A Weil Gotshal & Manges private equity partner duo has quit to join rival firm Sidley Austin. James MacArthur and Ed Freeman are leaving the U.S.-led law firm’s London office to join Sidley Austin’s energy, transportation & infrastructure practice, according to several people with knowledge of the move.
Defections from US law firm Shearman & Sterling’s international network have continued, with partners departing the New York firm’s Paris and Dubai offices for Allen & Overy (A&O) and King & Spalding (K&S) respectively. In Paris corporate partner Guillaume Isautier has joined A&O alongside counsel Martin Chassany and senior assoicate Gaspard Bastien-Thiry, while projects partner Brendan Hundt has moved over to K&S in the UAE.
Spain-based ECIJA has hired a new litigation and arbitration partner in its Barcelona office in what is the firm’s first global partner hire since it formed a strategic alliance with Taylor Wessing. Gorka Goenechea had been a partner at Catalan law firm Balaguer Morera y Asociados for more than 15 years. He specializes in corporate, financial and construction sector conflicts, according to ECIJA.
The Spanish arm of U.K.-based law firm DWF has brought on a four-lawyer, partner-led banking and finance team from Mazars España. Jesús Estévez, who was a partner at Mazars for three years, also was previously a partner at Fieldfisher, Ernst & Young and Baker McKenzie, according to his LinkedIn profile. He joins DWF-RCD, the name the firm has used in Spain ever since DWF absorbed the Spanish firm Rousaud Costas Duran in 2019, as a partner in the firm’s banking and finance area in Madrid.
International law firm Herbert Smith Freehills has hired a finance partner in the firm’s Frankfurt office. Fritz Kleweta joins the firm in Germany from Paul Hastings. He leaves the U.S. firm’s Frankfurt office after 12 years, including four years as a partner beginning in 2019.
Corporate partner Neil Torpey, who was senior partner for Asia at Paul Hastings and chair of the firm’s Hong Kong office, has joined Baker Botts as a corporate partner.
Norton Rose Fulbright has made its second Australian partner hire in two days, with financial crime prosecutor Sonja Marsic joining the global law firm in Sydney.
International law firm Ashurst has hired an experienced employment partner and former prosecutor to bolster its growing workplace health and safety practice. Sydney-based Scarlet Reid, who joins from the partnership of local firm McCullough Robertson, has specialized in workplace health and safety and employment law for 25 years. Her safety practice focuses on investigations, incident management, and assisting clients to respond to safety regulators.
Singapore firm Big Four firm Rajah & Tann has added an international arbitration lawyer to its partnership in Singapore. Vanina Sucharitkul will initially be based in Bangkok and will eventually relocate to Singapore.
Wendell Bartnick, who focuses on digital health matters, boomeranged back to Reed Smith after departing last August to join Holland & Knight as a partner in Houston.
In the face of a volatile financial market, Michael McGrath, an asset management and investment funds attorney, is joining Dechert from K&L Gates in Boston as a partner.
AmLaw 100 firm Baker & Hostetler announced the addition of three new partners focused on M&A and insurance regulatory work. Two of the lawyers, Tony Roehl and Lori Bibb, will be based in Atlanta, while Joe Holahan takes up his role for the firm—which goes by BakerHostetler—in D.C. All three partners are joining from Atlanta-based Morris, Manning & Martin along with four associates, a counsel, a paralegal and a legal assistant.
Adams and Reese, a midsize law firm, recently announced five new lateral hires at its Atlanta office. In a March 9 news release, the New Orleans-founded firm said partner Robert L. Welch, special counsel Timothy P. Veith, associates Bennett B. Secrest and Madalyn S. Davis and foreign licensed attorney Javier A. Gonzalez have joined Adams and Reese from Drew Eckl & Farnham. With the new hires, Adams and Reese today has 15 attorneys and advisers in its Atlanta office.
Post & Schell has acquired three attorneys with leadership experience from Marks, O’Neill, O’Brien, Doherty & Kelly, in a move that occurred before the Philadelphia insurance defense firm lost 19 attorneys to Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani in the first week of March.
Latham & Watkins global co-chair of fintech has left the firm to join U.K.-led rival Allen & Overy’s Washington D.C. office. Todd Beauchamp joins A&O as head of its U.S. payments practice, according to a release by the firm on Wednesday.
Allen & Overy has added Kirkland & Ellis private equity partner Romain Dambre to its U.S. corporate practice, as U.K. headquartered firms continue to grow their stateside ranks.
May Cheng is “betting on herself,” leaving behind 30 years in Big Law to join a small Toronto firm started by an Asian woman. Cheng, a Lexpert/ALM 500-ranked intellectual property lawyer, left elite Canadian firm Osler Hoskin & Harcourt to join the six-lawyer shop Dipchand.
The world’s largest charitable foundation tapped a longtime member of its legal department to succeed Connie Collingsworth, who has retired after 20 years as CLO.
US dental machinery-maker Dentsply Sirona has hired Richard Rosenzweig as its new GC, with previous legal head Cheree Johnson becoming a special advisor to the company’s recently installed CEO Simon Campion.
A Sidley Austin London managing associate has joined fund manager Daiwa International Capital Partners (DICP) as its first general counsel. Matthew Anson, who had been at Sidley as a London senior managing associate for three years, joins DICP, which was founded in 2020 as an independent fund manager with the support of Japanese securities firm Daiwa Securities Group.
The general counsel of transport company Abellio UK has become a director of the relaunched company, following the completion of a long-awaited management buyout deal. Edward Walker, who became Abellio UK’s first GC in 2020, has become director of the newly-established Transport UK Group.
Uncertainty looms for lawyers at MJ Hudson as the legal arm will not be included in the sale of the firm to a private investor, The Lawyer can confirm. Tower Gate Capital, a subsidiary of MJ Hudson, has agreed to sell its UK fund management business to a private investor via special purpose acquisition vehicle Khepri.
Top 20 US law firm Greenberg Traurig has expanded into Saudi Arabia by forming an affiliation with US rival Squire Patton Boggs’ former ally, Khalid Al-Thebity Law Firm, in Riyadh.
Corbett & Co, a three-partner construction law boutique well-known internationally for its work in all forms of construction disputes, is to merge with London law firm Howard Kennedy.
Dentons has announced it will combine with its ally in the Philippines, as the global giant moves to become a leading law firm in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) region.
Gowling WLG is opening a third office in Germany with four partner hires from Taylor Wessing and a fifth partner to be announced. The new office will be based in Germany’s financial center, Frankfurt, as part of the firm’s wider growth strategy in “key global markets, including Germany,” and to “drive growth throughout Europe,” according to a statement.
One of Japan’s Big Four law firms, Mori Hamada & Matsumoto, has announced its plan to launch an office in New York, its first office outside Asia, in the fall of this year.
Founding partner Henrique Martins has moved to the Spanish capital, where he will oversee an office and court clients in an unconventional market for a Brazilian firm.
Revenue at Morrison & Foerster crossed the $1.2 billion mark again in 2022, while future-facing investments in laterals and other expenses contributed to a 12.6% fall in net income.
