Legal Business

Pinsents, Bond Dickinson and ShepWedd take panel spots for Severn Trent and United Utilities JV

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Pinsent Masons, Bond Dickinson and Shepherd and Wedderburn have all won places on Water Plus’ legal panel. The new business water retailer is a joint venture launched by FTSE 100 water company Severn Trent and United Utilities.

Following a process led by Water Plus head of legal and company secretary Kristin Garrett, the LB100 firms have won a places on the panel lasting two years.

Stoke-on-Trent based Water Plus launched in June last year to provide services for business customers when new competition rules are introduced from April 2017. The new rules will allow eligible customers to switch water providers.

Bond Dickinson will provide advice across commercial, competition, regulatory and commercial disputes. Energy partner Ian Newcombe said: ‘The new competition rules coming into force in April 2017 will impact all UK businesses looking to switch providers and will come with a number of legal challenges as well as opportunities.’

Eversheds is Severn Trent’s sole adviser, renewing for a five-year term in 2015. The water company had considered appointing at least two firms to its roster with the company’s review taking proposals from a total of 13 firms across five different areas: debt recovery, employment, general quality regulation, property and combined competition/commercial economic regulation.

Earlier this week Legal Business revealed utilities giant National Grid has reorganised its in-house legal function following the £13.8bn separation of its gas distribution business.

The new business, National Grid Gas Distribution, has appointed National Grid’s former legal business partner Mark Cooper as its general counsel and company secretary.

National Grid Gas Distribution will retain the same panel arrangements with its main law firms, meaning firms will now sit on two panels. The panel was reduced in August 2015 following a review, with Herbert Smith Freehills, Irwin Mitchell and Addleshaw Goddard all winning places alongside incumbents Eversheds, Linklaters, CMS Cameron McKenna and DLA Piper.

madeleine.farman@legalease.co.uk

Read more:‘A buyers’ market – The trends and traumas in adviser reviews’

Legal Business

Bond Dickinson latest to restart salary review after postponing due to Brexit

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Salaries Womble Bond Dickinson
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Bond Dickinson has restarted its salary review, after the firm postponed the process in September due to the effect on activity levels caused by Britain’s vote to leave the EU.

In a statement the firm said: ‘Further to our decision to defer our salary review process the board has reviewed our position and we are pleased to confirm that we will be proceeding with our salary review. All increases will be backdated to 1 November 2016, which was the effective date of the original review before we deferred it. ‘

In an email to staff managing partner Jonathan Blair had told the firm there had been ‘a dip in activity levels’ and that ‘the decision to leave the EU appears to impacting on client activity and instructions’.

Blair said: ‘We have very reluctantly concluded that we will need to defer the current salary review process until we are in a position to review half year results together with projected fee income for the remainder of the financial year.’

Last week Legal Business revealed that Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP), the first known firm to freeze pay after the Brexit vote, has gone ahead with its salary reviews.

In July BLP froze pay for all UK-based staff following Brexit concerns, with managing partner Lisa Mayhew stating in an email it was ‘the prudent thing to do’. The freeze included salaries for associates, paralegals, business development, marketing and other back office staff.

A spokesman said the freeze was over and the firm will now revert to the ‘usual review timeline’ which means the next review is due in July 2017.

BLP is only one of the firms which chose post-Brexit caution after the vote. Addleshaw Goddard also froze salary reviews for staff and delayed its annual review of partner remuneration for both fixed-share and full-equity partners in August, and then restarted its salary review for all staff last month, pledging to backdate increases.

After a similar move in the summer, Gowling WLG also informed its staff on 20 September that it will restart its delayed salary review, as did Trowers & Hamlins.

Trowers had placed the freeze on fee earners’ pay in August, citing the ‘economic uncertainty’ following Brexit, and then reversed it in September following a management board meeting.

kathryn.mccann@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Exits stack up as Olswang loses partners to Clifford Chance and Bond Dickinson

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Olswang has suffered a double exit with its co-head of life sciences departing the firm in favour of Clifford Chance, while Bond Dickinson has appointed another partner from the tech firm as its head of funds.

IP partner Stephen Reese joined Olswang in 2002, advising on contentious and non-contentious intellectual property matters. Reese will leave to join Clifford Chance’s corporate practice as City firms continue to reinvigorate their IP practices.

