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  • February 13, 2008 |

    Online special: Legal services reforms viewed serious threat to future of the Bar

    More than half of the UK's leading lawyers believe the Bar's independence is under threat from sweeping reforms contained in the Legal Services Act (LSA), according to new research. The finding is part of the latest Legal Week/EJ Legal Big Question survey, which polled senior solicitors on their views on the future of the Bar in the wake of fundamental reform to the UK's regulatory framework for legal services.Fifty-eight percent of responding partners said that the LSA was a threat to the future of the Bar, including 12% who thought the Act was a threat to the extent that 'the writing is on the wall' for the Bar's future.

    1 minute read

  • February 1, 2008 |

    Pannone the pick as 17 get Best Companies nod

    Addleshaw Goddard, Pannone and Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) have retained accredited status with Best Companies, the research group responsible for compiling The Sunday Times' Best Companies to Work For list. The trio are among 17 law firms from a total of 307 businesses recognised by Best Companies in 2008, with Manchester's Pannone the only firm to score the top three-star rating.

    1 minute read

  • January 31, 2008 |

    Brown Rudnick makes first UK partner promotions

    Brown Rudnick has promoted corporate finance associates James Shaw and Adrian Yeandle to partner at its London branch, the US law firm announced today (31 January). The news is thought to mark the first time Brown Rudnick has promoted UK-based associates to its partnership.

    1 minute read

  • January 30, 2008 |

    RPC boosts IP/tech team with Addleshaws hire

    Reynolds Porter Chamberlain (RPC) has hired Addleshaw Goddard senior associate Iain Simmons as a senior lawyer in its intellectual property and technology team. Simmons, who specialises in licensing, advertising, marketing, sponsorship and copyright issues, has worked for Guardian Newspapers and Harbottle & Lewis. The RPC department acts for clients including HMV, Associated Newspapers and Sports Direct. The team now comprises 12 lawyers, three of whom are partners.

    1 minute read

  • January 30, 2008 |

    Addleshaws bulks project finance with hire of Freshfields partner

    Addleshaw Goddard has hired projects partner Andrew Petry from magic circle firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.Petry, who specialises in project finance, restructurings, infrastructure and energy transactions and banking and Islamic finance, will join Addleshaws' London arm in February. From 2001 to 2006, he was based in Freshfields' Amsterdam office, where he helped establish a finance practice in the region.

    1 minute read

  • January 30, 2008 |

    Holman Fenwick makes Brussels bow with former Addleshaws Belgium head

    London's Holman Fenwick & Willan has launched in Brussels with the hire of Addleshaw Goddard's former Belgian office head Dan Horovitz, as it moves to bulk up its corporate practice.He will open the firm's first capability in Brussels when he joins as an international trade and competition partner in February.

    1 minute read

  • January 30, 2008 |

    Online special: CSR winning more lawyer converts

    Only a small percentage of UK lawyers are strongly opposed to taking on ethically-questionable mandates, a survey of the profession has found, even though the majority believe doing so can damage a law firm's reputation. Just 11% of leading UK lawyers said ethics should be a major consideration in accepting new clients in the latest Legal Week/EJ Legal Big Question survey. The majority (66.5%) said law firms should consider instructions from controversial regimes or corporate clients on a case-by-case basis.

    1 minute read

  • January 24, 2008 |

    Hammonds nears accord in partner dispute

    Hammonds is on the verge of settling with a third of the defendants in its ongoing dispute with a group of former partners over repaying profits. Two former partners have recently settled with the national firm, while three more are in negotiations to reach an out-of-court agreement. This would leave Hammonds fighting a remaining group of nine partners in the long-running dispute filed in the High Court last June.

    1 minute read

  • January 24, 2008 |

    CC, A&O win Abbey panel spots in review

    High street bank Abbey has finished a review of its UK panel, dividing up its legal roster into seven divisions. The new line-up, which is now listed by corporate, commercial, capital markets, financial services, property, employment and litigation, includes most of its previous advisers.Magic circle duo Allen & Overy and Clifford Chance have won places alongside firms Ashurst, Barlow Lyde & Gilbert, Lovells, Norton Rose, Dundas & Wilson, Travers Smith and long-term corporate adviser Slaughter and May. Former panel member Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer declined to tender for the work.

    1 minute read

  • January 23, 2008 |

    The North: The credit forecast

    The credit crunch has apparently done little, so far, to change law firms' fortunes - or so they would have us believe. But it has noticeably changed the mood among lawyers based in the north of England. Most managing partners, while remaining cautiously optimistic, will admit to being concerned about what happens after the end of this financial year. DLA Piper Sheffield managing partner Stephen Sly sits with the optimists on the effects of the credit crunch: "If we are not careful we will talk ourselves into a recession," he says. "What is happening is a necessary and overdue adjustment to an overheated market." Manchester's Ian Austin, managing partner of Halliwells, displays typical northern pragmatism, saying: "I am not a pessimist, but I am a realist. The factors that were prevalent during the downturns in the early 1990s and 2001 are prevalent now. Let's wait and see what happens."

    1 minute read