Planes, trains and automobiles: law firms are ducking the real emissions challenge
The legal industry must create stricter and more innovative policies to make up for the currently unaccounted-for travel-related emissions.
Rejoice, for the Brits are back
The Brits are back. We don’t mean the annual popular music jamboree at which microphones are dropped, singers’ bums are bared and popstars challenge each other to punch-ups. We mean UK-headquartered firms and their financial fortunes. For years, the contrast with their oppos from across the Atlantic, most of which have been beavering away driving […]
US firms have pushed NQ salaries to boiling point
Newly-qualified (NQ) lawyers have seen salary levels soar over the last decade. In 2014, a fresh-faced Clifford Chance lawyer could earn £67,500; that figure reached £150,000 this summer. It is US firms that have inflated the pot with constant base raises that align London and New York operations. But the ripples spread outwards. When Quinn […]
Eversheds needs a radical streak
Eversheds partners aren’t really in the business of throwing curveballs. This week, partners in the International LLP – that’s everything outside the US – cemented Keith Froud as Lee Ranson’s chief executive successor in an uncontested election. We’d have stopped taking bets on this one years ago, you could see it coming a mile off. […]
Pinsent Masons and Mills & Reeve are cornering the university market
The Higher Education sector is in big trouble. As we reported last month, universities are struggling to fill places on their undergraduate courses – not least for law degrees. Many are in financial distress. Tuition fees for home students have been capped at £9,250 since 2017 and are falling well behind what is profitable, but […]
Slaughters and Freshfields share a trainee strategy
Associate retention is one of the biggest bugbears for law firm leaders, as competitive salaries and the promise of greater opportunities lure rising stars away. Added to this, a firm’s biggest cost is its people, but that didn’t stop Freshfields last year pledging to up its trainee intake from 90 to 100 from 2025. Should […]
Paul Weiss and Kirkland win roles on General Atlantic’s software bid
Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison is acting for General Atlantic on its bid to acquire 100 per cent of French software company Esker. The Paul Weiss team is led by partners William Aitken-Davies and Dan Schuster-Woldan and associate Richard Bach. They were supported by French firm Bredin Prat. Aitken-Davies and Schuster-Woldan are recent joiners […]
Paul Weiss vac schemers to get 50 per cent pay upfront
Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison has unveiled a number of perks for aspiring solicitors in its inaugural internship programme, including half of their pay upfront and money for work attire. Paul Weiss has launched its bi-annual two-week work experience scheme, which will be based in its Soho office commencing next year. A total of […]
Slaughters to ditch water feature – and the spare socks for visitors
In a blow to Noughties trophy office design, Slaughter and May is to remove its iconic water feature from its London HQ reception. The Lawyer first reported last year that the fate of Slaughters’ water feature hung in the balance amid refurbishment works set to take place across the building. This followed its decision to […]
The Lawyer Podcast: Is the A&O Shearman honeymoon over?
Last week, A&O Shearman set out post-merger plans to close its legacy Allen & Overy base in Johannesburg, reduce its partnership by 10 per cent by the end of the financial year, and sell its consultancy business Consulting by A&O Shearman. So, is this a sign of things already going wrong, or is this all […]
Revealed: Hogan Lovells’ Warsaw profits plunged in year before closure
As Hogan Lovells prepares to close three of its global offices, figures obtained by The Lawyer show that profits generated by the affected Warsaw base halved in 2023. Earlier this month, the firm announced it would close offices in Johannesburg, Sydney and Warsaw. The firm’s Warsaw office is the larger of the three, home to […]