Weekly Update – 8th April 2022

Ukrainian Legal Developments:

Lawyers take part in Homes for Ukraine Scheme

OakNorth Bank’s head of legal Ben Wulwik posted on LinkedIn last week that he is taking part in the scheme and said: “I hope that we can play a small part in stabilising your lives through this awful ordeal.”

Ed Crosse | LinkedIn

Simmons & Simmons disputes partner Ed Crosse has posted on LinkedIn that he has welcomed a Ukrainian family into his home, sharing a “starter fund” to support their first experience of living in Bristol.

Confiscate and Sell Russian Assets to Alleviate Ukraine’s Suffering, Local Lawyer Urges

Avellum’s Oleksii Maslov looks to a range of existing international laws to discuss the possible legal mechanisms that can be implemented to exert further legal and economic pressure on Russia.

Covington, Withers and French independent Sygna Partners join Ukraine government war crimes task force

US firm Covington & Burling, the UK’s Withers and French independent Sygna Partners have been appointed to a legal task force assembled by the Ukraine government to pursue allegations of war crimes and secure reparations in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

 

Moves:

 Kirkland secures competition hire from A&O

Alasdair Balfour, competition partner, has joined Kirkland & Ellis from Allen & Overy.

Another Kirkland partner joins investment firm

Kai Zeng, a recently promoted partner at Kirkland, has joined the investment team at Blantyre Capital.

Financial services litigator Andrew Bowden-Brown joins Shoosmiths

Andrew Bowden-Brown has joined Shoosmiths from Francis Wilks & Jones, where he was head of banking and finance.

King & Spalding adds energy partner Nina Howell in London

Nina Howell returns to King & Spalding after three years at Bracewell.

DLA Piper appoints new international projects partner in London

Iain Elder has joined DLA Piper from Shearman & Sterling.

Orrick adds global enforcement adviser to cyber and privacy practice in London

Kelly Hagedorn has joined Orrick from Jenner & Block.

Squire Patton Boggs adds six to global data privacy team including new UK head

Squire Patton Boggs has hired a team of six senior lawyers across London, Madrid, Cincinnati, and Leeds to expand its global data privacy, cybersecurity and digital assets practice as regulators worldwide step up their laws around data protection and the digital economy.

Tom Henderson joins Charles Russell Speechlys

Tom Henderson, formerly of Rawlinson & Hunter, has joined Charles Russell Speechlys as Head of Trusts.

Irwin Mitchell bolsters family law offering with the appointment of two new partners in London

Claire Filer and Fran Hipperson have joined Irwin Mitchell from BP Collins.

Mayer Brown broadens European equity capital markets offering with partner hire in Germany

Dr. Susanne Lenz has joined Mayer Brown’s Frankfurt office from Pinsent Masons.

Julien Vandenbussche joins Stephenson Harwood as partner

Julien Vandenbussche has joined Stephenson Harwood’s Paris office from DLA Piper.

Greenberg Traurig expands finance and restructuring capabilities with Thijs Elseman in Amsterdam

Thijs Elseman has joined Greenberg Traurig from De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek in Amsterdam.

Leading regulatory lawyer joins Paul, Weiss’s investment management practice

Aaron J. Schlaphoff has joined Paul Weiss’ New York office.

 Renowned data privacy lawyer joins Mayer Brown’s growing Los Angeles office

Dominic Shelton Leipzig joins Mayer Brown from Perkins Coie.

Gibson Dunn adds leading finance and capital markets partner

Douglas Horowitz joins Gibson Dunn’s New York office from Cahill Gordon Reindel.

Duane Morris welcomes corporate partner Adam P. Beckerink in Chicago

Adam P. Beckerink has joined Duane Morris from Morgan Lewis.

Dechert continues California expansion

Nicole Macarchuk has joined Dechert’s San Francisco office from Angel Island Capital.

Womble Bond Dickinson adds capital markets duo in Washington

Laura E. Hoag and Joseph J. Ricotta have joined Womble’s Washington office from Squire Patton Boggs’ Cleveland office.

