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‘The firm is in excellent shape’: Boies Schiller elects new chair

Partners at Boies Schiller Flexner have elected New York-based litigator and white-collar defence and internal investigations partner Matthew Schwartz as chair. Schwartz will step into the role from 1 January 2025 to serve for a three-year term.

He will take over from current chair and co-founder David Boies, who has held the position since the firm was established in 1997 and was elected to serve a final one-year term for 2024. Boies will remain a member of the executive board and will continue his active trial practice. Continue reading “‘The firm is in excellent shape’: Boies Schiller elects new chair”

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Shearman partners overlooked in Allen & Overy leadership race

Philip Bowden

In a move that may not come as a surprise to most, Allen & Overy (A&O) has unveiled a list of contenders for the managing and senior partner roles, with no Shearman & Sterling partners in the race.

Private capital group co-chair and global banking practice co-head Philip Bowden (pictured) is among three lawyers vying for Wim Dejonghe’s crown as senior partner, alongside global projects, energy, natural resources and infrastructure board head David Lee and Abu Dhabi capital markets partner Khalid Garousha, who stepped into the role of interim managing partner in July following Gareth Price’s shock departure earlier in the month. Both Bowden and Lee are based in the firm’s London office. Continue reading “Shearman partners overlooked in Allen & Overy leadership race”

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Global 100: When the music stops – it’s time for the global elite to play a different record

It has long been a peccadillo of business publishers to measure financial performance in five-year increments and for this, our final issue of the year, it seems churlish to break with tradition now.

Revisiting our Global 100 coverage from 2018 calls to mind a time capsule, with some of the contents uncannily familiar and others belonging almost to a bygone era. Continue reading “Global 100: When the music stops – it’s time for the global elite to play a different record”

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M&A stages tentative comeback but dealmakers remain hamstrung by uncertainty

‘The biggest issue for the market is uncertainty’, says Richard Youle, who has headed Skadden’s London office since July. ‘Whether that’s in relation to the current geopolitical landscape, higher interest rates, inflation, or navigating tougher stances by regulators – we’re seeing people take longer to think about transactions and execute them. There’s also a mismatch of expectations – sellers are looking for 2022 prices, while buyers are looking for a reduction.’

Indeed, this view is borne out by the data. According to Refinitiv, worldwide M&A activity for the first three quarters of 2023 is down 27% compared to the same period last year, to a ten-year low of $2trn. There are some positive signs. Q3 2023 saw activity dip 16% on Q2. But four of Refinitiv’s top ten highest-value global deals were announced between June and September, and the months since then have seen further high-value activity. Still, these points notwithstanding, Q3 2023 remains the slowest Q3 since 2012. Continue reading “M&A stages tentative comeback but dealmakers remain hamstrung by uncertainty”

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Global 100 Overview: Spinning around

The contrast between last year’s Global 100 report and this year’s could hardly be starker. Last year saw firms blow away even optimistic predictions to post extraordinary results. Total revenue increased by 15% to $147.5bn – more than double the previous year’s already impressive rise of 7%. Average profit per equity partner (PEP), meanwhile, shot up 19% to $2.37m.

This year, gross revenue increased by just 1% to hit $149.2bn, while average PEP dropped by 3% to $2.29m. Last year, we deemed a firm to be struggling in relative terms if it did not put both revenue and PEP up by 10% or more. This year, double-digit increases are far rarer: only eight firms increased revenue by 10% or more, and only two – Gibson Dunn (see analysis) and Polsinelli – managed double-digit increases in both revenue and PEP. Continue reading “Global 100 Overview: Spinning around”

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Global 100 firms expand notably in core areas as Paul Weiss vs Kirkland rumbles on

The lateral hiring market in November was once again dominated by comings and goings between Paul Weiss and Kirkland & Ellis, as well as big moves between Global 100 rivals in Europe.

Just when the market thought Paul Weiss had eased up on its hiring spree in the run-up to Christmas, the firm announced it had hired John Patten, a partner in the London technology and intellectual property (IP) transactions practice of Kirkland. Continue reading “Global 100 firms expand notably in core areas as Paul Weiss vs Kirkland rumbles on”

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Global 100: White & Case: Global elite leader or missed opportunity?

‘Our ability to pitch top-ranked teams under both New York and English law, and where needed under the local laws to back that up, remains our USP,’ asserts Oliver Brettle, White & Case’s vice chair, underscoring what sets the firm apart.

Unveiling subdued financials this cycle, the firm’s London arm experienced a modest 1% revenue growth to $451m, contrasting sharply with the 18% and 12% revenue upticks witnessed in 2020 and 2021. Global turnover was also muted, declining by 1% to $2.83bn. However, it still signifies a substantial 57% increase over five years and outperforms the figures observed among Magic Circle peers.

Continue reading “Global 100: White & Case: Global elite leader or missed opportunity?”

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Switzerland focus: Testing the mettle

In the words of Patrik Peyer, managing partner of Niederer Kraft Frey (NKF): ‘As the Swiss legal market confronts these multifaceted challenges, the resilience and adaptability of legal practitioners become crucial in shaping a forward-looking legal landscape.’

