2020 will go down in history as the year that traditional working models were torn apart by a global pandemic, which changed the way we work forever. As Horizon gets ready for a short two-week holiday (don’t worry, we’ll be back on 24 August), let’s take a moment to consider how the legal market has […]
If the UK’s largest firms went public, what could their market cap be? Here’s our predictions for this fantasy world of entirely-listed firms.
When we take a closer look at revenue per partner by region, it’s clear why strong bases in Asia Pacific and the US are essential.
The slow trickle of firms leaving the West End has been happening for some time: is the end in sight for W1 as a legal hotspot?
The digital financial services sector is prospering. TransferWise’s $319m share sale this week, led by D1 Capital Partners and Lone Pine Capital, indicates a 40 per cent increase in the valuation of the company compared to last year. Revolut’s $500m Series D funding in February valued the company at $5.5bn, the highest valued fintech company […]
For the first time, The Lawyer has put together a comprehensive list of global disputes being heard in 2021, with six of the top 20 held in London. The list of cases, which features as part of the Global Litigation 50 report, covers all manner of disputes whether it is a commercial tussle in London’s […]
Parties from the United States and Switzerland are competing over a six-figure sum sitting in Stephenson Harwood’s bank account, with the firm taking up a bit-part role in an ongoing High Court clash. A total of $570,000 is at the heart of the scrap between the estate of late US lawyer, Irving Kagan, and Swiss […]
Charles Russell Speechlys new managing partner Simon Ridpath has put forward a series of objectives for his tenure, as the firm revealed a dip in profits and rise in revenue for 2019/20. In the financials, net profit and profit per equity partner (PEP) dipped by 3 and 5 per cent respectively, from £29.6m to £28.7m […]
Goodwin has orchestrated a rota system to slowly bring back lawyers to its London office. The UK arm of the US firm has kept its London outpost open for about two weeks for a limited number of employees and on a voluntary basis. It followed a thorough risk assessment that gave the greenlight for the […]
Charter Chambers is to close its doors from 30 October, due to the coronavirus pandemic combined with the impending sale of its premises. The criminal set, which is home to 47 barristers including six silks, as well as seven clerks, has occupied 33 John Street for 15 years. It is owned by a Pension Trust […]
Taylor Wessing has worked with Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati on a new technology product to help clients concoct their return to the office strategy, the latest step in a non-exclusive agreement relationship struck by the two firms in 2019. The firms relied on software development work carried out by SixFifty, a technology subsidiary owned […]
A High Court scrap between the Bank of San Juan Internacional (BSJ) and Venezuela’s state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) is ongoing after Mr Justice Foxton adjourned Allen & Overy’s bid for summary judgment. This occurred during a hearing that took place at the end of last month, during which time Dentons came on record for […]
The London Universities Purchasing Consortium (LUPC) is seeking firms for its new £30m panel. LUPC has kicked off a multi-provider framework agreement, which will also be available to to its partner members; North Eastern Universities Purchasing Consortium (NEUPC), North Western Universities Purchasing Consortium (NWUPC), Southern Universities Purchasing Consortium (SUPC), Higher Education Purchasing Consortium, Wales (HEPCW). […]
Simpson Thacher’s litigation lawyers generated more than $3m each last year, placing the New York firm at the top of the revenue per lawyer (RPL) ranking in the new Global Litigation 50 report, The Lawyer can reveal. Indeed, Simpson Thacher ($3.02m) is the only firm with an RPL figure above $3m. Its closest competitors are […]
DLA Piper is set to shake up the UK’s litigation funding market by introducing its own client pot worth £150m, financed in part by a new platform. The funding product is the result of a collaboration between DLA, Litigation Capital Management (LCM) and new third-party funder, Aldersgate Funding. Aldersgate Funding will be led by former […]
Students on the Bar Professional Training Course have voiced their anger after technical problems derailed their first online exam. Following the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, the BSB delayed certain BPTC exams until August then, following an outcry from students, announced the exams would be take place online instead. The delivery method chosen to allow students […]
Mishcon de Reya, which shelved further discussion of a part-IPO in the latter half of 2019/20, has reported a 5 per cent increase in PEP to just over £1m. Average profit per senior equity partner (PEP) rose to £1.05m. This meant it was finally able to improve upon its £1m figure after previously hitting the […]
Hammerson, which has struggled to recoup rent owed by tenants, called upon Herbert Smith Freehills, CMS and Davis Polk & Wardwell as it pins its hopes upon a £800m raise to survive the crisis. Herbies took the lead for the shopping centre landlord, which has looked to restore its finances via an emergency rights issue […]
This week saw private equity house BC Partners make a nearly €3bn investment in Italian machinery business IMA, with firms including Kirkland & Ellis, NCTM and White & Case all bagging roles. IMA’s largest shareholder is Società Finanziaria Macchine Automatiche, which will be selling a 20 per cent shareholding to BC Partners. At a later […]
Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner (BCLP) and Mayer Brown acted on Link REIT’s £383.6m acquisition of 25 Cabot Square in Canary Wharf. The acquisition of the 17-floor office complex, which houses Morgan Stanley’s HQ, marks the Hong Kong-based investment trust’s entry into Europe. Mayer Brown acted for Link, Asia’s largest real estate investment trust, led by […]
Following the UK Government’s investment in the front-runner coronavirus vaccine from AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford, it has announced a new £100m cash boost to develop the infrastructure for a Covid-19 vaccine. Clifford Chance, Eversheds Sutherland and Travers Smith banded together on the Government’s investment in the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult, to accelerate […]
Last week saw a restructuring in the leisure industry, as opposed to retail, with Macfarlanes on call for Buzz Bingo. The UK’s biggest omni-channel bingo business, Buzz agreed a company voluntary arrangement (CVA), with Eversheds Sutherland advising on the real estate side. Buzz is owned by FTSE 250 investment company Caledonia Investments, which instructed Taylor […]
Addleshaw Goddard and Winckworth Sherwood are acting on the development of the £250m “Triangle” site on St Thomas’ hospital campus in London. Addleshaws team, helmed by construction and engineering partner Andrew McVeigh and co-head of the housing sector Peter Hardy, are leading for Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation. The rest of the Addleshaws team […]
Firms will make smart choices when their next office move comes Attention has been focused on law firms’ own real estate ever since the pandemic began and there were plenty of developments this week, with Milbank delaying its office move to 100 Liverpool Street, Freshfields scheming how its move into 100 Bishopsgate will work, Stephenson Harwood […]
With plenty of students set to receive exam results over the next month, the SRA had its own news on how much it is likely to cost to qualify as a solicitor. These were the top five reads from this week. The path to the new SQE has been long – and widely debated It […]
Students are not having a great lockdown When an individual law firm gets into trouble, the wider profession usually rallies round to help its most junior members: trainees and law students. Case in point: KWM a few years back. But when the whole profession is going through difficult times it’s a slightly different situation and […]
Six of the country’s largest commercial barristers chambers are launching a mentoring scheme in a bid to tackle the ongoing problem of under-representation at the Bar. The project began in earnest in February, when representatives from the six largest commercial sets met together to discuss how the scheme could work. Under the initiative, members from […]
A partner at Debevoise & Plimpton has left the firm to join Twenty Essex, three years after joining the US firm. Wendy Miles QC will join the set after 24 years in private practice. She initially spent two years at Russell McVeagh before joining WilmerHale in 1999. She became a partner in 2005 and left […]
The commercial court is experiencing a significant hike in settlements, with the rate of parties reaching out-of-court agreements up by 15 per cent. The court’s analysis revealed that this year’s settlement rate is close to 75 per cent, as opposed to a normal percentage that sits between 60 and 65 per cent. The figures, as […]
Clyde & Co has been embroiled in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal after anti-corruption officials claimed that money held in the firm’s accounts were related to an ongoing fraud investigation. The 1MDB saga is one of the world’s largest financial fraud scandals which, among other things, has seen former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak […]
As it seeks to assert itself deeper in the US market, Dentons has announced a tie-up with Utah-based Durham Jones & Pinegar. Dentons becomes the first global firm to lay down roots in Utah through the proposed combination with Salt Lake City headquartered Durham Jones & Pinegar. The moves comes as the latest step in its “Project […]
DLA Piper’s revenue for offices outside the Americas surpassed £1bn over 2019/20, while global turnover crept above £2.1bn. The firm’s latest accounts show that revenue for its international LLP, which covers all offices outside of the Americas, grew from £974m to nearly £1.1bn. DLA does not specify overall UK revenue, but its London office revenue […]
Greenberg Traurig is planning its working future post-Covid-19, with ambitions to downsize some of the firm’s city offices potentially on the horizon. Speaking to The Lawyer for the Global Litigation 50 report, Greenberg’s executive chairman Richard Rosenbaum revealed that he would consider downsizing over the coming years, although this would not be in the’s firm’s […]
Five funds and corporate lawyers have joined K&L Gates’ Hong Kong office as Orrick’s Hong Kong base shuts its doors. The team moving to K&L Gates is led by Orrick Hong Kong funds partners Sook Young Yeu and Scott Peterman. Of counsel William Ho has also joined K&L Gates as a partner, along with two […]
Litigation funder Omni Bridgeway has teamed up with Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan to fund proposed litigation brought on behalf of shareholders of Wirecard. The litigation, which is being considered against EY, follows the insolvency of Wirecard in June after allegations of balance sheet manipulation. Senior executives and leadership at Wirecard were also arrested on […]
