Hello and welcome to the Fides Weekly Update. Take a look at this week’s key trends, moves and developments in legal and compliance.
Tweet us @Fides_Search to let us know your thoughts.
This week:
1. Bringing Mental Health Awareness to Financial Services
As part of Mental Health Awareness Week, organisations all over the UK are opening up the dialogue to address mental health to encourage the idea of taking care of our minds as much as we do our bodies.
This can be particularly challenging within the financial services sector. In an environment where long hours and challenging workloads are deeply embedded in company culture, mental health doesn’t often feature as a priority.
In a recent industry report, HR consultants AdviserPlus assessed over 250,000 employee records and determined that the financial services sector experiences the highest number of absences due to mental health (34%).
As society beings to evolve, and the millennial generation voices its demand for employee wellbeing, there has been a rise in the number of initiatives to support and promote mental health awareness. The British Standards Board (BSB) recently published a paper outlining eight situational factors that affect employee wellbeing and resilience at work.
As part of this initiative, the BSB carried out an industry-wide survey, which resulted in over 72,000 responses. Chairman Dame Colette Bowe revealed that the proportion of people who think working at their firm has had a negative impact on their mental health has remained the same over the last three years: “Firms need to take this lack of progress seriously. Simply having a wellbeing programme is clearly not enough; more needs to be done to identify and address the underlying causes behind these numbers,” says Dame Bowe.
Meanwhile, Barclays are ahead of their global banking peers having launched a mental health framework that is growing rapidly amongst the legal community, with many of the City’s leading law firms signing up. Labelled the Mindful Business Charter, Barclays’ initiative aims to change avoidable working practices which can affect mental health and wellbeing, focusing on principles such as improved communication, respect for rest periods and delegation of tasks. The charter now has 20 signatories, with nine new law firms announced to have joined earlier this week.
Regardless of which financial institution or professional services firm you work at, research highlights there are certain causes of employee stress and anxiety common to all within this sector. Due to the fast-paced, high-pressure, and highly competitive nature of the work, there is a huge need for support and intervention from the top in order to fundamentally improve employee wellness in the long-term.
2. Bullying and Sexual Harassment ‘endemic’ in the legal profession, global survey finds
Bullying and sexual harassment are rife in the legal profession, with workplace training having little or no effect on tackling these issues finds a global survey of over 7,000 people published by the International Bar Association.
The largest ever survey of lawyers on these issues, one third of female respondents said they had experienced sexual harassment in a workplace (compared to one in 14 men), while half the women and a third of men cited work-related bullying.
Furthermore, the report found “chronic underreporting” of incidents, with 57% of bullying cases and 75% of sexual harassment cases globally going unreported. Reasons given for this include the victim’s fear of repercussions for their careers, and in the case of bullying, the perpetrator being more senior or prominent in the organisation and/or such incidents being endemic at the workplace and therefore seen as acceptable.
Indeed, younger legal professionals were found to be disproportionately affected by both bullying and sexual harassment, the report established.
Policies and training “do not appear to be having the desired impact,” the report said. “Respondents at workplaces with policies and training are just as likely to be bullied or sexually harassed as those at workplaces without.”
The US, Canada, Australia, South Africa and Nigeria were the worst countries for sexual harassment, with between 24 and 35 per cent of respondents saying they had experienced work-related problems. The UK, Sweden and Brazil were among those close behind, with 21-23 per cent saying the same.
Sexist and sexually suggestive comments were the most common forms of harassment, while 22 per cent of respondents who had experienced sexual harassment were subject to physical approaches. The majority of reported incidents of sexual harassment (54%) were perpetrated by a non-supervising manager, whereas the opposite was true for bullying (60.5% reported that the bullies were their direct boss or manager).
Canada, Australia and South Africa also reported the highest levels of bullying, with levels of bullying in the UK found to be above the international average, with 62% of female respondents and 41% of male respondents reporting that they had been bullied in connection with their employment (compared to 55% and 30% respectively).
Horacio Bernardes Neto, the IBA president, said the study provided the first global proof that “bullying and sexual harassment are endemic in the legal profession” adding that the sector risks hypocrisy in its ability to advise other organisations on these issues.
The report calls upon individuals to call out offensive behaviour, and for firms to implement customised training products and a multifaceted reporting process to address grievances. It also suggests that law firms collect and publish data on sexual harassment and bulling within their ranks, and to put this into the context of work satisfaction and employee mental health. Following the example set by the Big Four, this could include information about the number of partners who were fired for inappropriate behaviour.
Movers & Shakers of the week
Panel Watch
Capita launches panel review amid business overhaul
Government Mandates for Law Firms Plummet as In-House Bench Strengthens
Appointments
Quinn Emanuel Shakes Up London Management Team
Moves
DLA appoint Tax practice head as partners exit
Clive Jones is set to become the UK Tax Head at the start of next month, following the departure of Kelly Lovegrove and Paul Rutherford from the team
Mayer Brown hires fourth new London partner this year
Mayer Brown is to expand its oil and gas capabilities in London, hiring Bob Palmer from CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang.
Barclays Senior In-House Counsel Exits to Launch Consulting Business
Stephanie Hamon, head of commercial management and managing director at Barclays, exits to establish own consultancy business
Pinsents targets life sciences and tech with Taylor Wessing hire
Competition partner Robert Vidal will join the team at Pinsent Masons, specialising in the life sciences, pharmaceuticals and technology sectors.
Ince Gordon Dadds Cologne office left without fee-earners after exits
Office co-founders Eva-Maria Goergen and Stefan Segger leave the firm with two counsels
Latham & Watkins Doubles Tokyo Partner Count With MoFo Hires
Morrison & Foerster partners Ivan Smallwood, Noah Carr and Stuart Beraha join Latham in Tokyo.
Jones Day Ramps Up Australia Expansion With Eight-Lawyer Tax Team in Melbourne
Tax disputes partner Niv Tadmore leaves Clayton Utz with his team to join Jones Day, which has been expanding in Australia in recent years.
Paul Hastings China Departures Continue as Shanghai Chief Representative Moves In-House
Litigation partner Haiyan Tang joins private equity firm CBC Group, leaving Paul Hastings with two partners in Shanghai.
Paul Hastings Bolsters Paris Office With Tax Partner
Bruno Leroy joins Paul Hastings from Dechert.