Blank Rome managed to net double-digit profitability increases for the second year in a row in 2022, with equity partner profits climbing 10.2% to $1.3 million and net income 11.6% to $208.9 million.
For three decades, Sheppard Mullin has seen revenue growth. The streak continued in 2022, in the second year the firm has surpassed the $1 billion mark.
The firm’s middle-market private equity clients were “thriving” last year, said Benesch’s leader. “More clients are expanding their relationships with us,” he said.
With more than 70 offices around the globe, DLA Piper leveraged its broad footprint and roster of more than 4,000 lawyers to continue growing throughout a year that challenged certain offices in Europe and Asia.
As large language models (LLMs) begin to power a host of innovations, from ChatGPT to contract lifecycle management tools, law firms are looking to get ahead of what they see as both business opportunity and a market disruption.
The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) following a run on its deposits has spurred legal teams on both sides of the Atlantic into action advising on the fall out from what the Financial Times called the second-largest bank failure in US history.
For now, many lawyers in the U.K. are closely following the progress of the Online Safety Bill as it could significantly transform the tech industry. But down the road, the legal sector might not be entirely immune to the bill’s impact either.
Big Four firm PwC’s tax and legal arm has begun using ChatGPT-style tool Harvey, as the legal sector continues exploring how AI can better assist its people.
While representation has slowly improved over the years, women still only comprise approximately 28% of the total partnership at Am Law 200 firms, a figure that has been a continuous target for improvement in Big Law.
A controversial bill that would carry out Gov. Ron DeSantis’ push to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in state colleges and universities began moving forward Monday in the Florida House, while students came out in force to oppose it.
Baroness Floella Benjamin, one of the first black television presenters in the UK and a prominent diversity campaigner, will host next week’s Women and Diversity in Law Awards.
UK lawyers, consultants and GCs all agree cost pressures are causing clients to push for discounts, fixed fees and delayed payments, but others say there are also cultural issues at play.
Around one in 10 in-house legal teams say their regulatory obligations have been compromised due to pressures to meet organisational priorities, according to a new survey of in-house lawyers based in England and Wales from the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA).
Aided by the post-pandemic pay war, newly qualified (NQ) solicitors at London’s top paying law are pocketing sums few will have predicted possible just a decade earlier.
The firm culture from which I benefited greatly as a junior attorney can be replicated with the hybrid model, but it will need to be a targeted hybrid approach that relies on more deliberate and purposeful input and action by associates, partners and administrators alike to create what “the best of both worlds” looks like for each firm.
Steptoe & Johnson is expanding its London litigation practice by hiring a barrister from Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom. Jonathon Egerton-Peters has joined Steptoe as a partner. He focuses on international arbitration, litigation and tax across a range of sectors including tobacco, banking and energy.
Allen & Overy has lost a partner in its London corporate practice to Sullivan & Cromwell. Karan Dinamani makes the move, having joined the magic circle firm in 2014. He previously trained at Ashurst and was given the nod to partner in 2013.
Freeths has swiped two partners from Addleshaw Goddard to open an office in Glasgow, The Lawyer has learnt. Real estate partners Paul Ockrim and Nick Taylor will kick off the Scottish venture, having spent the last six years at Addleshaws after joining together in 2017.
Taylor Wessing has hired two senior partners in Dublin from rival international firms adding finance and real estate law capabilities to the office. Joining the Anglo-German firm’s Dublin arm are Libby Garvey, who hails from Addleshaw Goddard where she was head of finance and projects, and DWF’s former head of real estate, Órlaith Molloy.
New York law firm Sullivan & Cormwell (S&C) has made a very rare partner hire in London, adding private equity heavyweight Karan Dinamani from Allen & Overy (A&O).
UK law firm Pinsent Masons has hired an international arbitration partner in London from Jones Day to co-lead its investor-state dispute settlement and public international law team. Sylvia Tonova has joined the UK firm after six years as a partner at Jones Day, having earlier practised at White & Case.
Kingsley Napley has added a partner from UK rival Ince in London to launch an IP disputes practice. Melanie Hart has joined the firm after nearly five years as a partner at Ince having earlier worked for 10 years at Harbottle & Lewis.
Africa-focused firm ASAFO & CO has hired an Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld partner as its next London managing partner. The outfit has added Weyinmi Popo from Akin Gump’s London base as its next London head.
Norton Rose Fulbright has hired a former Allen & Overy partner to its London capital markets team. Christian Lambie, a securitisation specialist, joins the firm from investment bank Morgan Stanley, where he acted as legal counsel between October 2021 to February 2023, according to a spokesperson for the firm.
Baker McKenzie has strengthened its tax and disputes benches in the UAE with partners from White & Case and EY. Tina Hsieh joins the firm from EY, where she was tasked with growing EY’s VAT business in the Gulf region, following her success in this area at PwC. She qualified at EY Australia before relocating to the Middle East in 2017, the firm said in a statement.
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher has expanded its bankruptcy team in Houston by adding Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld debt finance partner Chad Nichols, as the firm, like others, builds its bankruptcy and restructuring teams in anticipation of demand growth.
Am Law 100 firm Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani has hired a 30-strong team including 19 litigators on the East Coast from regional defence litigation firm Marks O’Neill O’Brien Doherty & Kelly.
Linklaters has added three lawyers across its U.S. bases, as U.K. law firms seek to embed their practices across the country. Partners Judy Kwok and Marius Griskonis have joined their New York office, marking an expansion of its U.S. energy transition ad renewables platform.
Listed UK law firm Ince Group’s senior partner, Julian Clark, is leaving the firm, it has emerged. Clark, a London-based shipping specialist, is set to join Norwegian marine insurance business Gard, Roll on Friday reported today.
A former employee has rejoined Allen & Overy after seven years to fill its global chief marketing officer role. Michael Michaelides will replace Lucy Murphy, who has been in the role since July 2021. He is expected to join the magic circle firm on 13 March 2023.
Shearman & Sterling has started the transition to its next senior partner early to ensure a ‘seamless passing of the torch’. Incumbent David Beveridge is in the last year of his term and will hand over the reins to New York litigator Adam Hakki following a formal election later this year, the firm said today.
Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman has appointed Matthew Oresman as its next managing partner in London. Oresman, who was the firm’s international public policy leader, started his tenure earlier this month, and his term has no fixed end date, according to the firm’s statement.
Stephenson Harwood has appointed new leaders in Asia, which will see Jamie Stranger cut short his five-year term as Greater China managing partner, as well as the retirement of Singapore head Martin Green.
London law firm Howard Kennedy has cemented its construction offering by merging with Richmond-based Corbett & Co, The Lawyer can reveal. The merger goes live today (13 March) and seven lawyers from Corbett & Co will join the Howard Kennedy team. Senior managing partner Edward Corbett will stay on to lead as a consultant, while directors Victoria Tyson and Joanne Clarke, and counsel Taner Dedezade will join as partners.
After a 50% profitability boost that made 2021 the best year on record for Dechert, the global firm’s profits per equity partner (PEP) and revenue dropped 14% and 4% in its most recent fiscal year.