During his time as co-head, Reese co-led the team advising shareholders of Convergence Pharmaceuticals on its acquisition by US biotechnology company Biogen for up to $675m. He also advised mobile commerce enabler MoPowered on its admission to trading on the London Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market, which had a market capitalisation of approximately £15.8m on admission.

Allen & Overy (A&O) has also recently bulked up its IP offering, taking a further two IP partners from Simmons & Simmons, the third and fourth IP partner A&O have taken this year from the firm.

Meanwhile, Bond Dickinson has hired Olswang funds and regulatory partner Barry Stimpson.

Stimpson joined Bond Dickinson in July and has spent the past two months working as a consultant for Olswang as he transferred over to UK national firm.

Specialising in investment funds, joint ventures and limited liability partnerships, Stimpson joins Bond Dickinson with 26 years of legal experience. Joining Linklaters in 1987, Stimpson had a brief stint as an investment banking executive joining UBS in 1989 before signing on as partner at Blake Morgan in 1992. Since that time, Stimpson has been a partner at Squire Patton Boggs, RPC and DAC Beachcroft before joining Olswang in 2016 as a corporate partner.

Head of corporate at the firm Stephen Pierce said: ‘[Stimpson] is another excellent addition to our corporate finance team and strengthens our existing national practice, allowing us to nurture existing client relations, and, opening up opportunities for us to expand our current client network.’

Rumoured to be in merger talks with CMS Cameron McKenna, Olswang is said to be ripe for a merger after the firm saw an 11% drop in its turnover for the 2015/16 financial year with revenues falling by £14.2m to £112.5m. Its profits per equity partner (PEP) remained steady at £490,000.

madeleine.farman@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Bond Dickinson latest to blame Brexit as firm implements pay freeze

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Salaries Womble Bond Dickinson
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Bond Dickinson is the latest firm to postpone its salary reviews until November, blaming the Brexit vote for hitting activity levels.

In an email to staff managing partner Jonathan Blair told the firm there had been ‘a dip in activity levels’ and that ‘the decision to leave the EU appears to impacting on client activity and instructions’.

The firm will now freeze pay reviews, reports RollOnFriday, with Blair saying the firm will ‘revisit this again in November once we know about once we know more about our performance year to date’.

In the email, Blair (pictured) writes: ‘We have very reluctantly concluded that we will need to defer the current salary review process until we are in a position to review half year results together with projected fee income for the remainder of the financial year.’

National firm Bond Dickinson has endured lacklustre financial performance for 2015/16. Revenues dropped 3% to £104m, down from £107m and profit per equity partner fell 3% to £275,000 for the year.

Commenting on the firm’s financials this summer, Blair told Legal Business: ‘I am less confident about what the marketplace is doing. I think it is going to be a very tough year for the sector.’

A number of UK firms have put pay reviews on hold for staff after a slow market in the build up to the referendum to leave the EU. Berwin Leighton Paisner was the first City firm to freeze pay reviews post Brexit, notifying staff in July. Fellow mid-tier firms Trowers & Hamlins, Addleshaw Goddard and Gowling WLG have all put their summer salary reviews on hold although Gowling WLG said earlier this week its freeze was over.

A spokesperson for Bond Dickinson said: ‘Similar to the approach taken by other firms, we have been reviewing activity levels post Brexit and while it is too early to tell what the longer term impact will be, we have concluded that we should defer our salary review process until later in the year when we have a clearer picture of market trends and client activity.’

matthew.field@legalease.co.uk

 

 

Legal Business

Case study: Bond Dickinson

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Financial results 2016 Womble Bond Dickinson
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National player Bond Dickinson had a disappointing year financially, with turnover down 3% to £104m, while profit per equity partner (PEP) has also dropped 3% to £275,000, a stark contrast to the firm’s performance in last year’s Legal Business 100, where PEP soared 26% to £284,000 and turnover climbed 8% to £107m. Blaming the results on a harder mid-market and significant IT investment, managing partner Jonathan Blair says that despite the tougher conditions, real estate, private client and transport all performed particularly well.

‘Real estate was strong for us – on the operational property side, on the investor side, on the house building side,’ he says. ‘Private wealth has always been an area for us that has been very reliable. It seems to be able to withstand the vagaries you get in litigation, which tends to be counter cyclical, or M&A activity or any transactional activity. Private wealth is always pretty strong – we have grown that and worked hard on it.’