‘The legal market is always developing in parallel to the general economic situation,’ says Bär & Karrer’s Susanne Schreiber, who co-heads the firm’s tax team. In Q1, Switzerland’s annual inflation rate rose to a high of 3.4% in February, 0.6% up on December 2022. In Q2, things started to look up with rates decreasing to 2.6% in April. Since then, rates have been on a steady decline, remaining at 1.7% for both September and October 2023. Interest rates, too have stabilised. Since July 2023, the Swiss National Bank has kept its policy rate at 1.8%, providing a sense of stability to the Swiss economy. Following these economic trends, there are several trends practitioners have seen regarding the work that’s been done. For example, practice areas such as litigation and tax were extremely busy this year while areas like M&A and capital markets saw a decrease in deal volume compared to previous years. Banking and finance and real estate and construction remained stable throughout 2023. Continue reading “Switzerland focus: Testing the mettle”

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Global 100: Gibson Dunn – A global outlook for an LA stalwart

‘We are in growth mode,’ announces Joshua Lipshutz, chief operating officer of Gibson Dunn, as he beams into the boardroom of the firm’s London office via Zoom. An apt statement for a firm that has stormed into the Global 100’s top ten in a year where many firms’ revenues have faltered.

Up four places from its position in 2022, the firm has achieved revenue of $2.74bn, marking a 10% increase from last year and a 67% increase over the past five years. This places the firm in its 27th year of consecutive revenue growth. PEP looks equally buoyant, with the firm seeing a respectable 11% increase to $4.92m.

Continue reading “Global 100: Gibson Dunn – A global outlook for an LA stalwart”

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The Client Profile: Lida Khanverdi, EG Group

Fresh off a train from Blackburn, suitcase in tow, Lida Khanverdi arrives at the interview shortly after closing a new deal for EG Group. Having moved in-house just three years ago, the former Shoosmiths real estate associate is quickly making a name for herself, winning Rising Star In-House Counsel of the Year at the 2023 Legal Business Awards, and helping EG Group through a period of transformative growth.

Despite her rapid ascent, her route in-house has had its fair share of challenges and uncertainties. Khanverdi is not the type to claim she possessed a burning desire to enter the legal profession from an early age. Instead, her decision to study law came about after her family’s plans to emigrate to Canada fell through at the last moment, leaving her with only three weeks to make her university applications in the UK. Flummoxed on what subject to pick, her dad delivered the classic line: ‘Well, why don’t you do law? You can do anything with law.’ Continue reading “The Client Profile: Lida Khanverdi, EG Group”

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Sponsored Q&A: Incorporating social value into projects – Lorraine Bellinger, head of legal project delivery at international law firm, Bird & Bird

Bird & Bird is an international law firm with over 30 offices in Europe, North America, the Middle East, Asia-Pacific, and Africa working across multiple sectors and supporting organisations being changed by the digital world or those leading that change.

Lorraine Bellinger joined the firm in 2020 to build Bird & Bird’s legal project delivery function, drawing on her private practice and in-house experience. She started her law firm journey as a PA and made a career move into legal project management 15 years ago when her then employer identified a need for a different kind of business support. Continue reading “Sponsored Q&A: Incorporating social value into projects – Lorraine Bellinger, head of legal project delivery at international law firm, Bird & Bird”

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‘It sits squarely in the SFO’s wheelhouse’: criminal investigation launched into Axiom Ince as regulators and ex-employees grapple with aftermath

Ince & Co Office Photo

A criminal investigation has been launched into Axiom Ince, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) announced last month. Seven individuals have been arrested in connection with the investigation and searches have been carried out across nine sites.

More than 80 SFO investigators, alongside Metropolitan Police officers, went to locations across the South-East of England on the morning of 14 November to search for potential evidence and bring in individuals for questioning. Continue reading “‘It sits squarely in the SFO’s wheelhouse’: criminal investigation launched into Axiom Ince as regulators and ex-employees grapple with aftermath”

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Allen & Overy dodges data leak bullet as firm tight-lipped on ransom outcome

As the deadline for Allen & Overy (A&O) to pay a multimillion dollar ransom on its data passed by without incident on 28 November, the firm declined to comment on whether it had paid the cyber criminals off.

On 9 November A&O said it had suffered a ‘data incident’. Posts from X user and self-described ‘threat intelligence platform for cybersecurity’ @FalconFeedsio on Wednesday 8 November suggested that notorious cyber criminal group LockBit had targeted the firm, with a threat to release ‘all available data’ by 28 November. Continue reading “Allen & Overy dodges data leak bullet as firm tight-lipped on ransom outcome”

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Life During Law: Natasha Luther-Jones

When I was 12, I was a competitive swimmer, and I used to swim every morning before school. If you’re swimming that much, your swimsuits get see-through, so for training, sometimes you’d have to wear double swimsuits, and that’s a bit of a drag when you’re in a competition. I’d asked my mum for a new swimsuit, but she said I would have to wait till the end of the month. I asked her how I could become rich to be able to afford a new one. She said: ‘You can become a solicitor, or you can marry someone rich.’ So, from then on, my decision was made to become a lawyer.

I got work experience in a small solicitors’ firm on our high street in Bangor, North Wales, and was focused on doing a law degree. I knew it was very competitive to get a training contract, so I did law and French. Then I got a training contract with Garretts, part of Andersen Legal. Six months into my training contract, DLA took the Leeds office, I transferred, and 23 years later I’m still here! Continue reading “Life During Law: Natasha Luther-Jones”

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The Global 100 debate: Going hard and betting long

Nathalie Tidman, Legal Business: How have your businesses been performing over the last year? What have been the highlights?

Deborah Finkler, Slaughter and May: Remarkably well. I certainly think that we have all been holding our breath for the last two years for the downturn, which still has not entirely happened. The biggest issue we are facing is that we have a higher headcount than we had 18 months ago. You normally wait until things get difficult and then you think about how you are going to cope, but things are not difficult enough. One of the issues I have as a managing partner is persuading people that we need to be out pounding the pavements and getting more work, given that we never make people redundant. Continue reading “The Global 100 debate: Going hard and betting long”