This year has seen an unprecedented number of management changes, with the likes of Clifford Chance, Olswang, Osborne Clarke, Pinsent Masons and Slaughter and May all announcing changes to their leadership. Yesterday Berwin Leighton Paisner’s (BLP) longstanding managing partner Neville Eisenberg joined the law firm leaders plumping for a change. Eisenberg confirmed he will not […]
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer is leading negotiations for BT on a £12.5bn deal to acquire telecoms operator EE, whose joint owners Orange and Deutsche Telekom are being represented by Norton Rose Fulbright and Clifford Chance. Freshfields M&A partner Ben Spiers, corporate TMT partner Natasha Good and antitrust head Rod Carlton are advising BT on the deal. […]
Eversheds and Hill Dickinson are among 14 firms to have taken places on Metro Bank’s lending and securities panel. Both firms were thought to be in the running for top spots back in November but Metro Bank declined to confirm their inclusion until the whole process was complete (11 November 2014). The tender process, which […]
When UK firm Stephenson Harwood announced in September that it was reducing its China presence the move seemed counterintuitive. Even though CEO Sharon White said the move was prompted by the fact “the legal landscape in China has changed considerably”, it did not appear entirely logical to be retracting at a time when other firms […]
Clydesdale Bank UK general counsel Jennifer Darbyshire has returned to Australia to resume her role at parent company National Australia Bank (NAB) with James Peirson taking over the UK role. Darbyshire took up the role as general counsel and company secretary for NAB’s UK operations two years ago after several years leading the bank’s Australian […]
Weightmans has reported a rise in revenue of 3 per cent at the half-year point, bringing turnover for the first six months of 2014/15 to £42m. The rise compares to a 7 per cent increase in turnover at the same point last year (8 November 2013). Weightmans achieved turnover of £87m for the last full […]
There was no let-up in news over July: stories hitting the headlines included a radical management overhaul at Clifford Chance, the first in a string of departures from Doughty Street, the conviction of three Gibraltar lawyers for fraud – and of course the wedding of the year. Gibraltar lawyers jailed over £40m client money scam […]
This week’s feature on Royal Mail offers a master class in cultural change. It reveals how the postal service’s 2013 IPO not only transformed it from one of the UK’s best known public sector organisations into a listed company, with all of the attendant behavioural changes that such a shift brings, but also how that deal acted as a […]
The accountants’ reaction to the volatile market of the 1980s is a valuable exercise in change strategy for today’s legal sector. In the mid-1980s, Ernst & Whinney (now EY), ran an ad campaign, with the following slogan: ‘We don’t just add up. We also help you multiply’. This pithily captured the mood of the then […]
Offshore firms are thriving despite sustained media and political attacks on their domiciles’ reputation. Meanwhile, Asia’s significance is rising. It has been a turbulent few months for the offshore world. With Labour leader Ed Miliband promising to force the Crown Dependencies to produce a public register of offshore company owners should he come to power after […]
The big five remain and Jersey still dominates, but the arrival of Viberts makes waves in BVI. 1. Maples and Calder Managing partner: Henry Smith Legal Staff: 727 Fee earners: 321 Qualified lawyers: 257 Partners/directors: 92 Equity partners: Not disclosed Female partners: 18 Female equity partners: ND Fiduciary Staff: 375 Fee earners/professional staff: 283 2014 […]
Move of the week Gateley has hired Craig Rattray to join the firm’s commercial, technology and media team in London. Rattray joins from Olswang where he was a commercial partner, advising clients across a number of practice areas including commercial, regulatory, corporate finance and tax. His new role will focus on growing the Gateley’s presence […]