Hello and welcome to the first edition of the Fides Weekly Update in 2019! Take a look at what’s happening in your industry this week, and don’t forget to scroll down to our regular feature – Movers & Shakers of the week.
We’d love to hear from our readers! Get in touch with us on Twitter and LinkedIn or follow us for more regular market updates.
This week:
1. Another PE heavyweight departure for Freshfields – could this mean an end to the practice’s market-leading title?
Wednesday marked the announcement of Adrian Maguire’s departure from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer’s shrinking private equity practice.
Joining the ranks of Kirkland & Ellis, whose recruitment efforts over the last 12 months in London have been nothing short of impressive, Maguire reunites with former Freshfields partner David Higgins.
The duo’s new residence within a US practice could mark a significant shift in the perceived status of private equity practices in the City. Where Freshfields was formerly known across the market as resounding leader for PE work, there is now much more of a question mark over the magic circle’s dominance over such big-ticket deals.
Maguire worked for a number of Freshfields’ core client base in this space, including Cinven, Warburg Pincus, Carlyle and CVC, and his reunion with former Freshfields heavyweight David Higgins could sway these clients over to Kirkland’s books.
Having experienced a number of high-profile departures in recent months, Freshfields’ lockstep changes have come under heavy scrutiny, questioning whether their attempts to retain star talent has in fact caused many of their key partners to depart the magic circle firm. Notable leavers from the firm have included corporate and capital markets partner Ashar Qureshi to Fried Frank, high-yield partner Ward McKimm to Shearman & Sterling, and litigation partner Reza Mohtashami QC to litigation boutique Three Crowns.
Freshfields voted in a first and second-tier lockstep system in June last year and widened the range of core equity points. It was estimated around 60-100 partners were affected by the changes and asked to accept a lower profit share.
Meanwhile, Kirkland are going from strength to strength, overtaking Latham & Watkins as the world’s largest law firm by revenue last year, taking in $3.165bn. The firm had a record-breaking partner promotions round last year, in line with its global push in lateral hiring.
2. Compliance failings lead to full blown investigation at Canadian bank RBC
The Financial Times (FT) has reported that the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) will be launching an official investigation into potential unfair dismissals at the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) following a brief probe into the bank last summer.
Questions were raised after the dismissal of former London head of emerging markets currency trading John Banerjee. The bank claimed they sacked Banerjee due to his ‘poor timekeeping’, however, a judge at the employment tribunal argued that this was “empty words” and the real reason they removed him from the bank was due to his complaints surrounding the bank’s compliance procedures.
Banerjee claimed that RBC’s culture around compliance was best described as a “box-ticking” exercise, where staff complete checks remarkably quickly, particularly given the checks are full of broken links and mistakes, arguing that many employees choose to ignore the long, dull read and just click “Agree”.
Confirming his dismissal as unfair is a rare win for a whistleblowers, as an FT report states that “lawyers say only about 4 per cent of whistleblowers win employment cases.”
This case shone a light on the working culture at RBC in London with a number of former employees now emerging and stating unfair reasons for their dismissals after highlighting legal and compliance issues.
The FCA has been criticised previously for its lacklustre efforts in defending the treatment of whistleblowers, which may be sparking its more assertive nature in this investigation. The watchdog is also looking into the broader handling of complaints and the processes used to dismiss staff.
Movers & Shakers of the week
Panel Watch
Eversheds Sutherland and CMS joined by Gowling WLG in three firm panel for another three-year term.
Appointments
McDermott change London leadership naming Hamid Yunis to succeed Andrew Vergunst
Yunis was a lateral hire from Taylor Wessing, who joined in 2016 to develop the firm’s healthcare practice. Vergunst continues with the firm and will return to practicing law as well as remaining on the firm’s management and compensation committees.
Paul Lewis succeeds Michael Kent to lead Linklaters Finance & Projects practice.
Lewis was previously UK head of derivatives and structured products and has been a partner with the firm since 2006. In his new role he will sit on the firm’s 12-member executive committee with his term formally beginning on 1 May this year.
Karen Seymour becomes the sole leader of the Goldman investment bank’s legal team.
After a 27-year term of service, Greg Palm has retired but stays on in an advisory capacity with Karen Seymour taking over sole responsibility following a short period of co-leading the team alongside Palm.
Seymour is a former Sullivan & Cromwell Partner who joined the bank in December 2017.
Moves
A&O replace departed CTO with the hire of TalkTalk’s former lead architect
John O’Donovan has been appointed by A&O as their CTO following time spent at TalkTalk where he was the company’s senior architect, with beforehand holding a variety of technical roles with Dow Jones, the Financial Times, and the BBC. O’Donovan replaced outgoing CTO Ian Storer who has moved onto UBS as their CTO for their legal team.
Bakers continue in their efforts to grow their transactional capability in London following London Managing Partner, Alex Chadwick’s stated aim to grow this area of the firm by 30% by 2020.
Maguire, who has been with the firm his entire career was made partner in 2008 and has been a part of spearheading one of the preeminent private equity teams in the City and joins Kirkland’s growing city presence.
Ashurst appoint Nicola Hopkins from BLP to further strengthen its investment funds practice.
Hopkin’s practice in open ended and close ended investment funds, both onshore and offshore with a focus on institutional investors.
Quinn land Bird & Bird patent litigator
Quinn makes its long-awaited play for a City based patent litigator with the hire of Alexandrine Ananou from Bird & Bird.
W&C lose third partner in 2019
King & Spalding have benefitted from the third partner to leave White & Case in 2019 with real estate focussed David Cox joining the firms CFI practice.
Cooley hires first London partner from Hogan Lovells
Cooley’s makes its first City lateral in close to a year with a hire from Hogan Lovells in an attempt to further strengthen their IP credentials.
Sidley refills restructuring practice in London
Sidley has redeveloped the restructuring practice following the departures last summer with the appointment of Pillarstone GC and former Kirkland partner Mark Knight into the firm’s City office.
KPMG further expands legal team
KPMG have brought across Angela Savin from Norton Rose Fulbright to strengthen disputes credibility in London.
CC strengthens its NY offering
Clifford Chance adds greater advisory capability into its client offering with the appointment of Steven Mastrovich into its New York office.
DLA boosts real estate capability in London
DLA Piper hires Real Estate partner Lorraine Reader following DWF’s much talked about IPO failed to go through last summer.
