Latest News
Media set 5RB takes biggest bite in 'Boris lovechild' case
Media set 5RB picked up roles on both sides of a Court of Appeal (CoA) battle over whether it was a matter if public interest that Boris Johnson MP, Mayor of London, had a daughter with a former mistress.
Seven jobs go at Trowers & Hamlins
Trowers & Hamlins has announced that it has made seven redundancies since March.
Hage Aaronson secures Supreme Court win for M&S
Hage Aaronson has secured a Supreme Court win for Marks & Spencer (M&S) after the court today ruled against HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) in a tax battle with the retailer.
Bakers lawyer expelled from Russia in spying row
A Baker & McKenzie lawyer has been expelled from Russia amid claims that he turned down attempts by the country’s intelligence service to recruit him as a spy.
Slaughters' Italian ally restructures in generational shift
Bonelli Erede Pappalardo, Slaughter and May’s Italian best friend, has overhauled its governance and structure and elected two new managing partners in a bid to ensure its future.
Training contract numbers fall to lowest level since 1998
The number of training contracts registered in 2011-12 has fallen 10.5 per cent lower than the number in 2010-11 and 16 per cent lower than pre-recession figures.
Forster Dean CEO Greg Shields exits
The chief executive of Liverpool-based personal injury specialists Forster Dean, Greg Shields, has left the firm.
Italian lawyer issues appeal over his removal from Euro roll
The named partner of Italian firm Giambrone Law, Gabriele Giambrone, is fighting the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) over the decision to remove him from the SRA’s register of European lawyers.
Simpson Thacher bolsters Apax links with CC funds associate hire
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett has snared a key Clifford Chance funds senior associate with close ties to private equity houses Apax Partners and BC Partners.
Pinsent Masons wins trademark dispute for Interflora against M&S
Mark & Spencer (M&S) has lost a long-running trademark battle with Interflora after the High Court ruled that the retailer had infringed Interflora’s trademark.
Olswang boosts pensions with Lawrence Graham hire
Olswang has strengthened its pensions team with the hire of Lawrence Graham partner Ron Burgess.
Simpson Thacher and Gunderson lead Yahoo! purchase of Tumblr
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett has taken a lead advisory role alongside Silicon Valley firm Gunderson Dettmer Stough Villeneuve Franklin & Hachigian on Yahoo!’s acquisition of blogging site Tumblr for $1.1bn in cash.
Thrings names Simon Holdsworth as new managing partner
Bath-headquartered Thrings has named company commercial head Simon Holdsworth as its new managing partner succeeding Thomas Sheppard.
The Lawyer Euro 100 unveiled: Garrigues retains top spot
Iberian firm Garrigues has retained the top spot in The Lawyer’s European 100 2013, but firms from Germany and Norway have produced the strongest financial results in an increasingly divided European market.
Kennedys signs outsourcing deal with Integreon as it beefs up in Manchester
Kennedys has signed a three-year outsourcing deal with Integreon that will see five library and information services staff transfer to the back office services provider.
Ashurst and Slaughters bag roles on Morrisons delivery deal with Ocado
Ashurst and Slaughter and May have advised on online retail group Ocado’s delivery deal with supermarket chain Wm Morrison Supermarkets.
SJ Berwin name poised to vanish as King & Wood merger vote looms
SJ Berwin is gearing up for a vote on a global merger with Asia-Pacific firm King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) that would see the UK outfit’s name disappear.
Eversheds secures fixed-fee deal with Int'l Air Transport Association
Eversheds has secured a three-year fixed fee contract with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) in Africa and the Middle East.
Bond Dickinson cleans up with Colgate Palmolive panel place
Hygiene giant Colgate Palmolive added Bond Dickinson to its panel just weeks before the merger between Bond Pearce and Dickinson Dees, The Lawyer has learned.
King GC Whalen quits gaming company to go it alone
King.com general counsel Marcus Whalen is to leave the online gaming company to take up a consultancy position.
