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  • December 8, 2009 |

    Media and sport: A virtual black hole

    The pace of change in the social media arena is outstripping any risk management capability and with anyone able to publish online, law firms are seeing a new area of work developing. Gregor Pryor and Sachin Premnath report

    1 minute read

  • December 2, 2009 |

    RPC hires Reed Smith partner to lead financial disputes team

    Reynolds Porter Chamberlain (RPC) has bolstered its financial disputes practice with the hire of Reed Smith partner Tom Hibbert. Hibbert, who spent 10 years as a partner with the City office of Reed Smith and legacy firm Richards Butler, will head the financial disputes practice at RPC when he joins later this week (4 December). His position is a new role within RPC, with Hibbert set to lead a five-partner team dedicated to banking litigation.

    1 minute read

  • December 2, 2009 |

    LW research highlights top client performers

    Lovells, Wragge & Co and Travers Smith are among 14 firms to be named as best performers in Legal Week research. The trio head their respective categories of international, national and City firms within the legal adviser rankings compiled by Legal Week's Client Satisfaction Report.

    1 minute read

  • November 25, 2009 |

    Editor's comment: Bend with the wind

    A year ago Legal Week observed that the model of associate lockstep was too rigid to effectively react to changing market conditions - certainly to the dramatic changes looming in 2009. The year has proved to be as turbulent as expected and the model has continued to be revised, initially with widespread salary freezes. Lockstep's failings have also been apparent from the growing number of firms moving towards competency-based systems where associate pay is determined on the basis of promotion to defined levels.

    1 minute read

  • November 24, 2009 |

    A&O targets global pro bono growth with Reed Smith hire

    Allen & Overy (A&O) has recruited the founder of Advocates for International Development (A4ID), Chris Marshall, as the head of its pro bono and community affairs department. Marshall will join the magic circle firm in the New Year after spending six years at Reed Smith, where he was pro bono and community manager for the firm's Europe, Middle East and Africa offices.

    1 minute read

  • November 16, 2009 |

    Reed Smith asks non-equity partners to pay to retain partnership status

    Reed Smith is set to ask its non-equity partners to contribute up to 15% of their base pay to the firm in order to maintain their partnership status. Those non-equity partners who do not agree to the terms will lose their partnership status and instead can "opt to be a kind of salaried employee without those attributes of partnership," said global managing partner Greg Jordan. The exact title those non-participants will carry is unclear.

    1 minute read

  • November 13, 2009 |

    Salans and Proskauer Rose partners team up to launch new independent firm in Paris

    Twenty-one lawyers from Proskauer Rose and Salans' Paris offices have teamed up to launch a new independent law firm in the French capital. Salans has lost a total of 15 lawyers and Proskauer nine to the new 31-lawyer firm, Altana, which was launched earlier this month (2 November).

    1 minute read

  • November 11, 2009 |

    Reed Smith announces 20% pay cut for newly-qualified US associates

    Reed Smith has unveiled a new pay scale that sees first-year associate salaries cut by 20%, reports The Legal Intelligencer. The moves comes two weeks after the firm announced it was revamping its associate model by doing away with year-based classes and moving to a competency-based compensation system.

    1 minute read

  • November 11, 2009 |

    Reed Smith LLP accounts show £4m cost from Midlands split-off

    Reed Smith is to pay nearly £4m for the disposal of its Birmingham office and is committed to paying out more than £11m to fit out its new office space in London, according to its 2008 limited liability partnership (LLP) accounts. The accounts show the US law firm estimates the Midlands disposal will cost £3.86m. Reed Smith said in October 2008 that it was spinning the office off into a new, independent firm called Hill Hofstetter. The office launched in January 2009 and is led by former Reed Smith Birmingham head Chris Hill.

    1 minute read

  • October 28, 2009 |

    Halliwells partners consult counsel over departure terms

    Halliwells is facing potential legal action from two departed partners, it has emerged. The duo, one of whom is still on gardening leave, have independently instructed law firms and counsel to seek advice in relation to potential disputes with the firm.

    1 minute read