• March 17, 2011 |

    SNR Denton hands UK CEO role to City energy head in top-level revamp

    SNR Denton has voted in new management for its UK LLP, with City energy head Matthew Jones to take on the new UK chief executive officer role. The changes will also see legacy Denton Wilde Sapte chairman Martin Kitchen assume a new role as senior partner for the UK LLP, for which Brandon Ransley was recently named managing partner.

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  • March 15, 2011 |

    Ince recruits DLA Piper partner for London asset finance team

    Ince & Co has strengthened its London asset finance practice with the hire of DLA Piper partner Stephen Marais. Marais, who specialises in banking and asset finance, joined the Ince & Co partnership on 28 February.

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  • March 11, 2011 |

    SNR Denton scores lead role on £440k Watford FC takeover bid

    SNR Denton has taken a lead role on the takeover bid for Watford Football Club. The London office of the transatlantic firm is advising the Championship football club's parent company - AIM-listed Watford Leisure PLC - on the £440,000 bid launched on the London Stock Exchange yesterday (10 March) by Watford FC Limited.

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  • March 10, 2011 |

    Dealmaker: Richard Tett

    Freshfields' insolvency ace on giving credit where it's due and keeping Gordon Brown waiting...

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  • March 10, 2011 |

    Firms still confident of growth via laterals

    Senior lawyers remain convinced that hiring partners is an effective way to build their firm's business despite concerns over the difficulty of finding and integrating promising candidates. The latest Big Question survey found that 64% of respondents believed hiring partners laterally was an effective means of strategically developing a law firm, including 15% who said it was 'very effective'. A further 32% felt it was 'quite effective' while 4% said it either did not work or was counterproductive.

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  • March 10, 2011 |

    Bird & Bird bolsters energy group with two partner hires from SNR Denton

    Bird & Bird has strengthened its energy practice with a double partner hire from SNR Denton in the UK. The top 20 UK law firm has hired SNR Denton's joint London heads of climate change, renewables and cleantech, Matt Bonass and Michael Rudd, to join its international energy and utilities sector group.

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  • March 9, 2011 |

    SNR Denton seeks new UK chief exec ahead of partner pay overhaul

    SNR Denton has kicked off a search for a new UK chief executive, as the transatlantic firm prepares to overhaul its global governance structure and amend its partnership deed in line with forthcoming changes to partner pay. Former Denton Wilde Sapte chairman Martin Kitchen has been named as the merged firm's interim UK chief executive, with the firm hoping to have a shortlist of candidates for the role by the end of the month.

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  • March 3, 2011 |

    SNR Denton signs up HBJ partners for UK construction litigation launch

    SNR Denton has launched a UK construction litigation team with the hire of two partners from HBJ Gateley Wareing. The transatlantic firm has recruited HBJ construction head Alastair Young and construction litigation partner Andrew Jones, who will split their time between SNR Denton's London and Milton Keynes offices. The duo advise on engineering and construction disputes, both domestically and internationally. Young was formerly a barrister at Birmingham set St Philips Chambers before joining HBJ in 2007, while Jones moved to the national firm from Wragge & Co in 2000.

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  • March 3, 2011 |

    'Inspiring' US chief exec Portnoy takes sole charge at SNR Denton

    SNR Denton co-chief executive Howard Morris has stepped down from his leadership role to focus on integration at the newly-merged transatlantic firm as it prepares to align partner pay structures. The move, which takes effect immediately, will see Washington DC-based Elliott Portnoy become the firm's sole chief executive. The pair have co-managed the firm since the merger between US firm Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal and Denton Wilde Sapte went live on 30 September last year.

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  • March 3, 2011 |

    Trainee retention at UK's top 30 law firms up 10% against last year

    Trainee retention rates at the UK's 30 largest law firms have risen across the majority of practices, with the average rate across the group nearly 10% higher than in March 2010. Average retention across the UK top 30 firms stands at 84% when considering the number of job offers against the number of qualifying trainees. This figure drops marginally to 83% when taking into account rejected job offers. This compares with an average retention of just 75% this time last year, when job offers were affected by the prolonged economic downturn.

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