following the hires of former Linklaters infrastructure co-heads Jessamy Gallagher and Stuart Rowson in January. She pointed to this growth as a reason for her move. ‘Paul Hastings has been making a lot of high-profile lateral hires, and has brought over a lot of smart people in the restructuring space, both in London and in the US’, Potts told Legal Business. ‘That makes this an incredible platform for me to continue growing my practice.’

Potts also noted that her hire came amid expectations of a boom in the sector. ‘Restructuring has been quite quiet for the last couple of years. But the market looks set to turn, given the macroeconomic headwinds that we’re facing globally.’

Elsewhere, Dechert announced its hire of four antitrust partners and one counsel from Orrick. Douglas Lahnborg joined the London office with Saira Henry, who was a senior associate at Orrick, while John Jurata joined in Washington DC and Russell Cohen and counsel Howard Ullman joined in San Francisco.

With these hires, Dechert has established a dedicated London-based competition offering for the first time, with Lahnborg and Henry set to work closely with lawyers in the United States and across Europe, as well as with others in London who handle antitrust work arising from areas such as white-collar defence and investigations. ‘We’re meeting a strategic need’, global antitrust and competition group co-chair Mike Cowie explained to Legal Business. ‘Brexit has made UK antitrust enforcement far more important – you need more than just Brussels. You need a strong presence in London, you need depth. And Saira and Douglas bring that.’

Lahnborg and Henry bring particular expertise in the tech sector, including in cutting-edge areas such as cloud computing and AI. Lahnborg highlighted this aspect of his practice in conversation with Legal Business. ‘With this team, we’re particularly focused on technology. A lot of the enforcement activity we see in the US, in Brussels, and increasingly in the UK, is around tech. It just keeps generating market studies and investigations.’

In another departure from Orrick, European syndicated lending and direct lending specialist Anthony Kay moved to Baker McKenzie. Made up to the partnership at Orrick in 2020, Kay brings additional breadth to Baker McKenzie’s leveraged finance offering.

‘We add Anthony to a strong bench of banking and finance partners’, New York and London-based capital markets partner Rob Mathews told Legal Business. ‘His hire plays well into our broader complementary private equity and leveraged finance strategies. He’s perfect for us. He worked at Latham & Watkins and Orrick, so he’s known in the market, and he has both the syndicated lending piece and the direct lending piece. He has client contacts in both of those areas, so he’s kind of a double whammy.’

Away from restructuring and private equity, insurance was a focus for CMS, which expanded its practice with the hire of Anna Walsh. Most recently a partner at Capsticks, Walsh focuses on the healthcare sector. Insurance and reinsurance group head Ed Foss stressed this expertise as a reason for Walsh’s hire. ‘Having Anna come over, who has that experience from a healthcare perspective, really fits our broader strategy to meet complex insurance needs across sectors.’

Walsh expanded on this point, noting ‘huge growth in the private healthcare market in the last few years’, and increasing client demand for advice in growth areas including digital health and AI.

alexander.ryan@legalbusiness.co.uk

Legal Business

Continuity in turbulent times: Travers re-elects Kath Russ to second senior partner term

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Leadership Travers Smith

Travers Smith today (16 November) confirmed Kathleen Russ has been re-elected as senior partner for a second term, starting 1 July 2023.

Russ first took on the role in July 2019 when she succeeded long term leader Chris Hale. She has been a tax partner since 2001 and led the tax team from July 2007 to January 2017. Russ also contributed to firm strategy as a member of Travers’ partnership board.

She will be at the helm for another two years, alongside Edmund Reed, who has been managing partner since 2021, at a challenging time for the firm. For the financial year 2021/22, it recorded a slowdown in revenue and 9% drop in PEP from £1.22m to £1.105m which Reed attributed to the impact of economic volatility, exacerbated by its later financial year end of 30 June. This followed its recovery in 2021 from an 11% slump in net profit and 20% fall in profit per equity partner which accompanied its 1% revenue drop in 2019/20.

Russ (pictured) said: ‘The last few years have thrown up a number of challenges no one could have anticipated, and as we move beyond the pandemic, but into increasingly uncertain economic times, it is more important than ever that we focus on investing in our future and our people, and driving forwards our acceleration in our three core areas of focus: in the international alternative asset management sector, in cross-border mergers and acquisitions and in our global disputes and investigations work.

‘I have a deep-seated belief in the power of the team, the power of effective collaboration and in the power of harnessing and nurturing talent and I believe we do all these things exceptionally well at Travers Smith – this is our culture and this is what makes the firm truly great, and a wonderful place to work.’

Despite the economic headwinds, the firm has continued to attract impressive volumes of transactional work. Since 2020, the firm has acted in more than 130 private and public M&A transactions and over 30 equity capital markets transactions. It also handled over 160 private equity backed transactions since 2020, including Inflexion’s sale of Medivet to CVC which resulted in the firm’s recent recognition of Private Equity Team of the Year at Legal Business’ 2022 awards.

In fact, Travers – for the second year in a row – picked up two wins at this year’s awards. The second was in the prestigious Commercial Litigation category for its ‘substantially successful’ representation of HP in protracted fraud claims against Mike Lynch and Sushovan Hussain arising out of HP’s acquisition of Autonomy, a FTSE100 software company, in 2011.

The firm also promoted a record 11 new partners in July 2022 with the majority across the three core areas of focus highlighted by Russ.

On the ESG front, the firm hired its first pro bono partners and rolled out the Mindful Business Charter commitments during Russ’ first term. She also chair’s the diversity and inclusion board.

Reed added: ‘Kath has done a fantastic job as senior partner over the last few years and I am delighted she has been re-appointed for a second term. Her re-election signals the stability and continuity of the firm’s leadership and the confidence of the partnership in the firm’s direction, particularly reassuring in the turbulent times we are all living through. I am excited to continue working closely on the ambitious projects and initiatives we have already embarked upon together.’

megan.mayers@legalease.com