Last year, Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough reported a 6.9% revenue boost along with 12.9% head count growth as it invested in talent and faced continued demand for litigation.
Internationally, the firm said revenue in Mexico and Latin America grew by 21 percent in 2022, and the London office benefited from the energy practice. But Shanghai was flat due to COVID-19-related challenges in China.
Many large law firm leaders were counting on aggressive rate increases coming into 2023. Some analysts said if they didn’t get them, they’d have to start living with lower profits—or start laying off people.
Physicist Stephen Thaler’s long-running attempts to secure inventorship for his AI system DABUS was heard at the UK Supreme Court on 2 March. This is the latest round in the UK court battle; in September 2021 the England and Wales Court of Appeal ruled in a 2:1 decision, that AI systems cannot own or transfer patent rights under UK law.
For the last 30 years women have represented over 60 per cent of new entrants to the profession and the most recent data from the Solicitors Regulation Authority tells us that 61 per cent of solicitors currently working in private practice are female. Yet, despite the importance and benefits of gender diversity being universally acknowledged, only 35 per cent of current partners are female.
Sidley Austin, Shearman & Sterling and several other law firms have been called out for their significant gender pay gaps following International Women’s Day on 8 March.
Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner (BCLP) has teamed up with in-house legal teams from companies including BT, Credit Agricole and National Grid to launch a leadership scheme for senior women lawyers.
Fewer than 20% of the regional heads in Asia at the top 50 highest-revenue law firms are women, Jessica Seah writes in The Asia Legal Briefing. So is all this noise and confetti around International Women’s Day just lip service? When and how will firms in Asia get it right?
Am Law 200 firms have widened the gap between entry-level and lateral associates in 2022, making about 1,765 more associate hires on the lateral market.
Banks and insurers often top the list of clients exerting the most pressure on law firm billing, but recent data shows financial services shops let that cost consciousness slip in recent months.
Climate change and energy transition disputes are likely to create a ‘tsunami of change’ for the region’s dispute resolution community, according to the CEO of the Abu Dhabi Global Markets (ADGM) courts.
Clifford Chance (CC), Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) and Latham & Watkins have become the first international law firms to be awarded licences to practise in Saudi Arabia.
As Europe opens its arms, cautiously, to mass litigation and class actions, litigation funders are seeing opportunity and ramping up their plans to seize
Stewarts has lost two partners from its tax litigation and resolution practice to members of the Big Four. Lee Ellis has left the litigation boutique to join KPMG as a partner. Victor Cramer is also leaving the firm to join PwC as a director.
Cravath Swaine & Moore is set to launch an English Law offering in London, 50 years after it established a presence in the U.K capital, according to several people with knowledge of the situation. The firm is hiring a Shearman & Sterling finance team, led by partner duo Korey Fevzi and Philip Stopford, to lead the charge into English Law, according to three people with knowledge of the situation. The pair are joined by a counsel from Shearman’s London office, they added.
Pinsent Masons has hired an investor-state London arbitration partner from Jones Day. Sylvia Tonova joins Pinsents’ international arbitration practice after 10 years at Jones Day, where she became a partner in January 2017.
Allen & Overy has appointed banking and finance partner to its Johannesburg office. Deborah Carmichael joins from South African-based ENSafrica, where she spent more than 12 years, prior to which she spent seven years at Deneys Reitz, which subsequently became Norton Rose Fulbright South Africa, she said in an interview with Law.com International.
Clyde & Co has added a corporate partner to its Saudi Arabia office. Mohammed Almarzouki will be based in the firm’s Riyadh office and joins Clyde & Co’s global corporate and advisory practice. He advises family businesses, investors, and corporations on M&A, among other things, according to Clydes’ statement.
K&L Gates has bolstered its real estate team with the hire of a partner from Australian firm Arnold Bloch Leibler, continuing a strong run of hires in Asia Pacific. Sydney-based Jennifer McCosker has advised commercial property investors and developers on transactions including large-scale property and development finance matters, among others.
Seoul-based Yoon & Yang has hired two senior lawyers, Jason Lee and Song Feng Hong, from its Big Six rivals Kim & Chang and Bae, Kim & Lee. The firm has simultaneously added another senior lawyer, Sung Jin Ro, from Versum Materials, where he was general counsel.
Norton Rose Fulbright has secured Japanese law capability with the hire of a new Japanese-law qualified banking and restructuring partner, Akihiko Takamatsu.
Goodwin Procter has made its first lateral partner hire in Singapore since launching in the city-state in October. Matthew Nortcliff joins Goodwin from CMS, where he was head of the firm’s funds and indirect real assets practice in Asia.
Sidley Austin has added Germaine Nicole Gurr as an M&A and private equity partner. She joins from White & Case where she was also a partner. ArentFox Schiff has added Eric Fishman as a partner to the firm’s sports group. He joins from Pryor Cashman where he was partner and co-head of that firm’s sports group.
Chelsea Hilliard has joined McGuireWoods’ commercial litigation practice as a partner in Dallas, bringing more than a decade of experience representing clients in high-stakes litigation and corporate governance matters.
Shearman & Sterling has promoted two London lawyers to partner amid the departure of several of their colleagues. The U.S. led law firm has promoted Trinh Chubbock to its project development and finance team while Kevin Heverin has been promoted to Shearman’s financial restructuring and insolvency practice.
“After careful consideration, we have mutually agreed that a combination at this time is not in the best interest of either firm,” said a joint statement from the firms.
UK alternative law firm Spencer West, which deploys a fee sharing model, has expanded into new markets in Germany, Northern Ireland and the Channel Islands through the hire of local partners.
Allen & Overy (A&O) has confirmed plans to relocate its Sydney team a to new space in 33 Alfred Street following a refurbishment that will see the landmark office tower become carbon neutral.
The firm concluded it is no longer essential to maintain a physical office in Singapore but said would fly out on a regular basis to meet with clients.
Perkins Coie is laying off 58 business professionals across the firm, citing macroeconomic conditions as well as increased expenses in staffing that have exceeded an acceptable level for the firm.
Profits per equity partner dropped by 9.7% in 2022 at Dallas-founded Locke Lord, but the firm also increased its equity partner numbers in an effort to build the next generation of partners.
Despite a slowdown in M&A and “disappointing” performance in restructuring and workouts, the firm’s leader said strong performance in middle market PE and health care helped to make up for the losses.
Seyfarth’s London revenue grew 16%, the firm said. And despite challenges in Asia, the firm is still committed to the region “for the long game,” Seyfarth’s chair-elect, Lorie Almon, said.
Outside of the U.S., the firm saw its London revenue drop due to a harsh environment for transactional work and its Asian outposts faced similar challenges for dealmaking. But Paris and elsewhere in Europe saw an uptick in activity, as did the Middle East, the firm said.
While the missing-feature fallacy has long been employed as an excuse for not investing in legal tech, there are, in fact, a number of features that are missing, and entire categories of tools that seem inexplicably immature, if not downright absent.
The Australian Securities & Investments Commission has filed a claim against investment giant Mercer, alleging its sustainable investment fund did not live up to the promises made to investors.