Legal Business

‘There has been a hardening of the market’: Bond Dickinson turnover and PEP drops 3%

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Financial results 2016 Womble Bond Dickinson
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Following the trend of an altogether tougher year for the UK mid-market, national player Bond Dickinson has seen both its turnover and profit per equity partner (PEP) dip by 3% for the financial year 2015/16.

Turnover stands at £104m, down from last year’s figure of £107m, while PEP is £275,000 compared to £284,000 for the financial year 2014/15. The firm says the figures are a result of investment in the business and people in order to be in the best position for long term growth.

Speaking to Legal Business, Bond Dickinson managing partner Jonathan Blair said: ‘There has been a hardening of the market, there is no doubt at all about that. And you can’t operate in a bubble. We had a huge IT investment programme last year which was around [legal software] Aderant and the reality is that has had an impact on your top line – in theory it shouldn’t but in reality it does because those projects are huge and for us it was huge. That was a significant and worthwhile investment but did have an impact.

‘We had put in place a flat year in terms of budget because of that – not because we weren’t ambitious but because we knew what we were doing in terms of investment. As a business we are in a strong position in terms of what we can control. I am less confident about what the marketplace is doing and the actual activity that is going on in the sector. I think it is going to be a tough year for the sector.’

According to Blair (pictured), both the real estate and private wealth teams have seen solid growth over the last year due to increased work from existing clients and panel wins including British Gas, TSB, Barclays and Taylor Wimpey.

Additionally the firm has continued to make strides internationally over the last financial year, securing an exclusive strategic alliance with full-service US firm Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice in June. The deal means that Womble Carlyle, a mid-market firm with a large offering in Charlotte, North Carolina, as well as a further 14 offices across the US, will refer all UK work to Bond Dickinson and vice-versa.

Womble Carlyle, which has around 550 lawyers and 300 partners, has been in a non-exclusive referral basis with Bond Dickinson for around six years predominantly in the corporate space, however this new arrangement is likely to boost both firms’ fintech and private wealth businesses.

In December 2014, Bond Dickinson entered into its first strategic alliance with German firm Redeker Sellner Dahs as part of a growing international push. Addressing Bond Dickinson’s international strategy was a key priority for Blair after the merger of Newcastle-based Dickinson Dees and Bristol-headquartered Bond Pearce went live on 1 May 2013.

In contrast, fellow national player TLT announced strong results for the financial year 2015/16, posting a 15% increase in turnover to £71.6m while Shoosmiths has seen a more moderate revenue rise 4% to £107m, down on the firm’s double digit growth last year of 10%.

kathryn.mccann@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

American dream: Bond Dickinson seals exclusive tie-up with Womble Carlyle

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The alliance will see all UK work referred to Bond Dickinson

With US merger plays by Addleshaw Goddard and Berwin Leighton Paisner dominating headlines so far this year, last month mid-market UK national firm Bond Dickinson signed an exclusive strategic alliance with full-service US firm Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice.

The deal means that Womble Carlyle, which has operated on a non-exclusive referral basis with Bond Dickinson for approximately six years, will refer all UK work to the firm and vice versa.

Legal Business

Accessing America: Bond Dickinson makes unique US play with Womble Carlyle tie-up

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Legal mergers Womble Bond Dickinson
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While much has been made of US merger plays by Eversheds and Addleshaw Goddard, fellow mid-market firm Bond Dickinson has secured an exclusive strategic alliance with full-service US firm Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice.

The deal means that Womble Carlyle will refer all UK work to Bond Dickinson and vice versa.

Like Bond Dickinson, Womble Carlyle is a mid-market full-service law firm, with a large offering in Charlotte, North Carolina. In addition, the firm has a further 14 offices across the US including Atlanta, Columbia, Silicon Valley and Washington. While Bond Dickinson posted turnover of £107m last year, Womble Carlyle was just outside last year’s Global 100 with revenue at around $300m. The US firm has 550 lawyers and 300 partners.

