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  • June 13, 2013 |

    Macfarlanes boosts real estate with Shearman partner hire

    Macfarlanes has strengthened its commercial real estate practice with the hire of Shearman & Sterling partner Clare Breeze. Breeze, who is due to join at the firm in the beginning of July, has been a partner at Shearman since 2009, and has acted for a range of developer and investor clients including Stanhope, AIG and Argent Estates.

    1 minute read

  • June 13, 2013 |

    US firm Seyfarth Shaw launches in Australia with eight partner hires from HSF, Ashurst

    Chicago employment firm Seyfarth Shaw has launched in Australia this week with the hire of eight partners from three firms. The US outfit took five partners from Herbert Smith Freehills, two from Ashurst and one from Arnold Bloch Leibler, for the opening of offices in Sydney and Melbourne.

    1 minute read

  • June 12, 2013 |

    Ashurst reviews 350 London roles in low cost Scots support base launch

    Ashurst is set to launch a new low cost centre in Scotland, in a move which will see London business support roles placed at risk of redundancy. The new Glasgow base, which will open later this year, will house 150 support roles, including 30 legal analysts and 120 business support roles, with the firm set to recruit heavily in the Scottish market.

    1 minute read

  • June 10, 2013 |

    Ashurst, A&O among advisers on Doughty's £935m Vue cinema sale

    Allen & Overy (A&O), Ashurst, Debevoise & Plimpton and Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom have all taken roles on the £935m sale of cinema chain Vue Entertainment by private equity firm Doughty Hanson to two Canadian investor groups. The transaction, which is expected to close later this summer, has seen OMERS Private Equity and Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo) buy the business, which operates 146 cinemas in the UK and Europe.

    1 minute read

  • June 6, 2013 |

    BLP real estate team to feel brunt of cuts as partners predict sharp PEP dip

    Real estate is set to be heavily affected by Berwin Leighton Paisner's (BLP's) recently announced redundancy plans, with one third of the planned lawyer cuts set to hit the firm's property and planning teams. The UK top 15 firm last month put around 100 jobs at risk of redundancy, including 58 legal roles. It has now emerged that roughly 17 of the lawyer positions are in the real estate team, with a further three roles at risk in the planning department. It is understood that the firm may try to move some of the lawyers at risk of redundancy into its Lawyers On Demand service. Meanwhile, partners have said profits per equity partner (PEP) could be down by as much as 50% this year, against broadly static revenues. This could take PEP down to around £330,000, compared with a figure of £660,000 in 2011-12, when profits fell by 7%.

    1 minute read

  • June 6, 2013 |

    Off track – why associates face a long wait to break into the top ranks of UK law firms

    Junior lawyers may not be under any illusions about the challenges facing them on the track to partnership – but the size and scale of that challenge has been starkly illustrated by new Legal Week research that plainly sets out the increasing length of time UK associates are now required to put in before making partner. Analysis of this year's partnership data shows the average post-qualification experience (PQE) held by newly qualified UK partners at top 10 firms this year stands at 10.6 years – an increase of almost 30% on the equivalent figure of 8.2 in 2006. And the standard set by the country's largest firms has been broadly replicated by their smaller contemporaries, with the average partner track across the top 50 now standing at 10.5 years. One senior partner at a top 10 law firm commented: "It is undoubtedly taking people longer to make partner and I suspect it is the case at all firms. We need to keep promoting the best people to partnership, but law firms are changing after years of double-digit growth – fewer people are now getting through."

    1 minute read

  • June 5, 2013 |

    Herbert Smith Freehills raises pay for all lawyers up to 3PQE

    Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) has announced across-the-board increases in its junior salary bands for 2013-14, with pay rises of up to 3% for the firm's trainees and associates. The changes will take effect from 1 June and will see newly-qualified (NQ) lawyers now paid £63,000, up £1,500 from last year's salary of £61,500.

    1 minute read

  • June 4, 2013 |

    Ashurst sets out new pay rates as 2PQE associates get £3,000 rise

    Ashurst has confirmed its associate salary rates for 2013-14, with lawyers with two years' post-qualification experience (PQE) seeing the biggest pay rise of an extra £3,000 on last year. The new rates, which came into effect from 1 May, see lawyers with one year's PQE earning £69,000, £2,000 more than last year's salary of £67,000. The firm is also raising the rate for lawyers with two years' PQE by £3,000 to £77,000.

    1 minute read

  • June 3, 2013 |

    Transfer Window Asia: recent moves including Simmons and Ashurst

    Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld has expanded its Beijing team with the recruitment of corporate lawyer Chen Li from Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy. Chen, who was an Of Counsel with Milbank in Beijing, has more than a decade of experience handling cross-border transactions in China, concentrating on outbound M&A and foreign direct investment, with a focus on major Chinese state-owned enterprises.

    1 minute read

  • May 30, 2013 |

    Dealmaker: Martin Wright

    The Mayer Brown partner on regenerating Stratford, his DIY ineptitude and the potential lure of farming

    1 minute read