Mergers & Alliances
Magic Circle firms involved in temporary licence extension in Singapore to 2020
Office Openings & Closings
Partner Promotions
Legal Technology & Innovation
Key trends within innovation predicted for 2019
Inclusion & diversity
This year’s black and ethnic minority applicants who took silk numbered 13 which marks the first fall in numbers in recent years following a record 18 last year.
This week we spoke with new White Collar Crime Partner at Eversheds Sutherland Steve Smith. Joining the firm from Nomura, where he was deputy head of financial crime for EMEA, Steve will be returning to private practice as the newest addition to Eversheds Sutherland’s Corporate Crime and Investigations team.
We discussed with Steve how he plans to navigate this shift from an in-house role into a law firm partnership, his reasons for the move, as well as his thoughts on the what the financial crime and investigations landscape will look like in 2019. We hope you enjoy!
Steve, you started your career with almost 10 years in private practice, following which you’ve had long stints at the FCA and Barclays, and most recently taken the role of Deputy MLRO at Nomura. It sounds like your career has evolved organically, why private practice now and is this your greatest challenge yet?
It wasn’t my intention to move back to private practice, but the opportunity at Eversheds Sutherland came along and it was something I couldn’t pass up. I believe the firm is going in the right direction, with a good group of people and reputation in the market.
I would see this as the final step in my career plan and an opportunity to bring my unique experience to the fore to help clients navigate what is an increasingly complex financial crime environment.
It’s certainly a challenge to go back into private practice where you’re looking to build new business and develop new client relationships. It’s now a test to find out whether the approach that I took by leaving private practice to gain extra skills as a prosecutor and working in-house will help me stand out as being able to bring different value to the table than an adviser with more traditional experience.
What exactly drew you to Eversheds Sutherland?
There are a number of positives that have impressed me about the firm. Very early in the interview process, the senior management team really impressed me as being approachable, down-to-earth individuals who are easy to both engage with and work closely with.
I also feel that the firm itself is well placed for my kind of work in that, it’s not just a national firm but a global firm, which is driving positively forward and looking to gain new angles and new revenue streams. It is an exciting place to be! It provides a great platform to act for a wide range of clients from individuals through to global corporates which is a massive advantage for a white collar practice.
What particularly shone through was the commerciality of their people. I think the firm has certainly attracted those with in-house experience – many of the partners within the firm’s Financial Services Disputes & Investigations (FSDI) practice have experience in the FCA, a financial institution, or the industry in some way, which I feel is the ideal mix and provides a great angle to advise from.
Having worked on the client side, you learn that the range of legal advice on offer from firms can differ. Some firms offer highly technical advice that is hard to apply to your business, whilst others are much more practical, which I prefer. Eversheds’ corporate crime team were one of the firms that had a fantastic balance in being able to provide good technical expertise, but with the in-house knowledge to make it practical and applied to the issue in hand. For me, in what is a fairly congested legal market, it is that kind of approach that makes Eversheds stand out from other firms.
And finally the Consulting group really differentiates the firm in my view. With the experience of having gone through two major CDD remediation projects when working in-house and working in AML advisory, it was a “no-brainer” for me to see the added value for clients in a law firm being able to provide both legal advice and also have the resource capability to help resolve remediation needs. To my knowledge, this a unique offering in a field that fits well with my experience. I feel this is an area of the business where I can really help Eversheds get that product right for clients, having been a client of a number of consulting firms and knowing the challenges this can bring. Hopefully having been a client, I can now help get the offering right for our clients!
Having been in a senior in-house role for approximately 8 years, and gained first-hand experience of the Senior Manager’s Regime, do you think it will change the way you offer legal advice?
I think there is now more of a healthy tension between the firm and its senior managers. That is to say, when a senior manager is expected to sign something off, there is now a greater rigour around that process.
I think we will find more lawyers advising on the same issue, with firms recognising that at times both the firm and senior managers will need separate legal advice. A good example is the increasing requirement from the FCA that senior managers provide attestations about areas of their business. (Attestation is a formal statement made by a firm, and senior managers within them, which ensures they are accountable to taking actions that the FCA had required.)
Certainly if I was advising a firm, I would be flagging to those senior managers that there will be circumstances where they should think about getting advice around what they’re signing off to you. There is certainly an increasing (although not unhealthy) tension between the firm and the senior managers in this situation.
What does the next 12 months look like for you?
I’ll predominantly be looking to get to know my colleagues’ clients better. I think it will be important to get an in-depth understanding of our existing clients, and figure out exactly how my skill set can benefit them. We also have a really a great market abuse practice here, so I will be finding out how my experience in this area can contribute to this.
What’s to come in the New Year within financial crime and investigations?
I think the impact of Brexit will be interesting, and how that will affect money laundering legislation and the regulation of financial crime. For example, it will raise new challenges to prosecuting authorities in the sharing of information. It will also cause global firms to have to review their current procedures and how they share information between the UK and EU post-Brexit.
Looking at the development of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) in 2019 will also be interesting. What will come from the new management? How will the new management team impact their prosecuting priorities and will they be more emboldened in bringing cases against big financial institutions given this would sit comfortably with the background of Lisa Osofsky?
From an FCA perspective, it may have been relatively quiet in terms of enforcement outcomes for 2018, but they have been very busy in enforcement investigations, so I think we will see a flurry of enforcement outcomes in 2019 as these investigations conclude.
What would you say to others that are in your position that are looking to make that step back to private practice? What do they need to be mindful of and get right in order to know that they’ll make a success of this move?
I think first of all, coming from an in-house role, you should recognise that you will not have an immediate client base and it will take time to build one. So you should find a firm that is supportive of this and, ideally, has an existing desk of work for you to get involved in. I believe that work generates more work, so having an existing team for you to add value to is very important
Secondly, do your due diligence on the firm – especially those who you will be working with. Find out from those you know in the market what their experience has been of working with them and what their reputation is. I would also place a lot of value in how enthusiastic the firm been about bringing you on board and the efforts of the team has taken to get to know you.
It was a massive pull that Eversheds’ senior management invested a lot of time speaking to me about the practice, the firm, their awareness of the challenges I’ll be facing moving from an in-house role, and how they intended to support me in achieving a soft landing here. Actions such as introducing me to the wider partnership and talking through new developments in the pipeline, all helped me feel genuinely wanted and welcome here.