While recent months have seen the U.S. and European Union collaborating on how to mitigate AI’s potentially harmful impacts, the prospect of a transatlantic policy alignment is uncertain.
For the last 20 years, the U.K. author and academic has been predicting that technology will revolutionise the legal industry. With the buzz around generative AI, will his hypothesis now be proven true?
Reed Smith’s new managing partner, Casey Ryan, has promised to continue investing in talent at all levels of the firm, including through lateral hires, following the unexpected departure of her predecessor, Sandy Thomas.
“It’s one of the most racially diverse slates we’ve ever seen,” said Diandra “Fu” Debrosse Zimmermann, of DiCello Levitt, of the leadership team, which a federal judge approved on Thursday. She and Ben Crump of Ben Crump Law, who both founded Shades of Mass, are two of the co-lead counsel.
China has the power to alter the futures of many top international law firms in Asia. Just look at its crackdown last year on the operations of mainland China-affiliated legal practices of the Big Four accounting firms, its shift in economic policy calling for a focus on domestic markets, or the recent reopening of its borders after three years of harsh COVID-19 restrictions and lockdowns.
Australian lawyers are working more pro bono hours and firms have increased their dedicated pro bono staff, but there remains room for improvement, according to a biannual survey.
The market for lateral partner hires in Australia remains strong, despite concerns about an economic slowdown. Demand for Australian associates from law firms overseas, however, has cooled, recruiters say.
The need to offer legal services and government affairs under one roof has increased significantly as the European Commission ramps up its regulation of tech companies, foreign direct investment, and ESG, lawyers say.
As private equity and M&A markets flounder, newer markets are keeping lawyers busy, according to partners at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Hengeler Mueller, PwC Legal and KPMG Law.
White & Case has taken another hit in the City after losing a second banking partner to Akin Gump. Paul Yin makes the move, having joined White & Case in March 2022. Prior to this, he spent nearly eight years at Skadden, working also at Ashurst in Sydney and training at Corrs Chambers Westgarth.
An energy and infrastructure team from Dentons’ Edinburgh office is heading up the road to join Addleshaw Goddard, The Lawyer has learnt. It is understood that partners David Cruickshank, Andrew Orr and Euan Wilson will be making the move shortly.
Debevoise & Plimpton has beefed up its ranks of senior international arbitrators with the hire of Jeff Sullivan KC from Gibson Dunn & Crutcher in London.
AmLaw 200 firm Jenner & Block has hired two arbitration partners, one apiece in London and Washington DC, marking an expansion of the firm’s practice on both sides of the Atlantic. Norton Rose Fulbright partner James Rogers joins Jenner & Block’s London office from Norton Rose Fulbright, where he had been a partner since 2013. King & Spalding partner Kenneth Beale will join the firm’s Washington D.C. office.
Embattled U.K. listed law firm Ince has suffered another partner departure, with its capital markets head joining Womble Bond Dickinson. Rebecca Ferguson, who was at Ince for almost a decade and prior to that at legacy firm Davenport Lyons, which was acquired by Ince following its administration in 2014. She also has previous experience at Herbert Smith Freehills and Clifford Chance.
Gibson Dunn & Crutcher has further expanded its newly launched Abu Dhabi office with the hire of another Shearman & Sterling partner. Abu Dhabi based banking and finance partner Laleh Shahabi is joining Gibson Dunn after just under four years at Shearman.
Han Kun Law Offices has hired away Tian Yuan Law Firm’s Shanghai managing partner Xu Ping. A seasoned advisor on securities, mergers and acquisitions, restructure and financing deals, Yu joins Han Kun as a partner.
DLA Piper has hired a former Justice of the Federal Court of Australia as an advisor to large public and private sector clients on investigations, class actions and inquiries. John Middleton KC, who served on the court for 16 years and retired in December, will be based in the Melbourne office of DLA Piper, which is trying to raise its profile in Australia.
Luthra & Luthra has expanded its current four-member TMT practice with the hire of EY’s India’s regulatory advisory director, Vikash Kukreti, as a partner.
Al Tamimi & Co has hired a specialist shipping partner to its shipping, aviation and logistics department. With over 13 years of experience advising on a wide range of shipping and international trade matters, Wesley Wood has spent five years working in the UAE, building a reputation across the region’s shipping and maritime legal market, the firm said in a statement.
A team of five public finance and infrastructure lawyers from Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe, led by Houston office leader Adrian Patterson, moved to Greenberg Traurig, which is targeting growth in its public finance and infrastructure practice in Texas and firmwide.
Greenberg Traurig is expanding its litigation practice in Miami with a new shareholder, A. Sheila Oretsky, who previously helped lead Pennsylvania-based Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney’s class action practice.
Kimberly Williams, who joined O’Melveny & Myers as a partner in Dallas on Wednesday, said she is excited about growing the firm’s labor and employment practice in Texas.
Oliver Hanson will join the Vancouver office of the Philadelphia-based firm, with a focus on client retention and growth of the firm’s footprint north of the border.
Cooley has welcomed a five-partner private equity and M&A team as the firm pursues growth in the middle market—in its first move on the U.S. lateral market since it laid off lawyers and staff in December. The team comes to the firm’s Denver office from Perkins Coie. It is led by Sonny Allison, a 20-year veteran of Perkins, with partners Kester Spindler, Danielle Fortier, Amelia Davis and Jeffrey Beuche.
New York-based software startup Sprinklr has promoted its chief compliance officer to be its next general counsel and corporate secretary. Jack Scott currently also serves as deputy general counsel and will take over as GC and corporate secretary next month from Dan Haley, who is leaving the firm, although CEO Ragy Thomas said he was still acting as an adviser.
Top 25 UK law firm Addleshaw Goddard (AG) has elected Aster Crawshaw, a partner in its professional practices group, as its next senior partner. London-based Crawshaw will take over the role on 1 May from Charles Penney following the end of his second term as senior partner.
Pinsent Masons has appointed a construction partner as the next head of its Melbourne office, making for an all-female leadership team across its three Australian offices. Phillipa Beck, who joined the firm from Norton Rose Fulbright in 2020, is a construction law specialist, dual qualified as a lawyer and civil engineer, advising on project delivery and disputes across the energy and infrastructure sectors in Asia Pacific.
Eastern European IP firm Petošević has merged with CWB Group, an IP service provider across the Middle East and North African region. CWB is a portfolio company of GC Capital, a private equity firm investing from the Gulf Cooperation Council to south-east Asia.
Partners from the global consultancy take lessons from advising corporations and other professional services firms on mergers, bringing tips for how law firms can have a better strategic approach to growth.
Charles Russell Speechlys is to launch a new practice that focuses on landing new mandates from global private capital clients, families and their businesses. The initiative is being led by Lord Andrew Hay who will serve as the offering’s chairman. Lord Hay previously served as the global head of Knight Frank’s residential division and was appointed as a non-executive director at Charles Russell Speechlys in 2020.
Taylor Wessing has moved to a new office in Cambridge, doubling the size of its space in the city in the process. The firm has moved into 3,300 sq ft of offices in central Cambridge which sit opposite the Microsoft Research headquarters and Amazon’s base in the city.