Orrick Bolsters national energy finance team

Jeff Kayes and Adam Griffin have joined the firm as partners in our Energy & Infrastructure Group in San Francisco and New York, respectively.

Wilson Sonsini launches strategic risk and crisis management group in Washington, D.C.

Andrew Dockham and Janet Kim have joined Wilson Sonsini.

Gibson Dunn adds former Federal Trade Commission chief of staff

Svetlana S. Gans has joined Gibson Dunn’s Washington, D.C. office.

King & Spalding broadens Texas healthcare bench

Sara Brinkmann has joined King & Spalding’s Houston office from Reed Smith.

Hunton Andrews Kurth welcomes financial services attorneys Josh McNulty and Rachael Craven

Josh McNulty and Rachael Craven join Hunton Andrews Kurth’s Dallas office from Apple and Bracewell, respectively.

Akin Gump welcomes leading international arbitration partner Ing Loong Yang in Hong Kong

Ing Loong Yang has joined Akin Gump from Latham & Watkins.

 

Promotions and Appointments:

Freshfields promotes seven in the City

Freshfields has announced a global round of 27, with seven making the cut in London. The magic circle firm has meanwhile made up 14 lawyers across Continental Europe. A further three new partners have been announced in both the US and Hong Kong.

City duo make the grade in Skadden promos

Nicole Stephansen in corporate restructuring and Aurora Luoma in antitrust are the two lawyers who have been promoted in London this year.

Eversheds unveils 31-strong promotions round

Eversheds Sutherland has elevated 31 lawyers to partner across its global offices, including seven in London and four in Cardiff, with women being 65% of the newly promoted partners.

Linklaters makes up 17 London partners in promos round

A total of 17 London lawyers will be promoted to partner this year at Linklaters, along with 24 other elevations globally. The global appointments include 17 women, the most ever promoted by the firm in a single round.

Dentons makes up seven new UK partners

A trio of London lawyers have made the cut in Dentons’ annual promotions round, with a further three in Edinburgh.

Eight make the grade in Macfarlanes promotions

Macfarlanes has given the nod to eight new partners across the firm, including three in corporate and M&A.

Penningtons makes up a dozen in bumper promos round

Penningtons Manches Cooper has promoted 12 lawyers to partner, with five elevations in London and three in Guildford.

Skadden Elevates 19 Lawyers to Partnership, Boosts Number of Women Promoted

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom has promoted 19 lawyers in its latest promotions round, a firm statement said on Thursday. Meanwhile, eight promotions are women, up from six women in 2021.

Addleshaws Boosts NQ Pay and Announces Record Partner Promotions

Addleshaws has announced its partner promotions for the year, with an all-time record of 20 lawyers making the partnership across the U.K., Asia and the Middle East. This is more than double the number of lawyers who were promoted in 2021, with nine joining the partnership last year. Half of these promotions are made up by women, and the 20 promotions brings the firm’s total partner headcount to 340.

BCLP Appoints New Germany Head

Carsten Bremer has been appointed as the Germany managing partner.

 

Office Openings & Closings:

Addleshaw Goddard opens in Luxembourg

Addleshaw Goddard has opened in Luxembourg with the hire of Richard Ledain Santiago, who joins from Fieldfisher.

 DWF Expands Into Southern Spain

DWF has opened a Seville office with the hire of three Cuatrecasas partners.

 

Financials:

Hogan Lovells NQs set for pay increase

NQ’s pay will rise 7%, with a new base salary of £107,500.

Two UK firms boost NQ salaries

Addleshaw Goddard has raised NQ salaries 16% in London, up to £95,000, while RPC has boosted their NQ salary 21.4% to £85,000.

Freshfields boosts NQ salaries to £125,000

Freshfields has raised their NQ salary to £125,000, expected to take effect from May 1st.

DLA Piper Revenue Increases 10.8% to Nearly $3.5B, as Firm Achieves Fifth Straight Year of Growth

Ample work in life sciences and technology both in the U.S. and globally helped push DLA Piper to its fifth straight year of growth, with revenue increasing 10.8% to $3.47 billion.

