TL 8 Sept 2014

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Scotland’s firms hold their nerve

With just over a week to go until Scotland decides whether to maintain a 300-year-old union or branch out on its own again, its law firms are feeling the effects of referendum fever. And not necessarily in a good way. As this week’s feature explores, the impending plebiscite on Scottish independence has had a cooling […]

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ULaw strikes back after CC snub

Clifford Chance becomes the latest firm to drop ULaw for BPP as its LPC provider What’s happening at the University of Law? Clifford Chance has become the latest firm to drop the institution as its preferred LPC provider in favour of BPP, following DWF last month and Allen & Overy and Osborne Clarke last year. […]

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Scottish independence: Nervous System

Scotland is in the grip of referendum fever. From the “proud to be Scottish, delighted to be united” sloganeering of the ‘Naws’, to the schismatic buttonholing of the ‘Ayes’, there’s no escaping the fact that something big is about to happen in Scottish politics. Whether or not the result will give the disruption that Scottish […]

Tony Williams, Jomati Consultants
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Tony Williams: Hope for the best, plan for the worst

The financial crisis has led to a new working environment and that means firms must make difficult decisions on how they work if they want to survive During the 25-year bull run in legal services until 2007, law firms could expect their revenues and profits to grow at a compound rate of double the rate […]

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Moves 8 September

Move of the week Taylor Wessing has hired two private client partners. Elaine Dobson (above) will join as head of residential property from Bircham Dyson Bell. She specialises in transactional and landlord/tenant issues, and more complex enfranchisement work. Antoaneta Proctor will join from Wragge Lawrence Graham & Co. She specialises in tax and trusts, wealth […]

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In-house interview: Jim Trainor, head of legal at VW UK

Jim Trainor reveals how he runs Volkswagen Group UK’s legal department like a well-oiled machine “Five brands, one career” reads the strapline at the top of Volkswagen Group’s UK website. It’s a sentiment taken quite literally in the legal department, where a valiant team of three lawyers and two trainees handle the legal work not […]

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South Korea: Losing its shine 

Despite being a top recipient of foreign direct investment, South Korea’s business activity potential is not being realised. Do policymakers have the remedy? Although the country’s protectionist stance meant it was badly burnt by the 1997 Asian financial crisis, South Korea opened its economy to foreign investments and imports soon after and is now one […]

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Angola and Mozambique: Dual fuel pipeline

Angola and Mozambique both benefit from oil and gas exploration but their by-product of needing modern and extensive infrastructure is creating new investment sources The energy-rich, Portuguese-speaking nations of Angola and Mozambique have consistently shown their potential over the past years. GDP growth in both countries has outstripped both the global average and also the […]