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  • December 22, 2008 |

    Cobbetts makes Pinsents employment partner hire

    Cobbetts has bolstered its employment practice with the lateral hire of Pinsent Masons partner Ashley Norman. Norman joined Cobbetts seven-strong employment arm in Birmingham at the beginning of this month (1 December) and will work closely with fellow employment partners Kathy Halliday and Michael Gillespie.In his previous role, Norman headed Pinsents work on equality and diversity and led the firm's government sector employment team.Cobbetts' Birmingham head, Graham Muth said: "Ashley has a proven track record in building client relationships at a senior level - a vital skill in our approach to employment law. He is also widely recognised for his experience in the public sector, which fits well with our existing strength in the field.

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  • December 16, 2008 |

    Head of Pinsents' French ally voted in as Paris Bar chair

    The managing partner of Pinsent Masons' French ally Granrut Avocats has been voted in as chairman of the Paris Bar in elections held last week (10 December). Jean Castelain will take up the post on 1 January 2010 for a two-year term, replacing current chairman Christian Charriere-Bournazel, who is a partner with August & Debouzy.Castelain, who beat Xavier Normand-Bodard of Cabinet Normand & Associes to take the role, will work alongside high-profile French criminal lawyer Jean-Yves Le Borgne, who becomes the first-ever vice-chairman of the Paris Bar.

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  • December 15, 2008 |

    Pinsents accounting head makes Baker Tilly switch

    Pinsent Masons has lost the national head of its forensic and accounting services team, as Tony Chapman quits for accountancy and business advisory firm Baker Tilly. The forensic and accounting services team is part of Pinsents' dispute resolution practice and was headed by Chapman - the only partner-equivalent member of the team, the rest of which is made up of chartered accountants.The team will now be led by Birmingham-based dispute resolution and litigation partner Jim Richards, who also heads up the firm's public sector commercial litigation practice.

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  • December 10, 2008 |

    Law firm strategy: Seat belts on

    "Throughout the world, change is the order of the day." So said Franklin Delano Roosevelt in his 1935 State of the Union address, as the world grappled with the Great Depression. Shortly after his inauguration next January, President-elect Obama will undoubtedly echo this theme. With his message likely to have a major effect on the global economy, lawyers at Europe's independent law firms will be listening especially hard.At present, there are no siren voices to be heard openly predicting another great depression in Europe. But there is widespread talk of how much recent economic events have changed the world in which law firms and their clients operate. Managing partners abound with stories of frustrated lawyers - always in rival firms - "sitting at their desks with nothing to do" and "desperately twiddling their thumbs all day".

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  • December 3, 2008 |

    Pinsents starts UAE law student training scheme

    Pinsent Masons has teamed up with the United Arab Emirates University to give local law students a chance to train with the firm in the UK. The firm has operated in Dubai since 2004 and will offer UAE University College of Law students the chance to develop skills across areas including commercial, property, outsourcing and Dubai law. The scheme, initially limited to two students, is not a full training contract but will run between January and February and June and July. Students will spend the rest of the summer in one of the firm's UK offices.

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  • November 27, 2008 |

    Firms braced as AIM faces worst-ever year

    Partners advising on London's Alternative Investment Market (AIM) remain upbeat despite the exchange being on course to suffer its worst year since its 1995 launch. Fewer than 100 companies listed on the junior market between January and the end of October, with just 99 new admissions compared with 519 at the market's height of 2005. The total number of companies listed on the exchange has also fallen, dropping from a peak of 1,694 last year down to 1,597 by October.

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  • November 6, 2008 |

    City firms post solid H1 financials as nationals start to feel the pinch

    A band of City law firms look set to tough out the gloomy market with Lovells, Norton Rose, Trowers & Hamlins and CMS Cameron McKenna all expecting double-digit revenue growth for the first six months of the year.Norton Rose has said that it expects to see 11% growth over the first half of 2008-09 increasing revenue from £127.5m to £141.5m. Camerons has also had a solid first-half with a 10% increase in revenue from £103m to around £113m.Lovells is predicting to see 10%-plus revenue growth with the firm highlighting insolvency and restructuring, capital markets, intellectual property and corporate as strong performers.Trowers, which has a well-established practice in the much-courted Middle East market, has emerged as a leading performer, posting a 16% increase in income moving from £36.1m to £42m.Ashurst and Simmons & Simmons have both also managed to grow their first-half revenues by more than 5% against the same period in 2007, in what will be seen as credible performances.Norton Rose chief executive Peter Martyr told Legal Week: "We are looking good at the moment - our main practice areas are robust and we are well placed. But it is extremely hard to judge the future. There has never been such a degree of uncertainty as to what the immediate future will bring."Despite indications that many law firms have managed to maintain growth in the face of the slump, the 2008-09 year promises to display widely-diverging results, with a substantial proportion of firms seeing falls in revenue.Addleshaw Goddard, Eversheds, Halliwells and Wragge & Co have all this week confirmed dips in H1 revenue. Eversheds is down 4% to £188m from £196 while Halliwells sees its income drop by 3.1% to £44m from £45.4m.Eversheds chief executive David Gray said: "Given the economic turmoil of the last six months, it is not surprising that law firms are facing reduced revenues. "Eversheds has posted a small decline in revenues of just 4%, which is further evidence that the business is holding up well, with some areas seeing over 30% growth, such as competition and international."Addleshaws' income between April and October dropped to £94.7m from £97.5m on the same period last year. It is thought that Cobbetts' first half will be down around 5%-10%A spokesperson from Halliwells added: "There is no disputing that the market is extremely difficult at present and the remainder of the financial year is sure to prove just as challenging, but our core business remains strong and a number of our practice areas continue to perform very well."In addition, magic circle firms have this year been intensely secretive about their H1 results, despite expectations that the group has benefited from relatively busy foreign offices and a flight to quality with transactional mandates.

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  • November 5, 2008 |

    Macfarlanes takes lead on CompAir sale

    Pinsent Masons and Macfarlanes have bagged lead roles on CompAir's £197.5m sale to industrial manufacturer Gardner Denver. The deal saw Macfarlanes instructed for regular client Alchemy Partners, as the majority shareholder in air and gas compressor business (CompAir). The City firm fielded a team led by corporate partner Ian Martin, and including partners Paul Davies, Marc Israel and Elizabeth Sherwood.Meanwhile, Pinsents was brought in to advise CompAir's management with a team led by technology head Andrew Hornigold, assisted by corporate associate James Willmott.

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  • November 5, 2008 |

    Pinsents recruits partner for Manchester pensions

    Pinsent Masons has appointed Howard Ridley as a partner in its pensions group in Manchester. Ridley joins the firm from Rowley Ashworth in Leeds and was officially appointed to the role at the end of September. Ridley was previously a pensions partner at Eversheds in Manchester and a pensions lawyer in London with Lovells and Linklaters.

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  • November 3, 2008 |

    Pinsents retains top spot in AIM client rankings

    Pinsent Masons and LG have cemented their positions as lead advisers to the largest number of clients on London's Alternative Investment Market (AIM) in the last quarter. The fourth quarter update from data provider Hemscott sees Pinsents leading the rankings, picking up two extra AIM clients over the last quarter to take the firm's tally to 61.LG bagged one extra client on the previous quarter to bring the firm's total roster of AIM clients up to 54.

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