Luxembourg is well placed to continue to prosper, despite the impending recession and Brexit, with law firms predicted to grow as the fintech revolution gathers pace
Countries such as South Africa, Nigeria and Botswana are promoting and regulating more and more exchanges, as the need for capital-raising grows on this diverse continent
An unprecedented level of activity in transport, energy and defence is testing the skill sets of Israeli lawyers and attracting the interest of international firms
DLA Piper has hired former Gibson Dunn & Crutcher partner Jonathan Earle, the firm’s second corporate hire in a matter of weeks. Earle left Gibson Dunn in January after more than five years at the US firm. He starts in September, with a focus on M&A across public takeovers and capital markets developed during his […]
EY is pushing the expansion strategy of its legal arm with a third lateral from DLA Piper and the creation of a partner role to lead its growing managed services offering. This time, EY has picked up one more member of DLA’s projects practice, in the form of partner Dimitri Papaefstratiou. The energy expert has […]
Kirkland & Ellis has lost its second partner in a matter of weeks, this time to US rival Gibson Dunn & Crutcher. The US firm has hired finance partner Ben Myers from the London outpost of the rival. He spent a number of years at Kirkland, where he had moved from the magic circle. As […]
DLA Piper has recruited long-standing Mayer Brown partner Jane Childs to its insurance and reinsurance disputes team. Childs, who was at Mayer Brown for 17 years and has been a partner since 2006, will head up DLA’s international team focused on financial lines insurance disputes. It sits within the firm’s wider insurance and reinsurance disputes […]
Herbert Smith Freehills has restated its ambitions to grow its private equity team in the City, by hiring a partner from Kirkland & Ellis’ City team. David D’Souza joins Herbert Smith as its second corporate hire in just over a month. He has been a partner at Kirkland & Ellis since July 2018, having spent […]
Orrick’s former London managing partner Kolvin Stone has moved back to Fox Williams, a firm that he left nearly a decade ago. Stone, who also led the European branch of Orrick’s cybersecurity and data privacy group, worked at Fox Williams between 1999 and 2010, at which point he left for the US firm. As well […]
The UK formally left the EU six months ago. This article sets out some of the key points about the next stage of the Brexit process at the end of the transition period – Brexit 2.0 – and a link to a guide on what businesses need to do now.
In this context, the Portuguese communications regulator (ANACOM) published on 4 August 2020 a draft document aimed at transposing the EECC (the Draft Transposition of the EECC), following a public consultation launched by the Government/ANACOM on 26 November 2019, in which various stakeholders provided their inputs on the matter. As a general rule, the draft transposition […]
Wrongful trading is a term that has received quite a bit of press over the last few months, mainly through the headlines generated by the UK Government’s unprecedented amendment to the wrongful trading provisions contained within our insolvency legislation. But what exactly is wrongful trading and what has changed?
Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership & North Bristol NHS Trust v WA & Ors [2020] EWCOP 37 Introduction This application concerned WA, a Palestinian refugee, who believes he was born on 29 December 1994, and who was therefore 25 years old. WA is a patient at Southmead Hospital, Bristol, having been admitted due to malnourishment. […]
An employee who alleged that she had been discriminated against on the grounds of disability and had been constructively dismissed when she was forced to retire early due to ill health has been awarded the equivalent of 18 months’ salary in the recent case of An Executive Assistant v A University [2020]. Employers should take […]
On 16 July 2020, the AMF announced that it has amended its policy recommendation DOC-2020-03, which sets out information related to non-financial criteria such as ESG, that may be disclosed by French collective investments and foreign UCITS authorised for marketing in France.
What does the first list of ‘designated persons’ under the UK’s Magnitsky sanctions regime tell us about how they will be used?
A significant change to the Foundations (Jersey) Law 2009 is expected to take effect on 1 December, requiring qualified members to file an abridged version of the foundation’s regulations with the JFSC.
Many may be surprised to discover that the question of whether an incapacitous person should undergo an invasive medical procedure that is of no therapeutic benefit to herself, but which is likely to be of benefit to a third party, has never previously been determined by the Court of Protection.
The relationship between arbitration clauses and winding up proceedings is a contentious issue in many jurisdictions and the debate shows no sign of abating. In the BVI, a recent case has further clarified the effect of an arbitration agreement on creditor’s winding up proceedings pursued on the basis of a company’s insolvency.
Safety, resilience, flexibility, innovation, and underlying all, business continuity
An update on new decisions, the relevant legislative process and other trends in the fields of intellectual property and unfair competition law from a Swiss perspective.