Cadwalader: the infighting has to stop
Today’s Cadwalader is wrestling with the problem of how to hang on to what it used to be while at the same time presenting a fresh, modern face to a highly competitive market.
Pinsent Masons and Mills & Reeve are cornering the university market
The Higher Education sector is in big trouble. As we reported last month, universities are struggling to fill places on their undergraduate courses – not least for law degrees. Many are in financial distress. Tuition fees for home students have been capped at £9,250 since 2017 and are falling well behind what is profitable, but […]
Slaughters and Freshfields share a trainee strategy
Associate retention is one of the biggest bugbears for law firm leaders, as competitive salaries and the promise of greater opportunities lure rising stars away. Added to this, a firm’s biggest cost is its people, but that didn’t stop Freshfields last year pledging to up its trainee intake from 90 to 100 from 2025. Should […]
HSF is leaning on London
Of the UK Top 50 firms, just 16 have no overseas offices, and of the remaining 34, more than half (19) were bigger outside the UK last year. Internationalisation is a hallmark of a Top 50 firm, but for many it is the UK that keeps the investment pipelines pumped. For firms with international offices, […]
Good things happen when partners aren’t in charge
The upcoming UK200 has welcomed its sixth employee ownership trust (EOT) member. Altrincham’s Myerson Solicitors joins Yorkshire’s Ison Harrison and the West Midlands’ Talbots Law in embracing employee ownership, having converted from a limited liability partnership (LLP) to a 100 per cent employee-owned company last week. The EOT model allows all employees to take a […]
UK50’s fastest growing firm isn’t led from London
Over the last decade, the UK’s Top 50 firms have trialled a variety of tactics to satisfy an incessant demand for revenue growth. Consolidation has been a feature of the decade, with ‘critical mass’ becoming a key term used by managing partners as they push forward their growth agendas. Internationalisation too is a hallmark of […]
Addleshaws zeroes in on IP with five-strong team hire
In a bid to expand its intellectual property practice, Addleshaw Goddard is adding five lawyers to its ranks from a specialist City firm. Stobbs’ head of litigation Geoff Steward is joining Addleshaws, along with four lawyers. Steward has worked at Stobbs for nearly six years, and played a key role in developing the firm’s IP […]
Shoosmiths moots bonus revolution to reward stars over teams
Having introduced a firmwide bonus for the first time two years ago, Shoosmiths is now contemplating whether to develop an individual reward scheme for its lawyers. The firmwide bonus, set up in August 2022, recognises all firm employees (excluding partners). It set out to pay staff between 5 to 7 per cent of their basic salary […]
NatWest’s former boss resurfaces at Mishcon
NatWest’s former chief executive officer is stepping into a new role at Mishcon de Reya, well over a year after leaving her post at the bank. Alison Rose joins Mishcon as an adviser following a 23-year long career at NatWest, where she started as managing director for leveraged finance before rising through the ranks in […]
33 Chancery Lane marks new era with CEO and barrister hires
33 Chancery Lane is undergoing a mass operational overhaul and rebrand, hiring its first chief executive, three new barristers and moving premises. The 19-barrister set, led by Kennedy Talbot KC, has hired Outer Temple’s practice director Sam Carter as chief executive and director of clerking to help guide the chambers through its new chapter. Carter […]
Eversheds Sutherland names first new bosses since merger
Eversheds Sutherland has anointed its next co-CEOs for the international and US sides of the business, as Lee Ranson and Mark Wasserman prepare to step down. Eversheds Sutherland partners have decided that managing partner Keith Froud will take the reins from Ranson, while Austin-based global energy co-head Lino Mendiola will replace Wasserman in the US. […]