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  • July 21, 2008 |

    Shearman unveils new European finance head

    Shearman & Sterling's London office has appointed Clifford Atkins as the new head of the firm's European finance group, taking over from Anthony Ward. Ward will step down as the group head on 1 August to concentrate on his role as London office managing partner - as well as his position on the firm's global policy committee.Atkins joined Shearman in 1998 from top 10 City firm Ashurst and focuses on structured and leveraged finance.

    1 minute read

  • July 17, 2008 |

    Global focus drives UK top 50 as firms weather global crunch

    The UK's top law firms have pressed through the initial onslaught of the credit crunch and defied gloomy expectations to achieve double-digit revenue growth for the third year running. Legal Week's 2007-08 results, the first finalised picture of the performance of the UK top 50, demonstrate how the group tapped busy foreign markets to help offset the pronounced global slowdown.Total revenue across the group rose by 14.3% from £10.5bn to just over £12bn, while the top 50 averaged revenue growth of 12.5% to bill an average of £241.9m.

    1 minute read

  • July 17, 2008 |

    Testing times ahead: top lawyers' verdict on what the next 12 months holds in store

    Leading figures give their views on how the legal world fared over the past financial year and what they expect to happen next

    1 minute read

  • July 17, 2008 |

    City partners predict harder times but growth will continue

    Despite a stream of negative headlines and gloomy predictions that the UK is entering into a recession, two-thirds of senior City partners are still forecasting revenues to increase over the next 12 months. Legal Week's quarterly business confidence poll shows that while confidence levels have fallen for the third quarter in a row, many of those surveyed still expect commercial law firms to keep growing through the downturn. Just under 54% of respondents to the Big Question survey said they expected billings at their firm to increase by up to 10% over the next 12 months, while a further 11% were bullishly predicting growth of more than 10%.

    1 minute read

  • July 16, 2008 |

    Yorkshire gold

    Move to Yorkshire as an associate and make it to your new firm's partnership and you're laughing. Leeds boasts some top flight firms with healthy profits - and the cost of living is cheaper too, says Sophie Evans

    1 minute read

  • July 10, 2008 |

    Nomura cuts jobs from UK legal team

    Nomura and Barclays Capital have become the latest financial institutions to cut legal jobs, with the Japanese investment bank making cuts in its UK legal team. Two members of the bank's in-house legal and compliance team in London have been made redundant, with the cuts affecting both the real estate finance and collateralised debt obligations teams.

    1 minute read

  • July 10, 2008 | International Edition

    Magic circle trio break into profits top 10 as City firms move up Global 100

    Profits per equity partner (PEP) at top US law firms still narrowly exceed key UK rivals - despite the significant increases the magic circle have achieved in turnover and profitability in recent years. Figures compiled by Legal Week and The American Lawyer show that just three UK firms make it into the global top 10 by PEP - Slaughter and May, Linklaters and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. In contrast, seven US firms make the grade - headed by elite firm Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz.

    1 minute read

  • July 10, 2008 |

    Magic circle trio break into profits top 10 as City firms move up Global 100

    Profits per equity partner (PEP) at top US law firms still narrowly exceed key UK rivals - despite the significant increases the magic circle have achieved in turnover and profitability in recent years. Figures compiled by Legal Week and The American Lawyer show that just three UK firms make it into the global top 10 by PEP - Slaughter and May, Linklaters and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. In contrast, seven US firms make the grade - headed by elite firm Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz.

    1 minute read

  • July 8, 2008 |

    BLP builds real estate with Pinsents partner hire

    Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) has bolstered its real estate practice with the hire of Pinsent Masons partner Andrew Yates. Yates, who has been at Pinsents since 1994, joins the City firm as co-head of its regeneration and public sector practice alongside Lesley-Anne Avis.Yates' main area of practice is property development and funding, although he also works on commercial property issues and in the leisure and retail sectors. In the past he has worked with clients including English Partnerships and Wolverhampton City Council.

    1 minute read

  • July 8, 2008 |

    ...Legal Week Lunchbox: 08/07/08...

    The five most popular articles on legalweek.com today, plus the pick of the day's posts

    1 minute read