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  • February 27, 2014 |

    King of the market: advisers prepare for listing frenzy as confidence returns

    If further proof were needed of the resurgence of global initial public offering (IPO) activity, the last few weeks have delivered it. In London, plans to list announced by Pets at Home and Poundland come as other retailers such as House of Fraser and Fat Face are expected to float later in the year. The last nine months have seen a major upsurge in IPO activity across the world. In London, there were 30 main market IPOs in 2013 with a total value of £7.7bn, compared with 18 in 2012 valued at £1.9bn.

    1 minute read

  • February 27, 2014 |

    Two sides of the coin – can Travers and Macfarlanes still be classed as City bellwethers?

    With their UK-centric business models and focus on private equity, if anyone was going to be hit hard by Lehman Brothers' 2008 collapse and the subsequent implosion of the global financial markets, it was top 50 UK law firms Macfarlanes and Travers Smith. Traditionally paired together as tight and conservative partnerships with a heavy transactional bent and a distinct absence of international networks, some rivals predicted the two would struggle to quickly regain the form that – pre-crisis – had set them apart from many of their mid-market peers. As Macfarlanes senior partner Charles Martin puts it: "Before the downturn the firm was more heavily transactional: private equity, corporate and real estate. All of this stopped in its tracks in 2008 – it was as though we were hit by a freight train in the night." In fact, while profits per equity partner (PEP) fell by more than 30% at both firms in the first chaotic financial year post-Lehman between 2007-08 and 2008-09, the pair's fortunes subsequently recovered well. Travers saw revenues soar by 11.6% in 2009-10 against a 53.5% rise in PEP, with that year's bumper growth helping to ensure that profits in 2012-13 were 5% higher than five years earlier. And while Macfarlanes has yet to regain its boom-time PEP high of £1.1m, at just shy of £990,000 for the last financial year it has come pretty close in far less buoyant market conditions.

    1 minute read

  • February 24, 2014 |

    Bird & Bird enters Korea via partnership with local firm

    Bird & Bird has become the latest international law firm to enter Korea after signing a cooperation agreement with Seoul-based outfit Hwang Mok Park (HMP). The non-exclusive partnership will allow the two firms to participate in joint marketing and collaboration of client services, with a view to a more formal merger in the next two to three years.

    1 minute read

  • February 20, 2014 |

    Irwin Mitchell eyes bright corporate future as firm aims to put Google hiccup behind it

    "So I imagine you'll want to talk about Google, the Manchester team that left for TLT and the firm's corporate profile," suggests the head of Irwin Mitchell's business legal services (BLS) division, Niall Baker, on sitting down with Legal Week recently. "One of the first skills good lawyers learn is how to read upside down," he adds after a brief pause, nodding at the top three lines of my notepad. There's a smile creeping across his face, which is wrapped in a month-old beard, grown – so Baker says – to annoy his boss, the firm's group chief executive, John Pickering. It's a decent ice-breaker but an acknowledgement of a rather sensitive issue for Irwin Mitchell. A week before our conversation last month, the firm was identified as having been de-listed by Google, apparently for falling foul of search engine optimisation rules in its links to personal injury-related stories.

    1 minute read

  • February 20, 2014 |

    Clydes and 2Birds bolster links between pay and performance

    Clyde & Co and Bird & Bird have become the latest firms in the UK top 20 to rejig their associate career paths in a bid to tighten links between pay and individual performance. The moves come as research by Legal Week shows that Clifford Chance (CC) is the only firm in the group that does not base lawyers' salaries on merit. The changes see Clydes move further away from post-qualification experience (PQE) as a measure for pay, with the firm putting in place a clear career development framework for associates. It focuses on performance and clarifying targets for progression.

    1 minute read

  • February 19, 2014 |

    Jones Day to open second Australian base in Perth with Allens hire

    Jones Day is to open its second base in Australia with an office in Perth this April. The US firm has hired Allens partner construction partner Stephen McComish to head up in the city, and said it plans to focus on projects and project-related disputes and the energy sector. It currently has one Australian office in Sydney which opened in 1998 and now counts 40 lawyers, of which 13 are partners.

    1 minute read

  • February 19, 2014 |

    Freshfields posts 80% spring retention rate

    Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has become the third magic circle firm to confirm its trainee retention rate for its spring intake, posting a figure of 80%

    1 minute read

  • February 18, 2014 |

    Ofcom and BT in-house teams win court battle against HSF client Sky

    Ofcom and BT's in-house legal teams have won a Court of Appeal battle against Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) client Sky, after it was found that a 2012 decision to block the regulator from forcing a discount of Sky's sports channels was "inadequate"

    1 minute read

  • February 17, 2014 |

    Links, 2Birds and DLA strike it lucky as William Hill expands legal panel

    Linklaters, Bird & Bird and DLA Piper have all won spots on William Hill's expanded legal panel, Legal Week can reveal. The trio join Ashurst, Pinsent Masons and Addleshaw Goddard, all of which have been re-appointed to the FTSE 100 company's roster of preferred legal counsel.

    1 minute read

  • February 17, 2014 |

    Transfer Window Asia: recent moves including Latham, Weil and Two Birds

    Shearman & Sterling has expanded is project development and finance practice with addition of Allens partner Anthony Patten in Singapore. Patten previously led Allens' oil and gas team in Asia and Australia, before which he was a partner in Ashurst's London energy, transport and infrastructure group. He also spent six years working in London and the UAE as a senior in-house counsel at Royal Dutch Shell.

    1 minute read