Having for years eschewed the City disputes market to invest in corporate and banking work, US firms have been piling into litigation of late
In retrospect, it seems strange that it wasn’t part of the game plan from the very start. US law firms – so long geared as much towards disputes as transactional work – came to London in force well over a decade ago… and all but ignored litigation.
It’s been a challenging period for European firms, but a growing band of players see a substantive City presence as core to their future prospects
Top-tier French outfit Gide Loyrette Nouel is the only continental European firm ever to have made our list of the 50 largest foreign firms in London and its fortunes in the Capital in recent years tell the story of many international firms post-Lehman. In 2008, it had 45 lawyers in the City. By 2013, this had fallen to 34. This is against a backdrop of poor financial performance in recent years, with turnover dropping 30% from £7.8m to £5.5m in the 2011/12 financial year, alongside a gross profit drop of 63% from £3.8m to £1.4m.
As the increasingly aggressive global patent wars between smartphone and tablet manufacturers continue to rage on, Legal Business asks leading IP practices what would happen if the final bell rang tomorrow
In November 2013, while acting for Apple in one of its seemingly never-ending patent battles with Samsung, Morrison & Foerster’s trial lawyer Harold McElhinny made his closing argument to the jury, which said: ‘When I was young I used to watch television on televisions that were manufactured in the United States: Magnavox, Motorola, RCA. These were real companies. They were well known and they were famous. They were creators. They were inventors. They were like the Apple and Google today.
Continue reading “Ask no quarter – getting ringside at the epic smartphone battles”
I used to pretend I decided to be a lawyer at 16. My sister made a visit to me in London and one of our smarter associates asked: ‘So, tell us when Phil decided to be a lawyer?’ My sister said: ‘You were eight, weren’t you?’ She blew my cover. I’ve always been attracted to it.
A year ago Cyprus was heading for disaster. The banking crisis had hit hard and predictions of where it would leave the country ranged from the sublime to the ridiculous. Hyperbolic headlines screamed that Cyprus would be forced to quit the eurozone and that everybody would be out of a job. Foreign investors would leave in droves, said the naysayers, so the island had better just go back to fishing and tourism as its mainstay.
Thankfully for the majority, and certainly for the Cyprus legal community, such prophecies have proved overdone. Depending on who you speak to there is really only a mix of cautious or, for some, more courageous optimism about where the Cypriot economy is headed and the benefits that will be realised in the next couple of years by its advisers.
Continue reading “Making bail – getting Cyprus back on its feet”
Barry Levenfeld is a regular visitor to Silicon Valley. The technology and life sciences specialist at Israeli firm Yigal Arnon & Co has to fly from Tel Aviv to San Francisco, via New Jersey or Los Angeles. Currently the journey takes around 20 hours.
However, he hopes that an online petition to establish a direct flight between Tel Aviv and San Francisco will lead to a more civilised journey. The proposed 14.5-hour flight will usher Israeli high-flyers straight into the growth company and venture capital centre of the world.
Continue reading “Scale-up nation – chasing Israel’s high growth clients”
Standout corporate mandates over the past few days have included a high profile run by Slaughter and May on deals including a £3.6bn bulk annuity buy-in over the ICI Pension Fund and Standard Life’s £390m acquisition of Ignis Asset Management, as Travers Smith and Kirkland & Ellis led on the $3.1bn acquisition of Nordic card-payment business Nets Holding. Continue reading “Deal Watch: Slaughters advises on £3.6bn ICI pension annuity buy-in and £390m Ignis buyout; Travers leads on $3.1bn Nets sale”
Partner promotions at the UK’s leading firms have largely been down so far down this year, as firms including Trowers & Hamlins, Nabarro and Berwin Leighton Paisner all promote fewer senior associates than last year, with Addleshaw Goddard maintaining a promotion level of eight associates. Continue reading “Partner promotions – Trowers, Nabarro and BLP see reduced numbers as Addleshaws holds on eight”
The Crown Estate has halved its rural and coastal portfolio and Windsor Estate legal panel from four to two, re-appointing Burges Salmon and Bond Dickinson but not Clarke Willmott or Thomas Eggar, the sovereign property portfolio announced today (1 April 2014). Continue reading “Crown Estate halves coastal and rural property panel with appointment of Burges Salmon and Bond Dickinson”
Magic Circle firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer accumulated £1.8m in legal fees for its advice to the UK government on the controversial privatisation of Royal Mail last year, a report out today (1 April) from the National Audit Office (NAO) has revealed. Continue reading “Freshfields earns £1.8m advising government on Royal Mail privatisation”
After a five month stint at biotechnology company Genus as general counsel (GC), Tom Kilroy has returned to banking software company Misys, this time as chief of staff. Continue reading “Tom Kilroy re-joins Misys in chief of staff role as financial market speculates over ‘eventual flotation’”
Energy giant BP, which has paid around $1bn in external legal fees in relation to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill in 2010, has announced a review of its UK law firm adviser line-up.
Firms have been asked to tender for a place on the FTSE 100 company’s new roster, pending the expiry in May of a three-year panel put in place in 2011. The review will be completed towards the middle of 2014.
The firms that appear in Global London are the 50 largest non-UK originated firms in London, ranked by headcount. Partner and lawyer numbers were all requested as full-time equivalents as of 1 January 2014. All partner hires were up to and including February 2014. Total lawyer numbers include partners, associates, assistants and trainees but not paralegals. The US Internal Revenue Service average exchange rate for the year 2013 was used for Global London calculations. This was $1=£0.665.
Just a couple of weeks after online fashion retailer Boohoo.com became a stock market sensation, seeing its stock soar 50% on its first day of trading, netting its founders £125m in a matter of minutes, the Burnley-based start-up has appointed DLA Piper, TLT, Addleshaw Goddard and Pannone Corporate to its legal panel. Continue reading “The new ASOS? Boohoo.com announces new panel after expectation-surpassing AIM listing”
The past week was one for lateral hires outside the City, as Brodies boosted its oil and gas practice with the hire of former Transocean general counsel for Africa and the Mediterranean, Tom Hickey; Squire Sanders beefed up its construction team in Manchester with former head of construction and engineering and corporate services at Pannone, Sean McCay; and Bird & Bird bolstered its Brussels base with the second competition partner exit from Ashurst’s Brussels office in two months. Continue reading “Revolving Doors: Brodies hires Transocean former GC as Squire Sanders and Bird & Bird make key hires”
Eversheds has made good on its African expansion strategy by signing a partnership agreement with existing relationship firm CWA Morocco, establishing new offices in Casablanca and Tangier. Continue reading “Eversheds pursues Africa expansion with Morocco partnership”
Pinsent Masons is getting ready for its first management elections since current managing partner David Ryan was elected in 1999, after 2012 elections were delayed. Continue reading “Management elections at Pinsents as firm makes up 15 new partners”
Global drinks brand Diageo has appointed Slaughter and May, Addleshaw Goddard and Pinsent Masons as its ‘general preferred suppliers’ for the UK following a four-month long review. Continue reading “Diageo’s consolidated panel unveiled as Slaughters, Addleshaws and Pinsents win a place”
Squire Sanders has unveiled largely flat 2013 results in the US, with revenue at the top 15 LB100 firm, which is still in merger talks with Washington’s Patton Boggs, nudging up just 0.1% to $775m. Continue reading “Squire Sanders reveals almost flat US turnover and profits as Patton Boggs talks ongoing”