Bell Capital GC quits for Qatar Investment Authority
Bell Capital general counsel Tom Bartos has left the role for an M&A position at the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), the state-owned investment arm of the Gulf state.
Tribunal rules against Travers in pregnancy discrimination case
Travers Smith has lost a discrimination case brought against it by a former trainee who claimed she was not given a permanent job because of her pregnancy.
A&O keeps associate salaries static after breaking trainee pay freeze
Allen & Overy has held associate pay levels at 2012/13 rates after unveiling its first increase in trainee salaries for the first time since 2010.
Mini pupillage becomes work experience in private school auction row
The Bar Standards Board (BSB) has requested that Westminster School change the name of its mini-pupillage auction to work experience amid controversy over the sale of a work placement.
Irwin Mitchell closes in on £200m turnover
Irwin Mitchell’s legal practice is closing in on the £200m revenue mark, with the firm’s commercial business generating revenues of £40m over the last financial year.
Eversheds launches in Beijing with Morgan Lewis and Uria hires
Eversheds is set to open its Beijing office with two new hires.
Speechly Bircham and Withers merger vote just days away
Withers and Speechly Bircham will vote next week on whether the two firms should merge to create a £170m firm, The Lawyer has learned.
Revealed: King & Wood Mallesons' Singaporean merger fallout
King & Wood Mallesons’ year-long merger negotiations with Singaporean firm WongPartnership failed just days before a tie-up was to be announced to the market, The Lawyer can reveal.
Irwin Mitchell loses Saudi prince state immunity appeal
The Court of Appeal (CoA) has thrown out an appeal by two Saudi princes who wanted a case against them be heard behind closed doors.
Edwards Wildman teams up with M&A boutique Ismen for Turkey launch
US-firm Edwards Wildman is to open an office in Istanbul through an association with Turkish M&A firm Ismen, months after the two firms worked together on a £36m deal.
Linklaters, Clifford Chance power up for oil majors investigation
Magic circle firms Linklaters and Clifford Chance have been instructed by two of the oil majors that faced dawn raids by the European Commission this week.
Herbies strengthens nascent Frankfurt base with Norton Rose hire
Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) has appointed Norton Rose’s Frankfurt corporate team leader Nico Abel as its second partner for its new German offices.
Goldman Sachs' HMRC tax deal legal, rules High Court
Blackstone Chambers’ James Eadie QC has defeated a judicial review bid by lobbying group UK Uncut over HM Revenue & Customs’ multi-million pound “sweetheart” deal with Goldman Sachs.
Texas firm Andrews Kurth makes Ashurst hire for City launch
Texas firm Andrews Kurth is set to become the latest US oil and gas player to target the UK market with a London launch.
Michelmores dishes out staff bonuses after turnover rises 15 per cent
Exeter-headquartered Michelmores is to pay all lawyers and staff a bonus equivalent to 3 per cent of their individual salaries after posting a 15 per cent rise in turnover to £22.3m during the last financial year.
Farrers and Olswang confirm redundancies
Farrer & Co and Olswang have both confirmed the results of redundancy consultations begun earlier this year, laying off fewer people than originally feared.
Weightmans records 6 per cent turnover growth for 2012/13
Weightmans has announced record revenue figures for the 2012/13 financial year, with turnover hitting £82m - up from £77.1m in 2011/12.
Osborne Clarke puts 13 senior fee earners on redundancy consultation
Osborne Clarke today (15 May) entered into a two week consultation programme with a view to cutting 13 senior associates.
Travers promotes three in cut down partnership round
Travers Smith has made up three associates to partner, in a promotions round less than half the size of last year’s.
Walker Morris makes up duo to partnership
Leeds firm Walker Morris has promoted two lawyers to its partnership, along with eight new directors.
Top private school summoned by BSB over pupillage auction
The Bar Standards Board (BSB) has approached the head of Westminster School after it auctioned off a mini-pupillage in a bid to raise money for a new building.