In terms of positioning yourself, I think that there is a lot of added value in having experience at a regulator and/or in-house. It is, however, important to broaden your remit as much as you can, ensuring that if you do decide to return to private practice, you can truly benefit from your wider experience.
Hello and welcome back to the Fides Weekly Update. Here you’ll find a summary of what’s been happening in your industry this week. For a brief round-up of the key developments, scroll down to take a look our regular ‘Movers & Shakers of the Week’ feature.
We always love to hear from our readers! Feel free to get in touch over LinkedIn or Twitter.
This week:
1. SFO has a shaky end to the year as Tesco prosecution collapses in court
Another blow for the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) as a Crown Court judge throws out the investigator’s case for prosecution against two Tesco executives, only weeks after the SFO was refused a request to reinstate charges against Barclays Bank.
Former Tesco directors Christopher Bush and John Scouler were acquitted for any wrongdoing by the Criminal Court of Appeal on Thursday. Trial judge Sir John Royce concluded that “the prosecution case was so weak it should not be left for a jury’s consideration” as he dismissed the 12 members of the jury and ended the trial.
Sir John argued that there were a number of crucial holes in the prosecution’s case, and most detrimental was the lack of evidence to demonstrate any knowledge on the parts of the executives regarding improper accounting and falsifying of reports.
The case dates back to 2014, after the UK retail giant posted profits that proved to be overstated by £250 million. It wasn’t long before investor concern radiated through the market and Tesco’s accounting scandal led to the SFO pursuing a trial against former UK Tesco head Christopher Bush and former UK commercial food director John Scouler. The case was abandoned with a second trial emerging two months ago.
Adding to the SFO’s losses was the refusal of its application to reinstate charges against Barclays at the end of October. A High Court judge rejected the bid to prosecute Barclays for unlawful financial assistance, which is in relation to a £12 billion capital raising from Qatar during the financial crisis.
Failure to take these cases to trial will no doubt mark a difficult start to Lisa Osofsky’s reign at the investigatory body, who took over from David Green QC as Director of the UK Serious Fraud Office in September this year. With her career including a stint as deputy GC at the FBI, Osofsky will be dead set on not allowing these setbacks to define the organisation’s efforts in 2019, and has a number of investigations on companies waiting to potentially be taken to court, such as Airbus, Rolls-Royce and Patisserie Valerie.
With a couple of high profile losses under its belt, it’s likely the SFO will be strengthening its efforts to avoid another “weak” prosecution case in the future.
2. FCA delivers warning over banks’ City departures due to Brexit
Financial papers this week have been filled with news of major banks preparing to shift operations from the UK to other European destinations. In the wake of Bank of America announcing its shift to Dublin, and RBS potentially moving £13bn worth of business to the Netherlands, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has warned a group of international banks around the implications of such a move.
In a letter written to banks and signed by the FCA’s executive director of supervision Megan Butler, the watchdog makes it clear that any attempts to move non-EU clients outside of the UK, which could unnecessarily expose them to increased costs and risks, may lead to intervention from the FCA.
It continues to say that banks should “make the minimum necessary changes required” and that moving clients outside of the UK should only be confirmed once the FCA has approved it, which will depend on whether the decision makers “have fully considered the impact of their firms’ proposals on every category of client.”
Addressing the Treasury Select Committee, chief exec Andrew Bailey argues that the letter’s contents have no political interests attached, but is rather intended to serve the FCA’s core objectives to protect customers:
“We didn’t do this to say, ‘nobody must leave the UK’… [but] if you are considering moving non-European business, then you have to make those decisions in the interests of the client,” says Bailey.
Earlier this year, a Reuters survey showed that UK-based financial institutions expect approximately 5,800 jobs to be moved outside of the UK. That compares to around 10,000 in the first survey in September 2017.
Movers & Shakers of the week
Panel Watch
Lloyds Bank commences panel review in early 2019
The application process for TfL’s new legal panel opens next week
Appointments
Moves
Eversheds Sutherland bolsters corporate crime practice with leading in-house hire
Nomura’s former EMEA deputy head for financial crime Steve Smith has joined Eversheds Sutherland as a partner in the firm’s corporate crime and investigations team. Steve has previously worked in Barclays’ financial crime team and the FCA’s enforcement division.
W&C makes a play for A&O German corporate partner
Düsseldorf corporate partner Murad Daghles is the third recent departure from Allen & Overy’s German offices. He is set to join White & Case’s partnership in the region.
Fladgate makes a further lateral hire following 10-strong team hire last month
Squire Patton Boggs’ head of construction and engineering Olivia Bateman has joined Fladgate this week.
King & Spalding bolsters London offering with M&A partner
M&A partner Derek Meilman has left Hogan Lovells to join King & Spalding in the firm’s burgeoning City office.
Dentons secures six lawyer-strong team hire in Hong Kong
Bird & Bird partner Robert Rhoda will be joining Denton’s HK dispute resolution practice alongside associates Connie Wong and James Wong. Associate Grace Lee and senior managing associate Jenny Zhuang will also join next month, with Zhuang joining as counsel.
Mergers & Alliances
Partner Promotions
Dechert promotes 16 lawyers globally to partnership, and three in the City
This will mark Quinn’s first female partner promotion in London
Diversity & Inclusion
Linklaters sets up global working group with the aim to increase number of women in tech
Legal Technology & Innovation
Xmas Bonus Special
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:
Senior compliance officer implicated in Deutsche Bank scandal
It’s the second day of a police raid at Deutsche Bank’s head office in Frankfurt, which has caused significant investor concern and brings the Panama Papers scandal back into news headlines.
German prosecutors have been investigating the transactions of two Deutsche staff members, who they suspect of setting up client offshore accounts for possible money laundering purposes.
The investigation kicked off as a consequence of material released in the Panama Papers – the infamous data leak in 2016 that befell Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, which led to information regarding numerous companies and individuals being released in connection with illicit and disreputable activity.
Prosecutors are looking into a subsidiary of Deutsche Bank domiciled in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) which they claim dealt with over 900 million customers and carried out €311 million worth of business in 2016 alone. German officials have suggested transactions may not have been flagged as suspicious where necessary until information about these funds was released in the Panama Papers.
