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  • July 15, 2009 |

    Osborne Clarke: PEP plunges 36%; revenue by 12%

    Osborne Clarke has seen revenues drop by 12% for the 2008-09 financial year while profits per equity partner (PEP) have plunged by 36%.

    1 minute read

  • July 14, 2009 |

    Bird & Bird reports a 29% revenue rise and 6.5% PEP fall for 2008-09

    Bird & Bird has seen revenues soar by just under 30% during the last financial year in part boosted by a merger with a City boutique and a tie up with a Finnish firm. The top 25 firm has reported gross revenues of £186.3m during 2008-09, a 29.6% increase on the £143.7m brought in during 2007-08.

    1 minute read

  • July 9, 2009 |

    CC scales down CEE operations with Budapest spin-off but keeps Romania and Ukraine focus

    Clifford Chance (CC) has become the latest magic circle firm to retrench in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), with the firm opting to close in Budapest. The Hungary office will spin off from CC at the end of July to form Lakatos Koves & Partners, which will continue to work with CC in a 'best friends' relationship. The spin-off practice will see all 29 Hungary-based fee earners, as well as staff, join the new firm.

    1 minute read

  • July 8, 2009 |

    Cadwalader offers sabbaticals instead of layoffs

    Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft has created an alternative to layoffs, as firms continue to look for more creative ways to engage under-utilised lawyers. The New York firm, which was one of the first to lay off associates back in January 2008, has opted for paid sabbaticals, as reported on Above the Law earlier this week (7 July).

    1 minute read

  • July 6, 2009 |

    Bird & Bird hires Linklaters global tech/IP head

    Bird & Bird has recruited Linklaters global head of technology media and telecoms (TMT) and intellectual property (IP) Tim Schwarz. Schwarz, who is set to join Bird & Bird as a partner in September, will focus on strengthening the top 30 UK law firm's communications group in the Middle East and Africa.

    1 minute read

  • June 25, 2009 | International Edition

    Commentary: A&O bets on the IP market – but will it go the distance?

    It's not often you see magic circle firms turn to national players for lateral partner hires, but Allen & Overy (A&O) recently made an exception with the hire of intellectual property (IP) litigators Neville Cordell and Huw Evans from DLA Piper and Wragge & Co respectively. The most interesting thing about the pairing is not where the hires came from, but that a firm like A&O made them at all. Coming after a prolonged boom that saw many of the larger City firms' commitment to IP questioned while more lucrative corporate and finance work was on offer, the latest additions take A&O to six IP partners in London, three of whom will primarily focus on disputes.

    1 minute read

  • June 25, 2009 |

    Commentary: A&O bets on the IP market – but will it go the distance?

    It's not often you see magic circle firms turn to national players for lateral partner hires, but Allen & Overy (A&O) recently made an exception with the hire of intellectual property (IP) litigators Neville Cordell and Huw Evans from DLA Piper and Wragge & Co respectively. The most interesting thing about the pairing is not where the hires came from, but that a firm like A&O made them at all. Coming after a prolonged boom that saw many of the larger City firms' commitment to IP questioned while more lucrative corporate and finance work was on offer, the latest additions take A&O to six IP partners in London, three of whom will primarily focus on disputes.

    1 minute read

  • June 25, 2009 |

    Bird & Bird strikes innovative credit deal on LLP conversion

    Bird & Bird has secured an innovative debenture agreement with Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) to provide flexible credit. The unusual agreement, signed on 6 May in the wake of the City firm's conversion to a limited liability partnership (LLP) last year, gives the bank security over the firm's assets.

    1 minute read

  • June 18, 2009 |

    Select band of law firms retain associate buy-in through recession

    Allen & Overy (A&O), Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) and Norton Rose have emerged as standout performers in a flagship Legal Week project that graded law firms on the satisfaction of their lawyers. Legal Week Intelligence's (LWI's) 2009 Employee Satisfaction Survey identified the trio as top performers among the 25 largest UK law firms (see box). Other firms to secure top-five rankings were CMS Cameron McKenna and Bird & Bird.

    1 minute read

  • June 4, 2009 |

    Simmons registers Japan and Middle East practices as LLPs while UK waits

    Simmons & Simmons has incorporated its Middle East and Japanese practices into a limited liability partnership (LLP) structure ahead of plans to launch a UK LLP. Simmons, the only top 10 City law firm aside from Slaughter and May not to have adopted the structure, registered Simmons & Simmons Middle East LLP and Simmons & Simmons Japan LLP at Companies House on 22 April.

    1 minute read