Blake Morgan’s senior leaders have declared the firm’s era of consolidation over and set for growth, despite an underwhelming set of financial results for 2020/21. Turnover at the firm declined by 13 per cent last year, from £71.2m to £61.7m. This was due to various factors, including a Covid slowdown, a change in work-in-progress valuations […]
The average profit per equity partner (PEP) in the UK business of CMS has risen seven per cent in the last financial year, as the firm’s management takes steps to arrange its future working style. The firm’s PEP went up from £851,000 to £912,000, meaning it is nearing the £1m milestone. The firm’s financials showed […]
DWF is expanding its research and development unit to a global function that will sit alongside the firm’s three main practices, the latest step in a recent internal reorganisation effort. The firm’s Ventures, an R&D unit led by managing director Jonathan Patterson, will move from a standalone team to a central function serving the firm’s […]
This roundtable discussion focused on the use of speech recognition technology and how it was being used or could be used to improve general working practices. There was a particular focus on Dragon, a speech recognition technology, used by law firms to improve their services. The discussion was chaired by Liz Halifax-Smith, the senior […]
Blake Morgan’s senior leaders have declared the firm’s era of consolidation over and set for growth, despite an underwhelming set of financial results for 2020/21. Turnover at the firm declined by 13 per cent last year, from £71.2m to £61.7m. This was due to various factors, including a Covid slowdown, a change in work-in-progress valuations […]
The average profit per equity partner (PEP) in the UK business of CMS has risen seven per cent in the last financial year, as the firm’s management takes steps to arrange its future working style. The firm’s PEP went up from £851,000 to £912,000, meaning it is nearing the £1m milestone. The firm’s financials showed […]
DWF is expanding its research and development unit to a global function that will sit alongside the firm’s three main practices, the latest step in a recent internal reorganisation effort. The firm’s Ventures, an R&D unit led by managing director Jonathan Patterson, will move from a standalone team to a central function serving the firm’s […]
This roundtable discussion focused on the use of speech recognition technology and how it was being used or could be used to improve general working practices. There was a particular focus on Dragon, a speech recognition technology, used by law firms to improve their services. The discussion was chaired by Liz Halifax-Smith, the senior […]
Metro Bank’s former general counsel has moved to rail pension fund Railpen to rebuild the legal function. Sally-Ann James has taken on the GC mantle at Railpen after nearly a decade as GC at Metro Bank. She joined as sole counsel in 2012 from the Co-operative Banking Group’s contract and commercial in-house team. It was […]
Which law firms are private equity houses looking to invest in? The answer, if the conversations we’re having with managing partners are anything to go by, is ‘pretty much all of them’. Most regional firms of note have had speculative approaches at some time in the last five years or so, as private equity gradually […]
Barclays’ legal team was once among the most influential in the UK. That power has diminished over the last decade, yet the banking giant still packs a punch when it comes to talent management. Some 40 lawyers are understood to have left Barclays in the UK last year. There are cost-cutting measures at play here, […]
Keystone Law, the poster child for the platform firm, is likely to break the psychologically important £100m revenue barrier in 2025. The success of this firm has spawned a new market, which is challenging traditional firms on the talent front. More than 3,500 lawyers now work across a variety of fee-sharing outfits, research from Atlas […]
Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, Gowling WLG and Norton Rose Fulbright’s London offices will all be under water in a few decades. This trio shares idyllic views overlooking the Thames, but they will all be submerged in the river by the year 2100 as climate change-induced sea level rises occur. And this is based on the […]
Talent churn is accelerating among the junior ranks with today’s associates more mobile than the generations before them. The concept of long-term professional loyalty is fading as Gen Z rises. These lawyers ask not what they can do for you, but what your firm can do for them. This generational shift in working attitudes is […]
The Supreme Court has upheld an anti-suit injunction against a Gazprom subsidiary, potentially halting €440m proceedings in Russia. The Gazprom part-owned special purpose entity, RusChemAlliance (RCA), had brought a damages claim against the bank UniCredit in Russia concerning an aborted contract following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. UniCredit instructed Latham & Watkins in its pursuit of […]
CMS senior partner Penelope Warne has revealed her next steps ahead of her departure from the firm at the end of the month. After 10 years at the helm, Warne is spearheading a project that she founded at the World Bank, via her own company, which promotes the rule of law and access to justice, […]
Slaughter and May is to add another senior lawyer to its pensions team in the City, this time from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. Charles Magoffin, a partner at Freshfields since 2010, is joining Slaughters as a senior counsel from September. Slaughters has still only ever made one lateral hire in the City, also into its pensions […]
Litigation funders will be keeping a close eye on an upcoming review into third-party funding regulation, proposed caps on returns, as well as litigation costs. The Civil Justice Council is looking to produce a full report by the summer of 2025. The review follows an increased focus on litigation funders and their role in disputes, […]
In its largest promotions round ever, Ashurst has elevated eight London lawyers to partner out of 30 worldwide. The firm has made up eight lawyers in London, as well as seven in Sydney. In total, 17 promotions were made in Ashurst’s Australian offices, meaning just five were made outside of either London or Australia. Loans […]