Citywire reported that the raid is targeting the wealth division in particular, and focuses on activities taking place from 2013 to 2016, during which time current chief exec of the German bank Christian Sewing headed up the DB’s wealth department.
“The two Deutsche employees at the core of the case are managing directors in the bank’s compliance and wealth management units,” reports the FT. It’s been further noted that both staff members still remain with the lender, allegedly.
Deutsche Bank have publicly stated they are intending to cooperate fully with the authorities, whilst the German bank’s shares fell by 3 per cent on announcement of the raid.
Meanwhile, only a few minutes down the road In Frankfurt, Germany, law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer’s offices also experienced an ambush of police officers this week, who raided the magic circle firm by request of the chief public prosecutor. The investigation concerns a long-running tax scandal which involved Canada’s Maple Bank and has been ongoing since 2017. The story was first reported in German business newspaper Handelsblatt.
Movers & Shakers of the week
Panel Watch
Unilever announces eight firms on global legal panel
Appointments
New reporting lines constructed at John Lewis following recent legal appointments
Shoosmiths appoints real estate partner Simon Boss as replacement chief executive
Michael Chissick remains managing partner at Fieldfisher for a third term
Moves
W&C adds a further regulatory partner to its ranks
Jonathan Rogers departs his role as head of financial services regulatory at Taylor Wessing to join White & Case’s London office
EasyJet secures replacement GC
Following Kyla Mullins’ departure for ITV in October, EasyJet has confirmed former Royal Mail general counsel Maaike de Bie will be joining the airline as legal chief in 2019
Ropes & Gray lose real estate partner duo to US competitor
Ropes & Gray real estate partners Partha Pal and Carol Hopper are set to join Greenberg Traurig in the firm’s City office
Shakespeare Martineau appoints CEO
Browne Jacobson chief operating officer Sarah Walker-Smith will be joining Shakespeare Martineau as the firm’s new chief exec following Andy Raynor’s decision to step down this year
Office Openings & Closings
Deloitte sets up 25-strong legal team in Hong Kong, including six new partners
Partner Promotions
Cooley’s partner promotions rounds sees 19 lawyers made up, including three in London
Bonus Alerts
CC’s NY office matches Cravath’s rates for it’s 2018 Christmas bonuses
Hello and welcome to the Fides Weekly Update. Take a look at this week’s trends, news and developments in legal and compliance. Scroll down to see our regular feature of Movers & Shakers of the week.
Contact us on Twitter or LinkedIn – we’d love to hear your thoughts!
This week:
1. Big news for the big four
Deloitte’s legal arm to launch early next year as KPMG sets sights on doubling headcount.
Since gaining its ABS licence last June, Deloitte has finally confirmed the launch of its UK legal arm with a team of 60 lawyers, as reported by The Lawyer.
The big four accountancy firm currently has a team of 50 practising lawyers and 125 fee-earners, and is led by interim managing partner Mark Tantam with a permanent appointment believed to have been finalised in the last few weeks.
The UK practice will launch with a managed services and consultancy arm, which will offer automated document review and contract management alongside advice on improving operations of in-house legal departments through the use of technology.
It will also extend Deloitte’s existing legal services in employment law, tax litigation, corporate and commercial, and immigration gained through alliances with US immigration law firm Berry Appleman & Leiden and Singapore based legal practice Sabara Law.
Meanwhile KPMG has announced its intention to double its headcount across its global legal services arm to over 3,000 lawyers, as well as to expand its operations in the UK.
The accounting giant’s legal team currently comprises 1,800 lawyers across offices in 75 countries, with the UK’s 130-lawyer team being head by legal services head Nick Roome.
With a number of “senior” hires in the pipeline, KPMG has made a concerted push into the legal market, adding to its legal services practices in London and Manchester with a new base in Birmingham in 2015, and making hires from firms including Eversheds Sutherland and Shoosmiths. Over the past 18 months, the firm has doubled headcount in its partner and director group.
The legal services arm operates four core service lines: business structures and transactions; tax disputes and investigations; employment and immigration; and ‘new law’ and global, which handles filing and regulatory process work for clients.
With all four accountancy firms now active in the UK legal market, this represents a significant challenge to existing players. Increasing client demand for integrated services gives the Big Four a significant advantage over some law firms, as acting in multidisciplinary teams gives clients a wider insight over broader industry trends. Over the last few years, this has allowed them to gradually obtain more market share, and with the addition of KPMG in the legal services market, traditional law firms must continue to diversify their offerings in order to remain competitive.
2. FCA seeks out money launderers using AI
At the Illicit Financial Flows 2018 event this week, the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) head of financial crime Rob Gruppetta delivered a speech declaring the watchdog’s developments using data and machine learning to better supervise the flow of funds through firms.
Due to the improvements made in this form of technology over the years, making it both cheaper and faster to operate, it has become a practical solution that the FCA can now look to use in combating financial crime.
Enough open-source software has been created by experts and made available for the FCA, to which they can apply machine learning algorithms relatively easily to delivers tailored analysis on the issues they face in financial crime.
More specifically, the regulator is targeting specific markets and cross-border business i.e. areas where money laundering is most common, and inputting the risks and features associated with suspicious activity, after which the software can help decipher further trends and predictions of financial crime that the regulator cannot yet pick up through usual supervision methods.
Gruppetta stressed the importance of running these processes alongside the usual supervisory methods, as although AI and machine learning clearly offers benefits, the FCA must ensure that results are in no way misleading and cannot look to transform its practices until they have certainty over the end product. Therefore, the department is currently running these programmes alongside existing methods, and over time will be able to determine the accuracy of the machine’s findings and whether they are indeed in line with the department’s financial crime expertise.
Branding the UK regulator as “technology-agnostic”, Gruppetta explains that they’d like to be viewed as one of the most innovative global regulators, whilst also maintaining awareness around the risks associated with a rapidly evolving marketplace.
Since 2016, the FCA has decided to become more data-driven in its financial crime efforts, which it believes “has allowed us to be more consistent, effective and risk-based in our supervisory approach than ever before.” For example, by applying machine learning algorithms to an area such as MiFID II, which now brings in 30 million transaction reports per day, the UK watchdog is finding suspicious activity through a processing of data that would’ve previously been unmanageable and impractical.