Office Openings & Closings
Clyde & Co Hedges Against Brexit With Sole-Partner Dublin Launch
Greenberg Traurig Opens Milan Office
Baker McKenzie to Shrink Myanmar Team Amid Review
Partner Promotions
Travers Smith Makes Up Four in Slimmed Partner Promotion Round
Osborne Clarke and BLM Favour Women in Latest Bumper Promotion Rounds
Inclusion & Diversity
IBA Survey Finds Endemic Sexual Harassment, Bullying Across Global Law
‘Mealy mouthed’ – Law Society draws fire for ethically ‘weak’ guidance on #MeToo gagging deals
Innovation and Technology
Linklaters Brand Used in Email Phishing Scam For Third Time This Year
Other
Cleary Gottlieb Scraps London Paralegal Programme, Making Current Staff Redundant
Hello and welcome back to the Fides Weekly Update. Here we aim to provide you with regular insights on what’s happening in your sector. Read on to see the key news stories in legal and compliance and don’t forget to check out the Movers & Shakers of the week.
We love to hear from our readers: Feel free to get in touch on Twitter or LinkedIn.
This week:
1). “This commitment to innovation is one we’re making for the long term” – FCA’s Exec Director of Strategy and Competition details the regulator’s plans to ramp up use of technology
Machine learning, digital regulatory reporting and technology-focused graduate recruitment are all key objectives in this year’s FCA Business plan, says Woolard.
Speaking at the Deloitte conduct risk roadshow on Wednesday, Christopher Woolard, Executive Director of Strategy and Competition at the FCA discussed some of the priorities for the regulator over the course of this year, focusing particularly on technology and the future of regulation.
Where the introduction of fintech into mainstream financial services poses a number of ethical challenges, such as biased algorithms and the collection of personal customer data, Woolard argues the importance of being at forefront of this technological change in order to effectively regulate the sector.
“For example, we’re increasingly employing machine learning techniques to identify firms or individuals who could pose a risk to our objectives,” says Woolard. The FCA is also exploring ways to digitise the regulatory reporting process that has the potential to massively reduce the burden of regulatory reporting requirements for firms.
Keeping abreast of the ever-changing financial regulations can be cumbersome for financial institutions and demands a lot of resource to monitor, interpret and implement such changes. The FCA’s mission to modernise this will allow firms to automate most of these process from their end. By converting the lengthy FCA handbook and updates into machine readable text, it would no longer require someone to spend time reading through the information, pulling out what’s relevant to their business and then manually implementing it. Instead, a machine could decipher the relevant next steps, automatically implement any changes and produce the reports that need to be submitted to the FCA.
In order to successfully adopt such revolutionary processes, however, the regulator now has a much greater need to attract individuals with the correct skill sets: “To make sure we have the skills to take on the challenges of the future, we’re strengthening our focus on science, technology, engineering and maths graduates to increase our capability in areas like cyber security, data science and technology.”
Dubbed the most technologically advanced financial regulator globally, the FCA seems adamant on bringing these proofs of concept into fruition, ensuring that their purpose to uphold a fair and well-governed market doesn’t hinder the UK’s journey to becoming the hub for technological revolution in financial services.
Click here to read Christopher Woolard’s full speech
2). Big Four Banned from Practicing Law in India
The Bar Council of Delhi has barred the Big Four accountancy firms from practicing law in India until further notice.
The order was passed after the president of The Society of Indian Law Firms, Lalit Bhasin, filed a complaint against accountants KPMG, EY, PwC and Deloitte in 2015. The complaint was later taken up in a council meeting on 12th April 2019, after which letters were sent to each of the Big Four.
The complaint centers on the fact that the Big Four are accountancy firms offering legal services, where only advocates who are enrolled with the Bar Council can practice law in India.
Ernst & Young and KPMG have responded to the statement, denying allegations made by the Law Society’s president which they consider “completely baseless” and “incorrect”.
KPMG’s statement adds: “We maintain our response provided to BCD for the same complaint raised in 2015 by the complainant. In our response, we specifically stated that the firm does not represent or hold itself out to be a legal firm or a firm of lawyers or legal experts, nor is it engaged in the practice of law.
The firms have been asked to be present for a hearing on the issue on July 12.
In 2018, the Supreme Court of India ruled that foreign law firms are not permitted to establish permanent offices in the country, but that they are allowed to advise on non-Indian law matters on a temporary basis. This is despite much discussion of the potential liberalisation of the Indian legal market (See our Blog Special here.)
The developments in India come amid a period of rapid expansion for the Big Four’s legal arms across the world. This week saw Deloitte seal an alliance with a US law firm Epstein Becker Green, where PwC is plotting a major expansion of its financial services legal practice in the UK and has just launched a legal tech incubator. EY has also been bulked up its legal arms across Asia in the last 12 months, and earlier this year KPMG France hired 144 lawyers in a mass raid on local firm Fidal.
3). Movers & Shakers
Appointments
Slaughter and May Senior Partner Secures Further Three Year Term
Former Taylor Wessing chief resurfaces in new leadership role
DLA Piper brings appoints new restructuring group heads after double loss
Moves
PwC Legal Hits Big Four Rival With Financial Services Hire
Director Kevin King joins PwC after building KPMG’s financial services legal team in London
McDermott Sees Third Partner Exit in a Week
U.S. firm McDermott Will & Emery has seen another partner leave its London office, with leveraged finance partner Peter Crichton exiting to join Addleshaw Goddard.
Kirkland Sees Rare London Exits As Heavyweight PE Duo Quit for Willkie
Kirkland & Ellis private equity partners Gavin Gordon and David Arnold have quit the firm’s London base for rival Willkie Farr & Gallagher
Addleshaws Takes 10-Lawyer BCLP Team For German Launch
Addleshaw Goddard has hired a 10-lawyer Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner team, including partners Michael Leue and Eckart Budelmann, to launch an office in Hambur, the firm’s first in continental Europe.
Signature Litigation hires Soc Gen’s General Counsel to its recently launched Paris office
Nicolas Brooke will be the fourth partner at the firm’s Paris base
Jones Day boosts Dusseldorf office with hire from US rival
Head of labour and employment practice at McDermott Will & Emery Paul deBeauregard joins Jones Day
RPC’s Asia Exodus Continues With Nine-Lawyer Disputes Departure in Singapore
Siraj Omar, a partner and disputes head of RPC’s Singapore joint law venture, is joining Singaporean firm Drew & Napier, taking an eight-lawyer disputes team with him.
Goodwin Launches Paris Real Estate Practice
U.S. firm Goodwin has launched a real estate practice in Paris with the hire of rival Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe’s French real estate head Sarah Fleury.
Mergers & Alliances
Deloitte Seals New US Legal Alliance
Office Openings & Closings
A&O closes shop in Qatar after a decade
Partner Promotions
DLA announces 2019 partner promotions
Financials
Keystone Revenues Jump 35% in First Full Post-IPO Financials
Inclusion and Diversity
Freshfields, HSF among nine new Mindful Business Charter signatories
Innovation and Technology
Clifford Chance Selects First Company For Global Innovation Lab
Eversheds debuts litigation tech offering
Hogan Lovells launches AI solution to prepare for Libor overhaul
Second magic circle firm signs up for Eigen Tech
Linklaters pilots new AI technology designed to support mental health
Other
Freshfields Boosts NQ Pay To £100K
Inns of Court applies to launch ‘not-for-profit’ BPTC that’s cheaper than all UK law schools
Irwin Mitchell Cuts ‘Around 10’ Partners Following Review
Hello and welcome back to the Fides Weekly Update. Here we aim to provide you with regular insights on what’s happening in your sector. Read on to see the key news stories in legal and compliance and don’t forget to check out the Movers & Shakers of the week.
