Alex is The Lawyer’s international editor. He joined in 2017 as a reporter covering litigation and the Bar, leaving in 2019 and returning in 2021.
BDB Pitmans is throwing its entire weight into finding mid-market US firms to join its soon-to-be-launched international network, Broadfield. The Lawyer understands there is space in the proposed network for multiple US firms with BDB Pitmans managing partner John Hutchinson describing the UK and US as “starting points” for its grand plan. The firm announced […]
This summer has seen two sizeable acquisitions in Paris by major international firms of smaller boutique practices. First, Paul Hastings bolstered its white collar team with the incorporation of Antonin Lévy & Associés. The move brought three partners and nine associates into the US firm’s fold, upgrading its offering as a key Paris practice. Then […]
Bird & Bird CEO Christian Bartsch has said that he “would not say no” to the idea of a US merger after revealing that the firm broke through the £500m mark for the first time in its history. Bartsch was speaking as the firm published its financial results for the 2023/24 year. Though a US […]
BDB Pitmans partners have voted through proposals that will see the firm transition to a CMS-style network model, having called off merger talks with Womble Bond Dickinson in 2023. The firm has signed a letter of intent with Alvarez & Marsal Legal Services (AMLS) to help internationalise the business. Both BDB Pitmans and AMLS issued […]
Welcome to The Passport, your regular round-up of the most important stories to come from the European legal market. In this edition, we look at how CMS zoomed past Dentons in the Polish lawyer headcount stakes; why you might have to get used to the idea of three firms with ‘Snellman’ in their name; and […]
Mexico is set to welcome thousands of lawyers later this year when the capital city plays host to the International Bar Association’s (IBA) showpiece event. Partners and support staff will mingle from dawn until way after dusk, discuss strategies and scan way off into the horizon. However, Mexico’s been high on the interest list for […]
It’s coming ho… No. Stop right there. Don’t say it. Stop thinking it. You know that you were. We’ve been here before. Don’t jinx it. Ollie Watkins gave England football fans a moment to savour on Wednesday night with a touch-and-finish so exquisite that it would not look out of place in any of this […]
Mayer Brown has followed hotly on Paul Hastings’ heels to strengthen significantly in Paris, hiring 30 lawyers from a local firm. The Lawyer understands that Mayer Brown is hiring two-thirds of the total lawyer headcount at French firm Ayache to bolster its transactional team in the French capital. Altogether, The Lawyer understands that seven Ayache corporate/M&A […]
Danish big five firm Accura has made a handful of redundancies in its real estate team, citing sustained macroeconomic pressures that have supressed deal flow. The firm declined to specify how many lawyers in its team had left the firm, instead calling the move a “minor adjustment of the real estate organisation to the current […]
Welcome to The Passport, your regular round-up of the most important stories to come from the European legal market. In this edition, we look at the troubles facing Linklaters in Stockholm, the surprisingly positive consequences of Weil Gotshal’s exit from Central and Eastern Europe, as well as recent shake-ups in the Danish real estate market. […]
Power is largely siloed. When we look at the top 25 firms in The Lawyer’s UK200, partners drawn from the practices most identifiable with the firm’s culture almost always end up in the managing partner spot. There are two exceptions in Slaughters’ Deborah Finkler (disputes) and Pinsents’ Laura Cameron (health/safety), but firms have largely stuck […]
Bech-Bruun has lost a handful partners to rival firms, with Norwegian-headquartered firm Schjødt and big five rival Gorrissen Federspiel both profiting from the exits. Litigation partners Søren Lundsgaard and Arianne Svardal-Stelmer will join Schjødt in the firm’s most substantial disputes expansion of its 18-month old Copenhagen office. The pair joined Bech-Bruun in a merger between […]