After a bumper 2021 financial year in the City, growth has slowed for Goodwin Procter’s London base in 2022. The latest figures from the firm show a rise of 3 per cent from $161.8m in 2021 to $166.7m in 2022. This comes after a bumper year in which turnover jumped by 63 per cent from $99.1m to $161.8m in 2021.
Transatlantic law firm Hogan Lovells has seen both its revenue and profit per equity partner (PEP) fall in 2022 in the face of what CEO Miguel Zaldivar portrayed as a year of challenges, ranging from the war in Ukraine to “unprecedented inflation levels”.
The Missouri-founded firm is looking for combinations that could put it in Nashville, other Southeast markets, and/or the Northwest, said Paul Eberle, CEO of Husch.
The firm saw more than $164 million in revenue from its European offices in 2022 and 33% growth in its London office, said firm chair Ira Coleman, who joked that one reason the London office did so well is that “people pay more for the accents.” He also said the firm’s international haul was up 12%, besting the firm’s overall performance.
The International Bar Association (IBA) has underscored its continued support of Ukraine as the country marks the first anniversary of its invasion by Russia. Noting that it was founded ‘to promote and protect the rule of law and international justice’, the IBA again condemned the invasion today.
Amid the Great Recession, law firms laid off swaths of junior lawyers, particularly in practices like real estate. Four years later, as the market rebounded, they realized they didn’t have many qualified mid-level real estate lawyers.
After two years of ballooning benefits, the air is coming out of Big Law’s big lateral and retention bonuses. Recruiters, analysts and firm leaders say the landscape that led to things like six-figure signing bonuses for mid-level associates and creative perks like $100 non-work meal vouchers has changed, as the transactional market softened last year and the economic outlook for 2023 remains uncertain.
One hundred percent of respondents reported being “stressed or burned out,” and 94% said their current employer does not offer them the opportunity to develop all of the skills required to move up to GC, according to the study from Axiom and Wakefield Research.
We may see a greater focus on diversity in tribunal appointments and an increase in claims being filed in the aftermath of Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.
Throughout 2022, with both specific in-depth analysis of practice areas such as Data Protection, Venture Capital and Investment Funds, and weekly updates on partner moves, we charted a year full of developments in the legal market. This data collection allowed us to inspect certain individual or clusters of moves and reveal particular trends. On a broader level, this analysis will provide insight on the direction the market is moving; and on a micro level, it reveals the opportunities for strategic hiring. In a turbulent time of change – whether that be the swelling of in-demand NQ salaries, or the difficulties presented by the war in Ukraine – it is even more important that we understand the legal market that we work in.
In this article, we have used our weekly updates from 2022, where we reported on a range of moves internationally, therefore it is a snapshot of the market and not the whole.
As we discussed in our last article documenting the war for talent, who will emerge in the best possible position at the end of the year very much determined by “how leadership teams respond, devise, and implement a smart and timely response” to various new issues that arise.
In a change from 2021, we captured fewer moves from the in-house market; only 45 out of our 806 documented partner moves involved in house placements. Following the post-Covid boom in the sector, with in-house working conditions, job security, and swollen salaries increasingly attracting high quality legal talent, it is only natural that hiring would slow sooner or later. It should be recognised that the in-house market makes up for a much smaller percentage of the market than private practice and they are, overall, reported less frequently in the sources we use for our updates.
Moving into 2023, it will be interesting to see how the whole market adapts to sky-high salaries combined with a greater desire for work/life balance. Curiously, a survey conducted in Canada released on the 24th of January, has shown that in-house lawyers are struggling to cope with their increased workloads; 46% of in-house counsels have seen an increase in their work-related stress and anxiety levels in the last year, compared to only 13% who have seen a decrease.
When analysing the private practice moves, we found that often a team of fee-earners will accompany a partner move, particularly if a team of partners move. At times, even a whole practice may be uprooted. In 2022, there were 131 team moves in total, with the highest concentration of those team moves happening in July with 17 moves, despite there being a lower concentration of total moves. Some of the more notable team moves in July were BCLP taking a 4-partner real estate team from DLA Piper in Frankfurt; Dentons taking a 3-partner corporate team from EY in Singapore; Paul Hastings taking a 4-partner finance team from Latham & Watkins in London; and Linklaters with a 3-partner raid on Vinson & Elkins leveraged finance practice. The other most notable moves of the year include a power play from Reed Smith who brought in highly touted New York real estate finance 12 lawyer, 5 partner team from Akerman in February. Ropes & Gray similarly made a statement in April, taking a high level 3-partner private equity team from Fried Frank in London.
There were the highest concentration of partner moves in March (126) and April (104), compared to a much slower November (48) and December (34). It can be extrapolated that this is related to the law-firm bonus structures which are decided at the end of the calendar year and paid out in the first couple of months of the new year.
October was uncharacteristically busy with over 20% more moves than any other month in the second half of the year. October was also busy with promotions, with notable names such as Kirkland & Ellis, White & Case, Covington & Burling all announcing a new cohort of partners. Alongside the cluster of partner promotions, which usually fall closer to the end of the year, 6 firms including Goodwin Procter, White & Case and Freshfields all opened up offices abroad. 58 promotions accompanied Goodwin’s new Singapore office opening.
Some of the biggest headlines come in the area of high-profile team moves. 2022 was no anomaly; lots of prominent moves made headlines throughout the year. Reed Smith was particularly active when it came to high profile moves. In February they brought in the top real estate finance team to their New York office from Akerman. Not long after, however, they lost a senior corporate duo from their German base Frankfurt to rivals McDermott Will & Emery. The two-partner team of Rolf Hunermann and Philip Schmidt have around three decades of combined experience covering a range of issues from domestic and cross-border M&A to ESG considerations and will be a huge loss. McDermott followed up that acquisition with a 4-partner raid on Orrick, Morrison & Foerster and Kirkland & Ellis to construct an extremely competitive real estate platform in New York and Chicago in May. Despite the bold acquisitions, however, McDermott Will & Emery suffered their own setback in the same month, losing 4 corporate partners across their New York and Tel Aviv offices to the fast-growing Greenberg Traurig.
For the past decade, and particularly since the Brexit referendum in 2017, the battle for a spot in the fertile Dublin market has been ongoing. Pinsent Masons opened up first in the wake of Brexit with a Financial Services and Technology-focussed practice – their 4th international office opening in 18 months at the time and were eagerly followed between 2017 and 2019 by Covington & Burling, DLA Piper, Freshfields, Clyde & Co. and Simmons & Simmons – who poached Mason Hayes & Curran’s head of investment funds and financial regulation Fionan Breathnach to lead them out.
