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Ashurst braces for stiff test with Aussie tie-up
Ashurst faces a tougher challenge than previous UK-based firms that have ventured into Australia. By Yun Kriegler yun.kriegler@thelawyer.com
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Hogan Lovells to replace senior partner
Hogan Lovells is gearing up to find a successor to co-chair and senior partner John Young, who is due to end his current term and retire from the firm in April. Young will leave the firm on 30 April after a 33-year stint, finishing his second four-year term as co-chair and stepping down as head […]
Farrers partner heads for News Group
Farrer & Co partner Benjamin Beabey has left the firm and is understood to be joining News Group Newspapers. The media specialist was a go-to litigator for the now-defunct News of the World (NoW) and its sister title The Sun in his 14 years with Farrers. According to sources close to the newspaper giant, Beabey […]
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Chaos as SRA e-registration system generates ‘gibberish’
Annual registration for the roll of solicitors has descended into chaos after the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) moved registration online. Lawyers were told earlier this year that to stay on the roll they would need to register between 30 August and 14 October – only then could they submit their applications before the deadline of […]
Foot Anstey reveals top team for Bristol base
Foot Anstey has unveiled the partner line-up for its new Bristol office, which is targeting £5m in revenue within three years. The South West firm is aiming for 45 per cent growth by 2014 to generate a turnover of £30m, with 16 per cent of that, £5m, coming from the Bristol base. At the latest […]
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The high cost of cheap training
One of the perennial problems faced by law firms is predicting how many trainees and newly qualified lawyers (NQs) they are likely to need, because they hire graduates two years in advance of them joining. Consequently there’s a lot of guesswork involved, admits one recruitment partner. Given that it costs a City firm around £175,000 […]
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Addleshaws focuses on billing innovation
Addleshaw Goddard has put pricing strategy at the top of its agenda by creating the role of commercial director to spearhead the firm’s push to develop new ways of billing clients. Chris Howe, who was previously divisional business director at the firm, was appointed to the role in the summer. Howe is responsible for the […]
HS1 nabs first GC from Porterbrook
Rail infrastructure company High Speed 1 (HS1) has recruited its first general counsel since spinning off as an independent entity from London Continental Railways (LCR) last year. Lucy Lazzeri took up the post on 5 September, joining from Porterbrook Leasing Company, where she was a senior legal adviser. She was previously an assistant solicitor at […]
Standard Chartered Bank set for global panel rejig
Standard Chartered Bank has taken the first step towards a global overhaul of its legal advisers, launching an internal survey to gauge satisfaction with its current framework of panels. Senior legal counsel and lead for panel management Ruwan de Soyza, who has taken over panel responsibilities from former head of legal operations Jeremy Allen, expects […]
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Herbies set to reveal its post-‘Blue Sky’ thinking
Herbert Smith is poised to release the results of a far-reaching strategic review ’imminently’, according to sources close to the firm. Dubbed internally as ’Project Blue Sky’, the review was launched around the start of the year. The strategic overhaul is separate from the 12-month review of the firm’s systems and efficiency levels that is […]
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SH loses £20m Ablyazov role to Addleshaws
Stephenson Harwood (SH) has been ditched as adviser to the ousted chairman of Kazakhstan’s BTA Bank Mukhtar Ablyazov, in favour of Addleshaw Goddard. The move will come as a major blow to SH, which has fielded five partners to advise on the defence of a multibillion-dollar case being pursued against Ablyazov by the bailed out […]
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Trainees for hire: SRA backs revolutionary plan
New training scheme aims to cut upfront costs for law firms The number of graduates recruited by City law firms could be dramatically reduced following the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s (SRA) decision to back a revolutionary training model for aspiring solicitors. Under the new model Acculaw will recruit its own trainees from postgraduate law schools and […]