Gruppetta’s conclusion to his speech was fairly reserved: “We remain open-minded, but appropriately sceptical about how we keep pace with innovation… we will remain vigilant and adopt innovation in a targeted, systematic and measured manner: we don’t want to be left behind, but we won’t overdo it either.”
Appointments
Taylor Wessing’s former chief lands new management role
BT reels in new litigation head from TLT
Clifford Chance Amsterdam head Jeroen Ouwehand wins senior partner election
Former Addleshaws senior partner Monica Burch joins Shoosmiths as non-exec director
Dentons management duo stand unopposed to take reins for next three years
Moves
Six-partner Hong Kong team quits Reed Smith over client conflicts
A six-partner disputes team is leaving Reed Smith’s Hong Kong arm to join Australian firm MinterEllison. The group, which specialises in white-collar defense, is led by securities litigation partner David Morrison, and also includes partners William Barber, Nathan Dentice, Alex Kaung, Eddy So and Desmond Yu
Ince Asia aviation finance head leaves ahead of Gordon Dadds merger
Ince & Co Asia aviation finance head Balbir Bindra has left the firm ahead of its proposed merger with Gordon Dadds.
Ten-lawyer real estate team exits CMS over client conflict issues
A 10-strong CMS real estate team led by partners Simon Kanter and Alan Karsberg has left the firm over client conflict issues.
Office Openings & Closings
Deloitte legal arm to launch early next year with a “Big Bang”
Partner Promotions
Mayer Brown’s global promotions hit seven-year high
Weil makes up for last year’s London omission with three City promotions
Wellbeing
More Linklaters Germany associates sign up to 40-hour week on reduced pay
Innovation and Technology
Bakers joins forces with A&O-supported startup Avvoka
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. BCLP releases tech-focused consulting services to clients
Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner (BCLP) is the latest firm to launch a consultancy arm with the aim to advise clients on a more innovative way to carry out legal services.
Branded Cantilever, the newly merged firm is taking advantage of its transatlantic offering in creating a legal operations consultancy division that supports in-house legal teams in improving their operations and service delivery to their businesses.
The firm plans to draw on existing capabilities which were developed to make technological advancements in its own law practices. Additionally, BCLP has built its own software platform, called CrossLite, a data management and analytics tool that services the wide-ranging needs of a legal team.
Features of BCLP’s consultancy division include:
Chief Innovation Officer Katie DeBord and Chief of Legal Operations Solutions Chris Emerson both co-founded the consultancy and will head up the team going forward. They will be working alongside Director of Legal Operations Solutions for EMEA Bruce Braude.
Consulting arms continue to prove popular in the legal sector. Whilst a few years ago regulatory consultancies were being launched to clients, law firms are now demonstrating their proficiencies in innovation and technology solutions.
Earlier this month Herbert Smith Freehills also announced a new legal operations function, which will streamline the way legal project management, process improvement and automation is utilised and presented to clients. Meanwhile, The Lawyer recently reported that Eversheds Sutherland’s consulting outfits posted a total of £26m in revenue for 2017. Their early entrance into the in-house consultancy market has proved fruitful for the firm, which has seen ES Consulting extend its operations to the Middle East and Asia.
2. Industry’s First Workflow Automation Solution for Financial Regulatory Change Management introduced by Compliance.ai
This week saw Regtech provider Compliance.ai launch a new workflow solution that takes advantage of artificial intelligence for regulatory compliance.
The new solution, part of its financial regulatory change management platform Team Edition, uses machine learning to automatically parse regulations to figure out their relevancy to a firm.
By automatically highlighting which changes in rules impact specific companies, compliance departments are free to focus on other areas.
“We change the collection and extraction part of compliance and automate it,” says chief executive officer of Compliance.ai Kayvan Alikhani. “The automation lets the group focus on actions that are consequential to the business rather than figuring out if a new regulatory announcement is relevant to them or not.”
The platform also provides chief compliance officers more insight into how regulatory agencies think, whilst delivering insights into regulatory trends.
Workflow Automation filters topic-specific regulatory changes through an algorithm which learns who the specific user is and which agencies they normally follow and documents they normally read. The platform then automatically assigns tasks to users to review or analyse changes.
The solution integrates with risk assessment tools to determine risk probabilities of certain rules, and also provides a clearer calendar of when regulatory changes are implemented or when regulatory requirements start implementation.
The new solution comes as financial services institutions of all sizes are seeking modern, scalable regulatory technologies that are designed for today’s needs.
Fuelled by the exponential increase in regulatory changes over the past decade – from an average of 10 regulatory changes a day to an average of 200 a day – compliance teams are spending on average 20-30 percent of their day reactively chasing regulatory content, much of which is not relevant to them.
Movers & Shakers of the week:
Panel Watch
Pinsents renews E.ON fixed-fee sole adviser role after competitive tender
Appointments
Travers Smith elects Kathleen Russ as first-ever female senior partner
Clifford Chance senior partner race down to three contenders as two drop out
Moves
Simpson Thacher makes major infrastructure PE play with Clifford Chance hire
Clifford Chance infrastructure M&A star Amy Mahon is joining the City office of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett in yet another departure from the magic circle firm’s private equity group.
White & Case recruits Weil City banking head and Orrick Paris private equity team
Weil Gotshal & Manges London banking head Mark Donald joins White & Case, alongside the hire of a Paris private equity team from Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe.
Mishcon white collar star switches back to the Bar
Head of white collar crime and investigations Alison Levitt QC is moving out of private practice for a new role in the Bar after founding Mischon’s team in 2014
Freshfields partner moves over to Simmons’ CLO team
Simmons & Simmons has recruited Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer partner James Grand to lead its practice focused on collateralised loan obligations (CLO).
DWF hires Clydes reinsurance co-head and DLA Piper partner as it aims for IPO in 2019
Clyde & Co’s David Abbott and DLA’s Zelinda Bennett are two of the new joiners at DWF
Reed Smith rebounds from Middle East setback with two hires
Commercial disputes partner Mahmoud Awad will join the firm’s Dubai and Abu Dhabi offices from Hadef & Partners, while Waseem Khokhar will take on a role as senior consultant in the commercial disputes group after leading DWF’s Middle East practice since its opening in 2015.
