Private equity house 3i has turned to Travers Smith in its innovative plan to buy a stake in one of the UK’s most famous architecture practices. Lord Foster, one of the most prominent British architects, has agreed to sell a stake in his Foster & Partners company to 3i in a deal that is reportedly […]
Bircham Dyson Bell has discarded the traditional use of PQE as the key component in grading solicitors. The firm has replaced it with a new performance-based structure, the Career Development Framework (CDF). HR director Richard Walden said that the PQE system is “outdated and fails to recognise the quality of work delivered”. The CDF establishes […]
We may have referred in the past to the similarity of Slaughter and May‘s best friends alliance to the family Von Trapp. But frankly, Macfarlanes puts Slaughters to shame, with 10 Norwich Street looking ever more like The Waltons’ ranch. As revealed late last night on www.thelawyer.com (10 May), Charles Martin and Simon Martin (no […]
Allen & Overy (A&O) has ramped up its international strategy today by launching in Saudi Arabia. It joins magic circle rival Clifford Chance as one of the few Western firms to have a presence in the kingdom. A&O announced today that it would be opening in Riyadh through an association with local firm Abdulaziz AlGasim. […]
Newcastle-based Robert Muckle has appointed a new senior partner and re-elected its managing partner. Hugh Welch, who has previously held both the managing and senior partner roles, takes over as senior partner from commercial partner Ian Gilthorpe, who has returned to a full-time fee-earning role at the end of his three-year term. Managing partner Stephen […]
US firm O’Melveny & Myers has snared a restructuring team from Stroock & Stroock & Lavan to bolster its New York office. O’Melveny is just the latest firm to ramp up its restructuring offering in anticipation of a downturn in the markets. O’Melveny chair Arthur Culvahouse said: “Not only is the strengthening of our restructuring […]
Macfarlanes is to overhaul its top-tier management when its senior and managing partners both step down next year. Prominent corporate partner Charles Martin will take over from Robert Sutton as senior partner, while corporate partner Simon Martin is succeeding Paul Phippen as managing partner. By next May, both Sutton and Phippen will have served three […]
Midlands firm Browne Jacobson saw a minimal increase in turnover during 2006-07 with its year-end figure rising just 3 per cent from £30.1m to £32m. Managing partner Brian Smith said that the low rise reflected the adoption of the UITF40 accounting system, and a like-for-like comparison would show that turnover was up 8 per cent. […]
Clifford Chance has shut down its seven-lawyer Padua office, the smallest in the firm’s network. The lawyers have all been offered positions in the firm’s Milan and Rome offices. The office in the northeast of Italy had originally been the focus for major clients in the region such as Generali. However, after Padua managing partner […]
Travers Smith is the latest City firm to announce its partnership promotions, making up more than double the associates it did last year. Nine associates will be promoted into the partnership, effective 1 July. This compares to just four last year and five in 2005. The corporate-heavy firm was also even-handed in its promotions, with […]
It’s all going off in Lisbon: Linklaters has just fired three associates in its Portugal office after discovering their plan to leave the firm and set up the Lisbon office of a competitor. See story It’s all going off in Lisbon: Linklaters has just fired three associates in its Portugal office after discovering their plan […]
US firm Latham & Watkins has lured a Dechert private equity partner to its Munich office. Volkmar Bruckner, who joined Dechert from Baker & McKenzie in 2004, has expertise in both corporate/M&A and private equity and boosts Latham’s corporate capability in Munich to four partners. His clients include bluechip private equity houses such as 3i. […]