Comment: Victories, defeats and growing up – Ashurst faces up to life after Charlie

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Here’s one anecdote that didn’t make it into this month’s extended focus on Ashurst. Sometime soon after the firm had pulled back from its late-1990s dalliance with Clifford Chance (CC), the first of three public failed merger bids for the firm, at least one partner had second thoughts. An overture was made to the Magic Circle firm to enquire if the discussions were worth re-kindling. The response from CC: ‘The window of opportunity opens… and then it closes’.

And there you have it. Flatfooted and left behind by a thrusting Magic Circle firm.

Continue reading “Comment: Victories, defeats and growing up – Ashurst faces up to life after Charlie”

After Charlie’s War – can Ashurst achieve post-merger prosperity under a new leader?

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A recession-weary Ashurst has finalised a long-planned but high-stakes global merger – only to eject the leader synonymous with its brand and strategy. Is Ashurst heading for peace-time prosperity or factional warfare?

The former Ashurst partner sits back in his chair and reads the text message. Having asked a friend about the mood at Appold Street in the wake of Ashurst’s expected vote for integration with its Australian ally and unexpected vote that unseated its high-profile head Charlie Geffen, the text response is succinct: ‘It’s a mess!’ The ex-partner smiles. ‘Well, it’s hardly surprising.’

Continue reading “After Charlie’s War – can Ashurst achieve post-merger prosperity under a new leader?”

Leadership: Dick Tyler ‘ready for a change’ as CMS elects Penelope Warne as senior partner

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CMS Cameron McKenna has elected its first-ever female senior partner, as UK managing director and head of energy Penelope Warne takes over the role from longstanding management figure and corporate finance partner Dick Tyler, who has said he is ‘ready for a change’.

Warne (pictured), who joined the firm in 1993 and set up the firm’s offices in Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Rio de Janeiro and Dubai, will officially take up the post in May 2014 for a four-year term. Continue reading “Leadership: Dick Tyler ‘ready for a change’ as CMS elects Penelope Warne as senior partner”

Leadership: Watson Farley managing partner Michael Greville stands down

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Watson, Farley & Williams (WFW) has announced that longstanding managing partner Michael Greville has stepped down from his role as managing partner, according to a statement released today (28 November).

Having been in the role for over 12 years, Greville will step down as chief in the middle of January 2014 and resume a fee-earning role, focusing on shipping, oil & gas, and energy sectors.

An election to succeed Greville is currently underway with Chris Lowe (head of the firm’s global maritime practice and former head of the Singapore office) and Lothar Wegener (head of WFW’s German offices) as coming forward as candidates to replace Greville as joint managing partners. Continue reading “Leadership: Watson Farley managing partner Michael Greville stands down”

Clifford Chance global managing partner vote: Layton takes the crown

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The long-awaited decision over who will replace David Childs as Clifford Chance’s global managing partner (MP) has been announced, with the partnership electing global head of corporate Matthew Layton to take over the top management role after voting closed yesterday evening (27 November).

Layton (pictured above with Childs) was widely cited in the early stages of the election process as favourite to lead the 3,017-lawyer Magic Circle firm, with challengers emerging as Paris-based office managing partner and M&A lawyer Yves Wehrli; global head of tax, pensions and employment David Harkness; and City-based banking and finance partner Andrew Carnegie. Continue reading “Clifford Chance global managing partner vote: Layton takes the crown”

Leadership: Andrew Saul takes over as senior partner at Osborne Clarke

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With its half year revenues up by 12% and following a two-year period of international investment, Osborne Clarke‘s (OC’s) UK senior partner Tim Birt is to stand down with London head Andrew Saul taking over the role.

Corporate partner Saul – who joined 600-lawyer OC in 1996 as head of corporate and led the practice for seven years before becoming head of the London office in January 2012 – was voted in as senior partner through an election held at the London headquarters of the firm, ranked 32 in the LB100. He will take over the role on 1 January 2014. Continue reading “Leadership: Andrew Saul takes over as senior partner at Osborne Clarke”

Guest post: ‘Chasing short term profits is the enemy of long-term success’ – A conversation with Freshfields’ Ted Burke

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I recently had the chance to sit down with Ted Burke, outgoing managing partner of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. I’ve known Ted for years and with the recent announcement that he would be stepping down at Freshfields to join Arclight Capital Partners as COO and general counsel it was time to catch up.

When we sat down, I asked Ted to reflect on his years at Freshfields (head of the firm since 2005). He opened: ‘It’s the oldest great firm in the world.’ Founded in 1743 with the Bank of England as a client, which remains a client today. The firm has been successful over 270 years, Ted observed, but not at all times, and it has had to change repeatedly. ‘No business can last more than a generation without changing.’ Continue reading “Guest post: ‘Chasing short term profits is the enemy of long-term success’ – A conversation with Freshfields’ Ted Burke”

Some eye watering growth statistics later and its goodbye from Latham’s Bob Dell

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When the ordinarily press-shy chair and managing partner of Latham & Watkins, Robert Dell, gave Legal Business his first-ever in depth interview in 2005, the interview began by reminding the reader that ‘Latham & Watkins used to be little more than a Los Angeles-based tax firm with ideas above its station.’

At the time of that interview Dell, who is widely recognised as one of the greatest law firm leaders of his time, had already been at the helm for ten years, since when revenues had grown an eye watering billion dollars, from $260m to $1.2bn in 2004, with profits per equity partner (PEP) having doubled from $550,000 to $1.4m.

Scroll forward almost another decade to last week’s announcement that Dell is retiring, and the most up to date comparative data again serves as a stark reminder of just how far the firm has come. Continue reading “Some eye watering growth statistics later and its goodbye from Latham’s Bob Dell”

Learning to live together – HSF strives to thrash out compromise on partner pay as key vote looms

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It often seems getting a deal agreed is the hardest part – as in the case of Herbert Smith, which in 2012 agreed to combine with Australian leader Freehills – but working out those thorny integration issues can make you long for the simplicity of a straight merger vote.

Almost 18 months after agreeing its union Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) is still thrashing out how to make its combined remuneration system work, having originally been expected to agree a model in October that would see the combined firm move to a variant of Freehills’ aggressively modified lockstep. Continue reading “Learning to live together – HSF strives to thrash out compromise on partner pay as key vote looms”

‘Renaissance man’ Dembovsky leaves HowardKennedyFsi

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Last year Legal Business described Howard Kennedy’s chief executive Mark Dembovsky as ‘renaissance man’, having taken charge of a West End firm on shaky ground in January 2011 and orchestrated the merger of Howard Kennedy and Finers Stephens Innocent, to create the £40 million practice HowardKennedyFsi.

Today, the top 75 firm announced that its first non-lawyer chief executive has resigned, leaving the existing management committee members Craig Emden, who is currently head of disputes, and former managing partner Paul Millett to take over as joint managing partners. Continue reading “‘Renaissance man’ Dembovsky leaves HowardKennedyFsi”