11 Mar 2013

Cat Griffiths index
3

Why DWF is nothing like DLA

Crutes, Buller Jeffries, Biggart Baillie, Fishburns, Cobbetts: Since January 2012 DWF has bolted on six firms and £87m of revenue. At this rate Andrew Leaitherland will be reversing into DLA Piper. If that sounds absurd, then so did Nigel Knowles’s assertion back in 1994 that what was then Dibb Lupton Broomhead should take over Clifford […]

Mergers and the mid-market

International and domestic mergers are high on the mid-market agenda Last week Addleshaw Goddard and Nabarro confirmed they had called off merger talks, which means one thing – neither can deny that they are now officially in play. A source close to the talks said Addleshaws had called the whole thing off, although it is […]

Scotland

Semple Fraser: tip of the Scottish iceberg?

As Semple Fraser bites the dust, thoughts turn to health of others north of the border On 6 March Scottish firm Semple Fraser informed staff that management had filed notice to appoint administrators. The news came a month after Cobbetts sought protection from creditors, before it was snapped up by DWF. RSM Tenon has been […]

John-Michel Beeching index

The Lawyer Management: Taylor Wessing

Jean-Michel Beeching is international business development director at Taylor Wessing. He was previously director of marketing at KPMG and has held roles at Linklaters, where he was head of marketing for Asia and head of business development (BD) for Europe. How has your role changed during your time at the firm? It has become even […]

4

Partners on the move at Herbert Smith Freehills

Getting that queasy feeling, as it’s all action on the HSF partner roundabout What is going on at Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF)? In the past few weeks a number of partners have high-tailed it out of the firm. The most recent move came last week, when Bracewell & Giuliani named HSF finance partner Jason Fox […]

Saudi Arabia
7

CC gets it together in Saudi Arabia

Trailblazer firm tests mixed partnership water in the desert kingdom Clifford Chance announced last week that it had received regulatory approval to set up a mixed partnership in Saudi Arabia comprising foreign and Saudi lawyers. Although this has been allowed for several years, the magic circle firm claims to be the first international outfit to […]

Heinz

Has-bean

Big product names are in the frame again in our regular round-up of the deals and legal personalities of the month, including the sales of Dell and baked bean superstar Heinz February mirrored the January gloom in many ways: high-profile administrations continued, with Linklaters partner Richard Bussell and DLA Piper partners Richard Obank and Colin […]

Allen & Overy

Number crunching: A&O

Of all the magic circle firms Allen & Overy (A&O) is probably the most transparent when it comes to reporting figures. It was the first of the group to become an LLP under senior partner Guy Beringer, an ardent advocate of transparency. In a partner conference call in 2005/06 Beringer said LLP reports were “an […]

Richard Cohen index
1

Get a new model or lose clients

In areas where technology can help clients to help themselves, the billable hour is outdated It does not surprise me that so many clients are unhappy with the cost of getting divorced; couples in this situation are in a highly emotional state and uncertainty around final costs just increases their anxiety. As last month’s report […]

Moves: 11 March 2013

Move of the week Herbert Smith Freehills has hired two partners. Louis de Longeaux (pictured) joins the firm’s Paris office from Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe, where he has been a partner since 2007 working on debt and equity-linked capital markets. Amy Geddes joins from Linklaters, where she was a managing associate. Her main area of […]

David Corker

Heed the warning of CPS fiasco

CPS’ worrying email on prosecutions is nothing compared with the dangers that could accompany DPAs Last month The Times published an internal Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) email laying bare the criteria some CPS London branches have been using to decide whether the prosecution’s case should be represented in court by a CPS advocate or an […]