In July, Browne Jacobsen opened up their first international office in Dublin with an end-to-end TMT practice. Not only ambitious in their growth, Browne Jacobson became the first law firm in history to top the Social Mobility Employer Index in 2021 – and impressively retained that spot in 2022. The index is the leading authority on social mobility in the workplace and demonstrates Browne Jacobson’s targeted efforts to open up the legal profession to young people of all backgrounds. Addleshaw Goddard launched in Dublin as well through a merger with local firm Eugene F. Collins, and Squire Patton Boggs – poaching Dennis Agnew, the head of transactions at Pinsent Masons – have set a date in 2023 to follow suit. Ropes & Gray have started the new year with purpose as they too opened in Dublin with Competition. There have been repeated whispers in the market that Bird & Bird and Linklaters are contemplating expansion into Dublin as well, so it will be interesting to see how the market continues to develop in 2023.
Potentially one of the most notable moves of the year was a rare Goodwin Proctor raid on Latham’s Santa Monica office, which saw three corporate partners joining the US firm. Goodwin have historically relied on the inward promotion of their own exceptional talent pool, so a 3-partner hire from a globally leading law firm is a clear statement of intent. Latham also lost a 4-partner finance team to Paul Hastings in London – a similarly impactful statement from Paul Hastings as they look to compete with the very top firms.
Cleary Gottlieb is a firm quite similar to Goodwin with regards to their hiring strategy – they also prefer to nurture their homegrown talent rather than rely on lateral hires. Cleary raided Kirkland & Ellis – a firm who has been on their own frenzied hiring spree in 2022 – for 3 employment, litigation and funds partners across their New York Washington and London offices. The Magic Circle firms seem have changed their hiring strategy approach, and are looking to build upon their strength in Europe and look toward the US market. A prime example of these efforts came from the 3-partner finance team that Linklaters took from Alston & Bird in New York. Along with the acquisition of a 3-partner finance team taken from Vinson Elkins for their London office, the moves are a symbol of the recent magic circle firm’s efforts to expand their lateral hire operations.
In Frankfurt specifically, Willkie Farr & Gallagher have been making waves over the past few years, with more than ten partner and counsel hires. In May, Willkie brought in leading capital markets lawyers Simon Weiss and Joseph Marx from McDermott Will & Emery, which has not only boosted their global capital markets platform, but is also a demonstration of the firms continuing investment into the German market.
BCLP – despite having quite a turbulent and unsteady year – brought over a 4-partner real estate team from DLA Piper in July, making a marked investment in the Frankfurt market as well. BCLP has had a difficult start to 2023 as being named “the golden turd”. As they start 2023 with more uncertainty surrounding the environment and their culture, we might expect to see some significant departures from the firm and a shakeup in senior management.
2022 was certainly one of the most interesting years we have kept track of. It is unlikely we will ever see a year with such aggressive salary inflation for NQs again, and in the face of a recession, US firms have demonstrated their impregnable attitude when it comes to hiring. 2023 will be a crucial year to see whether the more ambitious hiring strategy from magic circle firms both internationally and in the UK will see their profits keep pace with top US firms. They can certainly expect the hiring frenzy to roll on. There is a counter-cyclical relationship between transactional and disputes hires, so as we are seeing the transactional market slow, we would expect the disputes market to become more active over the course of 2023.
Top New York law firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett has hired two funds partners from leading UK independent Travers Smith in London as it positions itself to exploit the increasingly lucrative secondaries deals market.
Dechert has parted ways with Caroline Black, a senior white collar partner well known for her association with controversial former partner Neil Gerrard.
Weil Gotshal & Manges has added a pair of banking partners in Paris from UK rival Allen & Overy (A&O), following on from three partner hires in London last month from leading rivals.
Attention is turning to the restructuring market, which is expected to rally across Europe with recession looming and several large corporates making cuts.
Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas has expanded its current two-member TMT practice with the hire of intellectual property and education lawyer Aarushi Jain for its Mumbai office.
Mark Foster is Skadden’s first lateral partner hire of 2023, highlighting the law firm’s focus on securities litigation, especially in Northern California.
Tesla has appointed a seasoned lawyer from the telecoms sector as its general counsel in the latest shake-up of its legal department as it promises to build a ‘world class team’.
Company founder Ragy Thomas said newly appointed GC Jacob Scott will be “an invaluable and trusted adviser in guiding us through our next phase of growth.”
IO-EPIK aims to disrupt the legal services market in Central America and the Caribbean by rolling out budget-friendly solutions with the help of technology and flexible talent.
Herbert Smith Freehills is shutting its office in Korea, following other international law firms in the same move in recent years. HSF has had a base in Seoul for almost a decade and will close its doors this year. Office managing partner Mike McClure—recently appointed a King’s Counsel—will relocate to the firm’s London office, HSF said in a statement on Monday.
In-house legal departments are fending off rate increases at some of the largest US law firms, with 40% of law firm timekeepers across all firms seeing average fees stay the same or fall, according to a Wolters Kluwer report.
Law firms can see some signs of improvement, including moderating expenses and transactional demand that remains above pre-pandemic levels. But a shaky economy in 2023 could put that in jeopardy.
Firm chair and managing partner Barbara Becker said the firm’s success in London has been “extraordinary” and in the Middle East, where the firm launched a new office in Abu Dhabi, it has also seen very positive results.
Allen & Overy (A&O) has partnered with a startup backed by ChatGPT creator Open AI to introduce a chatbot intended to help its lawyers with a variety of legal tasks.
“I spend most of my waking hours thinking about the regulation of these assets and I love it. I just wish the law was clearer so companies will know what is required to bring crypto products to market,” said K&L Gates partner Andrew Hinkes.
DLA Piper has topped Impactvise’s inaugural environmental, social and governance (ESG) law firm ranking, which measures the ESG performance of more than 1,000 firms globally.
Women in law still face very many challenges, but despite this it should be acknowledged that gender diversity within partnerships has come a long way, and the speed of change is accelerating. In The Lawyer’s UK Signal channel this month, we have looked at the firms that have done the best at moving towards gender parity in the last five years. And in the City, Simmons & Simmons stands out.
While Linklaters was another strong performer this year, former high achievers Slaughter and May and Pinsent Masons have dropped out of the rankings altogether.
With law firms adopting better working practices and in-house lawyers being increasingly ‘exposed to all the harshness of the corporate world’, could we see the work-life pendulum swing?
A few months ago, a London partner at a large international firm spoke to a room of associates about the importance of coming back into the office. The firm expects you in at least three days a week, ideally more, he said.
Partners at larger law firms are increasingly likely to break away from their current firm to go it alone, research by litigation funder Harbour has found.
Keating Chambers silk Adam Constable KC is soon to be elevated to the bench as a judge at the Technology and Construction Court (TCC), The Lawyer understands.
Stephenson Harwood has hired two dispute resolution partners from Hausfeld and Herbert Smith Freehills to bolster the firm’s technology group in London.
Shearman & Sterling has lost its EMEA and Asia M&A head to Sidley Austin as partner departures from the New York firm’s international network mount up against the background of merger talks with Hogan Lovells.
Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) has secured a five-strong team from UK rival Simmons & Simmons to launch a private equity and capital markets offering in Milan.
Duane Morris has hired three IP partners — in Washington DC and Silicon Valley — as it looks to grow its national practice by securing “marquee talent”.