Kirkland Surpasses $6B in Revenue, Poised to Remain on Top of Am Law Rankings

With unprecedented demand last year, Kirkland & Ellis surged into $6 billion territory, growing to a staggering gross revenue of $6.042 billion, while average profits per partner reached more than $7.3 million.

 

Technology & Innovation:

 Dentons New CIO Says Tech Is Key to Taking Firm From ‘Largest to Leading’

Ash Banerjee, a veteran of Hogan Lovells and Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, rounds out a series of hires to Dentons global business team.

New Model Law Firms Growing 3 Times Faster Than Mid-Market Rivals, Research Shows

Alternative legal services firms which operate consultancy models, such as Keystone Law, are growing at a rate three times that of their mid-market rivals, fresh research shows. Analysis by Arden Partners, which looks at publicly available data between 2018 and 2020, reveals that consultant lawyer numbers have grown at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21%. The figure for mid-market law firms is just 7%.

Top-Tier Trio Secures €500M for a French ‘Unicorn’

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, and Hogan Lovells have helped secure a €500 million round of financing for one of the biggest “unicorns” in French tech and tele-healthcare. Doctolib, a start-up online medical reservations service, completed a Series G financing round of equity and debt led by the investment funds Eurazeo, BPIfrance, Accel, and General Atlantic.

 

Diversity & Inclusion:

US Litigator’s Death By Suicide a Lesson For the Industry as We Emerge From Pandemic

The death by suicide of a high-powered litigator in the U.S. this past weekend  has highlighted the stressors lawyers may face as work picks back up and the world emerges from the depths of the pandemic. “I think this is also a lesson to a lot of us, who may take this work more seriously than it needs to be taken, that we need to sometimes decompress and take a break,” McLaughlin’s partner Paul Lauricella said.

‘It’s Quite Hard to Focus and Concentrate’: The Experiences of Muslim Lawyers During Ramadan

From struggling to concentrate to frustrations around a lack of firm awareness, lawyers observing the holy month of Ramadan offer their views and ideas around what more can be done to support staff during fasting.

For real equality in the legal sector

Bigle Legal’s Alejandro Esteve de Miguel argues successful business management can only be achieved by making equality the basis of corporate strategy.

Rage, rage against the dying of the light: it’s time to rethink mandatory retirement for partners

Law firms need a more positive and inclusive culture for older partners, write Clare Murray, Pooja Dasgupta and Andrew Pavlovic.

MoFo eases vaccine mandate for London office

At MoFo, those who were not vaccinated would still be able to work from home. However, The Lawyer has learnt that MoFo has since had a change of heart in light of the challenges for partners and staff who have been working from home for the past two years. In the last week, the firm welcomed back all partners and staff to its London office, including the few who have not been vaccinated. It is understood that the majority of MoFo’s headcount in the City had already received the Covid-19 jabs.

Dentons and ULaw launch new SQE prep schemes for paralegals

Dentons has launched a route to qualification for 10 of its own paralegals. Named Quali-FLY, the route will take the selected paralegals, or other professionals, through the process of preparing for and taking the Solicitors Qualification Exam (SQE). They will gain qualifying work experience over a two-year period, and will be able to apply for newly-qualified solicitor roles on passing the final SQE exams. Dentons is partnering with BPP to deliver the programme.

SRA announces first rise in SQE fees

The cost of the first part of the exam (SQE1) is to rise from £1,558 to £1,622 while the cost of SQE2 moves from £2,422 to £2,493, a total rise of £135. The cost of prep courses is not included in the price of the exam.

Bar Course Aptitude Test scrapped after nine years

The BCAT has caused controversy ever since its introduction, when the BSB charged students £150 to take it, more than double the initial proposed fee of £67. In addition, the Office of Fair Trading suggested the test would be anti-competitive, leading to “decreased quality and ­availability and increased prices in the final market for advocacy services.”

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