AI contract analysis system Kira has been on a trying journey. Having landed $50m in funding, Hamish McNicol and Thomas Alan assess how much longer that journey could last
Noah Waisberg recently threw a diamond into an audience of more than 1,000 people. It was the annual Legal Geek legal tech conference in London. Public Enemy’s Don’t Believe the Hype blared as he took the stage. Continue reading “Legal tech focus: Is Kira the real deal?”
Being risk savvy and commercially aware is the equivalent of ‘leaning in’ for today’s in-house lawyer. Can one do this and retain the mantle of professionalism? Or rather, how can one do that? That is the central concern of our book, In-House Lawyers’ Ethics: Institutional Logics, Legal Risk and the Tournament of Influence. We interviewed dozens of in-house lawyers and surveyed 400, mainly from business but also from government and the third sector, to shed light on the ethical dimensions of in-house practice and risk management. Our central lessons? Organisations matter. Individual lawyers matter. Ideas about the in-house role and professionalism matter. Talking about professionalism and good decision making openly and frankly matters.
The usual academic analysis of in-house lawyers dwells on concerns that in-house counsel are business people first and lawyers a distant second, but we think other questions are more important and useful. In particular, we are interested in how in-house roles and practitioner mindsets about those roles influence their ethical inclination. When we work with in-house teams using the tools in our book, they are often astonished at the different views they and their colleagues have about what in-house lawyers should be like; how they draw on ideas of professionalism; and how to deal with ethical dilemmas. Gordon Gekko can be lurking in the most surprising of places. Continue reading “Under the influence – how pressure to climb the ladder can corrupt in-house counsel”
Marco Cillario finds much more substance to CC’s PE business than the usual critique but stopping managed relative decline will only get harder
‘Look at the team they had in the mid-2000s: strong personalities, industry leaders, primary advisers to any significant private equity house. There has never been a team that strong in Europe. They failed to bring through any meaningful succession.’ Continue reading “Reports of the death of CC’s sponsor practice prove exaggerated but surviving isn’t thriving”
Recently listed Gordon Dadds acquires tax advisory business CW Energy
November saw New Law player Keystone Law become the third UK law firm to float on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), following the trail blazed by Gateley two years ago and Gordon Dadds earlier this year. The mid-market challenger firm, which was granted an alternative business structure (ABS) licence in 2013, saw shares priced at 160p and raised £15m from its initial public offering (IPO). It will be known as Keystone Law Group plc. Continue reading “Keystone becomes second UK law firm to float in 2017 while Gordon Dadds goes shopping”
Even before that, BLP had been through a factional election in 2015 which elevated employment specialist Lisa Mayhew as its new managing partner, while gripes over a disastrous run of partner hires on guaranteed pay deals several years previously have still not been forgotten.
Lawyer headcount 503
Partners 104
Revenue €190m (-1%)
Offices Paris, Brussels, London, Warsaw, Moscow, Istanbul, Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Ho Chi Minh City, New York, Algiers, Casablanca, and Tunis.
Key clients BNP Paribas, Eni, Crédit Agricole, Société Générale, LVMH
Managing partner Stéphane Puel (pictured)
Recent work highlights Advising DCNS on a €32bn programme for the design and construction of Australia’s future submarines; advising Veolia Environnement on the first issue of €2bn Panda bonds; and advising Agence des participations de l’État on the €2bn+ privatisation of Nice and Lyon airports. Continue reading “Focus: Gide Loyrette Nouel”
Lawyer headcount 264
Partners 90
Revenue €257m (+6%)
Offices Berlin, Brussels, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, London, Munich, Shanghai
Key clients General Electric, KKR, METRO, RWE, Siemens
Managing partners Dirk Bliesener, Georg Seyfarth
Recent work highlights Advising RWE on the €5bn IPO of innogy on the Frankfurt stock exchange – the largest IPO since 2000 and the fourth largest in German history; advising KKR on its acquisition of Airbus Defence Electronics Business Companies; Linde on its merger with Praxair.
Lawyer headcount 425
Partners 87
Revenue €124m (+5%)
Offices Rome, Milan, Bologna, Padua, Turin, Abu Dhabi, Brussels, Hong Kong, London and New York
Key clients Hitachi, UniCredit, BNP Paribas, Gruppo COIMA, Leonardo
Managing partners Antonio Auricchio, Rosario Zaccà
Recent work highlights Advising the Italian state railway, Ferrovie dello Stato, in the privatisation of Grandi Stazioni – sold by auction for €953m; advising Leonardo-Finmeccanica in the agreement with Space2 in its acquisition of 81% in Avio – a space propulsion system provider – from Cinven.
Continue reading “Focus: Gianni, Origoni, Grippo, Cappelli & Partners”
Lawyer headcount 307
Partners 64
Revenue €70m (-10%)
Offices Belgrade, Bratislava, Bucharest, Budapest, Kiev, Ljubljana, Prague, Sarajevo, Sofia, Tirana, Vienna, Warsaw, Zagreb
Key clients REWE Group, PORR, Erste Group Bank, FACC, Advent International
Managing partners Erik Steger, Richard Wolf, Nikolaus Paul
Recent work highlights Advising Allianz Capital Partners and several insurance companies of the Allianz Group on the acquisition of a 49% stake in Gas Connect Austria from OMV; representing Total on the €3.2bn sale of its speciality chemicals business Atotech to The Carlyle Group; advising South African-listed healthcare brands company Ascendis Health on its acquisition of a 100% stake in Hungary-headquartered Scitec Nutrition for €170m.
Lawyer headcount 1,408
Partners 297
Revenue €349.4m (+3%)
Offices Spain: A Coruña, Alicante, Barcelona, Bilbao, Las Palmas, Madrid, Málaga, Murcia, Oviedo, Palma de Mallorca, Pamplona, San Sebastián, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Seville, Valencia, Valladolid, Vigo, Zaragoza. Portugal: Lisbon, Oporto. International: Beijing, Bogotá, Brussels, Casablanca, London, Lima, Mexico City, New York, Santiago de Chile, São Paulo, Shanghai, Warsaw
Key clients BBVA, Carrefour, Iberdrola, Santander, Telefónica
Managing partner Fernando Vives
Recent work highlights Advising Coca-Cola European Partners on its €16.9bn listing on multiple stock exchanges; advising Spanish hospital operator Quirónsalud during its €5.8bn takeover by German healthcare provider Fresenius; advising Global Infrastructure Partners on its €3.8bn purchase of 20% of Gas Natural from Repsol and Criteria Caixa.
