The number of High Court cases against law firms for professional negligence has almost tripled in the last year, increasing by 192% from 143 the year before to 418.
A $150m award: Baker Botts loses another Russian case as Quinn Emanuel secures pay-out against gas giants
Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan‘s Alex Gerbi and Stephen Jagusch have secured a $150m award for Danish engineering firm Core Carbon, with Baker Botts suffering another defeat on behalf of its Russian client base, this time Rosgaz, after recently being on the receiving end of a $50bn award against Russia for the state’s destruction of Yukos.
Guest post: An immigration lawyer reviews Paddington and gives him some advice
Law is pretty abstract. Unlike the role of a doctor or a builder, that of a lawyer is difficult to explain to a young mind. When my children eventually ask me about what I do when I ‘work’ (confusingly simultaneously a place I seem to go to and a thing I do at home; either takes me away from them) my plan is to explain that I help strangers from far off places find new homes. Like Paddington Bear.
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US promotions round: Shearman & Sterling focuses on finance and arbitration with London duo
Mirroring last year, Shearman & Sterling has elected two London associates to partner as part of its promotion round which has seen thirteen made up in total.
Dealwatch: Baker & McKenzie and Ropes & Gray lead on Merck’s $8.4bn superbug takeover
One of the world’s biggest pharma groups, New Jersey-based Merck, instructed an all-female partner team from Baker & McKenzie to help it execute its $8.4bn takeover of Cubist Pharmaceuticals.
Revolving doors: International hires for Allen & Overy, KWM and Morgan Lewis while Gibson Dunn turned to GE
A host of international hires last week saw Allen & Overy (A&O) and Morgan Lewis & Bockius enhance their Frankfurt and Dubai offices respectively while King & Wood Mallesons turned in-house to launch an energy group in Paris and Gibson Dunn & Crutcher hired GE’s executive counsel.
Comment: Bringing greed to law – our part in the profession’s downfall
In our 25-year anniversary coverage, Cass Business School’s Laura Empson repeats a familiar refrain about the negative impact of the legal media on the profession’s values in creating league tables, particularly those on the profitability of law firms.
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‘No one had done it in the London market’: Clifford Chance’s former head of antitrust launches City boutique
Oliver Bretz, former global head of antitrust at Clifford Chance, is leaving after 15 years at the Magic Circle firm to launch a competition boutique in the New Year.
Going in-house: Jardine Matheson hires Linklaters’ Parr as general counsel
It’s one in one out for London-listed conglomerate Jardine Matheson, owner of upmarket UK car dealership Jardine Motors, as the group replaces its retiring general counsel Giles White with his past Linklaters colleague and the firm’s former head of corporate, Jeremy Parr.
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Guest post: Christmas comes early – SFO scores 1st Bribery Act convictions
The SFO has successfully prosecuted its first series of Bribery Act convictions. On Friday the SFO reported that ‘Gary Lloyd West, former Director and Chief Commercial Officer of SAE, James Brunel Whale, former Director, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of SGG and Stuart John Stone, Director of SJ Stone Ltd, a sales agent of unregulated pension and investment products, were convicted of [a number of offences including] Bribery Act 2010 offences at Southwark Crown Court.’
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Q&A: A&O capital markets co-heads talk innovative solutions and sharing leadership
Six months on from being elected co-heads of Allen & Overy’s (A&O) capital markets global team, David Benton and Simon Hill (pictured) talk about market confidence, current focuses and how Peerpoint is a big part of their future with Legal Business.
Targeting USA: Linklaters reshuffles teams to boost corporate and disputes
Magic Circle firm Linklaters has moved its TMT and tax groups from its commercial division into corporate. The firm has overhauled a three-strand structure – corporate, commercial and finance and projects – in a bid to strengthen its corporate team as the firm looks to crack America.
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Global London: Respected Paris boutique launches City arm to target cross-border deals
French firm AyacheSalama has launched its first international office in the City with four partners as it looks to advise on client investment from London into France more efficiently.
Investing in law: Parabis secures £13m from Duke Street to fund upgrades
Parabis Group has secured a further £13m investment from private equity company Duke Street Capital with the aim to improve IT systems, property and staff.
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Legal Business celebrates 25 years and the profession as well
So, what mattered to you? Twenty five years since Legal Business launched to chronicle the dramatic changes in the legal profession much has changed and yet stays the same. Still, if you were going to launch the first publication to focus on the UK’s commercial legal sector, you couldn’t have picked a better time than 1990.
That decade was an incredible time for the profession. Primed by the twin forces of London’s Big Bang and the equally explosive phenomenon of the newly-merged Clifford Chance (CC), the 1990s had the lot: globalisation, drama, ambition, innovation, mergers, disaggregation, technology, accountants and DLA. Destinies were won and lost. By the end of the decade the profession was different. CC stands out – someone with a longer attention span than I should write a book on the firm in that era – it was an incredible institution, without question then the world’s most influential law firm. Continue reading “Legal Business celebrates 25 years and the profession as well”
The profession – our part in its downfall
In our 25-year anniversary coverage, Cass Business School’s Laura Empson repeats a familiar refrain about the negative impact of the legal media on the profession’s values in creating league tables, particularly those on the profitability of law firms.
There is nothing new about assertions that such rankings inflicted a huge cost to the ethos of the profession, stoking excess, greed and a culture of mobile stars. Legal Business is arguably the most directly responsible since it was the publication that in 1992 brought law firm financial rankings to the UK.
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The national market – brutally competitive but opportunity abounds
At one point in our Regional Insight report – a major collaboration with our colleagues at The Legal 500 included with this issue of Legal Business – one GC based in the North West discusses a recent pitch in which a City law firm came out best on price against regional rivals. Surprising as it may seem, it is reflective of a dynamic that has seen London advisers focus on handling work from UK regions after realising that simply aspiring to be a City leader is a road to nowhere for many firms.
This shift in focus comes with the acknowledgement that post-Lehman, demand for external law firm services in the UK has become more polarised. The need for high-end transactional and disputes advice still exists but is increasingly now the preserve of the elite firms in those fields in London. At the opposite end, in-house teams are retaining more work and will only outsource work to law firms if it is cost effective.
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Battle over, war begins
Clifford Chance set to face professional negligence claim by Excalibur funders
Clifford Chance (CC) is to face a professional negligence suit over the high-profile Excalibur dispute by the case’s funders and Greek shipping tycoons, the Lemos family.
Respected Paris boutique launches London arm to target deal work
French firm AyacheSalama has launched its first international office in the City with four partners as it looks to advise on client investment from London into France more efficiently.
The new City desk will practice French law only and aims to strengthen relationships with investment funds and banks, private equity funds and French companies that invest out of the City. It will also look to build out a client base that already includes Intermediate Capital Group, TowerBrook Capital Partners and MezzVest, with a focus on corporate M&A, private equity, finance and restructuring.
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Linklaters reshuffles to boost corporate and disputes
Magic Circle firm Linklaters has moved its TMT and tax groups from its commercial division into corporate. The firm has overhauled a three-strand structure – corporate, commercial and finance and projects – in a bid to strengthen its corporate team as the firm looks to crack America.
Around 40 lawyers globally from tax and TMT will come under the corporate umbrella, with the commercial group having been rebranded as dispute resolution.
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