We love to hear from our readers: Feel free to get in touch on Twitter or LinkedIn.
This week:
1. Regulatory roundtable on… Conduct risk
Following the release of the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) business plan for 2019/20, the regulator has voiced it’s determination to enforce an internal culture of good conduct for financial instructions, eradicating the sector’s long-standing tick-box approach to compliance.
In collaboration with legal magazine The Lawyer, international law firm Gowling WLG hosted a roundtable discussion comprised of risk, compliance and governance professionals to explore how financial institutions are expected to adhere to the FCA’s standards for conduct risk as the regulator marks it a priority for 2019.
Introducing this form of cultural change cannot be completed using a set of guidelines, but rather a tailored approach, where organisations have constructed a definition and structure that suits their own business models. As this brings a host of different challenges, the roundtable participants shared the barriers and successes they face in attempting to establish an effective conduct risk framework.
It seems a key objective is to create a shift in individual mindsets on compliance from reactive to proactive. Both senior and junior employees alike have said they can’t understand why culture change needs to take place if they don’t have any visible compliance problems to be fixed: “Managing people that don’t think they are a risk means they often aren’t receptive to change”.
“This begs the question: if people think there isn’t a problem or risk of non-compliance, how can you put a framework around that?”
Another factor noted in trying to embed this culture is an openness to whistle-blowing. There’s a stark contrast when comparing an organisation that has a whistle-blowing function to an organisation that allows employees to truly feel safe to escalate risks: “This is a good example of where a structural change has been made but not embedded.”
Struggling to obtain a commitment to these principles can be largely attributed to lack of personal responsibility. It was highlighted that this feeling of personal responsibility for conduct risk needs to permeate through every employee in the organisation rather than be perceived as a responsibility of the compliance department.
During the discussion, it was voiced that one potential solution to embedding this culture could be to integrate values into annual performance assessments and incentivise good behaviours. Many organisations have begun to ask about a person’s attitude to conduct risk in interviews for internal promotions and senior hires, but this approach to would further emphasise the importance of good conduct and culture.
Regardless of the size of your organisation, changing the culture of a financial institution is by no means an easy feat. Most risk and compliance professionals will have to cultivate these standards across multiple jurisdictions, each with their own cultural nuances and behaviours, whilst educating and engaging all levels of seniority on the importance of conduct risk.
Click here to read The Lawyer’s full write up and see the list of roundtable participants
2. Clifford Chance launches ground-breaking pilot scheme that removes billable hours as a performance metric
Clifford Chance is piloting a scheme that would eliminate what many innovation professionals believe is the root cause for the perpetual struggle to innovate in the legal industry.
The magic circle firm announced this week that lawyers (excl. partners) in its Dubai and Abu Dhabi offices will no longer have their compensation based upon hours billed, but rather their engagement with Clifford Chance’s innovation strategy and their efforts in building client relationships.
Over the course of one year, the pilot will assess the impact of removing utilisation as a metric when evaluating lawyer contribution and performance in the Middle East. It will instead focus on matters that encompass the wider range of initiatives that Clifford Chance employs, which the firm expects will better outcomes for its clients, lawyers, and the firm itself.
The new performance-based factors will include contributions to thought leadership; applying process improvements to matters; engaging with the firm’s innovation strategy and deployment of the firm’s Best Delivery tools.
Mo Al-Shukairy, Regional Managing Partner for Clifford Chance, argues that: “This pilot is an acknowledgement of…change, and an explicit attempt to try to find a new model that is fit for the future. Our expectation is that this new way of working will bring material benefits to our clients and that our people will also find that it provides new opportunities to explore their own professional development, while advancing the firm’s strategy.”
As a result of this scheme, Clifford Chance will have accumulated an impressive bank of data and insights that will demonstrate what the precise impact on the firm is when lawyers are spending time on initiatives such as diversity, inclusion, wellbeing and legal technology, over client work.
Billable hours is a sticking point that many have been subject to when convincing law firms to adopt a more advanced approach. Increasing efficiencies is counter-intuitive under a firm’s current business model and it will be interesting to see how Clifford Chance’s pilot will affect not only the development of lawyers and their delivery of client services, but also the performance of the Middle Eastern offices themselves.
Movers & Shakers of the week
Panel watch
Six firms awarded spots on the new Post Office legal panel
Appointments
Ashurst managing partner renewed for another four-year term at the helm
Moves
162 year old asset management firm hires its first GC
In-house lawyer Samee Khan has left the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) to join alternative asset manager Gresham House as its first ever general counsel
Mergers & Acquisitions
DWF makes its first acquisition since IPO, purchasing an 85-strong team in Warsaw for £3 million
Partner Promotions
Simmons & Simmons unveils largest promotions round since 2008
Ashurst promotes 21 lawyers to partner globally, 52% female
DAC Beachcroft promotes 19 to partnership
RPC makes up six new Partners in 2019 round
Irwin Mitchell promotes eight to partner
Bird & Bird bets on Continental Europe in largest-ever promotions round
Equality & Inclusion
Herbert Smith Freehills resets gender partner target
‘Break the dominance of a single metric’: CC pilots dropping billable hours from performance reviews
Linklaters ramps up social mobility efforts with state school outreach
Technology & Innovation
Slaughter and May Picks Six Startups for Inaugural Legal Tech Programme
Linklaters launches Peerpoint-style platform and LOD makes Australasian acquisition
PwC Launches Legaltech Incubator
Hello and welcome bank to the Fides Weekly Update. Here we aim to provide you with regular insights on what’s happening in your sector. Read on to see the key news stories in legal and compliance and don’t forget to check out the Movers & Shakers of the week.
We love to hear from our readers: Feel free to get in touch on Twitter or LinkedIn.
This week:
1. Deutsche Commerzbank merger talks fall through: Risks don’t outweigh the benefits
Negotiations came to a halt on Thursday for Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank, who announced they won’t be going forward with what would’ve created a national banking giant for Germany.
The merger would have brought about the third largest European bank with €1.8 trillion in assets and an organisation housing 140,000 employees.
Reasons for ending the deal
In a brief statement, Deutsche Bank commented that “a combination with Commerzbank would not have created sufficient benefits to offset the additional execution risks, restructuring costs and capital requirements associated with such a large-scale integration”. Commerzbank has given the same response to the potential deal.
