Allen & Overy (A&O) has put organic business improvement at the centre of its strategy as it looks to improve profitability and efficiency in what it sees as a low-growth era for legal services. The firm has set up a four-person internal watchdog, headed by former New York chief operating officer (COO) Gill Smith, which has been tasked with […]
CPA Global and Exigent in the frame as magic circle firm bows to client pressure on fees Slaughter and May has drawn up a three-strong panel of legal process outsourcing (LPO) providers it would be willing to work with should clients demand the firm finds ways to do work more cheaply. The panel is believed […]
Norton Rose is to launch an LGBT network in a bid to improve the recruitment, retention and promotion of its gay and lesbian staff. The network is expected to go live later this month, and alongside internal staff support will provide opportunities for networking with LGBT clients and LGBT-related community work. Research conducted by LGBT […]
The attorney general’s office has dropped demands on bar members of the Treasury Solicitor Panel of Counsel to disclose equality and diversity credentials. The measures, which were brought in last year under Labour attorney general Baroness Scotland, required all sets with even one barrister on the panel to provide documentation proving they had progressive diversity […]
If you weren’t a lawyer what would you have been? An archaeologist or a landscape photographer. What was your first ever job? Hospital porter in a maternity hospital. What was your worst experience as a trainee? Dropping the just executed (and as yet uncopied) original of a client’s will down the crack between the […]
Sidley Austin has announced that Stephen Roith will join the firm as a partner in its securities practice. Move of the week He will also co-head the firm’s London capital markets group. Roith, who joins from Clifford Chance, will focus his practice on capital markets and structured finance transactions. “Stephen’s widely recognised in the […]
Bank restructuring, slowly rising M&A activity and official overtures towards investment funds are keeping Irish lawyers smiling. Ireland’s continuing courtship of investment funds, the entry of Dechert into Dublin and the Irish government’s decision to split up Anglo Irish Bank means lawyers in Ireland have had a lot to get their heads around this year. […]
If it’s a poster boy for social mobility you are after, then John Griffiths is your man. After leaving school without any qualifications Griffiths has gone from the dole queue to chief legal adviser to the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) in his role as counsel general. While he is a fine example of the potential […]
News has reached Tulkinghorn Towers that those crazy ABS-phobes north of the border are at it again. When the Scottish Law Agents Society (SLAS) finally agreed to an amended version of alternative business structures being introduced to the Scottish legal market, those who had always been in favour of them breathed a collective sigh of […]
Welsh Rugby Union legal head Rhodri Lewis is hard at work getting the union’s legal function up to scratch – and loving every minute of it. People often claim to be in their dream job, but if you are a rugby-mad Welsh lawyer then you might want to look away now. Your dream job has […]
CMS Cameron McKenna and Travers Smith have won roles on 3i’s secondary sale of NSL Services Group to ACC Capital Partners. Camerons advised ACC on its agreement to purchase a majority stake in the parking company for £120m. The firm’s corporate chief Andrew Sheach led on the deal, with a team including banking partner John Naccarato and pensions partner Mark Atkinson. […]
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Travers Smith have advised on CSG Systems’ offer for UK business support services (BSS) provider Intec Telecom Systems. Freshfields advised new client CSG, a US-based provider of customer management and billing solutions, on the deal, working closely with the company’s legal chief Joseph Ruble. Travers advised Intec, with former Freshfields lawyer Richard Spedding […]