Quinn Emanuel plans Hong Kong launch
Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan is to launch in Hong Kong after hiring arbitration lawyer John Rhie from Kim & Chang.
Shearman hires Weil trio in boost for London private equity
Shearman & Sterling has hired a three-strong private equity team in London from Weil Gotshal & Manges including high-profile partner Mark Soundy.
Hugh James adds three to partnership
Cardiff-headquartered Hugh James has added three lawyers to the partnership in its latest round of promotions.
Keating Chambers senior clerk Child quits for Navigant
Keating Chambers senior clerk Nick Child is leaving the set to join Navigant Consulting as managing director and head of global market development for the company’s global construction practice.
Clifford Chance and Freshfields guide Cinven's Partnership IPO
Travers Smith and Ogier take further roles on planned £1.4bn float
Herbert Smith, A&O in flow for £5bn Severn Trent takeover approach
Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) has taken the lead role for longstanding client Severn Trent on a potential bid from a Canadian, Kuwaiti and UK consortium reportedly valuing the target at £5bn.
39 Essex Street takes pupillage gap year
The number of junior barristers and pupils joining from 4-5 Gray’s Inn Square has lead 39 Essex Street to suspend recruitment of pupils for the 2014-15 pupillage year.
BLP to cut 58 legal staff in massive salary reduction drive
Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) today (14 May) announced plans to make a raft of redundancies affecting nearly 100 lawyers and staff at the firm.
DWF launches redundancy consultations across Edinburgh and Glasgow
Lawyers and support staff in DWF’s Edinburgh and Glasgow offices have been put on redundancy notice as part of the firm’s wider restructuring programme.
Eversheds real estate team of six heads to Shakespeares
Birmingham-headquartered Shakespeares has added a six-lawyer team from Eversheds, led by real estate partner Brendan Walsh.
Morgan Lewis sees first ex-Dewey partner exit as Beijing co-head quits
Morgan Lewis & Bockius Beijing co-head Ingrid Zhu-Clark is to leave the firm, becoming the first ex-Dewey & LeBoeuf partner to exit the US outfit since a team of nearly 20 partners joined from the bankrupt firm last year.
Linklaters brolly scheme strikes gold as Coleen Rooney spreads firm's name
Linklaters’ policy of handing out branded umbrellas to students on campus to spread the firm’s name appears to have paid off after Coleen Rooney was pictured on the pitch after a Manchester United home match carrying a giant brolly with the magic circle outfit’s logo on it.
Garrigues pulls out of Latin American alliance to open own offices
Europe’s largest law firm, Garrigues, is quitting the Latin American alliance it founded in 2004 in order to launch its own offices on the continent.
Bingham raids White & Case in Tokyo for seven lawyer funds team
Bingham has expanded in Japan by snatching a seven-lawyer investment funds team from White & Case’s Tokyo office.
Exclusive: Legacy Herbert Smith issues £20m cash call to equity partners
Legacy Herbert Smith has issued a cash call of up to £20m to all equity partners in an effort to boost its capital structure as part of the firm’s planned financial integration with Australia’s Freehills.
Exclusive: China giant Yingke targets domestic SME market with launch of virtual legal services
Yingke, one of China’s largest law firms, is getting closer to launch a new division branded as Yingke Cloud, aimed at revolutionising the provision of volume legal services in China.
Exclusive: Dundas targets London merger after run of City exits
Dundas & Wilson is pushing to secure a London merger following a string of exits in the City and failed talks with Bircham Dyson Bell in 2011.
Exclusive: Riverview Law enters into strategic alliance with DMH Stallard
Riverview Law has signed its first formal strategic alliance with DMH Stallard in a move that will see Riverview refer work to the south-east firm.
Money key attraction for UK associates moving to US firms, The Lawyer survey reveals
Almost 40 per cent of UK associates currently at a US firm said money was their key motivator for joining - twice as many as last year, a survey by The Lawyer reveals today.