News comes as a positive to many investors, who critiqued the merger and were apprehensive about having to provide further capital to finance it. The deal could have also risked up to tens of thousands of job cuts, which was causing friction with employees and unions.
Deutsche Bank’s struggle for success
Both banks were in need of this merger to improve revenue losses and cut costs. The German lenders will now need to find alternative methods to reach the similar levels of profitability as their rivals.
Deutsche Bank has been struggling to generate growth and return to its pre-financial crisis positioning in the market. A particular issue for Deutsche has been the heavy losses in its US investment banking operations.
Although Deutsche exceeded analyst expectations for its Q1 results, the bank still needs to make substantial efforts to build back significant growth.
Along with heavier cost cutting strategies, Deutsche Bank will have to reconsider and possibly slim down its product offerings. The lender’s asset management arm DWS is allegedly up for sale, as its shares fell 30 percent last year and clients have been pulling money out of DWS for four consecutive quarters, according to Bloomberg.
Alternative merger choices for Commerzbank
The German government remains to be Commerzbank’s largest shareholder, holding a 15% stake in the business. They continue to look for a merger partner and following the last few days of speculation that the Deutsche/Commerzbank talks will fall through, the bank have been receiving other competing offers.
UniCredit and ING have both been tipped to enter their hats in the ring, with ING even expressing they would be prepared to move its Netherlands-based headquarters to Germany. It would be an underwhelming deal for the German government, however, who were rooting for the Deutsche/Commerzbank merger, with the aim to construct a national banking behemoth, rather than allowing either of Germany’s top lenders to “fall into the hands of a foreign player”.
2. Eversheds Sutherland reconquers title as no. 1 brand for clients
Research group Acritas released its annual UK Brand Index for 2019, revealing that Eversheds Sutherland has returned to assume the top position as the leading brand for law firm clients.
The brand index works as a definitive guide as to which UK legal brands are strongest in the eyes of buyers. Rather than being a reflection of technical competence alone, it reveals which firms are prevalent in the client’s minds, whom they are most attracted to and whom they are most likely to give their work.
This year’s responses from law firm clients were heavily based on the implications of Brexit. The need for industry specific advice around how Brexit could affect their businesses, as well as the availability of strong international platforms were high up on clients’ priorities.
Eversheds Sutherland sits at number 1, with 19 points between them and second place Pinsent Masons, presenting by far the largest lead since the Acritas created the rankings.
Firms to have made the greatest positive change and thus risen the most, are Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Squire Patton Boggs, each climbing five places to be ranked 5th and 12th respectively. Their success is largely attributed to each of the firms’ capabilities in Germany and the Netherlands, which have been dubbed two of the most popular international platforms resulting from Brexit.
Simmons & Simmons and Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner made a return to the top 20, sitting in 17th and 20th place respectively. Additionally, RPC made it into the top 20 list for the first time.
With the average client working with 20 or more law firms at any given time – and marketed to by many more – the findings of the Acritas brand index are important in understanding what can give law firms a competitive advantage in a market that is fragmented, dynamic and constantly changing.
How the index changes over time is a reflection of which firms are doing a better job of making and maintaining a meaningful impression with clients through experience, relationship development and taking an approach to market that really aligns with clients’ goals and needs.
Movers & Shakers of the week
Moves
Hogan Lovells secure high-profile in-house hire to its investigations team
Arwen Handley, former managing director and global head of group investigations, governance, reporting and whistleblowing management at UBS, has joined Hogan Lovells’ global financial services litigation practice in London
Facebook hires ex-Davis Polk partner as new GC
Jennifer Newstead is joining Facebook as the company’s new general counsel, leaving her post as legal adviser for the US State Department. Prior to this, she spent time as a partner at Davis Polk & Wardwell and with the DoJ.
SoftBank’s Vision Fund announces new Deputy GC
Gregory Puff has joined SoftBank Vision Fund in Tokyo as the VC’s new deputy general counsel. Puff was previously Asia managing partner for Akin Gump, leaving the firm to join a startup as its chief executive.
Quinn Emanuel looks to fellow US firm to enhance UK competition capability
Competition partner Elaine Whiteford departs Covington & Burling’s London office to join the partnership of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan
Mergers & Alliances
Fieldfisher merges with Irish firm McDowell Purcell to secure Dublin offering
Partner Promotions
Clifford Chance makes up 30 to partnership, nine based in London
Charles Russell Speechlys announces nine partner promotions
Technology & Innovation
Axiom spin-off business looking for investors
Ashurst’s New Law arm Ashurst Advance announces its own graduate training scheme
Hello and welcome to the Fides Weekly Update. Take a look at this week’s key trends, moves and developments in legal and compliance.
Tweet us @Fides_Search to let us know your thoughts.
This week:
Movers & Shakers
Panel Watch
John Lewis to Prioritise Innovation and Diversity in Upcoming Panel Review
Appointments
Goodwin names long-time managing partner as new chairman
Dentons Appoints First Female US Managing Partner
A&L Goodbody appoints second female chair
Former Addleshaws partner takes top legal job at Royal Mail
Deliveroo names new GC following exits
Moves
O’Melveny Loses Another London Partner as A&O Merger Looms
O’Melveny & Myers London funds partner Eve Ellis is leaving to join Ropes & Gray in the office’s third partner departure in the space of a month.
WFW hires director of Clifford Chance’s Africa Group
Titus Edjua joins the energy and infrastructure practice of Watson Farley & Williams following 13 years at the Magic Circle firm
Brown Rudnick loses real estate partner in London
Omega Poole, formerly a legal director at CBRE, joins Mishcon de Reya as a partner in the City
Hogan Lovells hires managing director from UBS
UBS managing director and global head of group investigations governance, reporting and whistleblowing management Arwen Handley to join the financial services litigation practice of Hogan Lovells
DLA Piper makes seventh lateral hire in Dublin
Litigation & Regulatory partner Caoimhe Clarkin joins from local firm A&L Goodbody
Eversheds Adds Hong Kong Technology Practice Leader From Big Four’s PwC
Rhys McWhirter leaves PwC’s Hong Kong affiliate law firm Tiang & Partners to join Eversheds as a consultant and a leader of the firm’s technology, media and telecommunications practice
Mergers & Alliances
DAC Beachcroft Launches in Northern Ireland with Alliance Firm Takeover
Office Openings & Closings
Clifford Chance Paris Trio Form New Firm
Partner Promotions
Diversity Plummets in Bumper Clyde & Co Partner Promotions Round
HSF Misses Female Partnership Target in Latest Promotions
Clydes laments poor gender record in latest promotions
Other
Baker McKenzie Global Chair Dies
Hello and welcome to the Fides Weekly Update. Take a look at this week’s key trends, moves and developments in legal and compliance.
Tweet us @Fides_Search to let us know your thoughts.
