Barclays summons firms to ‘panel day’ ahead of final decision
Barclays has invited 22 firms to a panel day in July, ahead of the final announcement of its last ever formal panel review.
Knights boots up for IPO with tech transformation
Knights, which this month announced its intention to become the fifth publicly listed UK law firm, has hired the European IT director at Procter & Gamble to oversee a “technology transformation” as part of the listing. Richard King will join Knights on 1 July as a non-executive director to lead the business’ tech overhaul. Knights’ […]
DAC set to exit “miserable dungeon” with move to Cannon Street
DAC Beachcroft‘s search for its new London office is coming to an end as the firm is understood to have put in an offer for floors of the Walbrook Building near Bank station, The Lawyer can reveal. The firm kicked off its search for a new office last September, instructing commercial estate agents Knight Frank to find […]
Dentons-backed ‘Space Camp’ unveils six new startups
Six European startups have been chosen to join the first round of a SpaceTech startup accelerator backed by Dentons. The nine-week programme called ‘Space Camp’ is being hosted in Dentons’ London HQ and is sponsored by the global firm. The scheme was established by spacetech-focused venture capital fund Seraphim Capital, which claimed that it had […]
Gender pay gap: Freshfields and Slaughters bow to pressure on partner figures as A&O refuses to budge
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Slaughter and May have released belatedly their gender pay gap for partners, while Allen & Overy (A&O) has been called out for “refusing to comply” with MPs’ requests for the data. The publication of results follows a long-running inquiry by the UK Government’s Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee into the […]
Hogan Lovells slashes 54 roles in London as redundancy programme enters final stage
Hogan Lovells has confirmed that 54 people have so far been affected by its London redundancy programme, as the consultation period nears its final stage. The restructuring operation was announced in September 2017, with the firm announcing that 90 roles would be cut or moved to low cost centres. This was made up of 78 […]
City firms gear up to defend Heathrow from new runway challenge
DAC Beachcroft looks set to launch a challenge against the Department for Transport (DfT) after submitting a 21-page document highlighting “serious errors” in the DfT’s plans to build a third runway at Heathrow airport. DAC partner and head of planning Christopher Stanwell is representing Heathrow Hub, which proposes an extension to the existing Northern runway […]
A&O lures back partner after two-year Cleary stint
Allen & Overy (A&O) has rehired its former head of non-contentious financial services regulation, two years after he left the magic circle firm for Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton. Bob Penn spent nearly a decade in the A&O partnership and was a member of its financial services regulation team before leaving to join the US firm in September […]
CMS gets £132m cash boost after sale of Olswang and Nabarro offices
CMS Cameron McKenna has released itself from nearly £132m worth of real estate liabilities after selling off surplus office space owned by legacy Olswang and Nabarro, The Lawyer can reveal. When the firm agreed its merger with the two London-headquartered firms, CMS took on extra space in London, as well as Dubai and Singapore. It has now consolidated […]
Linklaters wins appeal for BNY Mellon over $23bn asset freeze
Linklaters has successfully defended the Bank of New York Mellon from an appeal launched by the National Bank of Kazakhstan (NBK) against the freezing of assets. A judgment permitting BNY Mellon to freeze $23bn worth of assets belonging to the NBK’s National Fund of Kazakhstan was passed down in Belgian and Dutch courts, and was […]
White & Case ramps up City recruitment with in-house PE hire
White & Case has gone in-house for its next hire in London, recruiting Lone Star lawyer Shane McDonald as a partner in its banking team. McDonald has been senior vice president at Lone Star-affiliated company Hudson Advisors since 2013, when he moved in-house from Ropes & Gray. He started out his legal career at Gadens […]
Exclusive: Fieldfisher mulls float as law firm IPO market heats up
Just days after DWF confirmed it was looking into the possibility of an IPO, The Lawyer can reveal that Fieldfisher has also been holding meetings in the City to explore a similar move in a float that could value the London firm at up to £800m. It is understood that Fieldfisher has been “pilot fishing” […]
Top 50 US law firms in London: who dominates the $5bn market
The Lawyer has tracked the financial performance of the 50 largest US firms in the UK, including lateral hires and investment priorities
The Lawyer Awards 2018: the litigation team of the year finalists
Which teams are battling it out for the coveted litigation prize at this year’s The Lawyer Awards?
Because they’re worth it: DWF’s valuation and the Knowles effect
Who better to deliver DWF’s IPO narrative than a man once dubbed the Tigger of law firm management?
Macfarlanes office move: 35 years in the making
With the lease on Norwich Street running out, about five years ago Macfarlanes began the process of looking for new options.
Forget the crowdsourcing gimmicks, conversations are a smarter way to tweak law firm culture
Reverse mentoring is taking hold at Linklaters and A&O, and it’s being championed by the firms’ most senior partners.
