The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) is liaising with law enforcement authorities over allegations made regarding embattled firm Axiom Ince, as the Metropolitan Police Service confirms a referral was passed on by the regulator. In August, the regulator suspended three partners from Axiom Ince, the firm that acquired Ince Group just four months before and was […]
Cadent Gas, which split from National Grid seven years ago, has updated its legal panel by reappointing five firms and adding on two more. The National Grid offshoot has given first-time places to Addleshaw Goddard and DWF. Both have been appointed onto the general services lot for Cadent, while Addleshaws has additionally won a spot […]
The lower down The Lawyer UK200 rankings your firm sits, the more difficult it is to grow. The revenue gap between the Top 10 firms and those outside the Top 50 was £1.14bn in 2022/23, but all that separates the firm ranked 50th (Browne Jacobson) and 100th (Payne Hicks Beach) is £66m in revenue. It […]
Macfarlanes this week pushed the button on its roll-out of generative AI tool HarveyAI, following the largest pilot ever carried out in the history of the firm. Around 15 per cent of Macfarlanes’ fee-earning population across every practice area and all levels of seniority spent time this June using the tool. The results were then […]
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) is liaising with law enforcement authorities over allegations made regarding embattled firm Axiom Ince, as the Metropolitan Police Service confirms a referral was passed on by the regulator. In August, the regulator suspended three partners from Axiom Ince, the firm that acquired Ince Group just four months before and was […]
Cadent Gas, which split from National Grid seven years ago, has updated its legal panel by reappointing five firms and adding on two more. The National Grid offshoot has given first-time places to Addleshaw Goddard and DWF. Both have been appointed onto the general services lot for Cadent, while Addleshaws has additionally won a spot […]
The lower down The Lawyer UK200 rankings your firm sits, the more difficult it is to grow. The revenue gap between the Top 10 firms and those outside the Top 50 was £1.14bn in 2022/23, but all that separates the firm ranked 50th (Browne Jacobson) and 100th (Payne Hicks Beach) is £66m in revenue. It […]
Macfarlanes this week pushed the button on its roll-out of generative AI tool HarveyAI, following the largest pilot ever carried out in the history of the firm. Around 15 per cent of Macfarlanes’ fee-earning population across every practice area and all levels of seniority spent time this June using the tool. The results were then […]
The UK boss of Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner (BCLP) has been appointed to the position of global senior partner. Segun Osuntokun will take up the newly-created role from 1 January, supporting the firm’s sole CEO Steve Baumer. Osuntokun joined the firm in 2008 as a partner in the litigation and corporate risk practice, and was […]
We’re all watching eagerly for the changes coming at Allen & Overy on 1 May as its merger with Shearman & Sterling finally goes live. But Addleshaws has its own significant change that day. Next Wednesday, Andrew Johnston will officially kick off his tenure as managing partner with longstanding incumbent John Joyce stepping aside. Addleshaws […]
There’s no doubt that firms are using non-UK growth to power their global figures. Of the 35 Top 50 firms for which The Lawyer has historical global revenue data, all but four saw higher growth outside the UK in the five years since 2019. Included in this group is Herbert Smith Freehillls (HSF), where London remains […]
Which law firms are private equity houses looking to invest in? The answer, if the conversations we’re having with managing partners are anything to go by, is ‘pretty much all of them’. Most regional firms of note have had speculative approaches at some time in the last five years or so, as private equity gradually […]
Barclays’ legal team was once among the most influential in the UK. That power has diminished over the last decade, yet the banking giant still packs a punch when it comes to talent management. Some 40 lawyers are understood to have left Barclays in the UK last year. There are cost-cutting measures at play here, […]
Keystone Law, the poster child for the platform firm, is likely to break the psychologically important £100m revenue barrier in 2025. The success of this firm has spawned a new market, which is challenging traditional firms on the talent front. More than 3,500 lawyers now work across a variety of fee-sharing outfits, research from Atlas […]
The Court of Appeal has overturned a ruling made against Saudi businessman Sheikh Mohamed Bin Issa Al Jaber, in a claim brought by the liquidators of one of the Sheikh’s former companies, MBI International & Partners. Mishcon de Reya represented the Sheikh in the appeal, which was brought on the basis that Mrs Justice Smith […]
The High Court has ordered that the jurisdiction challenge in the $13.8bn dispute brought by jailed Russian businessman Ziyavudin Magomedov be heard this Autumn following a successful expedition application brought by the claimants. In December 2022, Magomedov was sentenced to 19 years in jail for embezzlement alongside his brother, having already spent more than four years […]
US firms Kirkland & Ellis and Latham & Watkins are leading on another US private equity acquisition of a London-listed company. This morning it was announced that US private equity firm Thoma Bravo has reached an agreement for Bidco to acquire leading UK-based cybersecurity company Darktrace. Darktrace is listed on the London Stock Exchange and will be […]
HSBC has prevailed in the £240m claim against it, which alleged deceit, conspiracy and joint tort-feasance against the banking giant. The case was listed as one of The Lawyer’s Top 20 Cases of 2024 and saw HSBC instruct Norton Rose Fulbright to defend two jointly managed actions being pursued by Edwin Coe and Stewarts on behalf of […]
Today’s savvy General Counsel (GCs) are facing a raft of challenges posed by tech, resourcing, and budget constraints, with in-house teams stretched beyond capacity. While some challenges offer opportunities for GCs to change their organisation’s approach – for example resourcing – how can GCs justify investment in their function when budgets are being slashed? […]