This week:
1. Sanctions violations lead to over $1 billion fine for Standard Chartered
Standard Chartered has agreed to pay $1.1bn (£843m) in settlement fees for both violating US sanctions against Iran and inadequate financial crime controls.
The total amount exceeds the $900m initially set aside for the expected sum, and it combines penalties issued from authorities residing in both the UK and US, including the DoJ, New York Department of Financial Services, Manhattan district attorney, Department of Treasury, Federal Reserve and the FCA.
This fine marks an end to a five year-long investigation into sanctions breaches by StanChart and culminated in various extensions to a seven year-long deferred prosecution agreement (DPA). The DoJ claims the DPA will end once bank has “admitted and accepted responsibility for its criminal conduct”, likely in 2021.
According to the FT, the emerging markets bank violated US sanctions placed on not only Iran, but also Myanmar, Cuba, Sudan and Syria, highlighting one example where dollar payments were processed for a correspondent bank supposedly related to the Isis terrorist group, as understood from an investigation by the FCA.
Examining the banks financial crime controls, the FCA found highly lax procedures, particularly in the UAE, where on one occasion an account was opened for a consulate with over £500,000 in cash from a suitcase.
Most of the bank’s wrongdoing occurred in its Dubai branch and London HQ. In the UAE, a former StanChart employee has pleaded in New York state court to sanctions-related violations, and an Iranian customer of the Dubai branch has been criminally charged in Washington D.C.
Meanwhile in London, the bank has been found of multiple AML failings by its UK Correspondent Banking business during the period from November 2010 to July 2013. Mark Steward, Director of Enforcement and Market Oversight at the FCA, said:
‘Standard Chartered’s oversight of its financial crime controls was narrow, slow and reactive. These breaches are especially serious because they occurred against a backdrop of heightened awareness within the broader, global community, as well as within the bank, and after receiving specific attention from the FCA, US agencies and other global bodies about these risks.
There have been numerous sanctions fines reported over the last decade. Here are some of the most high-profile in recent years:
2. Paul Hastings launches new cross-disciplinary AI practice
Paul Hastings has launched a new Artificial Intelligence group with analysts and data scientists from Booz Allen Hamilton.
Lawyers and technologists from the group will join forces to help clients face the legal issues surrounding the use of artificial intelligence, and address its impact across different industries.
The practice is co-chaired by London-based European data privacy and cyber security head Sarah Pearce, and US litigation partner Robert Silvers based in Washington DC. Mr Silvers formerly served as the Assistant Secretary for Cyber Policy at the Department of Homeland Security under the Obama administration.
The 40-lawyer team gathers specialists advising on data privacy and cyber-security, employment, technology transactions, fintech, IP, trade controls, class action and litigation. The technologists in the team were previously absorbed from consultancy Booz Allen Hamiltion in 2017/18, and operate out of Washington DC and Atlanta.
After realising a set of common concerns were arising from the deployment of artificial intelligence across a range of industries, the firm set to establish a cross-practice team to help its clients navigate the issues. This includes the application of emerging technology to new business lines, as well as the governance and ethical considerations of using AI.
The practice will both take on existing matters from the plethora of partners involved and generate its own work out of tech developments in client companies.
The creation of the practice reflects broader efforts in law firms to help clients navigate the issues associated with disruptive technologies. Earlier this month, Norton Rose Fulbright launched its technology consulting practice led by computer scientist and Professor Peter McBurney.
EY in its recent acquisition of Pangea3 from Thompson Reuters, and onboarding of Riverview Law and its disruptive software Kim Technologies last year, also marks a turning point in the use of technology to deliver legal managed services.
Movers & Shakers of the week
Appointments
Sky UK Names Former Olswang Partner as General Counsel
Sky has promoted former Olswang partner Claire Canning to the role of general counsel for its U.K. and Ireland operations
Davis Polk Hong Kong Partner Moves In-House to Flagship Airline Cathay Pacific
Davis Polk & Wardwell Hong Kong partner Paul Chow will leave the firm and join Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd., Hong Kong’s flagship carrier, as its group general counsel.
Linklaters Shakes Up Finance and Projects Management
Linklaters has made its third senior appointment in the firm’s finance and projects division this year, with London partner Daniel Tyrer set to become the firm’s new global head of projects this May.
Moves
Pinsents Finance Trio Defects To Eversheds
Pinsent Masons’ head of financial products and payments Tony Anderson has led a three-lawyer defection to Eversheds Sutherland, joined by consultant Henry Burkitt and associate Charlie Clarence-Smith.
Cooley LA Private Equity Team Heading to Sidley
Mehdi Khodadad, along with colleague Joshua DuClos, have joined Sidley Austin’s Century City office.
Macfarlanes Hires Third Partner In Two Months
Macfarlanes makes its third lateral hire of 2019 with former Ropes & Gray special situations partner Peter Baldwin joining the team
Australia’s Mills Oakley Recruits Former PwC Lawyers as Partners
Former PwC directors Shaun Whittaker and Tony Rutherford join Mills Oakley as partners in Melbourne, in the latest in the battle for talent between the Big Four accounting firms and law firms in Australia.
Stewarts adds firepower in tax disputes with partner hire
Tax litigation partner James Le Gallais joins Stewarts law with Tax directors Lisa Vanderheide and Sarah Stenton from BDO.
Reed Smith innovation supremo exits for AI platform
Reed Smith’s innovation manager Alex Smith has joined artificial intelligence services provider RAVN as Global Product Lead
Office Openings & Closings
Gordon Dadds Picks Up Gibraltar Law Firm as Expansion Continues
Linklaters eyeing Low-Cost Centre Expansion
Partner Promotions
Allen & Overy Promotes Head of Fuse To Partner In 34-Strong Round
Female Partner Count Jumps Sharply For City Trio In Latest Promotions Round
Eversheds Sutherland Moves Towards 30% Gender Target With Latest Promotion Round
Taylor Wessing and Addleshaw Goddard Announce Partner Promotions
Mishcon adds fourth business services professional to partnership
Inclusion and Diversity
Linklaters Opens UK Flexible Working To All
Law Firms Unaware of Which Diversity Initiatives Work, Research Finds
Hello and welcome to the Fides Weekly Update. Take a look at this week’s key trends, moves and developments in legal and compliance.
Tweet us @Fides_Search to let us know your thoughts.
This week:
1. Gender pay gap reporting: Interview with Innes Miller, Co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer of paygaps.com
We caught up with Innes Miller, Co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer at paygaps.com, for his views on the second round of gender pay gap reporting. Click here to read the full interview.
2. Culture of compliance case study: BNP Paribas brings conduct front and centre
As front office compliance becomes a significant theme in the banking sector, BNP Paribas introduces a number of chief conduct and control officers into its front-line business.