Watson Farley recruits Ince partners as pre-merger exits continue
Five partners across Ince & Co’s London and Piraeus (GRE) offices are leaving the firm ahead of its reverse takeover by listed outfit Gordon Dadds. These include Antonis Lagadianos and Evangelos Catsambas who will join WFW in Athens, and London partner duo Renaud Barbier-Emery and Jonathan Goldfarb, who have left to join Norwegian firm Wikborg Rein’s UK base.
Partner Promotions
Three new London partners for BCLP in first post-merger promotions round
Simpson Thacher makes up one City partner in eleven-strong round
De Brauw continues revenue growth and promotes two partners
Baker Botts promotes first London partner in five years
Financials
KWM 2.0 stages fightback with first financials since relaunch
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. BBVA breaks ground by completing first ever syndicated loan on blockchain
Spanish bank BBVA was sole bookrunner to a $150 million syndicated loan deal, the first transaction of its kind to be completed on a blockchain.
The Financial Times reported on Tuesday that BBVA used blockchain technology to arrange a $150m syndicated loan for Red Eléctrica, the Spanish grid operator, along with co-lenders MUFG and BNP Paribas. The legal advisers to the deal were Linklaters and Herbert Smith Freehills.
A syndicated loan is needed where a loan is too large or risky to be accepted by single lender, instead involving two or more lenders to spread the risk.
Making use of the Ethereum platform and well-known cross-industry consortium Hyperledger, the technology was used to record each step of syndicated agreement process, and ultimately store the contract signatures for all parties.
Integrating distributed ledger technology allowed the whole negotiation process to be completed on a shared private blockchain network, allowing each party to exchange information in real time and ensure all information was secure. This enabled a process, which traditionally occurs over a couple of weeks, to only take two days.
In addition to the time saving benefits, carrying out a transaction using blockchain technology can heavily reduce the level of back office and operational costs involved, Ricardo Laiseca, BBVA’s head of global finance, tells the FT.
Juan Barona, Banking partner at Linklaters, says: “This is a great example of how transactions can be simplified with a speedier process using existing technology. It’s been a fantastic transaction to be involved with, working with a client that is at the forefront of innovation in financial markets. As the technology becomes more embedded, we’ll see a greater uptick in use which is really exciting.”
The Linklaters team was led by Banking partner Juan Barona and included managing associate Francisco Sáinz-Trápaga and associate Elisa de Mollinedo.
Meanwhile, UK lender NatWest, in collaboration with fintech company Finastra and consortium R3, has developed a similar platform using R3’s blockchain platform Corda to create an online marketplace for syndicated lending. Whilst no transactions have yet been completed, the product is expected to live on the 17th November.
2. Key takeaways from the SEC’s annual enforcement report
The end of last week brought the second ever annual report from the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Enforcement Division, which outlines the organisation’s activity over 2018 and details the significant actions and initiatives that took place.
Access the full report here or read on for a list of the key takeaways.
Overall statistics
The SEC instigated a total of 821 enforcement actions over 2018, which led to over $3.9 billion in disgorgement and penalties. The regulator also returned $794 million to affected consumers.
Cybersecurity
One of the two main priorities for the SEC in 2018, over 225 cyber-related investigations were launched and the US regulator filed its first ever charge concerning the risk of identity theft. Under the charge, a settlement was demanded from an investment adviser due to its poor cyber policing that ultimately compromised the personal information of thousands of its customers.
Protecting retail customers
The second of its two main priorities for the year, the SEC has focused on handling cases alleging misconduct against retail investors.
This led to over half of the standalone enforcement actions brought by the SEC in 2018 concerning wrongdoing against retail investors. This was largely achieved by the Retail Strategy Task Force, formed this year, with the aim to address the types of misconduct that most affect retail investors.
Digital assets and ICOs
A much bigger feature in the annual report compared to 2017, digital assets and initial coin offerings (ICOs) were high on the SEC agenda this year.
The US watchdog brought 20 standalone cases for cyber-related misconduct, over a dozen of which involving digital assets and ICOs. A key objective was to raise awareness around these new products, specifically targeting the potentially unlawful promotion of ICOs by celebrities, and the risks associated with online trading platforms for digital assets.
Individual accountability
Whilst the SEC continued to make charges against individuals, a major development in attempting to improve the effectiveness of enforcement action was the new ‘undertakings’ requirement i.e. making individuals take affirmative steps to become more compliant.
Chief executives of healthcare company Theranos and carmaker Tesla were both handed undertakings following settlements with the SEC.
In conclusion, the SEC’s impact on the financial sector wasn’t much of a contrast in comparison to its activity last year, however, the regulator suffered a hiring freeze for the most part of the year, which would suggest their efforts have been significant, given the staffing challenges.
Some of the most noteworthy enforcement actions undertaken by the SEC in 2018 include:
“The SEC oversees approximately $90 trillion in annual securities trading, the disclosures of approximately 4,300 exchange-listed public companies valued at approximately $32 trillion, and the activities of over 27,000 registered entities and self-regulatory organisations.”
Movers & Shakers of the week
Moves
Ashurst builds project finance practice
UAE-based project finance partner Matthew Wood has left White & Case to join Ashurst’s Africa-specific project finance practice, relocating to the firm’s London office
King & Spalding looks to BoE for investigations partner
Former head of enforcement at Bank of England Robert Dedman has joined the London office of King & Spalding as a partner in the firm’s special matters and government investigations team. His most recent positions was senior director at professional services firm Navigant Consulting
Squire Patton Boggs hires Paris partner duo
Gowling’s head of real estate Alexandra Plain and real estate partner Jeremy Roigt are both set to join Squire Patton Boggs real estate practice in Paris
Ropes expands City litigation practice
Financial services contentious regulatory partner Rosemarie Paul moves to Ropes & Gray, departing her former role as a partner at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld in London.
Eversheds Sutherland hires lawtech expert from Barclays
Darren Jones has joined Eversheds Sutherland as a partner and head of service excellence for its company commercial practice group in London. Previously at Barclays, Jones advised teams on law tech, legal service delivery, and legal automation.