Top 40 US law firm Morrison Foerster (MoFo) has bolstered its private equity bench in Singapore with a partner hire from White & Case — its second partner-level lateral in the city state this year.
Joel Cohen had been a leader of Gibson Dunn’s white-collar practice. His exit follows the hiring of two co-chairs this year and the departure of two global litigation leaders last fall.
The firm is adding the former leader of Orrick’s antitrust and competition practice in Washington, D.C., as well as partners in San Francisco and London. Douglas Lahnborg will be the first “on the ground, permanent” antitrust practitioner for the firm to be based in London.
British engineering company Meggitt has had a shake up of its in-house legal department following its $6.3 billion acquisition by U.S. giant Parker-Hannifin last year.
Magic circle set Blackstone Chambers has elected Mat Swallow as its new chambers director, after stalwart Julia Hornor announced she will retire in May.
The buying and selling of law firms has accelerated over the last two years, thanks to leaders who see retirements of older lawyers as a strategic opportunity to grow their practices.
Top 100 US firm Davis Wright Tremaine has let go of 21 professional staff members, becoming the latest US law firm to cut jobs amid more challenging economic conditions.’
O Shaped Lawyer was founded by general counsel Dan Kayne, who wanted to see a movement for change in the legal profession by combining leadership expertise and general counsel insight and experience to make the legal profession more human.
Barclays has partnered with UK law firms TLT and Simmons & Simmons to launch a joint training contract that will see trainees split their time evenly between in-house and private practice.
There is far more the e-discovery industry could be doing to understand and address its diversity shortcomings, said Appellate Division, First Department Justice Tanya R. Kennedy at the Annual University of Florida E-Discovery Conference.
March 2023 will mark the three-year anniversary of the onset of the coronavirus pandemic and the mandated closure of non-essential businesses. During the two-year span of work-from-home that ensued, law firms — for the most part — performed well financially, posting record profits.
A running compilation of how the legal landscape continues to be shaped by generative AI tools, from GPT technologies to art generation tools and beyond.
While legal tech providers are steadily releasing tools leveraging GPT-3.5, even innovative law firms who regularly develop legal tech may have a challenging time following suit.
Listed law firm RBG Holdings, which incorporates the businesses of Rosenblatt and Memery Crystal, has failed to strike out a race discrimination claim by its former head of employment.
A better approach, in our view, would have been to write this headline and column without gender-assuming language, and instead speak about the needs of all parents and caregivers, whether caregiving for young children, elderly relatives, or any other individuals who might need support and assistance.
Respondents to a survey by Mayer Brown and a non-profit group spoke of a “boy’s club culture” in the Hong Kong legal scene that helped marginalise women and exclude them from opportunities.
Former Law Society of England and Wales President I. Stephanie Boyce has joined Linklaters as a strategic adviser, as law firms continue to focus on ramping up their diversity efforts.
Paul Reichler, who co-founded the international arbitration practice at Foley Hoag more than 20 years ago, has retired from the US firm and joined London set 11KBW.
Jeff Twentyman is the latest heavyweight member of Slaughter and May to prepare to step down from the partnership, as the firm’s old guard continues to change.
Tobias Nuß will join as a director/local partner in the Frankfurt office in the firm’s real estate practice. He advises in all areas of the real estate industry and corporate structuring as well as in cross-border transactions.
DLA Piper has bolstered its cross-border M&A and energy-related project advisory capability with the hire of corporate M&A partner Peter Armstrong from Nishimura & Asahi in Tokyo.
Andrew Fisken led DLA Piper’s China practice in Australia. He specializes in cross-border M&A with a focus on advising clients from East Asia and Australia on their strategic investments.
K&L Gates has hired a corporate partner and three lawyers from Australian firm HWL Ebsworth, as it continues to grow its corporate and asset management and investment funds teams.
Top 50 US law firm Winston & Strawn has hired a pair of class action litigators in San Francisco from Squire Patton Boggs as it continues to target growth in California.
Wall Street firm Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft has hired a quartet of leveraged finance partners from King & Spalding in Charlotte, North Carolina, in a move that promises to significantly grow its market share in the leading US financial centre.
The move, which is preliminary to the firm creating a regulatory hub for EU work, is yet another signal of the ever-growing importance of the Belgian capital to global law firms.
Top 40 UK law firmWatson Farley & Williams (WFW) has added a partner apiece from K&L Gates and Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) to open in Seoul in a move it has dubbed a ‘game-changer’ for its Asia Pacific projects practice.
Top 15 US firm Greenberg Traurig has relocated four of its shareholders alongside a team of counsel and patent agents to open an office in San Diego, the firm’s sixth in California.
Japan has been a major source of investment for Indonesia, with 10 Japanese companies, including Toyota Motor and Mitsubishi Motor, having pledged to invest a total of $5.2 billion in the Southeast Asian country over the next few years. The Indonesian government has also recently sought to boost foreign investment.
Kirkland & Ellis is considering planting its flag in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The new branch would make it the US firm’s first office in the Middle East and Kirkland sources suggest that it would initially focus on the energy and infrastructure sector.
Alternative legal service providers’ growth rate has accelerated over the past two years as law firms and corporate legal departments increasingly seek ways to become more efficient, according to a joint study by the Thomson Reuters Institute, Georgetown Law and the Saïd Business School.
After two decades of slow growth in revenue and profits, Shearman & Sterling has been retrenching in several overseas offices while its total partnership ranks have fallen, with some partners leaving for higher pay at other law firms and others being shown the door.
In the battle for market share in Asia, U.K. law firms are losing out, while U.S. firms are doing just fine, writes Jessica Seah in the Asia Legal Briefing. So what’s up?
Almost a quarter of UK legal professionals are increasingly concerned about their careers, a sharp jump on the previous 12 month period, according to LawCare’s 2022 impact report.
Baker McKenzie’s Brussels managing partner has temporarily stepped down while the global giant conducts a ‘thorough review’ into a former lawyer’s allegations she was subject to multiple instances of discrimination during her time working at the firm.
Jones Day has strengthened its London arbitration practice with the addition of a White & Case partner, according to a person with knowledge of the situation. Julian Bailey, who is leaving after a decade at the firm, first made partner in early 2016, according to a spokesperson for the firm.
Slaughter and May heavyweight Andy Ryde is retiring after 35 years at the firm, having acted on some of the biggest deals in the U.K. elite firm’s corporate practice during his tenure.
Bracewell partners Sean Gorman, Chris Dodson and Andrew Zeve joined White & Case as partners in Houston on Tuesday, expanding the global firm’s trial team in the Texas city.
Top 20 US firm Goodwin Procter has secured a group of 14 partners from Troutman Pepper to officially launch in Philadelphia. The team includes rainmakers and former practice heads and is split between Goodwin’s life sciences, healthcare transactions and white-collar defence teams.
London-based litigation boutique Pallas Partners has grown in New York with the hire of a commercial litigation partner from Gibson Dunn & Crutcher along with two associates from other firms.
Royal London has hired AXA’s UK group regulatory and compliance director as its new general counsel (GC). Julie Whitehead has made the move after 17 years with AXA, beginning her career at the insurance giant in 2005 as senior counsel.