Lawyers shouldn’t play safe, they should take the lead
What does the term “progressive” mean to in-house lawyers? GCs explain how they build their in-house legal teams.
Moscow gold: For City lawyers, the oligarch era is over
The changing political environment is making life harder for the London lawyers servicing Russia’s super-rich.
Clifford Chance senior partner elections: The early front-runners revealed
The next Clifford Chance senior partner elections are set to take place in October 2018. Will the next leader be cut from the same cloth as previous ones – that is, London-based, a banking and finance partner, and a man?
Making money out of laterals, the Greenberg way
Greenberg Traurig picked up some top real estate talent when KWM collapsed. But how has it integrated its new stars into the firm?
Transatlantic law firm mergers a decade on: happy ever after?
A cohort of UK firms have entered into US mergers over the years, but did they lose their souls as well as their names?
Tech incubator schemes: too many start-ups, not enough ideas
The massive investment from big organisations into legal tech startups is just the beginning. They have to prove it’s worth it, Matilda Munro reports.
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Making partner – should firms pick up the pace to promotion?
As the road to partnership gets longer, some law firms are creating alternative career pathways to manage talent retention.
Pimlico Plumbers: the self-employed v brand debate
By Paula Rome The widely reported decision in Pimlico Plumbers emphasises the risks of retaining control over staff. However, such control can be key to protecting an organisations’ brand and reputation in the marketplace. Where does this leave us? What does control mean?
What do employers need to know about whistleblowing policies?
By Antonia Blackwell In this instalment of our ‘Breaking Down the Handbook’ series, we look at whistleblowing policies, why they are needed, what they should contain and what traps employers need to avoid. What does whistleblowing mean?
I’m divorced, that’s it, right?
By Miranda Nairn There is a common misconception that once in possession of a decree absolute (the final decree dissolving a marriage), your divorce is done and dusted and you and your ex-spouse can walk off into the sunset, in opposite directions, never to see or hear from each other again. In fact, unless you […]
Five lessons from our general counsel community
By Nicholas d’Adhemar Apperio invited a selection of clients, General Counsel and corporate Legal Operations professionals to benchmark the adoption of technology in legal departments. The group discussed the cultural and commercial challenges of technology. Here are five of the most interesting lessons learned…
Calls for CVAs to be referred to the Pre-Pack Pool as concerns increase about their use
Following the recent upsurge in Company voluntary arrangements (CVAs), the British Property Federation has called on government to conduct an urgent review into their use (and potential misuse) and advocates that CVAs should be referred to an independent third party, such as the Pre-Pack Pool, for review…
GDPR: A pension trustee’s ongoing obligations
After months of preparing for GDPR, unfortunately the work does not stop now that the regulation has been implemented. Elements of the GDPR will require ongoing review and action. See our checklist below to make sure you are up to speed with your ongoing trustee GDPR obligations…
An easement or a lease – the court decides
By Deborah Gordon Brown and Michael Callaghan The High Court has decided that a document purporting to grant a lease of a right of way in fact created an easement. Background An easement is a right over one property that benefits another property, such as a right of way or a right to use a […]
Business and human rights – NCP raid complaint highlights importance of working with local communities
In this article we look at the latest complaint determined by the UK NCP and draw out some wider points in relation to the current NCP system. Introduction The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (the OECD) provides a platform for governments around the world to work together to promote polices to advance economic and […]
Use of injunction in modern trespass cases
By Leanne Norton and Lucy Shepherd In two recent cases of trespass, injunctions have been the preferred remedy rather than possession. An injunction is a court order that requires a party to do a specific act, or to refrain from doing a specific act. Injunctions are a discretionary remedy and an interim injunction might be […]
Adjudication watch June 2018: what you need to know
In this latest ‘Adjudication Watch’ our construction team provides updates on significant adjudication decisions: Mailbox (Birmingham) Ltd v Galliford Try Building Ltd (formerly known as Galliford Try Construction Ltd) [2017] Christopher Linnett Ltd and Mr Christopher Linnett v Matthew J Harding [2017] Baldwin and another v J R Pickstock Ltd [2017] Victory House General Partner […]
Scottish Law Commission consults on lease termination law
Walker Morris partner Rob Aberdein provides a summary of proposed reforms to Scottish commercial lease regulation following a discussion paper published by the Scottish Law Commission (SLC)…
Video: Country risk analysis for investment decisions and corporate strategy, part 2
Paul Murphy, managing director of Gowling WLG’s Energy Group, sat down withErnst & Young associate partner Michael Samis and Canada Control Risks principal John Seddon for a discussion on country risk analysis. Watch the video by clicking below