Paul Hastings’ HK head returns to in-house to take top legal role
Hong Kong office head Steve Winegar has left the partnership of Paul Hastings to become international general counsel at Chinese insurance firm Ping An
Restructuring in the Middle East sees two Dentons partners depart
Dentons partners Dali Al Habboub and Abdelhaleem Amir Mohammed exit the firm’s Muscat office to join Dentons’ associated firm S&A Law Firm, leaving only three Dentons partners in Oman
Mergers & Alliances
Gordon Dadds forms Hong Kong association amid Ince merger
Office Openings & Closings
BCLP’s Hong Kong outfit departs the newly merged firm to launch spin-off
Partner Promotions
Cravath posts all-female partner promotions round
Inclusion & Diversity
Law Society calls for all firms to report gender pay gaps
Legal Technology
BCLP launches new AI tool in disputes practice
Brexit
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. VW woes continue as German class action is set in motion
New rules in Germany have made it possible for consumers to file a class action lawsuit against carmaker VW, bringing attention back to the emissions scandal, which first began in 2015.
The first US-style class action lawsuit has been filed in Germany by consumer federation VZBV, thanks to a new law passed yesterday that allows consumers to take legal action as a collective rather than having to make a case individually.
Seeking justice for consumers, VZBV are hoping to win damages for car owners affected by ‘dieselgate’ by establishing whether their vehicles’ engines had been intentionally tampered with in order to report reduced emissions.
Whilst US owners received compensation for any wrongdoing, in Germany VW agreed a deal with regulators to rectify the problem and retain its roadworthy certification rather than pay out to consumers. This recent filing aims to support those who feel out of pocket, as described by VZBV spokeswoman Sarah Hoare: “The damage for every consumer can be several thousand euros and there is no sign of the car industry to compensate for the damage they have caused.”
Financial penalties concerning the German automotive company’s actions have been steadily mounting. In North America, the total amount paid in relation to damages has reached $25bn, including a $2.8bn fine. Meanwhile public prosecutors in Germany have fined VW €1bn for its criminal actions in the scandal, whilst in the UK, a group of 10,000 VW owners filed a class action lawsuit in January 2017, seeking a £30m settlement.
According to Bloomberg, VW shares jumped this week despite a hefty loss in operating profit reported in their Q3 earnings. An 18.6% decline was a blow to the carmaker’s bottom line as a result of weaker vehicle sales and the regulatory impact of tighter emissions testing. However, these figures were higher than investor expectations, causing a 5.86 rise in share price on the morning results were posted.
Movers & Shakers of the week
Appointments
Process kicks off to elect next senior partner at Travers Smith
Moves
Irwin Micthell bolsters corporate department with a bank head of legal
Winston Green has left his role as head of legal at Sainsbury’s Bank to join Irwin Mitchell’s London office as a corporate partner
W&C makes an addition to its London regulatory practice
JP Morgan Chase executive director and assistant general counsel Julia Smithers-Excell has joined the London office of White & Case, joining the firm as a financial services regulatory partner
Kirkland four-strong team hire strengthens new IP practice launched earlier this year
Allen & Overy IP lawyers Daniel Lim and Katie Coltart will both join Kirkland & Ellis as partners, bringing with them associates Jin Ooi and Steven Baldwin.
Jones Day lose another partner in its City office
Corporate tax lawyer Charlotte Sallabank departs Jones Day to join Katten Munchin Rosenman’s London practice
Greenberg hires new partner to its City white-collar, defence and special situations practice
Former SFO prosecutor Anne-Marie Ottaway has left Pinsent Masons to join Greenberg Traurig in London along with Pinsents associate Gareth Hall
Mergers & Alliances
Gordon Dadds & Ince & Co confirm plans to merge and form new entity titled Ince Gordon Dadds
Partner Promotions
Lathams makes 31 global partner promotions, including nine City-based lawyers
Garrigues promotes 15 to partnership
Ropes & Gray promotes record 24 lawyers to partner, with one in London
Diversity & Inclusion
Macfarlanes has published its partner gender pay gap data
This week we released our latest research paper Bias Uncoded: How to integrate AI and other technologies into your D&I agenda.
To celebrate the release, we hosted a panel discussion at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, during which our contributors and subject matter experts explored the risks and benefits that could be gained by introducing technology solutions into certain law firm processes.
We would like to further thank our panel for their time and valued contribution: Sasha Scott, Managing Director, The Inclusive Group; Jason Ku, Cofounder, Aspirant Analytics; Dave Cook, CEO, Mason & Cook; Anthony Horrigan, Chief Executive Officer, Staffmetrix; Justine Thompson, Head of Diversity & Inclusivity, Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner; Rob McCargow, Director of Artificial Intelligence, PwC UK
Here are some of the key themes touched on during the discussion:
Using technology to attract those from all backgrounds
Attracting candidates from a range of different backgrounds is a significant challenge for law firms at the moment.
Using technology to reach a wider audience could increase social mobility in the legal sector as it makes the profession more attractive and accessible to those who would never normally apply, or feel like success in the sector in unattainable. The use of gamification has proved successful for organisations from other industries in attracting a higher number of candidates from low socio-economic backgrounds, and some law firms are starting to pilot this technology in their recruitment processes.
Technology doesn’t just help to recruit diverse talent, but allows us to retain it
Introducing tools to help in the progression of associates and senior associates in areas such as work allocation can create a more inclusive workplace. It ensures a level of fairness and consistency in the way people are managed once they have entered an organisation. It can also deliver regular and consistent feedback, which brings to light some of the more understated issues in behaviour that cause unconscious bias to hinder progression for diverse demographics.
It’s all about efficiencies
Handling diversity data is a time consuming task, which can easily be overcome using technology. There is an opportunity to introduce more innovative ways to deliver better management information, which can’t be compiled by D&I professionals. A lot of this information is currently put together manually, using spreadsheets, and having access to high quality data modelling would help evaluate where change needs to take place, as well as engage leaders as to why it needs to happen.
Managing large scale data sets would also improve accuracy if done by software, removing the scope for human error.
Fools rush in
There are a number of risks that we need to be mindful of before we begin to implement advanced technology solutions into processes.
Choosing to employ artificial intelligence (AI) without fully understanding the cause of problem you’re trying to solve can lead you to align the wrong technology to a given issue. This can result in poor outcomes and a waste of money, which is easily avoided with a clear and defined strategy for implementation.
Regulatory risk (i.e. GDPR) and a lack of diversity from those designing the technology can also make a solution counterintuitive when it’s used to tackle unconscious bias.