Clifford Chance and Simpson Thacher share KKR job on UK water buy
Freshfields leads for South Staffordshire seller Alinda Capital Partners after taking 2012 merger role
Exclusive: Henderson in-house team shrinks amid shift to using law firms more
Henderson Global Investors’ UK in-house legal team has shrunk by nearly 30 per cent in the past year following a shift to farming out more of its lower-level work to law firms.
BLP and Stephenson Harwood in store for £121m Oxford Street development
Stephenson Harwood acts for buyer on UK debut after referral from Hong Kong base
Lend Lease legal chief parts company with construction giant
The senior legal counsel of construction giant Lend Lease, Alistair Cutts, is understood to have left the role as the business scales back its European arm.
Freshfields freezes associate pay as trainee salaries unchanged again
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has frozen its associate pay rates following the introduction of a merit-based system, with trainee salaries kept static for the fifth year running.
Ex-Cobbetts debt recovery arm cuts 44 staff in redundancy round
Cobbetts’ former debt recovery business Incasso, which was acquired by HL Legal Solicitors, has made 44 staff redundant following a consultation with 52 staff at the company.
Ex-Dewey tax partner exits Linklaters' Washington base for KPMG
Linklaters Washington DC tax partner Joseph Pari has left for KPMG, roughly a year after moving to the magic circle firm ahead of the collapse of Dewey & LeBoeuf.
Sausage-skin maker raids Dairy Crest for first London in-houser
Sausage-skin maker Devro has hired Dairy Crest’s former deputy company secretary Andrew Money as its first London-based in-house lawyer.
Quinn Emanuel launches in Sydney with HSF partners
Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan has hired two Herbert Smith Freehills partners to launch its first move into the Australian market.
Barclays deputy GC leads the race in scramble to replace Harding
Barclays deputy general counsel Michael Shaw is understood to be leading the race to replace Mark Harding as the bank’s legal chief.
Nokia Siemens picks Tetra Pak's Varsellona as latest legal chief
Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) has appointed Tetra Pak general counsel Maria Varsellona as its new legal chief following the exit of Joyce Norcini from the Finnish telecoms group.
Freshfields' Red Knight hails United's 'heir to Busby'
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer London chief and high-profile Red Knight Mark Rawlinson has praised outgoing Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson as a “spiritual heir to Matt Busby” who “hates losing but uses adversity as a fuel”.
Ince & Co hires DLA Asia projects head
Ince & Co has hired former DLA Piper managing partner and Asia projects head Martin David to lead its Asia energy practice.
Linklaters beefs up relaunched DC base with Bingham tax duo
Linklaters has added two partners to its nascent Washington DC office with the hire of Bingham McCutchen tax duo David Brockway and Jasper Howard.
CoA throws out £400m Northern Rock appeal
Brick Court Chambers’ Mark Howard QC has been successful in knocking out an attempt to force the Northern Rock to pay compensation to shareholders who lost out when the bank was nationalised in 2008.
DWF bulks up real estate with Eversheds team
DWF has recruited 13 lawyers, including five partners, from Eversheds’ Manchester and Newcastle offices in a boost to its property department.
Herbies brings in Aussie corporate chief to rejig London corporate structure
Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) global corporate head Mike Ferraro has been brought in to the firm’s London office to revamp its corporate department, The Lawyer can reveal.
Senior Swedish partners team up for boutique launch
A group of lawyers from the Swedish offices of Ashurst and White & Case have joined forces with the former managing partner of Hannes Snellman’s Stockholm office to form a corporate boutique.
Consolidation continues as Jackson reforms take hold of claimant sector
The personal injury (PI) legal market is consolidating rapidly with three new mergers being announced yesterday.
Queen's Speech reveals national insurance reforms for LLPs
Law firms which have converted to LLP status could find themselves saddled with a much larger national insurance bill under measures announced in today’s Queen’s Speech.