Chief compliance officer of the Americas Eric Young has overseen the rollout of a conduct programme that embeds conduct officers, usually associated with back office compliance functions, into first-line businesses. In an interview with Reuters, Young explains:
“They walk the trading floor; they walk the different parts of the business because they are either ex-traders, ex-sales people, and so they know an issue when they see one or hear one… For example, they might hear a trader or sales person on their phone and it just doesn’t sound right. Prevention is in some ways often more important than detection.”
The French lender has hired a number of these individuals into its wealth management division, and given them the responsibility of monitoring and identifying behaviours that could put the institution at risk.
Tools such as big data and analytics have proliferated in the world of compliance, allowing businesses to become much more accurate with the reporting of fraud and financial crime. However, data isn’t as effective in counteracting issues relating to misconduct and non-compliant behaviour. Acting pre-emptively on the front line when these actions could first be identified is still dependent upon human judgement and intervention.
Implementing conduct and control officers is just one of numerous changes the French bank is making to overhaul its internal culture of conduct and compliance. Another method used to tackle high risk behaviour is to link it to financial compensation and promotions. BNP has set behaviour criteria that all employees must adhere to, and this is monitored by human resources and risk management. “In some cases, bonuses have been cut for those who have not made the grade”, said Young.
Furthermore, to reach director and managing director level, a segment of candidate interviews now focuses on behaviour and conduct, ensuring that all senior employees adhere to the bank’s code of conduct. The bank has also introduced a ‘permanent control committee’, which twice a year assesses senior executives and certain individuals identified as ‘material risk takers’, on whether they are behaving appropriately.
The bank’s overhaul of its attitude towards conduct comes as a result of a remediation plan put together in 2014 as part of a settlement with the U.S Department of Justice (DoJ) over U.S. sanctions violations, which also resulted in a $8.9 billion penalty. The bank was also fined $350 million in 2017 by the New York Department of Financial Services for illegal foreign exchange related conduct.
Click here to read the full Reuters interview with BNP Paribas’ chief compliance officer Eric Young
Movers & Shakers of the week
Panel Watch
Five Firms Awarded £16M Government Legal Panel Contract
Moves
Weil Gotshal hires Clifford Chance partner in Paris
Weil, Gotshal & Manges has hired Benjamin de Blegiers from Clifford Chance in Paris as a private equity and M&S partner
Second Akin Gump partner heads for Dechert
Akin Gump partner Sarah Smith will join Dechert’s finance practice in London
Office Openings & Closings
Norton Rose Fulbright closes its office in Colombia
Dentons absorbs Australian firm Gadens’ Adelaide branch
Inclusion & Diversity
Linklaters expands reverse mentoring scheme to all partners
HFW boosts number of women on global management board
Technology & Innovation
EY acquires Thomson Reuters managed legal services arm
Slaughters and five US firms are latest to back legal tech startup Reynen Court
Bird & Bird creates new online platform for start-ups
EY poised to swoop for Thomson Reuters’ managed legal services arm
Partner Promotions
Dentons reveals 25 new UK and European partners in latest promotions round
Penningtons Manches makes up seven lawyers to partner
Pinsent Masons makes 15 global partner promotions
Freshfields promotes eight City lawyers to partner in expanded round
We caught up with Innes Miller, Co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer at paygaps.com, for his views on the second round of gender pay gap reporting.
Paygaps.com helps organisations improve their diversity and gender pay gap performance by providing insights and easy to use resources for organisations to use to analyse and report their pay gap data.
First things first Innes, are you seeing firm’s report earlier and with more accuracy this year?
In short, no. We have tracked reporting figures from this and last year, and of this date in March 2018, 6,666 firms had reported compared to 4,426 firms today.[1] So it is evident that many companies have left in later than last year, most probably due to Brexit and Brexit uncertainty.
There will be an element of strategic reporting too – organisations withholding the publication of their gender pay gap reports, or working with others to issue on the same day. It’s very disappointing when organisations choose to do this though, as they are not taking the legislation seriously and acting as if they have something to hide.
In terms of accuracy, there are still inaccurate reports being issued. I can’t fully comment on this until all the reports are submitted, but based on some of the numbers we’re seeing, organisations are still reporting inaccurately.
Across the board, have you seen gender pay gaps go up, down or stay the same?
So far there has been a marginal 0.3% improvement on the median gender pay gap. The bonus pay gap has seen a much bigger improvement of 20.8%, although this could be because many of the organisations with the highest bonus gaps – such as financial services – are yet to report.
Nevertheless, some companies have realised that their bonus payments are out of alignment through conducting pay reviews. It also highlights the need to get women into more roles that pay high bonuses, such as client service or sales roles traditionally dominated by men.
What factors impact the pay gap within an organisation?
Bonus payment, pipeline and talent management, lateral talent, career paths of males and females to name a few. Organisations need to identify the issues that are preventing women from reaching the upper echelons of their business.
The motherhood penalty – and assumptions around this – are a clear factor too, in which instance, firms need to do the best of their ability to ease the transition of women back into work after maternity leave.
How could gender pay reporting in the UK be improved?
Current legislation could be improved in a number of ways.
Partner pay needs to be added to the legislation. The BEIS committee’s consultation report on the gender pay gap reporting offers some valid recommendations as to why this should be done.
Firms should also have to provide more data around different job levels, similar to the approach taken in Australia. Here employers can choose one of two options ; i) unit level data, or ii) aggregated data which requires a breakdown of job levels for managers and non-managers data. Adopting a similar approach here in the UK would bring greater understanding and transparency around pay gaps.
Organisations should also have to publish their action plans for closing the gap. Although there has been a lot of talk about what businesses are doing internally, publishing an action plan gives something firms can commit to that would result in meaningful change. Each organisation should report their key aims for closing the gap, and have listed the executive(s) accountable in the organisation for doing this. However, this raises the question as to how this would be monitored.
The legal sector is seeing the reporting of other types of pay gap, such as ethnicity, disability and sexuality? Have you seen this trend across any other sectors?
The Big 4 consulting firms are ahead in their reporting of other kinds of pay gaps. For example, they have all reported on ethnicity. But apart from this, the voluntary disclosure of this information has been very limited.
Firms need to recognise the advantage of diversity to better utilise the talent they have, as well as making the business more attractive to diverse talent when considering whether or not to report this data.
In some instances, we have seen the mean hourly pay gap narrow, but the median increase? What does this tell us?
Mean figures are radically impacted upon by outliers, such as senior figures getting remunerated disproportionately, where median figures are more representative of what actually is going on in firms.
A rise in the median suggests a lack of pipeline management across quartiles, most likely a higher number of men in the top quartile who continue to be remunerated highly.
Last year, law firms were lobbied by the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Committee to voluntarily include partner pay figures as part of their calculations. Do you feel this is a meaningful step forward?
Reporting partner pay is a meaningful step forward as it gives a better representation of the true gender pay gap within firms. This is not to say it is necessarily an easy or straightforward task, with equity partners paid a share in the firm’s profits and losses and also have their yearly pay amount decided by a remuneration committee.
