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  • April 24, 2008 |

    Editor's Comment: If it's broke...

    Firms rarely tinker with management structures from a position of strength. Unless you have just merged and need to implement a system that puts the fewest noses out of joint - see Freshfields or more recently Dewey & LeBoeuf - you're most likely losing ground against your peers and action needs to be taken; for the latest example of this see Shearman & Sterling. Last week in an internal memo, Shearman senior partner Rohan Weerasinghe announced the firm is revamping its management. The executive group will be reduced from six members to three, comprising Weerasinghe, executive director Kim Gardner and partner Fred Sosnick. Previous group members John Madden, Georg Thoma, Kenneth MacRitchie and Linda Rappaport will focus their efforts on client work, as well as being called upon in various management roles. Below the executive group five teams take control of areas such as client development and risk management and a further, four-partner group, including Thoma from Europe and Matthew Bersani in Asia, will focus on strategy. There is logic in this, not least in creating a formal strategy team. In addition, centralising day-to-day power in a smaller executive group should streamline decision-making while further management responsibilities will be better spread around the firm.

    1 minute read

  • April 24, 2008 |

    Quinn Emanuel to open in City with Kirkland hire

    US litigation leader Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges is set to become the latest US firm to open an office in London after hiring restructuring partner Richard East from Kirkland & Ellis. East had been expected to join New York firm Weil Gotshal & Manges but it is understood the talks broke down at the last minute, with East now set to leave Kirkland for Quinn Emanuel this week.

    1 minute read

  • April 22, 2008 |

    US disputes firm taps Kirkland for City launch

    US litigation specialist Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges is set to become the latest US firm to open an office in London after hiring restructuring partner Richard East from Kirkland & Ellis. East had been rumoured to be joining New York firm Weil Gotshal & Manges but it is understood the talks broke down at the last minute with East now set to leave Kirkland for Quinn Emanuel later this week.

    1 minute read

  • April 18, 2008 |

    ...Legal Week Lunchbox: 18/04/08...

    The five most popular articles on legalweek.com today; plus the pick of the day's posts; a final dispatch from AmLaw's man in Baghdad; and more

    1 minute read

  • April 17, 2008 |

    City giants pledge £750k to finance trainee diversity drive

    A clutch of London's leading law firms have committed around three-quarters of a million pounds to an initiative that aims to increase diversity in the legal profession. Thirteen members of the City Solicitors' Educational Trust (CSET) have set aside £250,000 for next year to finance the new project - aimed at encouraging students from a wider range of universities and backgrounds to consider a career in law - with similar totals expected for 2009 and 2010.

    1 minute read

  • April 17, 2008 |

    Weil in advanced talks for City restructuring man

    Weil Gotshal & Manges is in final stage talks to bring in a restructuring partner from Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft for its City office. Partners have voted to bring Tony Horspool into the partnership. Horspool left Cadwalader yesterday (23 April) but Legal Week understands that some details of the move are still being finalised. It is thought the firm is also in advanced talks with one other City restructuring partner.

    1 minute read

  • April 17, 2008 |

    McDermott hit by $200m malpractice suit

    McDermott Will & Emery is being sued for legal malpractice by a bankruptcy trustee of former client St Vincent's Catholic Medical Centers of New York, writes the New York Law Journal, with the claim alleging that partners at the Chicago-based law firm "put their personal relationships and selfish economic concerns above the interests of the charitable institution they were entrusted to protect".

    1 minute read

  • April 17, 2008 |

    Weil Gotshal hires O'Melveny man for City finance

    Weil Gotshal & Manges is set to boost its London finance practice with a partner hire from US rival O'Melveny & Myers. The New York firm has voted to bring in Stuart Hills to its City team, although the appointment is still to be finalised.

    1 minute read

  • April 16, 2008 |

    Duck the downturn

    Legal Week's career clinic recently received an anxious message from a newly-qualified corporate associate at a US firm. No doubt having heard stories of the gruelling hours put in at such firms, the associate expressed surprise - and concern - that they were not exactly run off their feet. "I am concerned that the lack of work coming into the department will mean that heads will start to roll and I may be picking up my P45 sooner or later."

    1 minute read

  • April 16, 2008 |

    ...Legal Week Lunchbox: 17/04/08...

    The five most popular articles on legalweek.com today; plus the pick of the day's posts; a new Career Clinic dilemma; and more

    1 minute read