Cobbetts has announced its third merger in just eight months, following an approach from Leeds-based planning boutique Wilbraham & Co. The merger, which will take effect on 1 September, follows Cobbett’s mergers with Birmingham’s Lee Crowder in May, and with Fox Brooks Marshall in Manchester last November. Wilbraham & Co’s five partners will all enter […]
The Financial Services Authority has cleared Marks & Spencer (M&S) chief executive Stuart Rose of any wrongdoing in his purchase of M&S shares, leaving the way clear for a possible defamation action against Goldman Sachs. Olswang media litigator Geraldine Proudler is advising Rose on a response to comments made by Goldman, Philip Green’s financial adviser […]
Reynolds Porter Chamberlain (RPC) has posted a 16 per cent rise in turnover and an 18 per cent rise in profit per equity partner (PEP). Turnover has gone up from £40.3m in 2002 to £47m last year, while average PEP has hit £285,000 from £241,000 in 2002-2003. All of the firm’s 60 partners are equity […]
Bristol’s Burges Salmon has reported solid figures for the 2003/2004 financial year, with profits up 10 per cent. Turnover was up 15.6 per cent to £42.2m from £36.5m the previous year, and profit per equity partner (PPP) rose by just over 11 per cent to £335,000. A Burges Salmon spokesperson said the results reflect solid […]
The hopes of hundreds of death row prisoners in Trinidad and Barbados have been dashed after the Privy Council ruled the death penalty should not be abolished on the two islands. The massively unpopular judgment, imposed by a panel of white judges, is expected to spur efforts by the Caribbean to establish its own Court […]
City firm Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) is being sued by Tesco over its handling of the supermarket group’s plans to build a superstore near Liverpool. The supermarket group is claiming nearly £1m from BLP for its handling of the acquisition of a package of land from John Deveney in 1999. Tesco claims it instructed BLP […]
Linklaters has knocked magic circle rival Clifford Chance off the top spot on the number of Asian-based M&A deals it acted on in the first half of the year. Clifford Chance, which topped the rankings in the same period last year, slipped nine places to take tenth position based on the number of completed deals. […]
New statistics published this week by the Law Society show that the proportion of practising solicitors from ethnic minorities now matches that of the national population. The society’s Annual Statistical Report shows that the percentage of practising solicitors in England and Wales from ethnic minorities increased from 7 per cent in 2002 to 7.9 per […]
PriceWaterhouseCooper’s legal arm Landwell, the UK’s sole surviving accountancy-tied law firm, has made up a salaried to the equity – its second only salaried partner promotion since its launch in 1996. Richard Edmundson, a lawyer in the firm’s successful human resources/ international corporate restructuring practice has now been promoted to the equity. The firm has […]
Osborne Clarke is set to join US firm Dewey Ballantine at One London Wall, after securing 35,000 sq ft of space in the new building. The Bristol-based firm will occupy the sixth and seventh floors at an initial rent of £42.50 per sq ft. Under the lease, Osborne Clarke has a rent-free period of 26 […]
Lawrence Graham’s average profits per equity partner (PEP) have smashed the £400,000 mark after a year of sustained growth. The firm’s PEP reached £416,000 for 2003-04 compared to £373,000 in the previous financial year while gross rose by 5 per cent to £57.6m. Meanwhile at Charles Russell turnover edged up just slightly 1.8 per cent […]
In an historic move barristers can now receive instructions direct from members of the public following a change in the Bar Council’s code of conduct. The Department of Constitutional Affairs yesterday granted the Bar Council approval to remove the blanket ban on direct public access. However the move could dent solicitors’ coffers as in many […]