Mishcon smashes turnover target with 14 per cent rise to £83.4m
Mishcon de Reya has broken through its £80m turnover target for 2012/13 with a 14 per cent rise, bringing revenues to £83.4m for the last financial year.
Stephenson Harwood pioneers Myanmar expansion with association
Stephenson Harwood has become the first UK law firm to enter the Myanmar market after striking an association deal with local firm U Tin Yu & Associates.
Wragge & Co launches redundancy consultation with 30 at risk
Wragge & Co has put up to 30 full-time equivalent support staff at risk of being made redundant in London and Birmingham.
Bond Dickinson makes up six in first combined partnership round
Bond Dickinson has unveiled its first round of promotions since the merger between Dickinson Dees and Bond Pearce, which went live last week (1 May).
Leveson counsel Robert Jay QC joins High Court bench
39 Essex Street’s Robert Jay QC, the counsel to the Leveson Inquiry, has been appointed to the High Court in the latest round of judicial appointments.
Simmons & Simmons gets green light for Singapore launch
Simmons & Simmons has been granted a licence to operate in Singapore by the state’s Attorney General’s Chambers.
Latham launches in Düsseldorf with three Shearman hires
Latham & Watkins has secured the hire of three Shearman & Sterling partners to launch a Düsseldorf office, hot on the heels of Shearman’s decision to centralise its German presence in Frankfurt.
Fulbright London partners clinch opt-out from Norton Rose's UK LLP
A group of Fulbright & Jaworski partners in London have negotiated a reverse lock-in that ringfences them against Norton Rose’s UK business for two years from the firms’ merger next month, The Lawyer has learnt.
Anderson Strathern reappointed as advisor to The Crown Estate
After a competitive tender process, Anderson Strathern has once again been retained to advise the Crown Estate in Scotland.
Bird & Bird snares franchising duo from FFW after Abell hire
Bird & Bird has hired two franchising partners from Field Fisher Waterhouse (FFW) following the recruitment of high-profile IP and IT head Mark Abell.
Peverel Group names new head of legal
Property management company, Peverel Group, has appointed Nigel Hirst as head of legal and company secretary.
Dentons makes first post-merger hires in Germany
Dentons has announced its first lateral hires since the tripartite merger which formed the firm a month ago, picking up a duo of partners in Germany.
Linklaters NQs receive 4 per cent salary boost to £64k
Linklaters has implemented an across the board pay hike for all junior lawyers, with newly qualified (NQs) lawyers receiving their first salary boost since 2011.
Freshfields partner Donald Guiney quits for Baker & McKenzie
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer corporate partner Donald Guiney is to join Baker & McKenzie after 16 years at the magic circle firm.
Clyde & Co gains approval for Beijing office launch
Clyde & Co has become the lastest firm to have gained regulatory approval for a Beijing opening from China’s Ministry of Justice.
Slater & Gordon set to acquire trio of UK personal injury practices
Australian listed firm Slater & Gordon is to bulk up its UK presence with the acquisition of Simpson Millar, Goodmans Law and the personal injury practice of Taylor Vinters.
Insurance giant Parabis on verge of £90m merger with Greenwoods
Defendant insurance firm Plexus Law, a subsidiary of Parabis, is to merge with Greenwoods to create a £90m firm.
Is it you? The Lawyer Awards shortlist unveiled
The Lawyer today unveils the shortlist for The Lawyer Awards 2013, with firms and teams of lawyers jostling for recognition for their contribution to the profession.
Ashurst axes partners from super-plateau after six years of grace
Ashurst has moved six partners down from its so-called super-plateau, marking the first time that the firm has removed members from the 65-point level since it was introduced in 2007.
International litigants in London rise by a third in three years
The number of international litigants turning to the Commercial Court to resolve disputes has increased by 30 per cent since March 2009, new research reveals, while the number of domestic litigants is on on the wane.
