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  • August 11, 2009 |

    Linklaters banking partner takes general counsel role at GE Capital

    General Electric subsidiary GE Capital has appointed a new general counsel with the hire of Linklaters London banking partner Neil Harnby. Harnby, who will be based in London, will oversee GE Capital's Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) legal operations.

    1 minute read

  • August 10, 2009 |

    Ashurst set for restructuring boost with White & Case partner hire

    Ashurst is set to bolster its London restructuring team with the hire of White & Case partner Dan Hamilton. Hamilton - who was appointed to lead the US firm's London financial restructuring and insolvency practice last year - has informed the White & Case partnership that he will be leaving to join Ashurst.

    1 minute read

  • August 6, 2009 |

    UK elite hold on to equity as salaried partner ranks grow

    The UK's top law firms have tightened their grip on the equity, increasing equity partner count by less than 4% despite a double digit increase in overall partner numbers over the last five years. Legal Week research into partner headcount changes at the UK's largest 25 firms by revenue show that, on average, partner count grew by 16% from 2003-04 to 2008-09. However this comes against only a 3.7% increase in equity partner numbers.

    1 minute read

  • August 5, 2009 |

    Lovells to keep on 69% of September qualifying intake

    Lovells has retained 69% of its September qualifiers, placing the firm broadly in line with its City rivals. Thirty-six trainees from a qualifying intake of 40 applied for a job at the firm, with a total of 25 taken on.

    1 minute read

  • August 4, 2009 |

    Akin Gump launches Middle East investment funds practice

    Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld has relocated London-based partner Robert Griffin to Abu Dhabi to launch a Middle East investment funds practice for the firm. The funds specialist has been based in London for the last five years since relocating from Akin Gump's Dallas office.

    1 minute read

  • August 4, 2009 |

    Partners back move to merit-based pay

    Leading law firms are set to move substantially towards a merit-driven pay model for assistants according to research that shows more than 90% of partners forecasting such a shift. The latest Legal Week Big Question survey found an overwhelming 96% of responding partners in favour of some form of move away from the associate lockstep system towards a merit or competency-based salary model.

    1 minute read

  • August 4, 2009 |

    Bringing up the kids - or bringing in the dough?

    Earlier this month, Legal Week surveyed over 200 senior City partners on their perception of firms' approach to women in the profession as part of its regular Big Question survey. Following an unprecedented level of response, here are some of the best comments

    1 minute read

  • July 30, 2009 |

    There's more to life than PEP (or let's get Travers off the naughty step)

    Journalists are sometimes criticised for making lawyers overly focused on profits. The theory is that the profession has become overly bent around the one metric of profits per equity partner (PEP) and that the media has played its part by publishing those numbers. Personally, I think the idea that the media introduced greed to an innocent and unsuspecting profession is nonsense. The legal profession has grown rapidly in recent years, and when that happens to any industry you get more transparency. That's a natural development of a healthy business services market, and it comes with the territory. I also don't know of any industry where a core measure of profitability hasn't become well established.

    1 minute read

  • July 30, 2009 |

    Trio of firms hit rich seam on $488m bid for goldmining company

    A raft of firms including Norton Rose, Shearman & Sterling and Ashurst have lined up to advise on AngloGold Ashanti and Randgold Resources' joint $488m (£295m) bid for Moto Goldmines. The counterbid, which sees the two mining companies trying to beat Canada's Red Back Mining $466.8m ($282m) bid for Moto, would give AngloGold a 50% indirect interest in the company if Randgold's bid goes ahead.

    1 minute read

  • July 30, 2009 |

    Top 50 case study: Norton Rose

    Norton Rose set itself apart from most of its top 10 City rivals over the last financial year after launching a bold initiative to avoid redundancies and hiking turnover by more than 5%. The firm posted a 5.7% increase in revenue to £314m against a 17.3% drop in profits per equity partner (PEP) to £517,000. The climb in turnover means the firm beat the average by revenue growth across the top 10 City firms, which was enough to take Norton Rose into the overall UK top 10 - knocking Ashurst into 11th place.

    1 minute read