• February 14, 2013 |

    Cobbetts debt recovery arm sold as last part of failed firm finds new home

    Midlands debt recovery firm HL Legal Solicitors has sealed a deal to take on Cobbetts' debt collection arm Incasso after reaching an agreement with the firm's administrators KPMG. The Leeds-based Incasso business, which has 52 staff and operates as a separate limited liability partnership to Cobbetts, went into administration along with Cobbetts at the end of January.

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  • February 14, 2013 |

    Pinsents continues international expansion with move into Turkey

    Pinsent Masons has become the latest firm to target the fast-growing Turkish market, with the firm set to launch a new infrastructure-focused base in the region. The new Istanbul office will be headed up by Noyan Goksu, the former head of arbitration at Turkish firm Herguner Bilgen Ozeke.

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  • February 8, 2013 |

    Rules of the game - the lawyers making their mark in the sports sector

    For decades, sport has continued to confound the laws of economic gravity that seem to so often drag other industries back down to earth. Year after year, broadcasting rights escalate – as do sponsorship deals – and ticket prices jauntily rise upwards while the financial fortunes of the millions of fans and spectators that turn out in sunshine and rain have generally stagnated or slumped during the recession. In short, sport is big business, and lawyers agree that it is a profitable segment of the legal services market to be involved in.

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  • February 7, 2013 |

    Walker Morris takes Cobbetts team as details of DWF pre-pack deal emerge

    Walker Morris has taken a 27-strong finance litigation team from Cobbetts, as full details of DWF's pre-pack acquisition of the financially stricken firm emerge. DWF has completed its acquisition of the bulk of Cobbetts' business following yesterday's appointment of KPMG as administrators.

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  • February 6, 2013 |

    DWF seals Cobbetts pre-pack deal; Pinsents and Walker Morris advise

    DWF has sealed its acquisition of Cobbetts via a pre-pack deal, after KPMG was appointed as the stricken firm's administrators. An agreement has been reached which will see DWF take on the bulk of the business, with 419 of Cobbetts' employees and partners from its four offices in Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham and London understood to be transferring to DWF.

    1 minute read

  • February 6, 2013 |

    Pinsents set to launch temp lawyer service with new 'Vario' venture

    Pinsent Masons is to launch a freelance lawyer service, offering businesses temporary legal professionals on an ad hoc basis.Dubbed 'Vario', the new service which will go live in the spring will provide competition to similar ventures such as Eversheds' Agile service and Berwin Leighton Paisner's (BLP) Lawyers on Demand.

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  • February 4, 2013 |

    Travers sees H1 revenues rise 1.5% to £40.5m

    Travers Smith saw revenues climb by 1.5% during the first half of the 2012-13 financial year, with turnover hitting £40.5m. The growth in fee income in the six month period leading to the end of December took turnover up from an equivalent figure of £39.9m for the same period in 2011.

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  • January 31, 2013 |

    Growing list of top UK law firms move to cut staff in 2013

    With three major law firms announcing sizeable job cuts before the end of January, 2013 already looks near certain to be marked by a fresh run of legal redundancies as the UK economy flirts with a triple-dip recession. As Legal Week went to press, Clyde & Co and Olswang had also indicated that they may make a small number of redundancies, potentially adding to the roll call of major law firms making cuts in the past three months. Ominously, news also emerged on Wednesday (30 January) that Manchester firm Cobbetts was set to enter administration.

    1 minute read

  • January 31, 2013 |

    Burges Salmon, FFW and magic circle trio named on 48-strong Govt panel

    Allen & Overy, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Slaughter and May are among a raft of firms to have secured roles on the finalised 48-firm Government Procurement Service panel. The magic circle firms have all been named on the long-awaited roster after firms received final confirmation of their appointments following a ten-day stand still period.

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  • January 30, 2013 |

    Clydes to cut jobs as firm reviews back office in wake of BLG merger

    Clyde & Co has put a number of support staff positions at risk of redundancy, following a review of its business services departments carried out in the wake of its merger with legacy Barlow Lyde & Gilbert. It is understood that fewer than 10 members of staff are involved in the consultations, with the changes primarily affecting the firm's London office.

    1 minute read