Saying this, law firms should display leadership and do the right thing in this instance. The government have announced that there is to be no changes to the gender pay gap legislation for 5 years, but continued press and buyer pressure – such as the open letter signed by 170 US GC’s to campaign for greater diversity amongst their legal suppliers – means that there are other good reasons why law firms should report on this.
Many firms are saying that it is going to take a few years for the initiatives they introduced to address their gender pay gap to ‘bed in’. Do you feel that this is a valid response from businesses?
Initiatives will definitely take time to bed in as there is no quick fix to this. There needs to be a lasting commitment from leadership teams to close their gender pay gaps, as these will likely change over before organisations start to see any real progress in narrowing their gaps.
Some organisations have played a numbers game. Some asset managers for example hired female non-executive directors to address their gender pay gap at board level, and to demonstrate to investors they were making progress on the issue. However, a flurry of hiring is only a superficial fix and does not equal long term change and the need for greater equality at all levels in the organisation.
Are there any other trends you have seen with the reporting of this years’ data?
Organisations are still treating gender pay gap reporting as a compliance exercise, rather than seeing it as valid reason to drive positive change within their business. Once organisations realise the importance of being a good organisation to work for and with, only then will we see the numbers really start to change.
Gender pay gap reporting is an opportunity for firms to step back and think about what they are really doing to make an impact. Law firms themselves should also display leadership on this issue, given the fact that they are advising their clients on how to accurately report this data.
[1] Interview conducted on Thursday 28th March 2019. All statistics correct of that date.
Hello and welcome back to the Fides Weekly Update. Check in here to find out what’s been happening in your industry this week. Scroll down to read our regular feature Movers & Shakers of the week.
We love to hear from our readers! Feel free to get in touch on LinkedIn or Twitter
This week:
1). FCA issues record fine to Goldman Sachs for MiFid reporting errors stretching a decade
Goldman Sachs in London has landed a £34.3m fine from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for misreporting more than 220m transactions over a 10-year period.
The fine is the largest handed out by the UK’s financial watchdog for transaction-reporting failures under MiFid, topping the £27.6m fine UBS received earlier this month by the regulator for similar errors.
The FCA said on Thursday that the bank had failed to provide “accurate and timely reporting” on more than 213m transactions between November 2007 and March 2017. The bank then reported 6.6m transactions that it did not, in fact, have to. This is equivalent to about 15% of the total of Goldman’s transactions over the same period.
Specifically, the failings related to Goldman’s change management processes, its maintenance of the counterparty reference data used in its reporting and how it tested whether all the transactions it reported to the FCA were accurate and complete.
The FCA has been cracking down on sloppy reporting of data, which it uses to spot market abuse and financial crime. Goldman is now the 14th company the FCA has fined over Mifid reporting failures.
The regulator has also dished out penalties to UBS AG, Merrill Lynch International, Deutsche Bank AG, RBS, James Sharp & Co, Plus500UK, City Index, Société Générale, Commerzbank AG, Instinet Europe Limited, Getco Europe Limited, Credit Suisse, Barclays Capital Securities and Barclays Bank.
Goldman co-operated with the FCA and agreed to settle, qualifying for a 30 per cent discount on a fine that otherwise would have been £49m.
Tougher transaction reporting rules were introduced after the financial crisis in 2008 to prevent market abuse. Banks are meant to report details such as the product traded and information on the price, quantity and venue of the trade, the counterparty, and any client information.
The relevant Mifid rules were replaced by a tougher investor protection regime known as Mifid II in January 2018, which is intended to improve transparency.
The fine comes at an uncomfortable time for Goldman Sachs which was recently caught up in the Malaysian 1MDB corruption scandal.
Mark Steward, the FCA’s executive director of enforcement, said: “The failings in this case demonstrate a failure over an extended period to manage and test controls that are vitally important to the integrity of our markets.
“These were serious and prolonged failures.”
Former director of investigations at the FCA and current partner in Brown Rudnick’s global white collar crime and regulatory investigations group Jamie Symington added:
He added: “The FCA stresses in this latest case that it feels it has given the industry considerable support with getting transaction reporting right, and has explained its importance to market and firm surveillance.
“In recent years the FCA has invested heavily to develop market surveillance technology, but that is reliant on firms providing good quality data.”
2). DLA continues to face repercussions from major cyberattack
Having been crippled for almost two weeks by a ransomware attack that cut access to all phones and computers, DLA Piper is still dealing with the aftermath of the NotPetya outbreak. Two years on, the firm now looks to battle out a dispute with insurer Hiscox after DLA was denied a multimillion-dollar insurance claim.
Initial reports in The Times stated the reason DLA was denied the claim was due to an “act of war” exclusion clause. It has been identified that the June 2017 cyberattack was initiated in Ukraine, possibly by a Russian state entity, which could therefore be defined as a ‘warlike action’.
However, a Hiscox spokesperson has recently released a statement arguing different reasons for the dispute: “They don’t have the right cover. The dispute we are in with DLA Piper is about a cyber policy and has nothing to do with a war exclusion.”
As a result of the same ransomware outbreak, Cadbury owner Mondelez is also suing its insurer Zurich over its denied $100 million claim for damage. These cases will be the first serious legal disputes over how companies can recover the costs of a cyberattack, which will likely set precedents to come as the risk of cybercrime progressively rises.
Due to the rise of both the frequency and severity of cyberattacks on global organisations, insurers are building cyber-specific insurance policies, which has become a growing market over the last few years. Currently around 80 per cent of cyber insurance policies are held by US businesses, a market now worth up to $3bn.
The NotPetya attack on DLA Piper shined a spotlight on the vulnerabilities of global law firms’ IT systems and their susceptibility to cyberattacks. In response to this, GCHQ’s National Cyber Security Centre released a report outlining the key cyber threats to the UK legal sector. Citing phishing attacks, data breaches, ransomware attacks as the main threats specific to the legal sector, the report provides practical guidance on how to mitigate these risks as well as highlights the areas that are most ripe for exploitation.
3). Movers & Shakers
Panel Watch
Insurance firm Zurich awards seven law firms places on its updated UK legal panel
Appointments
Fieldfisher’s Condor undergoes management reshuffle and sets growth plans following partner exits
Linklaters Managing Partner Voted In With Reduced Term
Moves
Proskauer global transactional practice takes another hit
Funds partner Andrew Shire departs Proskauer Rose’s London office to join Kirkland & Ellis. His departure comes a day after the firm lost a 20-strong transactions team to Kirkland, announced yesterday.
Taylor Wessing bolsters Polish outfit with team hire
Taylor Wessing has hired Corporate partner Andrzej Mikosz into the firm’s Warsaw office. He joins from K&L Gates, bringing with him counsel Jakub Pitera, who will join as a partner, along with two associates.
