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New York alone isn’t worth it anymore
European firms see more value in having a physical office in the Square Mile than they do in the Big Apple. Last week, Spanish firm Uría Menéndez became the latest to shut up shop in New York, having been there for 30 years. Uría was the final member of Slaughter and May’s fabled Best Friends […]
Here’s one solution to Linklaters’ departures
Thanks to Paul Weiss, Skadden and Kirkland & Ellis (but mainly Paul Weiss), Linklaters has a few empty chairs at Silk Street. One way a firm can replenish its ranks is through lateral hiring – enter Travers Smith corporate partner Richard Spedding – or internal promotions. Last month, a total of 14 lawyers were made up […]
Paul Weiss has rewritten the playbook
Paul Weiss’ UK spending spree is far from over. Just a year ago, this firm was small fry among the US City titans. Cue an audacious carve-out of some of Kirkland & Ellis’ superstars last summer and everything changed. That initial raid (which included debt finance heavyweight Neel Sachdev and corporate star Roger Johnson) was […]
The Cristiano Ronaldo of law firms is…
In October 2018, the journalist and critic of the Saudi Arabian regime Jamal Khashoggi was murdered and dismembered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. The international reaction was swift. Dozens of major organisations, including HSBC, Ford and JP Morgan Chase, dropped out of the planned “Davos in the Desert” Saudi investment summit. “We are going […]
The legal hub you didn’t know existed
It’s a 90-minute train journey to London and two hours from Bristol. At £29 per sq ft, grade A office rents are a third of the average £90 per sq ft City firms pay. And it has an abundance of lawyers. Slowly but steadily, Southampton is slipping into the mid-tier consciousness as a city in […]
Osborne Clarke partner set for SDT referral over Zahawi letters
An Osborne Clarke partner is being referred to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) following a formal complaint made by Clifford Chance’s former UK tax head. In July 2022, ex-Clifford Chance partner Dan Neidle made headlines for a series of posts on the tax arrangements of leading Conservative politicians, including Nadhim Zahawi. He claimed that Zahawi had […]
Simmons fights $150m Russian litigation for Barclays
Simmons & Simmons represented Barclays Bank in an $150m anti-suit and anti-enforcement injunction against Russian state investment bank, VEB. VEB was founded in 1922 as the first international bank of the USSR, and since 2018 it has been chaired by the country’s former deputy prime minister under Putin, Igor Shuvalov. The bank was represented by […]
Take that, Freshfields: Quinn hikes NQ pay to £180,000
Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan has increased its salary for newly-qualified solicitors (NQs) to £180,000. The US disputes specialist’s other associate salaries will also rise when the move takes effect from June. A 1 PQE associate is set to be paid £195,000, while a 2 PQE associate will be on £220,000. For 6 PQE associates, […]
Quinn’s competition litigation head leaves firm
Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan has lost its UK head of competition, a year and a half after he joined the firm. Lambros Kilaniotis left the firm in April, having joined Quinn from RPC (where he was head of competition) in January 2023 to co-head Quinn’s UK competition practice with partner Kate Vernon. In a […]
The Lawyer Podcast: Why you should leave Big Law for a boutique (and why you shouldn’t)
The latest episode of The Lawyer Podcast is out now. Last week, all eyes were on A&O Shearman, a union hailing Big Law and its future. But in this week’s episode, we consider why so many solicitors are pursuing another future: opening their own firm. A survey from Censuswide on behalf of Harbour Litigation Funding […]
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