BLG exits continue as two partners head to Camerons
Barlow Lyde & Gilbert (BLG) partner duo Mike Munro and James Parker have become the latest to quit the firm amid a string of partner exits.
David Jabbari
The pair are set to join CMS Cameron McKenna’s financial services and capital markets team in the coming months.
Munro, who specialises in insurance and reinsurance, has been with the firm since 2002, when he joined from Clyde & Co.
Until recently Parker headed the firm’s life, annuity and pensions group. In March, he advised long standing client Abbey Life on a £3bn pension liability deal with BMW (1 March 2010).
The hires come after Camerons restructured its practice groups in May to create a commercial, regulatory and disputes (CRD) practice.
UK practice group head Liam O’Connell said: ”We have a clear strategic focus on the financial services, capital markets and insurance sectors and see continued convergence between them.
“As a firm, we’re committed to further co-ordinating, strengthening and broadening our offering to clients operating in these markets and these new hires are a significant step towards this goal.”
Earlier this month, BLG announced a shake-up of its management line up with Munro replaced by partner Simon Gamblin as head of the firm’s corporate group (1 November 2010).
At the time BLG chief executive David Jabbari said the firm anticipated “four or five” corporate partner exits in the wake of the restructure and this would also mean associate departures as the firm works to recalibrate its partner to associate ratio.
Last month, Taylor Wessing tapped the firm for three litigation partners, including practice chief Julian Randall, who had been with BLG for decades (8 November 2010).
Meanwhile, in September arbitration chief Peter Flint left the firm to join Wragge & Co (15 September 2010).
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Readers' comments (17)
Anonymous | 18-Nov-2010 10:52 pm
The personal injury claims monkeys comment above illustrates how ignorant some people are of the fee earners who moved from Halliwells, the majority of whom specialise in high value Catastrophic Injury and Disease work. I don't deny it is worrying people are leaving, after only having left a firm which shed fee earners left, right and centre before going bust. Perhaps views both internal and external would improve if the very people who created the extra 17% income were not hived off into a makeshift sub-LLP and were included on the firm’s website after 6 months?
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Anonymous | 18-Nov-2010 11:42 pm
Assuming that the above detractors are likely to be ex- BLG folk who unfortunately fell the wrong side of the increased rigour of the new management, would it not be better to spend your redundancy money on group therapy so you can get over it? Get a life guys!
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Anonymous | 19-Nov-2010 12:08 pm
Shocked at reading that 17% "hike" only gets BLG to £300k PEP. And how much of this "improvement" is down to simply shedding staff as opposed to a real upturn in work? With this level of PEP, how on earth will they attract good people or keep whatever ones they may have left? Can't see Magic Circle firms being interested in what is now clearly a lame duck firm.
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Anonymous | 19-Nov-2010 1:22 pm
Still a decent insurance litigation firm. However, noncontentious work is nonexistent now (who will want to do a training contract there?), the recent acquisition has split the partnership (no doubt more departures to follow), yet more redundancies recently so morale is at an all time low and the decent Associates have been leaving in droves over the last 12months. The firm is wobbling.
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Anonymous | 19-Nov-2010 2:16 pm
Anonymous 12.08pm - difficult to see the link betwen 17% hike in revenue and shedding staff. profit perhaps, but you need people to bring in revenue. Barlow's has defnitiely had its issues over the years, but from what Ive been reading of late at least they've realised they should focus on their strengths, and recent half-year figures seem to bear out the sense in that strategy
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Coco the Clown | 19-Nov-2010 10:02 pm
OK, so everyone criticising BLG is disgruntled ex BLG. What do they all have in common? Catch up!
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Anonymous | 26-Nov-2010 2:25 pm
£300k PEP is last year's figure, before the acquisition and 17% hike.
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