Corporate group 'turf wars' spark Simmons departmental rejig

The two corporate divisions, which were previously run as separate profit centres, have been brought under the same budget to stop "turf wars".
"Having separate budgets and separate departments is not the best way of doing things," said Simmons' corporate departmental managing partner Ken Woffenden. "Instead of selecting the right lawyer for the job, separate profit centres want to keep work in their group. Separate groups chasing the same work can mean turf wars."
The two heads of the old corporate finance and transactions groups, Stuart Evans and Alistair Bird, will relinquish their administrative roles and return to full time fee-earning.
Woffenden has recently been re-elected as the firm's head of corporate. Under the new regime three new administrative heads, corporate partners Mark Curtis, Damon Le Maitre-George and Jerry Walter, will assist Woffenden in running the combined group.
According to Woffenden, the move has been extremely popular with Simmons' corporate assistants.
"This has gone down well with assistants as it opens up opportunities for them to work with new clients and partners," he said.
Last year, corporate finance made up around a third of the overall corporate turnover at Simmons', Woffenden said. According to The Lawyer 100 the two corporate groups had a combined turnover of £62.8m last year.