Olswang's year of change

Thursday, March 20th, 2008
Olswang’s year of change

Olswang’s promotions reveal the firm’s efforts to become a strategic player in the corporate world, with the department seeing the lion’s share (four out of 10) of internal promotions for the coming year.

This is a sea change from last year when two out of five internal additions to partnership were in real estate, one in commercial litigation, one in tax and one in IT. Reflecting the challenges of the wider property market, there were no promotions to real estate this year, and this partly explains why the firm’s Thames Valley office - which has an emphasis on real estate - didn’t see any promotions this time round.

However, real estate expertise does transcend internal departmental divisions. Both corporate lawyer Amy Collins and construction litigator lawyer Nick Lane who have been promoted in the latest round, are specialists in that area.

Lane was one of three lawyers made up in litigation, underscoring expectations that an economic recession requires more senior expertise in that sector.

Media continues to remain a strong part of the firm’s DNA - three partners moved up the ladder there - and media heavyweight clients such as BBC Worldwide and Warner Bros Entertainment are among the corporate clients of those promoted.

This year’s statistics reveal that career prospects are good for those who join Olswang, but less impressive for those that train at the firm. Only one out of the 10 promotions - corporate lawyer Natasha Kaye - trained there.

Kaye was one of four women who were promoted - two were in corporate, one in litigation and one in media - demonstrating that the firm continues to have one of the more progressive records on female career progression among the legal world.

Partnership prospects
Corporate - very sunny
Litigation - sunny
Media - sunny

Previous Partnership 2008 blogs.

Slaughter and May: ladies, long hours and longevity- Thursday, April 10th
Russell Jones & Walker: More to the core- Tuesday, April 8th
A&O in the Middle East: one new partner, back-up on the way- Monday, April 7th
Clifford Chance: Popham puts his money where his mouth is - Monday, April 7th
Nabarro, Hunton & Hosseini- Friday, April 4th
Addleshaws: managing associates - Friday, April 4th
Nabarro promotions down (under) - Thursday, April 3rd
Hunton & Williams: The London eye - Thursday, April 3rd
The corporate partnership: Superwomen only? - Wednesday, April 2nd
Ashurst promotions: expectation management - Wednesday, April 2nd
Pinsents’ Leeds’ ladies take the lead - Monday, March 31st
Herbies…continued… - Thursday, March 27th
Herbies shakes things up - Thursday, March 27th
Macfarlanes predicts a good year - Thursday, March 26th
Burges Salmon talks the talk - Wednesday, March 26thTrowers promotions dwindle - Tuesday, March 25th
Wragges’ ups the firm’s real estate profile - Thursday, March 20th
Olswang’s year of change - Thursday, March 20th
Camerons goes East - Wednesday, March 19th
Ince & Co: happy days for men in boats - Tuesday, March 18th
Freshfields refills partnership - Monday, March 17th