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  • July 13, 2011 | International Edition

    Partner exits – if you've got to go, don't go quite yet

    On the face of it there are very few parallels between Clifford Chance (CC) and SNR Denton right now, with CC's average profits per equity partner standing around the £1m mark, while those at legacy Dentons lag behind its City peers at just £232,000. But in one respect the pair are taking a very similar approach, with both firms currently planning to hold some of their exiting partners to all, or most, of their notice periods.

    1 minute read

  • July 6, 2011 | International Edition

    Advisers: retail restructurings a sign of what's to come

    Habitat, Thorntons, Jane Norman, AllSaints… in recent weeks restructuring activity has been all about the high street and, with the possible exception of DLA Piper, which has worked on a string of high-profile mandates for struggling stores, there seem to have been very few winners. The last few weeks alone have seen DLA and Maclay Murray & Spens appointed on the pre-pack and sale of struggling fashion chain Jane Norman; Linklaters and Salans brought in on the administration of Habitat and sale of its UK brand to Home Retail Group; and Shoosmiths mandated to advise chocolate maker Thorntons on a strategic review set to result in up to 180 shops closing across the UK.

    1 minute read

  • June 15, 2011 | International Edition

    Going organic: finding the balance between organic growth and lateral hiring in London

    Foreign firms in London still struggle to find that elusive balance between 
organic growth and lateral hiring. Charlotte Edmond charts the latest trends

    1 minute read

  • April 20, 2011 | International Edition

    Addleshaws, A&O lead on Yorkshire Building Society merger deal

    Addleshaw Goddard and Allen & Overy (A&O) have picked up lead advisory roles on Yorkshire Building Society's merger with Norwich and Peterborough (N&P) Building Society, creating a combined company with three million members and 224 branches. A&O is advising longstanding client Yorkshire, which is the UK's second largest building society with assets exceeding £30bn. The magic circle firm's team is being led by corporate partner Richard Slynn, assisted by associates Ilan Kotkis and Susannah Gwyn-Thomas.

    1 minute read

  • April 14, 2011 | International Edition

    Asset finance - increasingly not for every banking team

    Recent weeks have seen no less than five asset finance partner moves announced, with Berwin Leighton Paisner, Ince & Co, Mayer Brown, and, most notably, Hogan Lovells all moving to strengthen their City practices. While the timing of the appointments is more down to coincidence than any single driver in the market, the moves illustrate the differing approaches to asset finance across large law firms.

    1 minute read

  • March 15, 2011 |

    Then we take Manhattan - can Norton Rose really take on the world?

    Not too long ago, Norton Rose looked like an also-ran. The London firm, known for its financial institutions practice, stumbled badly after its offices were bombed - twice - by IRA terrorists in the early 1990s. It jumped belatedly on the global bandwagon, establishing a network of European offices that did not turn a profit for half a decade. By the early 2000s, key partners were running for the exits. The magic circle, formerly Norton Rose's closest rivals, had pulled far ahead.

    1 minute read

  • February 10, 2010 | International Edition

    Women in law: Role models

    "When I first started out I was doing a range of work - it was excellent exposure and I had to grow up very fast. It was the boom time in the late 80s and I decided to try my hand at a bigger firm. It was intimidating at first - every second person seemed to be public school and I thought I'd made a mistake. But I realised it was a lot more diverse, grew to love it and got involved in all sorts of interesting work. I haven't looked back."

    1 minute read

  • February 10, 2010 |

    Women in law: Role models

    "When I first started out I was doing a range of work - it was excellent exposure and I had to grow up very fast. It was the boom time in the late 80s and I decided to try my hand at a bigger firm. It was intimidating at first - every second person seemed to be public school and I thought I'd made a mistake. But I realised it was a lot more diverse, grew to love it and got involved in all sorts of interesting work. I haven't looked back."

    1 minute read

  • February 10, 2010 | International Edition

    Latham makes a statement with lucky 13

    For a firm of its size and ambition, Latham & Watkins has remained curiously under the radar outside the US, emerging only occasionally for significant moves such as 2008's three-pronged launch in the Middle East, before it all goes quiet again. This tendency makes this month's news that the firm is to bring in no fewer than 13 partners from White & Case across London, New York and the Middle East all the more striking.

    1 minute read

  • December 21, 2009 | International Edition

    Law firm management: The hard sell

    "A consultant is a man who asks you for your watch and then tells you the time with it." Probably one of the more polite descriptions by one managing partner of the band of consultants circling law firms as the recession batters a profession that had grown used to unbroken growth. Though the legal sector has not been a major target for the consultancy industry until very recently, there are an increasing number of widely varying consultants aiming to advise firms on everything from marketing, client relationship management, IT general strategy and everything inbetween.

    1 minute read