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  • July 14, 2008 |

    BUPA cuts back legal spend in panel review

    Global healthcare giant BUPA has slashed its spend on external legal fees after inviting firms to offer more competitive rates as part of its tender process. General counsel Paul Newton began reviewing the company's M&A, litigation and procurement advisors in February. After creating a shortlist, the firms were invited to render their services at lower rates in an e-auction style process. It is understood that the review has led to a 30% reduction in the company's legal costs.Initially, each of the three areas was served by four firms, but following the review, the M&A panel has been split into two - one for large and the other for small transactions - and will be covered by five firms. The litigation and procurement panels will now host three firms each.

    1 minute read

  • July 10, 2008 |

    Addleshaws in talks to improve foreign services and increase secondments

    Addleshaw Goddard is pushing to improve its international links by tightening up its relationships with referral firms worldwide and boosting its overseas secondment programme. The top 20 UK firm is in talks with the firms it works with overseas about how to improve services, with chief operating officer and management committee member Peter Smith and disputes lawyer John Gatenby leading discussions.

    1 minute read

  • July 3, 2008 |

    National duo recharge with roles on retail group's revamped panel

    National law firms Pinsent Masons and DLA Piper have landed roles on the revamped legal panel of electrical retailing group DSG International (DSGi). The FTSE 250 group, which is the parent company of retail chains Dixons, Currys and PC World, has drawn up a new advisory group, with the other firms on the panel understood to be Baker & McKenzie and Linklaters.

    1 minute read

  • July 2, 2008 |

    Dealmaker: Richard Papworth

    Addleshaw Goddard banking chief Richard Papworth on Morley, Manchester United and moving back to the big smoke

    1 minute read

  • June 25, 2008 |

    William Hill slashes panel in latest review

    Bookmaker William Hill has cut down its panel of legal advisers in its latest review. General counsel Thomas Murphy led the review which has seen Pinsent Masons, Ashurst and Addleshaw Goddard appointed to the panel. The company previously used around 10 law firms under Murphy's predecessor, Helen Grantham.

    1 minute read

  • June 25, 2008 | International Edition

    Commentary: Stephenson Harwood pulling back from the abyss of irrelevance

    It has been an unlikely and unheralded turnaround. It is not all that long ago that Stephenson Harwood was being written off as a basket case after a sustained period of poor financial and senior departures left this once-prestigious City brand teetering on the edge of if not collapse then something worse: irrelevance. And yet this month the firm has unveiled its fourth consecutive year of substantial turnover growth, with the top of the equity now sitting at £900,000. Headline figures put turnover 19% up on last year to just over £85m, while profits per equity partner have grown 17% to sit at an average of £620,000. This represents some 165% growth for a firm whose partner profits were loitering around the £200,000 mark just five years ago. And without any gross deviation from the roughly 50:50 split between equity and salaried partners. By any estimation, not bad going.

    1 minute read

  • June 25, 2008 |

    Commentary: Stephenson Harwood pulling back from the abyss of irrelevance

    It has been an unlikely and unheralded turnaround. It is not all that long ago that Stephenson Harwood was being written off as a basket case after a sustained period of poor financial and senior departures left this once-prestigious City brand teetering on the edge of if not collapse then something worse: irrelevance. And yet this month the firm has unveiled its fourth consecutive year of substantial turnover growth, with the top of the equity now sitting at £900,000. Headline figures put turnover 19% up on last year to just over £85m, while profits per equity partner have grown 17% to sit at an average of £620,000. This represents some 165% growth for a firm whose partner profits were loitering around the £200,000 mark just five years ago. And without any gross deviation from the roughly 50:50 split between equity and salaried partners. By any estimation, not bad going.

    1 minute read

  • June 25, 2008 |

    City trio land roles as £200m Bahraini Freightliner deal braves tough market

    Addleshaw Goddard, CMS Cameron McKenna and Macfarlanes have won roles on Bahrain investment bank Arcapita's acquisition of UK freight transfer company Freightliner Group. The deal, which signed earlier this month (13 June), saw Freightliner's owners - 3i, Electra Private Equity and Freightliner management - sell the company to Arcapita for around £200m.

    1 minute read

  • June 25, 2008 |

    Addleshaws to offer ATE litigation insurance

    Addleshaw Goddard is in final negotiations with a major London insurance company to strike a groundbreaking deal that will see the law firm brokering its own after the event (ATE) insurance arrangements for litigation clients. The deal, thought to be with insurer QBE, could make Addleshaws the first UK law firm with delegated authority to write ATE policies for clients involved in commercial litigation cases.

    1 minute read

  • June 18, 2008 |

    Substance with style

    This year's Intendance 'Fast Fifty' benchmarking of the 50 fastest-growing law firm websites is further proof of how the legal sector is stepping up its online operations. Famed throughout the business-to-business sector, sometimes unfairly, as being among the least innovative of the professional services in terms of harnessing the power of the internet, law firms are now showing signs of shedding that image. Of course, the big news since last year's report is the arrival of the much-heralded Legal Services Act, which will open the sector up to outside competition. It is too early to tell whether the Act has focused partners' attention on developing hitherto untapped business streams, but there are advantages to be had by developing online capabilities. For the past seven years, Intendance has been evaluating how the legal profession presents itself online and how it communicates with a whole host of stakeholders, from clients to potential trainees. The success - and increase in scope - of previous Fast Fifty reports has led to a change in format this year, from a single document to a three-part series.

    1 minute read