CC looks in-house to replenish PE team
Clifford Chance has added Toby Parkinson as a partner in its City office. He joins from real estate asset manager OMERS Infrastructure where he served as a legal director.
Bakers Botts makes addition to its Brussels practice
Former A&O counsel Leigh Hancher joins Baker Botts in Brussels to advise on EU energy regulatory law.
Ashurst expands construction disputes offering in the Middle East
Pinsent Masons partner Bill Smith departs the firm to join Ashurst’s Dubai office, sitting in the firm’s global dispute resolution practice.
Financials
MoFo global turnover drops 2% whilst London office sees financial growth
Mammoth growth for Simmons’ flexible resourcing unit as revenue soars by 230 per cent over the last year
Inclusion & Diversity
Bird & Bird increases efforts on diversity initiatives to focus on improving gender parity within the firm
Innovation and Technology
A&O reveals startups set to join newest round in its Fuse incubator
Hello and welcome back to the Fides Weekly Update. Check in here to find out what’s been happening in your industry this week. Scroll down to read our regular feature Movers & Shakers of the week.
We love to hear from our readers! Feel free to get in touch on LinkedIn or Twitter
This week:
1). FCA dishes out record-breaking fine for decade-long compliance failure
Swiss bank UBS has been hit with the largest fine related to transaction reporting failures imposed by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
For breaches spanning from November 2007 to May 2017, the UK watchdog has fined UBS £27.6 million. These breaches include the misreporting of information in relation to 87 million transactions, as well as wrongly reporting a further 50 million transactions over the 10 year period.
In breach of legacy MiFID I requirements, the Swiss bank had not put in place adequate systems and controls to report transactions. The FCA’s executive director of enforcement Mark Steward stresses the importance of these tools: “If firms cannot report their transactions accurately, fundamental risks arise, including the risk that market abuse may be hidden.”
Errors were made on the reporting of transactions such as equity derivatives, trades for portfolio managers and prop traders, and credit default swaps.
Thankfully for UBS, their cooperation with the investigation granted the bank a 30 per cent discount on the penalty, which could have ultimately amounted to almost £40 million.
A number of big banks have previously been fined for transaction reporting, although this penalty is by far the largest levied by the FCA for this form of misconduct. Prior to this, the largest and most recent transaction reporting penalty was Merrill Lynch’s £13.2 million fine in April 2015. This was on account of inaccurately reporting 25 million transactions and its failure to entirely report 121,000 transactions.
This fine is the latest in a spate of bad press for UBS. This week the bank posted the weakest revenues in recent history from its investment banking unit. Compared to Q1 last year, figures were down by roughly a third, whilst the bank’s core wealth management business saw revenues fall by 9 per cent, the FT reports.
Furthermore, female bankers at UBS have been making statements on the bank’s poor management of those returning from maternity leave, specifically the unfair cuts made to their bonus packages, sustained even after a number of years of returning to employment.
2). SRA Finalises plan for foreign solicitor qualification in event of a no deal Brexit
The Solicitor’s Regulation Authority (SRA), the UK’s legal regulator, confirmed changing the rules regarding how non-UK solicitors will qualify to practice in England and Wales ahead of a no-deal Brexit.
Under current legislation, EU lawyers are able to apply for exemptions on a topic by topic basis from the Qualified Lawyers Transfer Scheme (QLTS), which all foreign-qualified lawyers must sit to qualify in England and Wales.
This affords them the same rights as individuals in England and Wales who have completed their LPC, and qualified Barristers looking to transition their practice, although currently no such exemptions are offered to lawyers from beyond the EU.
The QLTS is split into two parts: a 5 hour 30 minute multiple choice test (MCT) designed to assess candidate’s knowledge of the law and how it is applied in England and Wales, and an Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) to test candidates transactional and dispute resolution skills, client relationship skills and professional values, behaviours, attitudes and ethics.
However, in the event of a ‘no-deal’ Brexit, which remains the default legal position unless a withdrawal agreement is secured, this system would have to change as under World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules – which the SRA would now need to adhere to – the regulator cannot offer preferential treatment to some nationalities over others.
The solution implemented will allow all foreign lawyers to apply for exemptions of the QLTS, but these would only be offered on the basis that they cover the entirety of either or both parts of the test (the MCT and/or OSCE). Whether exemptions are granted will continue to depend upon a case-by-case review of that lawyer’s qualifications and experience.
Whatever the outcome of the Brexit negotiations, arrangements for solicitors from Scotland and Northern Ireland will continue unchanged, and EU-based lawyers wishing to apply under the current exemptions regime can still do so providing their application is received before the date any no deal Brexit becomes effective.
3). Movers & Shakers
Panel Watch
Amazon demands firms show “added value” in European review
Appointments
Dechert Ushers In New All-Male City Leadership Line-Up
Locke Lord appoints new London Managing Partner
Moves
Linklaters Dispatches Top Partner to U.K. Financial Watchdog To Bolster Expertise
Linklaters sends top disputes partner Gavin Lewis on six month secondment to Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
DWF Hits Dentons For First Post-IPO Partner Hire
DWF has made the first hire post-IPO with the recruitment of Dentons real estate finance partner Brendan Slack.
Dechert hires Akin Gump funds partner in London
Akin Gump investment funds partner Thiha Tun has joined Dechert’s London office
Pinsent Masons to Launch Flexi-Lawyer Service Vario in Hong Kong With Former Axiom Asia Head
Kirsty Dougan joins Vario as Asia managing director based in Hong Kong.
Bird & Bird makes Big Four hire in Hamburg
Hartmut Horner joins Bird & Bird as a partner from Deloitte’s Swiss business, where he was general counsel in the firm’s consulting group
Morrison & Foerster Adds Investigations and Corporate Governance Partners in Germany
Roland Steinmeyer and Patrick Späth join from WilmerHale in Berlin
Mergers & Alliances
Addleshaws and U.S. Firm Held Merger Talks Last Year
Big Four’s Deloitte to Expand Its Hong Kong Law Firm
Office Openings & Closings
Milbank Grows London Footprint By 30 Percent With New Office
Partner Promotions
Slaughters Slashes Partner Promotions Round Making Up One Lawyer
Financials
Kirkland poised to keep top spot as highest-grossing law firm as PEP hits $5m and revenue jumps 18%
Weil Gotshal London Revenue Jumps 14% As Firm Hits New Highs
Profits Per Partner Hit $5 Million at Paul Weiss
Diversity & Inclusion
Baker McKenzie Sets Target for London BAME Workforce in Latest Pay Gap Report
65 UK and European GCs Sign Letter Calling For Law Firms to Improve Diversity
Bird & Bird Pays Female Partners More, Latest Gender Pay Report Shows
Innovation and Technology
Italian Law Firm Enters Partnership with Fintech Association
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