Vica Irani, one of the new leaders, is based in London. The others – Andy Levin and Randi Lesnick – are based in New York. They will lead the firm’s newly structured corporate practice, which includes M&A and private equity sub-practices.
Lewis Silkin has announced that employment partner Richard Miskella and IP and advertising law specialist Jo Farmer will serve as its next joint managing partners.
Merger talks between Hogan Lovells and Shearman & Sterling have continued to progress in recent weeks, with management from both firms meeting on each side of the Atlantic.
Atlanta-based Smith Gambrell & Russell (SGR) is to merge with Chicago’s Freeborn & Peters in a move that will create a firm with turnover of more than $260m.
Taylor Wessing is looking to develop a strategic alliance with Iberian firm ECIJA in a move that would greatly expand the former’s geographic offering to its tech and venture capital clients.
While Goodwin Procter’s arrival into the Philadelphia legal marketplace may slightly raise the competitive pressures on homegrown law firms, leaders in the city hope that the entry of another Am Law 50 firm will raise the region’s profile as a life sciences transactional hub.
CEO Miguel Zaldivar expects the firm’s 2022 revenues and profits will land below the previous year’s record-setting levels. But his interest in growing the firm’s heft in New York, Texas and California remains unchecked.
Legal departments at major companies say almost universally that they have become the in-house hub for environmental, social and governance issues (ESG), a new white paper has found.
The antitrust hearing on Capitol Hill this week was about Live Nation, not Big Tech, but it likely will add momentum to efforts to clamp down on the power of tech giants, legal experts say.
Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner has become the latest firm to shake up its billable hours policy, introducing a scheme the allows its best performers to earn a vacation bonus.
Greenwashing lawsuits are on a meteoric rise. Over the past five years, private and government plaintiffs have filed numerous greenwashing lawsuits to challenge business claims about sustainability achievements and environmental friendliness. These lawsuits have impacted nearly every major industry. But, are greenwashing lawsuits simply the latest litigation fad that will die down as businesses adapt to avoid the claims made in the lawsuits or will they continue to grow in volume in a hostile regulatory environment?
Clifford Chance has appointed its global antitrust co-chair as its next Americas managing partner. Washington D.C.-based partner Sharis Arnold Pozen will take over the role from May 1.
Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner (BCLP) has appointed a new US director of diversity and inclusion. Devin Carter has joined the firm in Chicago from consultancy AlixPartners and previously worked in diversity at firms including Baker McKenzie and McKinsey.
U.S-headquartered firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett has hired a London financial regulatory partner from Travers Smith, in the latest blow to the U.K. firm. Stephanie Biggs, who will co-lead the firm’s European financial services and funds regulatory team at Simpson Thacher alongside partner Owen Lysak, had been a partner in Travers’ financial services & markets department for eight years
Three firms have hired into their corporate, funds and real estate practices, amid a busy London lateral hiring market. Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner has added to its London partnership with a Reed Smith corporate and real estate partner. Chris Beaumont-McQuillan will join BCLP this February, and is set to form part of the firm’s corporate real estate and funds team. He was a partner at Reed Smith since 2021.
Deloitte Legal has strengthened its legal management consulting team with the addition of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer’s former legal innovation chief, who joins as a partner.
Goodwin Procter has snapped up a private equity and investment funds partner from Kirkland & Ellis. Jacqueline Eaves has spent nearly four years as a partner at the US firm, where she focused on advising private investment funds on a range of complex business transactions in the secondary market.
Three leading Singaporean disputes bodies have banded together to promote Singapore’s attractiveness for dispute resolution, with two new initiatives encouraging an integrated approach for businesses seeking to resolve their disputes in one of Asia’s most popular dispute hubs.
Law firms are continuing to expand with offices in the Republic of Ireland, as Ropes & Gray hires from the country’s competition regulator to launch its operations.
London-based litigation boutique Pallas Partners has grown in New York with the hire of a commercial litigation partner from Gibson Dunn & Crutcher along with two associates from other firms.
Leaders at K&L Gates said they expect the team of seven new partners to have an “immediate” impact on boosting the firm’s business, given the quantity of client work they are bringing over.
The London Metal Exchange’s (LME) long-time legal chief has stepped down after seventeen years at the company. Tom Hine, who joined the LME in 2006, announced via LinkedIn on Tuesday that he was leaving the metal trading platform to set up his own consultancy venture.
Several law firms in London have rung in the new year with changes to their top management. U.K. top 50 firm Lewis Silkin has ushered in new co-managing partners, with intellectual property partner Jo Farmer and employment partner Richard Miskella set to head the firm until 2026.
Shearman & Sterling has spoken with multiple law firms for a potential merger, including Texas-based Baker Botts, according to two sources familiar with the talks.
Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe is merging with Washington, D.C.-founded Am Law 200 firm Buckley, adding significant strength to Orrick in financial regulation, enforcement and litigation and doubling its footprint in the nation’s capital.
When Brexit became final in 2020, there was an abundance of talk about the world’s premier law firms pivoting away from London to European hubs like Frankfurt, Paris and, in particular, Brussels.
About a year after Eversheds Sutherland announced plans to launch in San Francisco, the global firm has opened an office, which will act as a hub for both local and international lawyers. It is also Eversheds’ first office to experiment with hoteling.
Alternative fee arrangements and pricing outside the billable hour is getting more attention this year. A pandemic surge in demand followed by an historic drop in productivity have set the stage in 2023 for a shift toward pricing that emphasizes value instead of time, some analysts say.
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett’s London office revenue grew more than 13% in 2022, hitting $378 million, marking another year of expansion for the U.S. firm’s U.K. base.
Clifford Chance’s highest paid partner took home £4.94 million in the 2021-22 financial year, the law firm’s latest limited liability partnership accounts show. The figure is 35% higher than the £3.21 million taken home by the top paid member in the previous financial year.
The Ince Group is now majority owned by external shareholders, with just 8.1 per cent of the equity retained by the firm’s partnership, new documents have revealed.
Legal technology is set to present a range of opportunities and challenges for law firms in the coming year, according to industry experts. The range of legal tech available to lawyers continues to grow in areas such as knowledge management, data storage and improved artificial intelligence. Firms are likely to need to adapt as in-house requirements change.
Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner has become the latest firm to shake up its billable hours policy, introducing a scheme the allows its best performers to earn a vacation bonus.
Among the four new partners at Spanish firm Pérez-Llorca named earlier this month, two are women whose practices focus on the male-dominated area of corporate law.
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Throughout 2022, with both specific in-depth analysis of practice areas such as Data Protection, Venture Capital and Investment Funds, and weekly updates on partner moves, we charted a year full of developments in the legal market. This data collection allowed us to inspect certain individual or clusters of moves and reveal particular trends. On a broader level, this analysis will provide insight on the direction the market is moving; and on a micro level, it reveals the opportunities for strategic hiring. In a turbulent time of change – whether that be the swelling of in-demand NQ salaries, or the difficulties presented by the war in Ukraine – it is even more important that we understand the legal market that we work in.