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  • June 16, 2010 |

    International firms in London: Swoop to conquer

    June 2009, and it was just another not-so-hectic day in the finance department of Addleshaw Goddard's London office - which, after some busy years in the middle of the decade, had slowed dramatically following the onset of the credit crunch in 2007. The firm had recently posted its annual financial results, announcing a fall in revenue of 11.4% and a 30.9% decline in profits per equity partner (PEP), having earlier that year cut 10% of its partnership. Needless to say, acquisition finance partner Phil Slater was on hand to answer his phone when it rang that morning.

    1 minute read

  • June 15, 2010 |

    Dealmaker: Matthew Dening

    Sidley structured products partner and tragic Wolves reject Matthew Dening counts the 'colleague cost'...

    1 minute read

  • June 9, 2010 |

    Partners wary of expected US/UK mergers

    Senior lawyers are expecting more mergers between US and UK law firms in the wake of the creation of Hogan Lovells and SNR Denton, but many remain sceptical of the tangible benefits of such tie-ups, according to Legal Week's latest Big Question survey. Ninety-two percent of respondents to the survey felt that the two recent high-profile deals are likely to lead to an upturn in merger activity between large US and UK practices, including 13% who said such tie-ups are 'much more likely'.

    1 minute read

  • June 3, 2010 |

    Baker & McKenzie names Sao Paulo partner as new chairman

    Baker & McKenzie has elected Sao Paulo partner Eduardo Leite as the next chairman of the firm's eight-strong executive committee, reports The Am Law Daily. Leite, who has served as managing partner of the firm's four offices in Brazil since 2003, also heads the firm's global energy, mining, and infrastructure practice group. "Given our brand, our people and our clients expect our leadership to be global," said current chairman John Conroy. "There is some additional excitement because we have never had a chair out of Latin America," he says.

    1 minute read

  • May 26, 2010 |

    Bird & Bird bulks finance practice with Greenberg partner hire

    Bird & Bird has recruited a partner from Greenberg Traurig to boost its corporate and finance practice in The Hague. Gerard Moussault will bring with him Greenberg associate Steven Geers. They are joined by Sarah Gerritse, previously a legal counsel in the Royal Bank of Scotland's London equity derivatives team.

    1 minute read

  • May 26, 2010 |

    China: Years of the dragon

    On Tuesday 4 May at 7:30am a car arrived to pick up former Lovells Beijing managing partner Robert Lewis from his house in the Shunyi district of the Chinese capital, a part of town popular with expats. As it weaved its way off the estate and onto the traffic-choked main road leading to the city centre, Lewis thought about what lay ahead for him at AllBright Law Offices, the Chinese law firm where he was about to start his first day's work. His decision to join the firm, where his brief is to overhaul AllBright's structure and expand its Beijing office to match its market-leading offering in Shanghai, is one Lewis has been edging towards for years now, and he maintains it is unrelated to Lovells' recently concluded merger with US firm Hogan & Hartson.

    1 minute read

  • May 19, 2010 |

    Bakers reappoints Senior for third term as London office chief

    Baker & McKenzie has appointed Gary Senior for a third term as the international firm's London managing partner. The firm's steering group took soundings form the City partnership, after which Senior was appointed unopposed, with his new three-year term starting this September.

    1 minute read

  • May 19, 2010 |

    Wall Street's legal elite stage recovery but fees fall at US top 100

    Wall Street's leading law firms have defied gloomy predictions to stage a notable comeback in 2009, emerging as the top performers among the US's 100 largest law firms. Financial results for 2009 from Legal Week's US sister title The American Lawyer show that the 13 New York firms with profits per equity partner (PEP) of more than $2m (£1.3m) overcame the toughest trading conditions for a generation to raise partner profitability by 3%.

    1 minute read

  • May 19, 2010 |

    The Am Law 100: Lessons of the Am Law 100

    It could have been worse. That's the best that can be said for last year's performance from The Am Law 100, the top-grossing law firms in the US. Three of the four key categories that have been measured for 25 years - gross revenue, headcount and revenue per lawyer (RPL) - fell, while profits per equity partner (PEP) barely increased by 0.3% - up $3,463 (£2,300) to $1.26m (£840,000). But on average, even the bad results weren't nearly as dire as many firms had feared just a year ago. Overall, gross revenue was off by 3.4% and headcount dropped by about 1%. The firms earned a total of $64.8bn (£43.2bn), down roughly $2.3bn (£1.5m). And, in the first year-on-year reduction in headcount since 1993, they cut their lawyer labour force by 1,219 to 80,772. For all the heated attention paid to layoffs, about half the firms actually increased their numbers last year. RPL, which we regard as the most telling economic indicator, was down $15,697 (£10,400) to $802,381 (£534,000), a 2% decline. This was the second consecutive year in which RPL fell, another sign of the toll of the weak economy.

    1 minute read

  • May 11, 2010 |

    Tax and pensions

    Baker & McKenzie sizes up the burden on employers trying to provide a pension, while Macfarlanes provides a timely introduction to estate planning for married couples...

    1 minute read