The resurgence of commercial activity in the Middle East is prompting international law firms to strengthen their presence in the region, with Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton and CMS announcing their first regional offices within a week of each other. Cleary announced at the beginning of September that it would be opening its first Middle …
Continue reading “Surge of law firm openings in revitalised Middle East”
News that Ashurst is adopting a capital contribution system for partners this year finally brings the City International firm in line with the rest of its major rivals in the City. As part of the reorganisation, each Ashurst equity partner will be asked to pay in a one-off capital contribution based on the number of …
The Singapore Ministry of Law (MinLaw) stopped receiving applications from foreign law firms seeking a Qualifying Foreign Law Practice (QFLP) licence at the end of August. Twenty-three firms have applied for a QFLP, with UK-based Ashurst, Berwin Leighton Paisner, DLA Piper, Olswang and Stephenson Harwood all confirming that they have applied for licences alongside US …
Continue reading “Liberalisation of Singapore market gathers pace”
DLA Piper’s recent takeover of French corporate boutique Frieh Bouhenic is the most significant development in a spate of activity involving UK-based international firms in Paris at the end of the summer. The international giant officially joined forces with the corporate firm on 1 October. Eleven-partner Frieh Bouhenic is ranked in the second tier for …
Continue reading “DLA Piper ramps up French offering with boutique addition”
Results from our first-ever in-house survey show that companies’ legal budgets have largely stayed the same or even increased while demand for external services has risen, debunking the myth that widespread cuts to legal budgets have forced general counsel (GC) to instruct law firms less. Canvassing the views of more than 100 in-house lawyers worldwide, …
Continue reading “No drop in demand for external legal advice”
By the time you read this the Herbert Smith Freehills merger will be live – a firm with revenues of over $1.3bn and more than 2,300 lawyers. After a difficult few years for Herbert Smith, will the merger be the right medicine for the firm? Well, it’s not a cure-all but it’s a good start.
There’s good news and bad news for law firms in our first-ever survey of in-house counsel this month. The good news is that clients need their external lawyers now more than ever. The bad news is they’ll need more effort from their firms for the same amount of money.
The firms that appear in the LB100 are the top 100 firms in the UK, ranked by gross fee income generated over the financial year 2011/12 – usually 1 May 2011 to 30 April 2012. We call these the 2012 results.
One firm in particular again stands out from the morass of misery that has beset the Scottish legal market in recent years, as it did last year: Brodies. Brodies has recorded one of the highest real-term turnover increases this year in the entire LB100: up 16% to £42.8m, leapfrogging Shepherd and Wedderburn, which has remained …
The line-up of North peer group firms has changed again. Following the departures of DWF and Hill Dickinson to the Major UK group last year, Weightmans joins them after 2011’s merger with Mace & Jones and the acquisition of Vizards Wyeth’s insurance team propelled the firm’s revenues into the big league. Last year Weightmans was …