Maintain a personal touch
Technology should never replace human interaction when addressing unconscious bias or you run the risk of making individuals feeling devalued.
In order to apply technology to diversity data, information needs to be granular and well-defined. This can sometimes remove the need to be sensitive and tactful when discussing the issues faced. We must make sure that technology (which sits firmly in the background) has clarity, but the dialogue around D&I is handled sensitively.
How can we get law firms and senior leaders to invest?
As always, clients have the greatest impact in influencing organisations to make change. Some clients are upgrading or downgrading law firms on a scoring matrix based on whether the firm’s diversity profile accurately reflects their own. As more clients are demanding diversity from their law firms, this will become a higher priority for senior management.
It’s often difficult to get sign off on new innovations as the legal profession is well-known to be risk averse. However, you could argue that the partnership structure should have more tolerance for risk as the drawback is spread across a lot of people as opposed to an individual chief executive. They should therefore feel more incentivised to adopt these structures.
Access the full article here for a more in-depth look into D&I technology. To discuss this topic further, please contact authors Emily Clews eclews@fidessearch.com or Gopi Jobanputra gopi@fidessearch.com
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). International network apprehensive ahead of Ince-Dadds merger proposal
The Paris office of Ince & Co is understood to be out of the proposed merger with AIM-listed firm Gordon Dadds should the deal go through, reports The Lawyer.
The French capital is not thought to be alone in its merger concerns, with sources indicating that at least one other international office is also considering breaking away from the network.
While no final decision has been taken to combine the two businesses, a proposal is thought to be presented at the Ince partner conference this weekend.
Making key business decisions on a consensus basis, the deal will only go to partner vote if more than 10 per cent voice concerns to management after a cooling off period. Any announcement on the deal would not be scheduled until mid-November at the earliest, although sources indicate that the due diligence process on the merger is complete.
As reported last month, announcement of the Ince-Dadds merger talks came as a shock to many. Although Ince have been looking for a merger for some time, being linked to Hill Dickson and Watson Farley & Williams, and have taken drastic measures to increase their financial stability, with revenues of just over £30 million, Gordon Dadds stands at just around a third of the size of its proposed merger partner.
The Ince deal would be, by a significant margin, the largest undertaken by an AIM-listed law firm, and with Gordon Dadds’ rapid growth, a reverse takeover expected to be the predicted vehicle for the combination.
Following the resignation of its international senior partner Jan Heuvels in August, the firm this week lost global insurance head Joe O’Keeffe to Stephenson Harwood.
2). Prudential Financial rids itself of ‘too big to fail’ status
As the US government continues to move towards lighter touch financial regulation, it was announced this week that insurer Prudential Financial will no longer appear in a list of companies defined as ‘systemically important’.
This comes as positive news for Prudential, as the financial institution is no longer subject to special supervision by the Federal Reserve nor does it have to meet enhanced capital and liquidity standards.
A select group of regulators termed the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) was formed following the 2008 financial crisis as part of the Dodd-Frank Act. FSOC created a list consisting of all companies that pose systemic risk, which required all those featured to endure stringent capital requirements and aggressive supervision.
Prudential were the last non-bank financial company to be tagged as a ‘too big to fail’ institution, and their removal from this list marks the efforts of the Trump administration in its rollback on Dodd-Frank. Fellow insurers AIG and MetLife were also rescinded as systemic risks, with the intention that loosening the noose of such strict regulatory requirements will allow for better economic growth.
As a result, Prudential could expect to save millions of dollars annually in compliance costs. According to Bloomberg, the company announced costings of $135 million in 2016 on reporting requirements and activities related to the extra oversight from the Federal Reserve.
3). Movers & Shakers
Appointments
DLA Piper partner joins self-driving car startup as GC
DLA Piper intellectual property and technology partner Claire Bennett has left the firm to join UK self-driving car startup FiveAI as general counsel.
Former Latham partner fills in as Monzo’s interim legal head
Digital bank Monzo has brought in Andrew Macklin, a former Latham & Watkins corporate lawyer in London, as a new senior interim head of legal
Moves
BCLP exits mount as private client litigation head departs for City boutique
BCLP head of private client litigation Rupert Ticehurst has left the firm to join City boutique private wealth firm Maurice Turnor Gardner
Wave of partners call time on Goodwin Procter
Corporate duo Mark Soundy and Sarah Priestley are leaving Goodwin Procter after a two year stint at the firm, just days after the US firm lost a tax partner to Greenberg Traurig.
TLT ramps up Scots presence via acquisition of specialist real estate firm
TLT has expanded its commercial real estate offering in Scotland with the acquisition of Glasgow law firm Leslie Wolfson & Co. This will add three partners to the Glasgow office, including senior partner Howard Beach and commercial real estate partners Andrew McCowan and Donna Strong.
White & Case continues City recruitment spree with Kirkland high-yield hire
Kirkland capital markets partner Gilles Teerlinck becomes the US firm’s fourteenth City lateral so far this year
Kirkland hires Linklaters duo to launch in Paris
Kirkland is to make its long-awaited entry into France through the hire of Linklaters corporate partners Vincent Ponsonnaille and Laurent Victor-Michel
Ince insurance head exits ahead of proposed Gordon Dadds merger
Ince & Co global insurance head Joe O’Keeffe has left to join Stephenson Harwood ahead of its proposed merger with listed outfit Gordon Dadds.
Jenner & Block make a second white collar hire from K&L Gates
K&L Gates London-based partner Paul Feldberg follows former colleague Christine Braamskamp to Jenner & Block
Ashurst Asia disputes head leaves for Debevoise & Plimpton
Debevoise & Plimpton has hired Ashurst Asia dispute resolution head Gareth Hughes. He joined Ashurst in 2011 to help launch the firm’s Hong Kong disputes practice from Simmons & Simmons
Ropes & Gray hires former Freshfields US partner
Ropes & Gray has hired former Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer partner Matthew Jacobson to expand its M&A group in San Francisco and Silicon Valley.
Office Openings & Closings
Bakers settles on new US back-office base amid global business services shake-up
Financials
A&O has largest law firm flex offering as revenue soars
Ashurst increases NQ pay to £82,000
Innovation and Technology
A&O puts its name to fourth Fuse start-up in new licensing deal
Dentons adds ten new start-ups to SpaceTech accelerator
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