Speaking to Legal Business, Bond Dickinson managing partner Jonathan Blair said there was a clear business case for the move: ‘The US is the largest single direct foreign investor and trading partner of the UK and vice versa. We have got a formal memorandum of understanding in place which has got milestones in there. In addition we have service level agreements in place around quality and standards of work and we will also be targeting specific clients where we don’t currently act for either.’

Blair (pictured right), said the alliance received unanimous partner support when it was put to a vote a couple of weeks ago and will also include a programme of visitations or secondments from both firms.

Womble Carlyle chair and chief executive Betty Temple (pictured left) said: ‘The alliance will increase the already established synergies between our two firms and serve as a catalyst to grow our global skillset and opportunities. Bond Dickinson boasts a client base and national presence that is unique in the UK and mirrors the capabilities and culture of Womble Carlyle in the US.’

According to Blair, the two firms have worked together for several years on a non-exclusive referral arrangement predominantly in the corporate space, however this new arrangement is also likely to boost both firm’s fintech and private wealth offerings.

In December 2014 Bond Dickinson entered into its first strategic alliance with German firm Redeker Sellner Dahs as part of a growing international strategy.

Addressing Bond Dickinson’s international strategy was a key priority for Blair after the merger of Newcastle based Dickinson Dees and Bristol-headquartered Bond Pearce went ahead in May 2013.

kathryn.mccann@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Panel extension: Bond Dickinson new addition to Taylor Wimpey adviser list following review

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British housebuilding company Taylor Wimpey has added national firm Bond Dickinson to its current roster while renewing its existing panel arrangements.

Bond Dickinson joins Eversheds, Gateley, Wragge Lawrence Graham & Co, DAC Beachcroft, Dentons and Osborne Clarke, who all maintain their spots as external legal providers having been on the panel since 2012. The appointment of Bond Dickinson is effective from 1 January.

The review was carried out by Taylor Wimpey’s group legal director and company secretary James Jordan. Speaking to Legal Business, Jordan said the panel had worked extremely well over the past three years in terms of quality of service, cost effectiveness, relationship and value adding extras such as training.

He added: ‘I am also delighted to add Bond Dickinson due to its expertise, national coverage – a key requirement to become a panel firm – and also its geographical strengths in the North East and South West which will complement the panel.’

Bond Dickinson real estate partner and Taylor Wimpey client partner Duncan Fisher said: ‘We look forward to working with them on their exciting plans for the future and bringing our expertise in the real estate sector to bear for them.’

Bond Dickinson has enjoyed a number of significant panel re-appointments since Bond Pearce and Dickinson Dees merged in 2013, including Virgin, Network Rail, Sainsbury’s and The Crown Estate

kathryn.mccann@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Financials 2014/15: Bond Dickinson passes the £100m revenue mark with 7% growth

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Financial results 2014/15 Womble Bond Dickinson
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In its first full financial year since its May 2013 merger, Bond Dickinson has surpassed the £100m mark with a 7% growth rate and a revenue figure of £106.4m for the financial year 2014/15.

The firm, which generated £99.6m in 2013/14, also said that profits had risen around 20% though did not specify the measure. Last year the firm recorded a net income of £15.8m. The best performing sector for the firm was transport which saw growth of 20% and includes clients such as Network Rail while the commercial disputes team generated 25% more revenue than 2013/14.

Speaking to Legal Business, the firm’s managing partner Jonathan Blair said the result was a clear indication of the ongoing success of the union of Newcastle based Dickinson Dees and Bristol headquartered Bond Pearce.

‘The merger has worked. We had two strong businesses we have put together and have created a new, better business. Alongside that we had two great brands which have created an even better brand and the people that we have got in the business have really bought into the vision that we have created.’

Blair added: ‘Everybody is working well together and when you get that you get the successful business. Reaching over £100m in top-line revenue is a good psychological barrier to get over as well. Obviously the market is more buoyant, so I am not discounting that. I’m not going to pretend that isn’t a factor. But of course you have got to be well placed, have a clear set of goals and a clear brand position in the market.’

The last year has been a positive one for Bond Dickinson, which entered into its first strategic alliance with German firm Redeker Sellner Dahs in December 2014 as part of a growing international strategy and increased its London office headcount by 50%. The firm has also enlarged its partnership by over 20 partners post-merger through a mixture of internal promotions and strategic lateral hires.

kathryn.mccann@legalease.co.uk